Purpose. the aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between golf players' performance, impact factors, and ball flight results with individual clubs when performing a full swing. Methods. the study involved 9 amateur golfers who performed a full swing test with 4 different clubs (short, middle, long iron, and driver) and then played a tournament round of golf. the players' performance was assessed by handicap and by game statistics from the tournament. the ball flight results were based on the resulting carry distance and the resulting side deviation from the target line. the impact factors were the initial ball speed, the club head speed, the smash factor, the face angle, the club path, and the face to path. Relationships between the players' performance, impact factors, and ball flight results were investigated. Results. A significant relationship was found between the resulting ball flight distance and handicap for long iron (r = -0.85; p < 0.01) and driver (r = -0.9; p < 0.01). Conversely, the resulting ball flight side deviation from the target line correlated with handicap in short iron (r = 0.78; p = 0.02). Conclusions. ball flight distance of long iron and driver and ball flight side deviation of short iron are key attributes of performance. the results suggest that in order to improve long term performance, players should aim for maximal distance with drivers and long irons (high smash factor) and for maximal accuracy with short irons (low face angle).

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The purpose of our study was to investigate peak torque (PT) of knee extensors (KE) and knee flexors (KF), bilateral and unilateral strength asymmetries in isokinetic testing and vertical jump height (JH), vertical ground reaction force (VGRF), and force differences (ΔVGRF) between legs during different jump tests in professional first-line firefighters (n = 15) competing in fire sports disciplines. There was a significant effect of jump type on JH (F2,44 = 7.23, p < 0.05), VGRF (F2,44 = 16.03, p < 0.05), and ΔVGRF (F2,44 = 3.45, p < 0.05). Professional firefighters achieved a mean JH of 50.17 cm in the countermovement jump free arms and high PT of KEs (3.15 Nm/kg). No significant differences (p > 0.05) and small effect sizes (d < 0.3) were found between the legs when PTs were assessed. We found a slightly higher (d = 0.53) unilateral strength ratio in non-dominant legs (58.12 ± 10.26%) compared to dominant legs (55.31 ± 7.51%). No effect of laterality was found among limb comparisons, but a higher unilateral isokinetic strength ratio was found in non-dominant legs of firefighters. A high level of strength (PT of KEs > 3 times body weight) and vertical jump performance is comparable to the performance of elite athletic populations.

The aim of the study was to determine the variability of golf swing execution in lower and upper body parameters for two golf clubs. Eleven elite female golfers of junior age volunteered in the study and performed 10 trials with mid-iron and with driver at laboratory conditions. A 3D motion capture system was used to measure the lower and upper body movement parameters and club head speed. To assess variability, the coefficient of variation (CV%) and biological coefficient of variation (BCV%) were calculated. Two-tailed t test was used to identify differences between mid-iron and driver variability for each selected kinematic parameter. Any significant difference in variability of kinematics parameters was found between mid-iron club and driver club. However, for both clubs, we found high stability of performance in timing parameters and of lower limbs kinematic parameters at three selected moments of the golf swing. We conclude that timing stability may be the key to achieve the effective and repeatable golf swing in both golf clubs types and that high intra-individual variability of performance may be due to large age range in the study group.

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