Ball Flight Laws and the PGA Manual

[the steam train]

I can't find it online so I was hoping someone on here could tell me. Does the current PGA manual endorse the "old" ball flight laws or has it been updated. If it hasn't, can anyone point me to any published material, preferably in print, which outlines the correct ball flight laws?

I'm aware of the stuff published on this site and it has been of great use to me, but for my current purposes I need something a little different, an article published in a sports science journal or something similar would be great.

Thanks in advance.

[Zeph]

Trackman articles, January and July 2009: http://trackman.dk/Media/Newsletter.aspx

Trackman provides the best shot analysis equipment we got today, their findings are based on actual readings with high speed equipment.

[the steam train]

Thanks, that is the sort of thing I was looking for. Its interesting though that no one from an academic sphere seems to have done anything on this, there are plenty of papers on the biomechanics of the golf swing or the aerodynamics of the golf ball. Yet there is nothing on the fact that conventional golf instruction has entailed a flawed understanding of physics for countless years.

[Zeph]

Many have known it for a long time, but most teaching instructors have never picked up on it. It is indeed very strange that in 2010, instructors can still believe the old laws. I didn't know it until a couple of months ago, I've simply never been told anything else, nor am I any physics genius. I never understood why the ball would take off on the swing path angle, but found it plausible I guess.

One would think that the PGA would always strive to make golf easier to learn and understand, but when watching a lot of the swing tips on Youtube, it's clear that there is little room for innovation in that camp. Just look how S&T has become bashed by the top PGA instructors, so called golf experts and the golf media. Based on what? Nothing. Their arguments are either wrong, or from lack of knowledge. I think a lot of it has to do with protecting ones interests, trying to fend off any new way to approach the game. High speed camera and equipment has really helped us learn better how to swing a golf club in the easiest way. We can watch a Youtube lesson where a top certified PGA instructor tells us to do one thing, then we watch the PGA Pros on the same website, doing exactly the oposite. I've even seen instructors tell us to keep the knee flex in the backswing in one lesson, and straighten the knee in the next.

The whole organisation of golf teaching is at times laughable. We are lucky people like Mike Bennett and Andy Plummer make an effort to change the way this game is taught.

[iacas]

Thanks, that is the sort of thing I was looking for. Its interesting though that no one from an academic sphere seems to have done anything on this, there are plenty of papers on the biomechanics of the golf swing or the aerodynamics of the golf ball. Yet there is nothing on the fact that conventional golf instruction has entailed a flawed understanding of physics for countless years.

See below.

I can't find it online so I was hoping someone on here could tell me. Does the current PGA manual endorse the "old" ball flight laws or has it been updated. If it hasn't, can anyone point me to any published material, preferably in print, which outlines the correct ball flight laws?

The Physics of Golf covered this a long time ago:

http://www.amazon.com/Physics-Golf-T.../dp/038798691X The PGA manual still says the ball's initial direction is primarily determined by the club path.

[zeg]

I've been reading through Jorgensen's book and it's interesting (though his style isn't the most charming). His claim is that the ball will launch in the plane defined by the normal to the club face and the velocity vector of the club at contact. In the main section of the book he doesn't really explain why, and I haven't checked the appendix where some of the assertions are written out more precisely to see if it expands on it there. It seems plausible enough, and of course, that plane includes exactly normal, so his write up may agree with the observations on this forum.

[iacas]

I've been reading through Jorgensen's book and it's interesting (though his style isn't the most charming). His claim is that the ball will launch in the plane defined by the normal to the club face and the velocity vector of the club at contact. In the main section of the book he doesn't really explain why, and I haven't checked the appendix where some of the assertions are written out more precisely to see if it expands on it there. It seems plausible enough, and of course, that plane includes exactly normal, so his write up may agree with the observations on this forum.

Yes, that's the "D-Plane." He coined the term, but Brian Manzella uses it so often that many assume he invented the term (or, wrongly, that he tries to take credit for inventing it).