Well no... energy is not stored (or conserved). The golf swing is not very efficient. We do the backswind to establish "potential" energy ....a small amount of gravitational rho*g*h and a whole lot of musclar-skeletal "P.E.". The backswing is like putting "fuel" in the muscular-skeletal engine.
The stored energy I was referring to - its's nothing more mysterious than the swing speed at any time of the downswing. To be picky it's mass * speed^2 but it basically deals with the gradually build of swing speed throughout the down stroke.
This is very basic fysics. And perhaps the point is so self-evident that you looked for something more "exotic" in my statements.
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Once the downswing begins muscles fire, the linkage begins moving and eventually some 22% (Nesbit) of that potential energy gets converted into Kinetic energy (1/2 m V^2) concentrated at the head of the club. None of it really ever gets stored (for long) or in a benificial way (i.e. club shaft bend doesn't help us).
The kinetic energy you are mentioning here is what I am basically conserned with. You are correct that it doesn't get stored for long. A significant part of it is spent at impact and the rest is wasted shortly after.
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Like Wishon I believe "shaft kick" is a myth.
I have a really *big* problem seing how extensior action can be executed without loading the shaft. And shaft that is being loaded will reload when the moment is off.
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Now setting all of this aside.....
It is quite possible in the "optimal" (if there is such a thing) golf swing there is a point on the golfer's body that remains steady (motionless). I have no problem with people calling that a swing center or what ever as long as they realize is highly unlikely that this spot is where "centripetal force" gets directed for anything other than an instant and probably then just by coincidence.
The two-lever system complicates things. But if you're driving the primary lever around a quiet center - and if the primary lever is driving the secondary lever - I think it makes sense to speak of a swing center.
Further, I do not see a significant upside in moving this swing center around much.
Good golfers + instructors introduces all kind of "tricks" to hit the ball furter. And a lot of ordinary golfers gets confused. X-factor, late release and your "jump on your toe" by the end.
The reason I think the concept of work and energy storage is important in understanding the golf swing because:
1) As long as we can (more or less) accumulate energy until impact, it doesn't matter whether we energize the swing early or late. I don't regard the "late hit" as a magic formula for increased distance for instance.
2) Not even the purest swing is all about centripetal acceleration. Centripetal acceleration only helps us store the energy. We need to actively rotate mass to build swing speed. Tangential forces must be applied. Centripetal acceleration feels powerful but it doesn't add power.
3) A lot ofthe magic mystery moves that is supposed to increase swing speed is misleading.
A stroke pattern that enables the golfer to apply max tangential forces throughout, and at the same time provide the required centripetal force to carry the m*v2 until impact is as good as it gets as far as swing speed is conserned. If that doesn't produce enough swing speed it's time to hit the gym.
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