I’ve played quite a few sports growing up, and am recently trying to learn golf. There’s quite a bit of technique involved in a golf swing and then I got thinking “how do we know this is the right/most efficient way to swing?”. Same thing for a hockey slapshot, diving, etc. Who comes up with the “proper” technique and why is it standardized? Does it come the best performers, and then everyone mimics (like the famous high jump technique)?
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> how do we know this is the right/most efficient way to swing
We don’t. What we do know is that this current technique has certain positives and negatives. If you are a strong players, maybe this technique better suits you. If you have longer arms, maybe another technique is better. It’s trial and error.
Granted, there are some techniques that do seem to be ideal. The Fosbury flop is a good example of a technique that has been widely accepted as the optimal one (as far as I know). The answer as to why is entirely dependent on the sport, but again comes down to trial and error. If 100 high-jumpers scissor kick jump, and 100 high-jumpers of similar characteristics Fosbury flop, the best technique is the one where there are better results. Is it the best? We don’t know, but it appears to be the *better* one.
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