is silence golden

[richardskinne]

When I see a pro on a video clip,they get that lovely woosh sound near the bottom of the arch,I dont is this a bad sign.

[newtogolf]

  richardskinne said:

When I see a pro on a video clip,they get that lovely woosh sound near the bottom of the arch,I dont is this a bad sign.

I'm pretty sure the sound is related to club head speed, so if you're not hearing it, it may be you have a slower swing, or not getting the whip effect.

[Arthur]

Could also be they have mikes set to pick up the sound. Turn a club upside down holding the head and swing it to see if you get the sound.

[delav]

It's a give and take. We get other sounds far more than the pros do too... like the crackling of tree branches, the woosh of long grass on your pant leg, the plunk of the water hazard, the knock of a bladed wedge shot, etc.

Seriously though, what you are hearing is a combination of their higher clubhead speed and the ground microphones used for production.

[O.B. Right]

Can you hear no whoosh at all? Not even in your practice swings?

I don't swing very fast . .maybe in mid to upper 80's for a wedge, high 90's with driver and I definitely hear a whoosh on my practice swings. In fact, I have just recently been able to notice that the loudest part of the whoosh has moved to the bottom of my swing where it used to be more towards the start of my downswing.

Try swinging the club by the club head - certainly now you hear a whoosh?

Now that I think about it - I don't really listen for the whoosh in my real swing. I'm sure it's there (although maybe in the wrong spot) but I've got it focused out. Next time I go to the range I'm going to try and listen for the swoosh on my real swings.

[sean_miller]

  O.B. Right said:

Can you hear no whoosh at all? Not even in your practice swings?

I can really hear it with long irons (during practice strokes) but with a ball in the way my senses sort of shut down. Especially when hitting a new driver, having your ears "perked up" might be detrimental to your health.

[Shanks A Million]

Don't worry about sound. You're comparing a recorded sound to a live sound, both taken from vastly different angles. The contact with the ball when you swing a club resonates throughout your body, and therefore often masks other sounds. It's almost impossible for me to try and explain all of what's going on, but rest assured, it's not a big deal.

[Fourputt]

This is the last thing in the world I'm going to worry about on the golf course. If my drives are long enough to suit the tees I'm playing, and straight enough to be in play most of the time, then that's all that matters, not how much whoosh my driver makes at the bottom of the swing.

I know several guys who whoosh their drivers.... half the time they whoosh the ball right out into the boondocks. I'll take quiet swing and ball in play anytime.

[bunkerputt]

There is a distinctive sound quality to a purely struck shot with a good swing. It's a mixture of a little bit of swoosh, the wheeee of a ball flying off with high velocity, and some sound of the clubhead tearing through the top layer of the turf in a shallow way. Plus pros have good equipment, fresh balls, clean soft and well-watered turf, and ground mics. That's pretty much all there is to it. If you don't hear a swoosh and you don't hear the ball zing, there isn't a lot of clubhead or ball velocity.

[wannabe]

hehe, I remember when I went to my first pro golf tournament, I was expecting it to sound like a fireworks display after watching and hearing all the gunshot like sounds on the telecasts. It was exactly opposite - the most serene gathering of a course full of golfers and tens of thousands of spectators.

[Koth]

I'm pretty sure the sound they produce is almost all due to the mics that are set up on the ground. I was watching a tournament once, and one of the golfers did something on the ground, I don't exactly remember what it was, but it was something that doesn't produce a lot of sound, and yet it resonated clear as day on the television.

[TourSpoon]

I noticed that the Nike sponsored players make a slightly different sound...more like a "swoosh".

[Shanks A Million]

  Koth said:

I'm pretty sure the sound they produce is almost all due to the mics that are set up on the ground. I was watching a tournament once, and one of the golfers did something on the ground, I don't exactly remember what it was, but it was something that doesn't produce a lot of sound, and yet it resonated clear as day on the television.

Yes, the mics they use must be somewhat inconspicuous, so they can't be properly isolated and shock mounted up off the ground. Sound travels much faster through solid surfaces; you all know that if you place your ear to a railroad track, you can hear trains from many miles away. The mics on the ground work somewhat like that, an ear to the ground.

Because the ground on a golf course is soft, it has a large absorption coefficient in the high frequencies, not so much in lows. Again, you know if you put your ear to the ground, you can hear low frequencies better than highs. Add to that the very complicated theory of fractional space loading, and you'll understand that the more surfaces a mic or speaker is placed near, the more lows is picks up from them. A mic near the ground, in theory, and usually in practice, picks up more low frequencies. So, for that reason, the sounds on TV are quite a bit more pronounced.

[jamo]

  Shanks A Million said:

you all know that if you place your ear to a railroad track, you can hear trains from many miles away. The mics on the ground work somewhat like that, an ear to the ground.

Not to be attempted at home.

[nevets88]

Someone just watched "Inception".

[richardskinne]

the reason this thread was created,was I thougth I might not be creating enough torque in my back swing,thanks for the positive feedbacks

[Stuart StAndrews]

I think the sound is not important although it does sound good on the TV! What sort of distance are you getting on your drives? what is your swing speed like?

[richardskinne]

I am getting 150 mtres with 5 iron (164 yds) 185 mtres with 3 wood(202 yds) 210 mtres with driver (229 yds)