Golf styles and centre of pressure patterns when using different golf clubs

Abstract

When using a driver, the centre of pressure of a golfer shows a pattern that is characteristic of one of two distinct swing styles: the “front foot” style or the “reverse” style. The aim of this study was to establish whether these two swing styles are also evident when using other clubs, and if so, to determine whether golfers use the same swing style when using different clubs. Forty-six professional, amateur, and recreational golfers performed swings to hit a ball into a net placed 3 m away. Ten swings were performed for each of the driver, 3-iron, and 7-iron while standing on two force plates. The position of the golfer's centre of pressure parallel with the line of shot and relative to the feet was quantified at eight swing events that were identified from 200-Hz video. Cluster analysis confirmed that the front foot and reverse styles were evident in all three clubs, and most of the golfers (96%) used the same swing style for all three clubs. Golfers that used the reverse swing positioned their centre of pressure nearer to their toes at ball contact compared with golfers that used the front foot swing.     

Assessment of vitamin D concentration in non-supplemented professional athletes and healthy adults during the winter months in the UK: implications for skeletal muscle function

Abstract

The current study implemented a two-part design to (1) assess the vitamin D concentration of a large cohort of non-vitamin D supplemented UK-based athletes and 30 age-matched healthy non-athletes and (2) to examine the effects of 5000 IU · day^?1 vitamin D₃ supplementation for 8-weeks on musculoskeletal performance in a placebo controlled trial. Vitamin D concentration was determined as severely deficient if serum 25(OH)D < 12.5 nmol · l^?1, deficient 12.5–30 nmol · l^?1 and inadequate 30–50 nmol · l^?1. We demonstrate that 62% of the athletes (38/61) and 73% of the controls (22/30) exhibited serum total 25(OH)D < 50 nmol · l^?1. Additionally, vitamin D supplementation increased serum total 25(OH)D from baseline (mean ± SD = 29 ± 25 to 103 ± 25 nmol · l^?1, P = 0.0028), whereas the placebo showed no significant change (53 ± 29 to 74 ± 24 nmol · l^?1, P = 0.12). There was a significant increase in 10 m sprint times (P = 0.008) and vertical-jump (P = 0.008) in the vitamin D group whereas the placebo showed no change (P = 0.587 and P = 0.204 respectively). The current data supports previous findings that athletes living at Northerly latitudes (UK = 53° N) exhibit inadequate vitamin D concentrations (<50 nmol · l^?1). Additionally the data suggests that inadequate vitamin D concentration is detrimental to musculoskeletal performance in athletes. Future studies using larger athletic groups are now warranted.     

Response to Fry and Kraemer

In general, women are well represented among sport participants and sport audiences but not in the media. Data show that women's sport is greatly underreported and trivialized in newspapers. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to measure press coverage during the 2000 Summer Olympic Games in the largest circulating Belgian, Danish, French, and Italian daily newspapers by: (a) number of articles, (b) size, (c) page placement, (d) accompanying photographs, and (e) photograph size. For each sport covered, the athletes' nationality and the gender were recorded. Compared to the 1996 Atlanta Games, there was an increase of 326 female athletes (+4%), and women competed in 25 sports and 132 events (44%) of the total 300 events. Although only 29.3% of the articles and 38% of photos were on women's sports, the newspaper coverage was similar to the distribution of participating athletes and events. No significant gender differences were found with respect to article size, page placement, accompanying photographs, or photograph size. The most covered sport was track and field, independent of national achievement. Other sports received different coverage in relation to national expectations, achievement, and participation. In conclusion, there was a trend to overcome gender inequities in media coverage during the Olympic Games, which may be due to the International Olympic Committee's actions to promote increased participation of women in sport activities and to publicize their achievements. Moreover, during the Olympic Games, a nationalistic fervor might affect the equality of gender coverage.     

