Follow Through

Region3

Region3

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Very important.

Any ball sport I've ever played, the follow through is said to be very important.

Football, tennis, cricket, badminton, snooker, golf.....

My question (not desperate to understand, just thought it might get interesting) is...

Why :D

Using golf as the example, the ball has left the club face a few hundredths of a second after contact.

The club (or you) can no longer influence what happens to the ball so why should it matter if you keep the face way open, wrap it round your waist or let go.

Also... 3/4 shot. Curtail the follow through. I know it works, takes about 10% off for me, but why the heck should it??? The ball's gone !
 
I would expect the immidate few hundreths econds of the follow through to be a direct result of the preceeding action, the "end" of the followthrough can be manipulated but only to a degree as you are in a position determined by what came before it.

I assume focussing on doing a certain action on the followthrough will affect the preceeding action by forcing that into a position to acheive the desired result.
 
I always assume it's because what happens after you hit the ball is influenced by what you do before it. E.g. to curtail your follow-through you (perhaps subconsciously) don't hit the ball as hard, so a shorter follow-through is likely to mean less distance on your shot.
 
Muttlee is on the money. If your follow through is shorter than your backswing the laws of physics dictate that at some point before you make contact with the ball you will have to be decelerating. This is why teaching pro's recommend a longer follow through as this means that the club head will be accelerating through impact and therefore you will not 'quit' on the shot.
 
If your follow through is shorter than your backswing the laws of physics dictate that at some point before you make contact with the ball you will have to be decelerating
Click to expand...

If it's there I'll give you the money myself :D
 
Theoretically, if you are strong enough you could have a follow through that is as short as 2 or 3 inches (fractionally longer than however long it takes the ball to leave the club head) and not be decelerating.

It's "just" a case of overcoming the club's inertia. However i wouldn't think anyone would have the strength or split second timing to do it.

If you saw off the finish on most shots you invariably make a shorter back swing (9 o'clock to 9 o'clock or whatever). This would be the factor in knocking off your 10%.
 
But why does shouting 'cut' or 'get down' or 'be right' at the ball after you have hit it make any difference also?

Mystery.
 
If your follow through is shorter than your backswing the laws of physics dictate that at some point before you make contact with the ball you will have to be decelerating
Click to expand...

If it's there I'll give you the money myself :D
Click to expand...

Hang on have I got this wrong. Newton's third law of motion is the old action causes reaction adage. If you take a full back swing but curtail your through swing surely you are applying a counter force to decelerate the club to a finish. If the decelerating force was applied after the club had made contact with the ball then it would have no impact on the energy transferred to the ball. As a result the ball would travel the same distance as it would on a full follow through. The reason it doesn't go as far is because less energy is transferred and less energy is transferred because the club head isn't traveling as quickly, which means that some form of deceleration must occur prior to impact.

Any physicists on here? :D
 
Let's look at this another way. Let's say you swing your 6 iron at 80 mph. So when the club hits the ball it is travelling at 80 mph. You curtail your follow through and lose 10% distance. Theoretically that should equate to a 10% reduction in swing speed so at impact your clubhead is travelling at 72 mph.

Could you really tell that you were decelerating at impact?
 
I think that it's more a case of if you have got yourself into a position where you have a good follow through, then the downswing and impact should have been good too. e.g. how can you finish with a good follow through if you have just shanked it (Murph)?

Concentrate on trying to get the follow through right and the rest of the swing will be better to allow this.

I think :D

But what the heck do I know???




But why does shouting 'cut' or 'get down' or 'be right' at the ball after you have hit it make any difference also?
Click to expand...

You can talk to a fade, but a hook will never listen - Lee Trevino.

And shouting "get in the hole" is very annoying :D
 
Let's look at this another way. Let's say you swing your 6 iron at 80 mph. So when the club hits the ball it is travelling at 80 mph. You curtail your follow through and lose 10% distance. Theoretically that should equate to a 10% reduction in swing speed so at impact your clubhead is travelling at 72 mph.

Could you really tell that you were decelerating at impact?
Click to expand...

I think it would be better to say not accelerating as much (as normal) through impact due to the thought pattern that you will be swinging a shorter distance on the follow through.
To imply that he is decelerating would mean that he has reached his normal speed before impact then slowed through impact. Not sure I would agree with the latter.

When I am playing a softer shot or a knock down i can feel the difference through impact as I feel I have more time throughout the whole swing before it goes in the trees.
 
If your follow through is shorter than your backswing the laws of physics dictate that at some point before you make contact with the ball you will have to be decelerating
Click to expand...

If it's there I'll give you the money myself :D
Click to expand...

Hang on have I got this wrong. Newton's third law of motion is the old action causes reaction adage. If you take a full back swing but curtail your through swing surely you are applying a counter force to decelerate the club to a finish. If the decelerating force was applied after the club had made contact with the ball then it would have no impact on the energy transferred to the ball. As a result the ball would travel the same distance as it would on a full follow through. The reason it doesn't go as far is because less energy is transferred and less energy is transferred because the club head isn't traveling as quickly, which means that some form of deceleration must occur prior to impact.

Any physicists on here? :D
Click to expand...

It's more years than I want to admit to since I did Physics at school, but I'm sure the words 'equal and opposite' are in the Newton law that you referred to.

Are you putting as much effort into stopping the club as you are in accelerating it?

The loss of 10% distance must be due to a slower clubhead speed, but to me I'm swinging with the same effort as normal. The funny thing is that sometimes the ball will go too far then I'll notice that I've made a full follow through even though my backswing was shorter.

I can't guarantee that I'm not slowing down through impact (although I doubt it) but I'd have a mortgage sized bet that the pro's aren't slowing down when they play a punch shot or 3/4 wedge.
 
I think it's this 'all in the mind' thing again. Any stroke made in any sport; be it a golf shot, cricket stroke, sqash/badminton shot, even a boxing punch, should surely be trained & prepared for and executed as one whole action. Get one bit of it wrong and it makes the whole thing less effective. Yes?
 
Maybe the deceleration comment was a red herring. From my limited knowledge I am sure the clubhead reaches maximum velocity at the middle of the arc. By shortening the follow through you move the middle of the arc thereby meaning the club is no longer travelling at maximum velocity at point of impact thereby reducing distance.

Seriously are there any physicists on here. My head hurts!!!
 
Maybe the decelaration comment was a red herring. From my limited knowledge I am sure the clubhead reaches maximum velocity at the middle of the arc. By shortening the follow through you move the middle of the arc thereby meaning the club is no longer travelling at maximum velocity at point of impact thereby reducing distance.

Seriously are there any physicists on here. My head hurts!!!
Click to expand...

Homer is that you? And this is why you will never become a single digit man, as long as you keep worrying about shizzle like this!
Learn to hit a ball 75-90%, chip and putt. The rest will sort itself out. ;)
 
Friendly advice Tiger (no offence/harm nor sarcasm intended), the fact you came out with that means it is bouncing around inside your head. A little like when I am playing well, I always get a nagging doubt swinging like an ape inside the noggin.
I find that I subconsciously finish where I finish, sometimes if I finish low, its because I maybe had to alter the shot a little. I certainly wont be standing over the ball thinking, Ive got to stop this club by whatever point.
 
No offence taken. Honestly brendy it's just intrigued me as to what the reason is and the scientific explanation. I just like knowing the answers to things, it's a puzzle that's all.

All I am concentrating on the course is relaxing, playing and enjoying...

...oh and not duffing my playing partners pro v into a pond! ;)
 
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