The maximization of ball flight distance is a very important factor for golf players. This maximization is mostly determined through sequential movements of body segments, timing and speed of body rotation and the club head speed at impact (Smith et al., 2015). There are numerous measuring instruments and research for the analysis of aforementioned parameters but a golf specific strength measuring method for the muscle groups of the different body segments does not exist at all. With the help of a special cable pulley system (Kinesis TechnoGym), “extensions” by Logical Golf and a built-in load cell in the cable system, it is possible to measure force development in different joints during the golf swing and to calculate explosive strength for the first time.
Goal of this study was to examine the golf specific explosive strength in different types of diagnostic methods. N = 30 male golf players (handicap +1 to -20) partici- pated in this cross-sectional study and were separated in three groups of the same size depending on their handicap. The tests had to be performed in an appointed order: sport motor activity tests (push ups and sit-ups), arm, hip and shoulder strengthening exercises with the cable system, measuring of body rotation speed (hand, arm, shoulder and hip) with Golf BioDynamics and at the same time record- ing of club head and ball speed with Flight Scope.
A correlation analysis between test variables has been made to examine connec- tions as well as a univariate ANOVA to analyse differences between the handicap groups regarding different golf related parameters. Strong effects between hand ro- tation speed and the variables of swing speeds could be found.
The regression analysis confirmed a highly significant strong effect of angular rota- tion speed on the swing speed (R2FS_CS = .595***, R2FS_BS = .545***).
Significant differences between the groups could also be found with the hand rota- tion speed (p = .009*), club head speed (p = .017*) and ball speed (p = .026*), whereas no evidence was given for differences between the groups regarding kine- sis respectively strong connections with other variables.
The tests should be repeated with a higher number of participants to allow a gener- alization oft the results. Furthermore, the planned amount of time for the habituation phase of the kinesis exercises should be longer.
This study does only provide first insights and tendencies for this new golf specific exercise method, which could surely improve the diagnostics in golf sports through further research in the future.
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The maximization of ball flight distance is a very important factor for golf players. This maximization is mostly determined through sequential movements of body segments, timing and speed of body rotation and the club head speed at impact (Smith et al., 2015). There are numerous measuring instruments and research for the analysis of aforementioned parameters but a golf specific strength measuring method for the muscle groups of the different body segments does not exist at all. With the help of...
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