Sports officials’ intention to continue

With governments in many western countries implementing sport policy programmes directed at increasing levels of participation, stress is being placed on the capacity of sport systems to provide sufficient numbers of appropriately accredited officials. However, with declining numbers of officials, particularly early career officials, sport organisations are also facing management problems in relation to the retention of existing officials. Using a quasi-experimental 2 × 2 field-based research design this study explored the efficacy of organisational support aimed at increasing retention of early career sports officials. The research addressed two questions: (1) Do stressors of officiating, commitment and organisational support predict the intention of early career officials to continue officiating? and (2) What is the efficacy of organisational support in increasing the intention of early career officials to continue officiating? The results support previous research that stressors and commitment explain intention to continue. Intention to continue was found to be a stable construct that was not influenced by an organisational support programme. Despite significant zero-order relationships between organisational support and intentions to continue, organisational support explained no additional or unique variance above that explained by commitment and stressors of officiating. The results provide the basis for further research as well as insights for developing organisational support and retention strategies for sports officials.     

An examination of the effect of customized reading modules on diverse secondary students’ reading comprehension and motivation

This research sought to add to a body of knowledge that is severely underrepresented in the scientific literature, the effects of technological tools on reading comprehension and reading motivation in diverse secondary students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. The study implemented an independent silent reading (ISR) program across a 5-month semester in an urban public high school and included 145 participants from nine 10th grade literature classes. The control group took part in no ISR, one treatment group participated in weekly ISR read from a textbook, and another treatment group participated in weekly ISR read from a computer module designed to address essential components of reading. Students were measured on global reading comprehension, text-specific reading assessments, and reading motivation. After controlling for initial skill and disposition levels, the results indicated that students from both ISR groups made greater gains than the control group in global reading comprehension, while the computer reading module group outperformed the textbook group and the control on text-specific assignments and increased their reading motivation to a greater degree than those in the other conditions. This research offers much-needed data on secondary students?? reading achievement and disposition and provides evidence that ISR implemented through the use of instructional technology and cognitive tools has broad potential to address development in these areas.     

The Irish ‘Working Group on Information Literacy’ – Edging towards a national policy

The authors of this paper provide an overview of the activities of the Irish Working Group on Information Literacy (WGIL) and its role in advancing a national policy for information literacy in the Republic of Ireland.The study focuses on the work of the group during its lifetime including the various activities, marketing and advocacy initiatives and some of the challenges and issues the group faced, in particular, the diversity of the Irish library and information sector and the lack of an integrated approach for information literacy development.The study presents the findings of the report produced by WGIL entitled Library Association of Ireland: Working Group on Information Literacy: Review of Cross-Sector Activity 2006–2008 and Initial Recommendations for Further Action which reviewed best practices and information literacy activities in the various LIS sectors in the Republic of Ireland during a two-year period. The key recommendation of this report is for the leadership of the Library Association of Ireland to develop a national information literacy strategy that advocates for the importance of information literacy as a lifelong and transferable skill.     

Centre of pressure patterns in the golf swing: individual-based analysis

Weight transfer has been identified as important in group-based analyses. The aim of this study was to extend this work by examining the importance of weight transfer in the golf swing on an individual basis. Five professional and amateur golfers performed 50 swings with the driver, hitting a ball into a net. The golfer's centre of pressure position and velocity, parallel with the line of shot, were measured by two force plates at eight swing events that were identified from high-speed video. The relationships between these parameters and club head velocity at ball contact were examined using regression statistics. The results did support the use of group-based analysis, with all golfers returning significant relationships. However, results were also individual-specific, with golfers returning different combinations of significant factors. Furthermore, factors not identified in group-based analysis were significant on an individual basis. The most consistent relationship was a larger weight transfer range associated with a larger club head velocity (p < 0.05). All golfers also returned at least one significant relationship with rate of weight transfer at swing events (p < 0.01). Individual-based analysis should form part of performance-based biomechanical analysis of sporting skills.