How Does The Biomechanics of Golf Equipment Change Your Golf Swing Mechanics?

by: Scott Kowalski

As the ultimate technology in golf balls and equipment continues to improve at an astonishing rate faster than any electronic product on the market today. Buyers have become even more confused and frustrated on what is the best golf product that will give you that extra roll, stop on a dime on the greens or give you the back spin needed. What type of golf balls are the best for giving you the pure roll on the greens and is consistent in feel and performance.

Golf clubs are now taking advantage of space age materials and methods. Titanium with carbon graphite shafts have now replaced steel for making long-distance drivers. However, waiting in the wings for their own turn is other new space age materials yet to be developed that can improve your golf club performance.

The trend towards having aerospace technology, and is adopted by sporting goods manufacturers is alive and well today. Improving upon the performance of golfing equipment specifically golf club materials, is now the foot race to becoming first in the golf industry.

There is a growing demand for high strength steel alloy and lightweight titanium club heads, and the emergence of graphite composite shafts. Materials first used in the landing gear of the F-18 fighter jet, is now a popular material for making golf club inserts, or club faces. The idea is to take advantage of certain materials to optimize what the golfer needs.

What do golfers need? You need a good transfer between your golf swing mechanics and the golf ball. For fairway woods, hybrids, irons and wedges, this frequently means the use of a forged steel insert at the club face. The insert is needed because the club body itself is an alloy cast in order to transfer energy efficiently to the golf ball.

Tour Alloy can be found in such distance clubs as fairway woods, hybrids, irons and wedges. There is more than a dozen different alloys of various hardness and strengths for the golf industry. The call for such high performance steel alloys should grow with a move by the U.S.G.A. to limit both a club's head size (to 460 cubic centimeters) and the speed with which a ball can leave the club head (called the coefficient of restitution).

Specifically, these constraints will likely force club designers to find new ways to deliver longer distances and a larger sweet spot. For the club heads of drivers, the trend continues to be toward titanium. There is light weight titanium which does have the strength of steel at half the weight.

It makes it best suited for the larger club heads. Joining forged steel to a titanium casting is not practical, these clubs typically use inserts of forged titanium. Adding to the appeal of titanium drivers, their prices have come down so much that they have made steel shafts obsolete in regards to the market for drivers.

As for golf club shafts, there is a definite trend toward carbon graphite. One way to get a good energy transfer between the golf swing and the golf ball is to have a good whip in the shaft. Carbon graphite works very well. It's a very stiff material, and it can be tailored very simply to give whipishness or stiffness, depending on the flexibility and strength of the golfer.

These technical changes in golf club designs, has now become ever fast changing in the golf industry. Product development is critical, as each vendor has its own demands for pricing, shapes, materials, weights, hardness, stability, center of gravity, and other specifications for their club heads.

A short product life cycle is another hurdle to overcome. You must always stay ahead of market trends in order to help the customers,and be able to stay ahead of your competitors. You still have to meet demands, and at the same time improve upon increasing accuracy and quality.

It's extremely important to have an information infrastructure. The internet plays a huge roll in product development. You can save time by networking a large share of the business by lowering costs, improving quality, and shortening development time.

There's a human factor involved when looking into biomechanics,and its implications of research and development. It's not exact science when trying to define golf swing mechanics, or trying to consider a golfers behavior and emotions logically.

Next is the different combinations of golf club shafts, and trying to determine the forces upon it. Such as the vibrations, the amount of energy involved, and how that energy is transferred. Other factors to consider would be: What's the mass? What's the twist of the club head at impact? What effect does changing the location of the club's mass have on the moment of inertia? Where is the center of gravity? What is the effects of shaft flexibility on club-face positioning at the moment of impact? The determining factor is where is the weight-center, or the "sweet spot?

Golf equipment manufacturers have poured billions into the research and development of golf balls and clubs to hit longer and straighter.It hasn't been pure research, as much as product development, and that hasn't explained the entire process of the golf swing and all the forces involved. While a golf swing may seem like a simple movement, it's actually quite complex, and the smallest variable can send a golf ball into a sand trap, or worse.

As a golfer swings, the club twists and gains speed during the downswing, so the face of the club is angled as it strikes the ball. That angle gives the ball its lift and, along with the ball's aerodynamic properties, helps determine its trajectory. That's also why it was important to measure the golf balls lift, drag, and other properties and their contribution to distance. Through different models it's easier to describe why a golf ball flies as it does.

Math and Science have become increasingly important to the designing of golf equipment. Billions have been spent each year on research and development in order to improve upon mathematical models and biomechanics research presented by the U.S.G.A. There's been a tremendous amount of trial and error in product development.

For within these initial findings lies the future of a 400-year-old game played by millions yetunderstood by very few. These findings may serve to alleviate at least some of the frustration of the more than 35 million duffers who spend hours on golf courses each weekend, whacking little dimpled golf balls, all in the name of fun and relaxation.

Scott E. Kowalski
It's all about the research and development that goes into the decision making of how to design the best golf equipment on the marketplace.
Website: http://www.A-Zgolfswingmechanics.com
email:ParshootersTips@gmail.com