Experimental Modal Analysis of Hand–Arm Vibration in Golf: Influence of Grip Strength

Interest in the design of products that link performance and comfort is rapidly growing in the field of sport. To this end, the equipment industry is progressively shifting towards customization and it is focusing on man-machine interaction. The notion itself remains insufficiently studied by the scientific community. With regard to golf, several works conclude that vibrations that are perceived in the handle may be harmful and they have significant influence on comfort as well as performance. In that respect, the present paper investigates the effects of grip strength on three indicators of club dynamics: modal characteristics, overall vibratory levels, and vibration dose perceived by the club user, according to ISO 5349 standard. The study can be broken down into three steps. First, the experimental modal characteristics of a golf club are identified while using free-free, fixed-free, and grip-free (with three levels of grip strength) boundary conditions. Subsequently, a numerical model is developed and updated using experimental results. Finally, the root mean squared values and vibration dose transmitted to the hand-arm system after ball contact are extracted from the validated numerical model.