[Golfie McG]

Golfie,

Can you show us the formula that you used to come up with a 125% more power to move a golf ball from 200 to 300 yards??? Under normal math conditions, the number should be 150%!!!

I have seen one study conclude that the body only contributes 4.6% clubhead speed and 8.9% Power to the golf swing....with those numbers I would have to come to the conclusion that the body really makes a minimal contribution to the distance the golf ball travels.

Go to chapter 9 of TGM

Quotes from 9.1

ZONE #1 includes all the elements of Body movement and balance, and defines the geometrical alignments and relationships of the Body Components.

“The Pivot involves twisting the body and shifting the weight during the Stroke so as to maintain balance, a motionless head and any required tilt of the torso.

Quotes from 9.2

ZONE #2 adds the Arms and the Club to the circular motion of the Pivot just for generation of Clubhead Power (10-19-0). Zone #2 includes all the elements of the Force and Motion of the Arms and Club action—the Power Package—strictly the development of Clubhead Power rather Ball manipulation.

Quotes to ponder!!!

DG

DG,

Glad you could join us. I assumed that most would have tuned out this discussion.

In order to adequately address your question, we’ll have to introduce another physics term: Work is what you get when a power source (e.g. muscles) operates over a period of time.

Power * Time = Work

In terms of what this means in terms of velocity of the clubhead, you can use this formula:

Work = Kinetic energy (KE) = 1/2mv*v (1/2 mass times velocity squared)

So let's say that the 200 yds swing had a clubhead speed of 100 mph (not true but bear with me - just keeping it simple) and the 300yd drive had a clubhead speed of 150 mph.

This means that the differential in work as expressed as a % increase to go from 200 yds to 300 yds is:

(150*150 - 100*100)/(100*100) = 1.25 or as I said above 125%.

Stated in another way - and ignoring the units and absolute values - the 300yd swing requires 2.25 times the power source. This is actually at a minimum as there is a second factor here - namely that the more muscles you recruit (thereby increasing your rotor motor horsepower), the sooner the swing is over. Therefore you need even more muscle to do sufficient work in the shortened timeframe.

Re: the very low % ascribed to body power in studies you mentioned. Please provide references if you could. One needs to scrutinize these carefully as often they make statements like" well the hips can only more 2 mph" and do not understand anything about angular motion. Jorgenson in "The Physics of Golf" determines that only the legs contain enough muscle mass to power the golf swing.

Golfie