Curvature and planarity of the driver golf swing within the impact zone.

Engineering of Sport 15 - Proceedings from the 15th International Conference on the Engineering of Sport (ISEA 2024)

The ultimate expression of the golf swing is the movement of the club head. Its position and speed at impact will determine the flight of the ball and consequently the performance of the shot. Articles have paid attention to the planarity of the trajectory described by the club head during the Delivery Plane (DP). In this paper, the trajectory described by the club head is presented as a half-circumference contained in a fixed plane. In Morrison et al (2018) it is analysed the first half of the DP, and its consistent planarity is also reaffirmed, but the curve described is an ellipse. The eccentricity of the ellipse grows with the increase of the player’s skill. This paper aims to continue this line of research and introduce the idea of release. It describes the part of the golf swing that happens at the impact zone. Our research aims to carry out a sequential geometric study of the trajectory described by the club head within the impact zone for players of different skills and to compare the results obtained referred to its curvature and torsion. This knowledge could be used to optimise the trajectory of the club head during the swing to enhance the learning process and the performance of the players.