The Search for My Perfect Swing — Part 8

I Found My Grip!


Originally, I was going to use Part 8 to discuss the release, highpoint and calculations. I tried to use my Canon S230 to record the Release Point and Highpoint and apply the results to the software that shows the flight of the horseshoe, speed, etc. Unfortunately, my Canon was only able to capture two images of the shoe in flight. In general, a horseshoe travels from release to stake in about 1 second. However, I did calculate the locations that I photographed and applied them to the header of this blog (XY plot above). I have since borrowed a video camera, installed video capture equipment and loaded the video capture software. I am hoping that the video camera will provide more definitive results.
In the meantime, one of the items I had completely overlooked, was my log book. As I practiced, I would make notes about experiments and the results. I had noted that when I extended my arm fully and released the shoe, the shoe would not flip as quickly. I was not happy that I had begun to add a little flip movement to the horseshoe during the release. That is not consistent with a Constant. Reading through my log book, I realized that I had worked on this sometime earlier. I discovered that if I held the shoe with caulks-up and allowed the shoe to be held naturally by the caulk, the shoe would droop when my arm was parallel to the ground. (See photo below) I wondered if this natural droop could replace the added, but, unwelcomed flip movement.
Selected Flip Grip

Drooping Flip Grip

This morning, I grabbed three sets of shoes, stepped up to the foul line, took the caulks-up flip grip, raised my arm fully extended, parallel to the ground, let the shoe droop naturally, locked it in that position throughout the swing and released it without any added flipping action. The shoe flipped perfectly 1-1/2 turns — ringer! I repeated the same process 11 more times and threw 12 consecutive ringers. I had had temporary success before. Time to take a break and try again later.

I stopped, had some lunch, and returned to go through the same routine again.  This time 8 more ringers in a row. I continued for an hour and threw ringers every time I was on plane and line of flight. I now believe I have a grip that I can rely on.

Continue to Part 9
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August 24, 2008
Categories: horseshoes, Sports . Tags: , . Author: photon713 . Comments: Leave a comment