Hey guys, my names Chris North and I’m from Lancaster, PA. I, like a few others in this class, am majoring in PGA Golf Management. With my father being a thermal engineer, and my mother working in biological research, science was always very present in my household. Not exactly my style however. Nothing against my parents, but planning my evening around when the next iridium flare would be and how bioluminescence works were not my favorite topics of discussion at the dinner table.
Golf had always been my passion and that is why I jumped on the opportunity to study golf in college. Ive always been fascinated with the golf swing and how it works. I’m sure a majority of you have seen the movie Happy Gilmore, or at least know of the swing. At almost every driving range across America, there is some idiot trying to convince their buddies that they can hit one just like in the movie. But does this goofy approach actually add any distance off the tee? if it does why isn’t every professional golfer running up to the ball and whacking it like a slap shot?
I looked online to see that the fine folks at Sports Science had already taken the same thing into consideration. They looked at all the data and numbers of a golfer hitting a golf ball from a standing position and a running start. The video does a great job with dissecting the science behind both swings and explaining why one is greater than the other. (Spoiler alert: Hollywood’s portrayal takes the upper hand).
Hey Chris boy do we love to share laughs with Happy Gilmore quotes. Its a great movie and one of the most known things about Golf. Everyone who has been to a driving range has tried a Happy Gilmore Swing. You can’t lie either Mr. North you know you have done it before. I found this article that goes into depth some more about the swing (http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2012/09/15/weekend-diversion-the-physics-of-happy-gilmore/) Hope you enjoy.
I enjoyed your post I thought the part you added about the golf swing was very interesting. I’m a huge sports fan and have always been interested in how science and sports are related. Specifically, when i was younger, I played a lot of baseball and was fascinated that swinging a bat has a science to it. If you’re interested, check this out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9CEuJ5e2cM.
You say your parents are scientists, but it just wasn’t your thing–I completely understand. My parents are super business-oriented people and I just hate that stuff. But still, I have a great grasp of financial management and savings and so forth. Likewise, you seem to have an analytical mind when it comes to the physics of the golf swing. While you may have interests other than science, perhaps you possess similar qualities of a scientific mind like your parents. It’s funny how we both don’t care for our parents occupations too much, but we certainly appreciate and to a lesser degree, understand their workings. Here (https://research.facebook.com/blog/do-jobs-run-in-families-/) [I don’t know how to do live links on comments 🙁 ] is a discussion on familial occupation that I think you may find interesting. Cheers.