Vortex,
Joe Norwood's Golf–O–Metrics, always an interesting read.
“Stand in front of a mirror, or watch your reflection in a window, or better yet, use Joe's camera. Take the stance in the address position, go to Position One and hold it, note where the the clubhead is, drop the left knee inward, and watch the clubhead jump another three feet. Three feet of additional arc out of a one-inch move wit the left knee with no added effort.”
(“Position One is the back swing that ends when the right forearm reaches a horizontal position.”)
Ah, Mandrin, another key bright light at the leading edge convergence of science and golf, thank you for your valuable insight and happy holidays. A quick appreciation btw without threadjacking, I enjoy your writings on the parametric acceleration very much, although regrettably I can't access any of your diagrams hosted in angelfire, the site somehow blocked from my country.
Three feet of clubhead with one inch of lower body movement is
huge. If I understand this correctly, it works both ways going up and down. Which means, I can power the left knee the other way and move the clubhead by the same amount going downwards, ie. increasing the leverage of the pivot.
Before I got this, I used to wonder why good players' swing looks so effortless and steady, with a poised and balanced finish, yet generates so much power with a tiny backswing while I had to overswing, and then rock, roll and sway all my lower extremities just to get the club up to speed, almost falling over nevermind poise, and even then, the clubhead speed achieved was lower.
Now I try to find the leverage everywhere I can on the left side, from ankle, knees, hips, etc all the way to the left wrist, a chain if you will, having some slack at the top of the swing that Brian described. From the top, letting the club fall which takes up the slack. I think the falling club also allows me to produce parametric acceleration if I understand the concept correctly. With the left chain taut, instincts take over and drive the taut chain through impact. Once the slack is taken up, driving the left side through is almost a non-conscious move. It might sound weird, but I almost 'close' my mind's eye, as if going into semi-trance, and feel/trust the torque/tension of the chain.
With a smaller backswing, I generate more power via leverage and maybe even a touch of parametric acceleration. And I can finish nicely balanced.
Natural flow of kinetic energy - Darius J. Or wall of torque - Brian M. I think I am beginning to understand.
