Seriously good impact video (and a Manzella Still)

[birly-shirly]

yes.

My understanding is that the collision between club and ball happens, in a lateral distance of less than an inch, "as if" the clubhead is a free object.

Over a 2 feet distance, yes, I think forces act on the clubhead via the shaft.

 

[wulsy]

yup, and the shaft is reacting to the forces of the golfer in this period...

 

[natep]

Anyone here got doubts that the club head is a "free object" from, say 1 foot pre impact to 1 foot post impact?

I do. I've broken 10 or 12 shafts at impact (at the hosel) over the years, and the ball never goes anywhere, just kinda rolls a little ways and never gets airborne. If the clubhead is really acting as if disconnected from the shaft at impact, then it seems like I should be hitting normal shots when this happens.

 

[drewyallop]

yes.

My understanding is that the collision between club and ball happens, in a lateral distance of less than an inch, "as if" the clubhead is a free object.

Over a 2 feet distance, yes, I think forces act on the clubhead via the shaft.

My understanding is that once the clubhead is in the lead/droop phase it is a free object. I think MJ presented some evidence that the magnitude of the lead was dependent (swing speed being equal) on the flexibility of the shaft. More flexible = more lead. If this is the case then wouldn't the free body lateral distance be shaft dependent?

 

[Brian Manzella]

I do. I've broken 10 or 12 shafts at impact (at the hosel) over the years, and the ball never goes anywhere, just kinda rolls a little ways and never gets airborne. If the clubhead is really acting as if disconnected from the shaft at impact, then it seems like I should be hitting normal shots when this happens.

All kinds of things going there.

Save yourself some grief and mark this down:


THE CLUBHEAD and the last 5 INCHES OF THE SHAFT act as if they are totally on their own down by impact.

 

[leon]

I do. I've broken 10 or 12 shafts at impact (at the hosel) over the years, and the ball never goes anywhere, just kinda rolls a little ways and never gets airborne. If the clubhead is really acting as if disconnected from the shaft at impact, then it seems like I should be hitting normal shots when this happens.

Nate, without wanting to get into too much detail, the impact interval is long enough that the bending and torsional stiffness of at least some of the shaft affects the response of the clubhead. So no (or broken) shaft = no stiffness, therefore little energy transfer.

Conversely, the impact interval isn't long enough that the 'stiffness' of the golfer has any effect.

In other words, what Brian said

 

[coach]

You may as well think about what your earlobes are doing at impact

Oh no !! Something else I have to think about....geeeeezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

[drewyallop]

This thread is, like most on this site, extremely interesting to me; however, I am left with the nagging feeling of plus ca change....
It seems that the clubhead can open and close like a screen door in a hurricane, - or not, as the case may be - but as long as you can get your body to get the club to get the ball to where you're aiming on a consistent basis, with all the desirable sub-plots firmly in place, then it really is extraneous: You may as well think about what your earlobes are doing at impact, as think about closure rates.
Love all the chit-chat about it, I really do, but can we grab any practicable use from it? I could very well be wrong and it could be a well-spring, and maybe I'm not smart enough to extrapolate beyond the nascency of it all: (The chances of this being the case are quite high!!,) but where would we go to from where we are now?

Oliverne of the few people who knows what practicable means and when to use it.

 

[OLIVER1]

Oliverne of the few people who knows what practicable means and when to use it.

Love your heavy sense of irony there, Drew.
Must be off: there's a confederacy of dunces in my rear-view mirror...