Regulation of Angular Impulse during Golf Swings with Different Clubs

INTRODUCTION Regulation of linear and angular momentum during well-practiced goal-directed movements involves control of the total body center of mass trajectory (CM) in relation to the reaction forces generated during contact with the environment[1]. During the golf swing, the resultant horizontal component of the reaction force (RFh) at each foot creates a moment about a vertical axis passing through the CM that accelerates rotation of the body toward the target. Prior to the initiation of the down swing, this force couple applied to the body is created by the posterior directed RFh applied to the target foot (left foot in right handed players) and the anterior directed RFh applied to the rear foot (right foot)[2]. Generation of linear momentum in the direction of the target has been associated with the “shift in weight” from the rear leg to the target leg during the downswing[3,4], all while maintaining the CM trajectory within the base of support. Temporal sequencing of RFs generated by the same player using different clubs (driver vs irons) has been reported to be consistent within player[2]; However, magnitudes of the vertical and anterior posterior components of the target leg RF were reported to be higher than when using a driver as compared to an iron [2].