Physics of the Golf Swing

[Big Lex]

Thinking about it more--there really can be no debate about the conservation of angular momentum (CAM) in the golf swing. CAM is a law of nature, it MUST apply to the golf swing.

What can be debated is the original poster's assertions, which are by no means "laws" or givens. Starting the swing from the ground up? Well, that's a subjective feeling, who knows which of your muscles are really working. No hand action in the downswing? Depends what you mean by hand action, and when, specifically, in the downswing. I read once in a physics discussion something that proves there is hand force exerted very early in the golf swing. If you consider the momentum put into the club head on the backswing, unless you put an un-cocking muscular force into the wrists at the start of the downswing, the momentum of the club would cause your wrists to continue to cock, and the club head would hit you in the back.

But we don't feel this force, generally, maybe because we are thinking about something else. The point is, what we think we do and what we do may not be the same thing.

The original poster is a +2, so obviously he knows how to hit it, so I'm not going to argue. But let's be clear that his assertions are really about a thought process and subjective impressions, and not any physical "facts." The fact that it works for him is great, but the success doesn't "prove" the theory.

[Big Lex]

Try spinning around in your office chair. Do you spin forever? Guess why not?

You're confused about the conservation of angular momentum and the meaning of alot of these physics terms. Angular momentum is always conserved, entirely, in "real world" systems. The reason you stop spinning, in your example, is that frictional forces run counter to the spinning, and eventually slow you down and stop you. But the angular momentum of your spinning motion is entirely conserved.

I don't know what you mean by the swing "starting with no momentum at all." Well, no. But you start the swing, and exert torque on the swing levers, and this creates momentum, which is conserved in the system. The Jorgensen book explains it all pretty well...I highly recommend it.

[iacas]

Thinking about it more--there really can be no debate about the conservation of angular momentum (CAM) in the golf swing. CAM is a law of nature, it MUST apply to the golf swing.

Of course physics applies, but in what amount? CAM in the golf swing? Minimal, next to nothing, etc. The golf swing is not a frictionless system without external forces. The forces that are applied vastly,

vastly outweigh the conservation of angular momentum. Heck, as was already pointed out, at the top of the backswing, there is no angular momentum.

The original poster is a +2, so obviously he knows how to hit it, so I'm not going to argue. But let's be clear that his assertions are really about a thought process and subjective impressions, and not any physical "facts." The fact that it works for him is great, but the success doesn't "prove" the theory.

If that's your way of saying this is a pretty pointless discussion to be having, I agree. Thread closed. OP, glad it works for you.