ABSTRACT
Discrete foot pressures and movements of the body and club during the golf swing were studied using piezoelectric transducers and three-dimensional video techniques, with special consideration given to the load-bearing roles of the feet. Pressures at eleven specific foot locations were obtained for six male right-handed subjects as they played shots outdoors from a tee-box area with a driver club under two shoe type conditions: spiked soles and rubber moulded soles. Significant inter-subject variation existed in the onset times for both unloading and loading at specific foot locations, which along with peak pressure magnitude differences indicated different foot mechanics during the swing. However, there were some common findings across subjects. For all trials, the pressure at the left mid-heel location started to increase approximately midway through the backswing, with a subsequent modest increase sustained until some time after the top of the backswing. At this point in time a very rapid increase in pressure was initiated which culminated in a peak value before rapidly decreasing again. The modest increase indicated the first movement of the left foot in preparation for the downswing, while the rapid pressure changes represented the combined result of gravitational and body inertial effects. The longest drives yielded the highest peak pressures, which were found at the first metatarsal heads and occurred before the time of ball 29impact. In addition, the highest peak pressures were associated with the spiked shoe condition.
