GOLF SWING VARIABILITY IN ELITE FEMALE JUNIOR GOLFERS

Overview

High golf performance depends on ability to repeat golf swing execution with all golf clubs and reach repetitive contact between the golf club and the ball. The aim of the study was to determine the variability of golf swing execution in lower and upper body parameters for two golf clubs. Eleven elite female golfers of junior age volunteered in the study and performed 10 trials with mid-iron and with driver at laboratory conditions. 3D motion capture system was used to measure the lower and upper body movement parameters and club head speed. To assess variability the coefficient of variation and biological coefficient of variation were used. Two-tailed t test was used to identify difference between mid-iron and driver variability for all kinematic variables. Club effect was found at top of the backswing in shoulders tilt (p = 0.02) and at impact in shoulders rotation (p = 0.01), shoulders tilt (p = 0.02) and club head speed (p = 0.001). We did not found any significant difference in variability of body movement kinematic parameters and temporal parameters between mid-iron and driver. We found high stability of performance in temporal parameters and for lower limbs kinematic parameters at three selected moments of the golf swing for both clubs. We suggest that stability of temporal parameters is the key to achieve the effective and repeatable golf swing in all golf clubs.

Klíčová slova:

Golf swing – Shoulders – Pelvis – club head speed – Kinematics