golf imperatives web pdf

Acceleration
Solve the mystery
Try to understand acceleration because it could be the one thing which is holding back your
progress. Every driving range in the country has a machine which measures club head speed.
Of course this promotes a contest between golfers to have the highest club head speed. Often
this becomes a greater measure of golfing prowess than the game itself. The true measure
should be golf ball acceleration although often in the search of club head speed, compression
of the ball becomes secondary. The club head should
accelerate until after impact or the bottom of the
divot. After this point the slowing down period begins
and ends with a complete stop at the top of the follow
through. The biggest enemy of this acceleration is to
begin the swing too fast. Often in the search of more
club head speed this is exactly what happens. Lets
take two swings, the first achieves 80 kph club head
speed at impact but because earlier in the swing it was
traveling at 90 kph this deceleration causes the club
head to pass the hands making the impact position weak with the club face laid back. As the
true speed of the ball is not at impact but at separation this club head throwaway will cause a
loss of compression and therefore speed. The final speed of the ball could be as low as 50
kph. The second swing has a much slower club head speed of 60 kph at impact, but earlier in
the swing it was even less at 50 kph. This is almost half the speed of the first swing at the
same point. Because of this the compression of the ball will be more efficient and the ball
should leave the club face with almost the full 60 kph of speed and also a better launch angle
and spin rate to maximise distance. Finally, body mass, club head speed and ball compression
all combine to create distance. Don't sacrifice ball compression in the quest for club head
speed.
" Many shots are spoiled at the last instant by efforts to add a few more yards " Bobby Jones
16 GOLF IMPERATIVES