Look at the Shaft Flex on an 85-yard 7-Iron

[Zeph]

I tried what you did yesterday. Club back to perpendicular and fire through. I felt the shaft bend more than it usually does. I was hitting it 150%, nothing I would normally do. The ball went 30-40 yards shorter, but it was hard to get a good impact.

Speed is the key here. If you really crank it up and swing hard, it is possible. I can't record anything for a couple of weeks, but I definately got the feeling of the shaft bending.

To sum up; I'm a believer.
The reason you rarely see this is that you need a lot of speed and torque for it to happen. Not something to pull off on the course.

[iacas]

I tried what you did yesterday. Club back to perpendicular and fire through. I felt the shaft bend more than it usually does. I was hitting it 150%, nothing I would normally do. The ball went 30-40 yards shorter, but it was hard to get a good impact.

Good on you to actually try it rather than to just debate it from a theoretical standpoint.

To be fair, though they may not be your tempo or your normal swings, they are mine. My contact was fine, and I've always had a fast tempo. I'll send you a PM.

[shortstop20]

People need to be a little more open minded I think.

Saying it's not possible just because you've never seen it when you or someone else swings is kinda ridiculous because as fast as the swing happens our eyes and brain are not fast enough to process the shaft being bent that much while it is rapidly accelerating towards the ball.

[HSip]

People need to be a little more open minded I think.

Agree 100%. What would be the point in faking the photo(s). I say take the man at his word.

[iacas]

BTW: http://thesandtrap.com/swing_check/p...onley_analysis

[TheNatural]

is that a driver?

[TheNatural]

whats the shaft stiffness on the driver and the ss?
any clue?

[CG031]

Wow, these pictures are truly incredible!

[Kingfisher]

BTW:

Erik, help me out. I'm having trouble understanding the mechanics behind the extreme shaft deflection here!

I can make sense of the images you originally posted, which suggests the shaft is lagging behind the hands, as the hands are moving fast. For the forward deflection I could also understand it if happened immediately after impact - the shaft spring forward after escaping the breif resistance of the ball / turf? Feel free to correct me if this is the wrong idea. However, what is the science behind the guy's shaft in the swing check, how can it deflect so much before it's even come into contact with anything? Does it mean that in this case, the hands have slowed down and the clubhead has somehow become faster?

[TN94z]

Wow!!! That is crazy looking!

[Zeph]

Looks like a result of casting and perhaps wrong shaft flex. Very doable if you load the club, gain speed, then cast it out before impact. On my own videos I see the shaft bending a bit before impact when I cast, but no where near something like that. Still, it's a driver, they are supposed to flex a bit. I'm more amazed over the 7i Erik used.

[DavidFehertysBike]

I dont need to be lookin at this crap...now im going be thinking my shafts are too weak everytime i hook a shot left....

[Smarf]

However, what is the science behind the guy's shaft in the swing check, how can it deflect so much before it's even come into contact with anything? Does it mean that in this case, the hands have slowed down and the clubhead has somehow become faster?

I took those screenshots as his backswing, where his hands are taking the club back faster than the head can keep up with. Is that the downswing?!

[ERC7.5]

I took those screenshots as his backswing, where his hands are taking the club back faster than the head can keep up with. Is that the downswing?!

I also thought that ...at first. Then I noticed that his weight is on his front foot.

[tm22721]

Shaft flex is the holy grail ensuring solid contact (compression) and resisting errant shots. In fact it is hard to intentionally shape shots when you have a lot of flex. Shaft flex is generated and maintained through steady acceleration of the clubhead.

[bioman]

Ok, I'm not sure if anyone has brought this up but 60 FPS is pretty damn slow for any fast moving or high speed objects. When you look at those swing speed camera's on television, they are shooting at 1000+ fps easily. When you can capture that many frames in one second, the transition from point a to b is more linear on the screen. When a 60 fps normal camera is shooting a swing, the movement from a to b is a big jump the one frame to the next so that will typically be some kind of blur as the image processor tries to smoothly link the two frames together.

[iacas]

I took those screenshots as his backswing, where his hands are taking the club back faster than the head can keep up with. Is that the downswing?!

Downswing. Read the article - T.M. isn't misleading us.

[iacas]

Ok, I'm not sure if anyone has brought this up but 60 FPS is pretty damn slow for any fast moving or high speed objects. When you look at those swing speed camera's on television, they are shooting at 1000+ fps easily. When you can capture that many frames in one second, the transition from point a to b is more linear on the screen. When a 60 fps normal camera is shooting a swing, the movement from a to b is a big jump the one frame to the next so that will typically be some kind of blur as the image processor tries to smoothly link the two frames together.

No, these aren't blurred images. You're confusing shutter speed with framerate. You might get a new frame every 1/60th of a second, but the image might have been captured with a shutter speed of, say, 1/1000th of a second.