Driving performance variability among elite golfers

In recent years studies have been carried out on single subjects, for example by Kinugasa et al., 2004. It has been reported that it is unlikely any two golfers will have an identical swing, and even that an individual golfer is unlikely to produce two identical swings. The present study aimed to address performance variability among elite level golfers to ascertain whether single-subject (SS) analysis is merited for golf studies. Six elite golfers (0.1 ± 2.2 handicap, 22.1 ± 2.3 yrs) performed eight trials each using three randomly assigned drivers specifically constructed with matched physical properties for the current study. Testing was carried out on a purpose-built outdoor practice hole. A stereoscopic high-speed camera was used to record club head and ball launch conditions prior to and immediately after impact. Two laser range finders were positioned approximately 250 yards (229 m) from the tee providing measures of carry and accuracy. There existed significant differences in overall performance between subjects. Club head velocity, spin axis tilt, launch angle and dispersion all exhibited inter-subject differences (p<0.05). In addition, club head velocity exhibited significant intra-subject variability (p<0.01) among all subjects. However, whilst statistically significant variations in carry and dispersion were observed for shots performed with matched drivers, absolute variation was actually very small (<0.5 %). Results suggest that golf research merits SS analysis although intra-subject variability was also noted among even elite level golfers.