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Monday, August 15, 2011

Pro Golfers Swing Differently than Amateurs: Stanford School of Medicine Study Shows Biomechanical Differences: Hip Rotation Initiates Downswing

Jessica Rose, PhD, and a team of researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have obtained valuable new insights on the golf swing. As John Sanford writes:
"For the first time, several key rotational-biomechanic elements of the golf stroke in its entirety, from backswing to follow-through, were analyzed, and then the data were used to generate benchmark curves, said Jessica Rose, PhD, associate professor of orthopaedic surgery and senior author of the study."
The medical object of the study was of course to study golf-induced injuries by studying swing fundamentals. It was found that pros do in fact swing differently than amateurs:
"Researchers analyzed several biomechanical elements of subjects’ golf swings, including S-factor (tilt of the shoulders), O-factor (tilt of the hips) and X-factor — the relative rotation of the hips to the shoulders, measured in degrees — which is considered key to power generation. Previous research has shown that pro golfers who hit the ball far generally have a larger peak X-factor than their peers, but this study is more extensive in that it considers X-factor in relation to other rotational biomechanics of the golf swing over the full duration of the motion."
Of immense use to all golfers, pro or amateur, and immensely valuable to teaching professionals, the study found for the first time scientifically that it is hip rotation that initiates the downswing:
"Conrad Ray, the Knowles Family Director of Men’s Golf at Stanford University and a co-author of the study, said the findings give scientific backing to the elements of golf-swing form that professionals have long understood are vital for generating power. The study also helps to clarify some unresolved questions about golf-swing biomechanics, Ray said. “One question that always comes from students is, ‘What starts the downswing?’” he said. “People have had different answers. Some would say the hands, or others would say the shoulders or the lower body. But the study confirms that rotation of the hips initiates the downswing. So that, to me, is an interesting finding.”"

Sky Earth Native America


Sky Earth Native America 1 :
American Indian Rock Art Petroglyphs Pictographs
Cave Paintings Earthworks & Mounds as Land Survey & Astronomy
,
Volume 1, Edition 2, 266 pages, by Andis Kaulins.

  • Sky Earth Native America 2 :
    American Indian Rock Art Petroglyphs Pictographs
    Cave Paintings Earthworks & Mounds as Land Survey & Astronomy
    ,
    Volume 2, Edition 2, 262 pages, by Andis Kaulins.

  • Both volumes have the same cover except for the labels "Volume 1" viz. "Volume 2".
    The image on the cover was created using public domain space photos of Earth from NASA.

    -----

    Both book volumes contain the following basic book description:
    "Alice Cunningham Fletcher observed in her 1902 publication in the American Anthropologist
    that there is ample evidence that some ancient cultures in Native America, e.g. the Pawnee in Nebraska,
    geographically located their villages according to patterns seen in stars of the heavens.
    See Alice C. Fletcher, Star Cult Among the Pawnee--A Preliminary Report,
    American Anthropologist, 4, 730-736, 1902.
    Ralph N. Buckstaff wrote:
    "These Indians recognized the constellations as we do, also the important stars,
    drawing them according to their magnitude.
    The groups were placed with a great deal of thought and care and show long study.
    ... They were keen observers....
    The Pawnee Indians must have had a knowledge of astronomy comparable to that of the early white men."
    See Ralph N. Buckstaff, Stars and Constellations of a Pawnee Sky Map,
    American Anthropologist, Vol. 29, Nr. 2, April-June 1927, pp. 279-285, 1927.
    In our book, we take these observations one level further
    and show that megalithic sites and petroglyphic rock carving and pictographic rock art in Native America,
    together with mounds and earthworks, were made to represent territorial geographic landmarks
    placed according to the stars of the sky using the ready map of the starry sky
    in the hermetic tradition, "as above, so below".
    That mirror image of the heavens on terrestrial land is the "Sky Earth" of Native America,
    whose "rock stars" are the real stars of the heavens, "immortalized" by rock art petroglyphs, pictographs,
    cave paintings, earthworks and mounds of various kinds (stone, earth, shells) on our Earth.
    These landmarks were placed systematically
    in North America, Central America (Meso-America) and South America
    and can to a large degree be reconstructed as the Sky Earth of Native America."