The effect of golf club moment of inertia on clubhead delivery and golfer kinematics

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of modifying whole club moment of inertia (MOI) on clubhead delivery, thorax and wrist kinematics. Seven skilled golfers hit ~10 shots with two driver conditions (MOI difference ~400 kg∙cm²). A GOM system tracked the clubhead at impact and a 12-camera Vicon system was used to determine golfer biomechanics. Paired sample t-tests were conducted to quantify the effect of MOI on clubhead delivery, whilst biomechanical differences during the downswing were determined using statistical parametric mapping. Increasing MOI significantly reduced clubhead velocity (p = 0.001) but had a small and non-significant effect (p ≥ 0.294) on clubhead direction and orientation. The increase in MOI significantly decreased lead wrist flexion, thorax lateral bend and thorax axial rotation velocities during the downswing. The timing and magnitude of the decreases in both thorax velocities, suggests that these were contributing factors of the observed decrease in clubhead velocity.