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Extraction of differences in deformation behavior of golf-club shafts with different kick points

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Abstract

Playing golf with an appropriate club is essential to execute drives correctly and achieve low scores. Studies have been conducted on the choice of golf clubs for improved performance. A well-chosen club not only improves the shot but also the perceived “feel.” However, no studies have investigated the effects of changes in the physical properties of the club on the feel yet. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the factors that influence the feel when golfers swing shafts with different kick points. A golf club was modeled using a simulation model consisting of Euler–Bernoulli beams to evaluate the deformation behavior of the shaft. Furthermore, we performed a motion capture experiment to measure the grip movement of golf-club shafts with different kick points to calculate the inertial force generated at each node. We input these force values into the simulation model to evaluate the deformation behavior of the shaft. The deformation behavior was employed as an observation matrix, and singular value decomposition was applied to evaluate the main deformation behavior in comparison with the experimental results. The deformation behavior of the shaft comprised two major deformation types, and we compared the main behaviors for different kick points. The results reveal that the angle and amplitude of the main deformation behavior changed with the changed in kick point. Finally, we also identified commonalities in golfers who preferred high-kick-point shafts.

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Data availability statement

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose and no competing interests to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Department II, Research and Development HQ., Sumitomo Rubber Industries, LTD., 1-1, 2-Chome, Tsutsui-Cho, Chuo-Ku, Kobe, 651-0071, Japan

    Kosuke Okazaki & Masahiko Ueda

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Doshisha University, 1-3, Tataramiyakodani, Kyotanabe-City, Kyoto, 610-0321, Japan

    Kosuke Okazaki, Nobutaka Tsujiuchi, Akihito Ito & Kosuke Ito

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  1. Kosuke Okazaki
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  2. Nobutaka Tsujiuchi
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  3. Akihito Ito
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  4. Kosuke Ito
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  5. Masahiko Ueda
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Contributions

All the authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by KO and KI. The first draft of the manuscript was written by KO, and all the authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All the authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Kosuke Okazaki.

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Conflict of interest

The authors have no competing interests to declare that are relevant to the content of this article. The authors did not receive support from any organization for the submitted work. The authors obtained informed consent in writing from all the participants in the experiment.

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This article is a part of a Topical Collection in Sports Engineering on The Engineering of Sport 14 Conference held at Purdue University USA, edited by Dr Hugo Espinosa, Steven Shade, Dr Kim Blair and Professor Jan-Anders Månsson.

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Okazaki, K., Tsujiuchi, N., Ito, A. et al. Extraction of differences in deformation behavior of golf-club shafts with different kick points. Sports Eng 26, 14 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12283-023-00404-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12283-023-00404-w

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