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The science of the golf swing involves two important aspects:
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Dynamics – the effect of external forces on the movement of the golf ball |
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Biomechanics – the study of the mechanics of muscular activity, or, simply put, the study of body positions and form, in sport |
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The Kiran Kanwar Golf Swing has been developed working backwards from the Ball Flight Laws, which are the only factors governing the distance, direction and trajectory a ball can acquire: |
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It harnesses both the greater power of the hips and trunk and the lesser, but still important, power of the wrists, for maximum clubhead speed and thus power. It does this by forcing the left side of the body to be pulled towards the right, creating ideal weight-shift. |
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It takes the clubshaft back ‘in’ so that it becomes easy to bring the club back to the ball from an inside (the target line) path |
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It maintains clubface position, as there are no independent movements of the arms and wrists during the backswing |
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It shallows out the club’s angle of approach to the ball, thus creating higher trajectory. It does this by having no wrist-bend, and almost no right elbow bend, at the top of the backswing. |
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The Ball Flight Laws (and flaws?)
There are five Laws according to which the golf ball must travel, when struck by a golf club.
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1. |
Clubface angle |
2. |
Club path |
3. |
Club angle of Approach |
4. |
Clubhead speed |
5. |
Centerdness of contact |
Clubface angle describes how ‘open' or ‘closed' the face of the club is (‘square' being ideal). It's main influence is on direction of ball curvature.
Club path describes from which direction the club is approaching the ball – out-to-in, in-to-out, or the ideal, in-to-in (‘out' being away from the body and ‘in' being towards the body, as seen by the golfer, when in an address position). The path influences in which direction the ball will start off.
Angle of approach is the vertical angle at which the clubhead descends towards, and climbs up and away from, the ball. It can be either ‘shallow' or ‘steep', and shallow is ideal, as the ball can then climb on the grooves of the club upon impact, and get better trajectory. (Except for a high, soft, pitch shot, when a steeper angle of approach is desirable)
Clubhead speed is the speed of the club as it approaches the ball, and is the biggest influence on how far the ball will travel after being hit.
Centredness of contact describes whether the ball connects the club at its centre (ideal) or closer to its heel or toe.
If you’ve understood all of the above, quick, take this easy test:
Q: A club approaches the ball with a shallow angle of approach and with a square clubface and path. At what point on the club’s face will contact be?
A (mine): At it’s centre, surely!
If that is the case, Law number 5 seems redundant. On the other hand, no-one seems to discuss loft (or, rather, effective loft) of clubface at impact.
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