Preliminary study: advancing golf swing analysis via optoelectronic technology for ball contact detection and performance evaluation

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

 Motion analysis technologies, including Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) and optoelectronic systems, are valuable tools for sports performance evaluation. In golf, pinpointing the precise moment of club-ball contact is critical for analyzing swing metrics and predicting ball trajectory. While Cheon et al. utilized IMUs by identifying the maximum gyroscope value within the swing; and Wood et al. [3] combined optoelectronics and highspeed video; optoelectronic systems remain the gold standard for kinematic analyses due to  their superiority spaciotemporal accuracy, as they can precisely measure marker's position.

However, marker placement limitations on the athlete, club, and ball can introduce challenges like occlusion and potential damage for the markers due to the forceful nature of the swing. This article introduces an algorithm employing optoelectronic motion capture to address these marker placement difficulties and enhance motion analysis in golf.