Synchronized metronome training induces changes in the kinematic properties of the golf swing

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate possible effects of synchronized metronome training (SMT) on movement dynamics during golf-swing performance, as captured by kinematic analysis. A one-group, between-test design was applied on 13 male golfers (27.5 ± 4.6 years old, 12.7 ± 4.9 handicap) who completed 12 sessions of SMT over a four-week period. Pre- and post-assessments of golf swings with three different clubs (4-iron, 7-iron, and pitching wedge) were performed using a three-dimensional motion capture system. Club velocity at three different swing phases (backswing, downswing, and follow-through) was measured and cross-correlation analysis of time-series signals were made on joint couplings (wrist–elbow–shoulder) of both arms, and between joints and the club, during the full golf swing. There were significantly higher cross-correlations between joint-couplings and concomitant changes of the associated phase-shift differences, as well as reduced phase-shift variability at post-test. No significant effect of SMT was found for the club velocities. We suggest that domain-general influences of SMT on the underlying brain-based motor control strategies lead to a more coordinated movement pattern of the golf-swing performance, which may explain previous observations of significantly improved golf-shot accuracy and decreased variability after SMT.

Keywords::

• Timing training
• coordination
• movement dynamics
• joint couplings
• cross-correlation analysis

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by grants from the Swedish National Centre for Research in Sports, and from the Swedish Research Council, sponsoring of the motion capture system, to the third author. The authors thank Anna-Maria Johansson for assisting with the IM intervention program and Andrew Wallace for MATLAB programming. Sincere appreciation is also expressed to the participating golfers for their commitment to the study.

Conflict of Interest Statement: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.