What other sport actions closely resembles a full golf swing?

[acegolfer]

I believe most athletic actions are related to each other. I'm wondering which other sport actions is closest to a full golf swing? How about a debate on what's similar and what's not?

[Joeyvee]

None. I was thinking about this last night.
Golf.. You have a small clubhead in which to strike a small ball. A millimeter or two off can result in an errant shot, nevermind swing path.. target 200-300 Yards away
Baseball.. You have a MUCH larger surface in which to strike a larger ball. So it's easier right? Except that ball is moving. Quickly. So it's harder? Target 300-400 feet away .. So its easier?
Hockey.. Smaller surface area than a bat and smaller puck but the distance to the target is a lot closer than in baseball and a hell of a lot closer than in golf.
I think the shoulder turn in a slapshot is very similar to a good stack and tilt shoulder turn in golf. BUT you are on skates. That in itself is a sport and a whole nother skill set.
Hockey may be the hardest sport. Nevermind the collisions are at 20-40 miles an hour. Football players are soft. I'll run into ANYONE full speed for $1 million a year.

[saevel25]

Tennis might come close, you set up in an athletic position, coil around your center than unleash through the ball. Same as racquetball. Though the ball moves the ideas are the same.

I think the reason is that an athletic position, more imporantly balance is key in any sport. Its being grounded and using that to produce power using the body as a conduit, were the muscles contract and release built up energy.

Look at basketball, most jump shots start the person in balance, and they extend form the ground up to the fingertips letting the ball go.
Tennis, they are in an athletic position, they react setting up there body to deliver a strike on the ball.

I just think the common thread is balance, the athletic position gives us balance, and from there we can swing a golf club effectively. Being to far on the toes or heels will lead to inbalance in the swing because of the forces applied through our bodies from the golf club's movement.

[Kieran123]

Cricket is the closest I can think of.

There plenty of different shots you can hit in cricket, but any big shot straight down the ground to mid on or mid off are the closest i can think of...



Obviously there is footwork, but it is the closest IMO

[newtogolf]

I don't think any other sport requires the same exact mechanics, but swinging a hockey stick (slapshot), and baseball bat seem close. Both require a coil and release to generate maximum power along with a weight shift from back foot to front. There's also some obvious differences, in hockey, the blade of your stick doesn't come as high off the ground as a golf club on the backswing and the hockey stick is obviously larger so there's more room for error at point of contact.

I can't think of anything that mimics the draw and fade aspect of golf except as stated tennis uses spin on the ball to create specific shots.

[vmsea]

  Joeyvee said:

Baseball.. You have a MUCH larger surface in which to strike a larger ball. So it's easier right? Except that ball is moving. Quickly. So it's harder? Target 300-400 feet away .. So its easier?

Not only is the ball moving.. it's also moving towards you (as in it will create fear of it hitting you). it's not just moving around in a circle for example..

also, there's crowd noise.. unlike golf (in most courses) :)

[Kieran123]

  newtogolf said:

I can't think of anything that mimics the draw and fade aspect of golf except as stated tennis uses spin on the ball to create specific shots.

This also happens in cricket with the cut shot and some others

[shortstop20]

  newtogolf said:

I can't think of anything that mimics the draw and fade aspect of golf except as stated tennis uses spin on the ball to create specific shots.

You've never seen a baseball that was hit draw or cut?

[newtogolf]

  shortstop20 said:

You've never seen a baseball that was hit draw or cut?

I have, but I've never seen someone intentionally try to induce those effects as they do in golf or tennis.

[shortstop20]

  newtogolf said:

I have, but I've never seen someone intentionally try to induce those effects as they do in golf or tennis.

I see. I misunderstood.

[DavidFehertysBike]

[iacas]

With a wide angle lens, every athletic move has something in common with other athletic moves.

When you get down to it, though, every other sport tends to separate itself from golf because in very few sports (billiards?? croquet?) is the ball sitting still until you do something. So lots of sports allow for and require you to move your feet when playing the ball.

There are a lot of small things similar to other sports. For example, people who want to jump and use the ground for leverage will first lower their center of gravity. A guy goes up for a dunk, for example, first squats down a bit (even if he's running), lowering his CG, so he can explode upward. Golf has a similar move on the downswing and Tiger Woods does it really well (yes, I still owe everyone my "jumping" thread... been busy and I want to provide a lot of visual evidence).

[Joeyvee]

  newtogolf said:

I don't think any other sport requires the same exact mechanics, but swinging a hockey stick (slapshot), and baseball bat seem close. Both require a coil and release to generate maximum power along with a weight shift from back foot to front. There's also some obvious differences, in hockey, the blade of your stick doesn't come as high off the ground as a golf club on the backswing and the hockey stick is obviously larger so there's more room for error at point of contact.

I can draw and fade pucks.

[bkoguy07]

  newtogolf said:

I have, but I've never seen someone intentionally try to induce those effects as they do in golf or tennis.

When people don't swing for the fences they try to get on base. Most of the time they have to induce an effect on the ball to get it through the infield..

[PingGKEN]

They don't intentionally spin the ball in tennis? Anyways, how about a full kick in soccer? Your leg is the club, obviously. They fade and draw shots all the time.

[newtogolf]

  PingGKEN said:

They don't intentionally spin the ball in tennis?

Guess you've never heard of top spin or seen a slice shot.

[zeg]

The post above with the baseball throw is interesting. I've often felt that there's a connection between pitching and golf, in that you're using your big muscles to whip your arms with far more force than you could generate with the arm muscles alone. In the sidearm throw you've shown, the connection above is even more obvious since the body angles are so similar. The baseball swing is obviously similar, but I think throwing actually has more of a connection.

[Wildcat]

  newtogolf said:

I have, but I've never seen someone intentionally try to induce those effects as they do in golf or tennis.

Trying to take the ball to right or left field has some similarities.