ABSTRACT
The link between the state of clubhead to ball impact and the resulting trajectory occupies the primary interest of golfers. The purpose of this study was first, to explore the relation between the geometric properties of clubface orientation and the swing path and the resulting trajectory characteristics, secondly, to present the result in intuitive form or visual form for the sake of easy application to golf play. The spherical mapping that is usually used for mathematical analysis, played a key role in this study. By using the spherical mapping, all geometric factors on the state of impact were mapped on the unit spherical surface in well-organized way. The resultant ball path was also mapped on the surface.
The study eventually produced the rigorous equation between the clubface orientation deviation, swing path deviation, the loft of club, and the sidespin to under spin ratio of the resultant trajectory. At the same time, it was found that the spherical mapping is not only useful for theoretical study but also very effective to visually understand the phenomenon. The validity of the mapping method, were confirmed by application to a few typical situations at golf play. It was shown that for various play situations, mapping provides insitu information on the state of the impact that is impossible to see. This could shorten the feed back cycle to correcting golfer’s erroneous swing.
