[Note: This is from someone who has never swung a golf club or even held a golf ball in his life.]
To my online friend and longtime golf aficionado @celeb621126 (torum.com),
I have never tried golf — yet.
Instead, I’ve played tennis — on and off — for most of my life; starting in the USTA Juniors, then in college and finally for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps.
Yes, unbeknownst to most tax-paying civilians, athletically talented military personnel routinely receive Temporary Duty assignments competing in sports.
I was one of those people.
Several times during my career, my only job was to represent my unit, base or service in some local, regional or fleet tennis tournament; or serve on an interservice tennis team.
It was always a sweet gig.
Anyway, back on topic: JaiChai’s SWAG (Scientific Wild Ass Guess) about golf.
My nerdy inner dialogue goes like this:
“Hmm. I would venture to guess that greater power is generated by using the hips for energy transfer instead of the arms, resulting in less injuries to the upper extremities.
‘Muscling it’ instead of employing efficient bio-mechanics is a bad idea. It exposes the cervical vertebrae and the joints of the shoulder, elbow, wrist and fingers to prolonged periods of repetitive trauma; the major cause of pain and decreased ROM in the affected areas.
I’m sure that the distance, spin and trajectory of both the tennis ball and the golf ball are subject to the same laws of physics and aerodynamics.
Consequently, impact surface composition, elliptical force vectors, altitude, slope, terrain, wind and moisture should affect the behavior of a golf ball in roughly the same way they affect a tennis ball.
[End of nerdy inner dialogue]
All that said, if we ever played a “friendly” 18 holes of golf — each tee laden with a “friendly” little wager and copious amounts of booze, you’d still probably kick my ass!
Lol!
Hope you and yours enjoy the holiday season.
In Lak’ech, JaiChai
(JaiChai 24 DEC 2021. Simultaneous multi-site submissions posted. All rights reserved.)
