[BerntR]

The thread you linked to HB certainly sustains the line of confusion.

HK defined Centrifugal Force as The effort of the swinging clubhead to pull the Primary Lever Assembly into a straight line) So far so good.

Everyone who read TGM and says that Centrifugal Force isn't really a force is correct. But HK wasn't wrong either. HK's definition brings the term 100% inline with general physics. But something important is left out of the picture.

HK's Centrifugal Force is just inertia. The moving mass wants to move on a straight line. That's all centrifugal force is about. It takes a real force in the other end pull the primary lever straight. This is Centripetal Force. Centripetal force pulls the moving mass towards the swing center so the mass moves in a circle. If there's any slack (out of line conditions) involved they will seek their inline condition.

Centripetal Force is essential to understand the physics involved in the golf stroke. You guys should look it up. It is the mother of circular motions. It is a force that doesn't do any work whatsoever. It changes the direction of the speed. But it doesn't create any speed.

Imagine a pole with a rope attached at the top, and in the other end there is a tennis ball. You hit the tennis ball with a racket (that would be linear force). Thereafter the tennis ball will spin by itself for a long time. If there weren't any friction involved it would spin forever. That spinning shows the nature of centripetal force.

Centripetal Force is the force that turns a straight motion into a circular motion. It's incredible important in the golf stroke. To include centrifugal force and not include centripetal force in TGM as HK did was a blunder, IMO.

When you use your pressure points and levers in the swing, the total pressure will partly be centripetal and partly linear. Needless to say, the left arm will usually carry a major part of the Centripetal Force. But it will also carry linear force. It is unavoidable for geometrical reasons.

But don't believe for a second that a swinger has more centripetal force than a hitter. The hitter basically rotates the club as much as the swinger. The amount of centripetal force involved will basically be a function of the swing speed and swing radius at any point. Swinging or hitting doesn't make much of a difference here.

Since centripetal force doesn't produce any swing speed, hitters and swinngers need linear force to do that. The linear forces are delivered through both hands. As Daryl said: One side is pulling from ahead and the other side is pushing from behind. Hitters and swingers need equal amounts of work produced by linear force to produce equal swing speed. Just remember that the real forces we apply are partly linear and partly centripetal.

"So what about the release? It sure does create a lot of swing speed. Effortless power".

The throwout enables the golfer to apply linear force to the club while maintaining a comfortable shoulder turn speed and hands speed. Enables her to add speed to a fast moving club with slow moving hands.

If the club were release without any application of linear force the clubhead would have the same swing speed as before, measured in MPH. The rotational speed would be reduced since the swing radius was increased. But this is only a hypothetical scenario. By the time of the release, the pivot and the hands already have worked themselves up to certain speeds. The golfers has no intentions of quitting, but rather to fight against the slowdown. So you push and pull hard. Linear forces delivered from both hands.

It is linear forces delivered through the hands that produces all the swing speed. The L in G.O.L.F. Centrifugal force and Centripetal force only optimises the geometrical conditions for an efficient linear thrust.

Even the purest of swings use linear force to produce speed. And even the most hardheaded hitter is "forced" to benefit from a significant amount of throwout and Centripetal force in the stroke.

And the rope - the left arm pulling - carries linear force and centripetal force for hitters and swingers.