Investigation of Hand Forces Produced While Playing Golf: With the

Use of New Weareble Sensor Technology to Assist in the Hand

Function of Patients with and without Hand Arthritis

Sara Holland

1,2

, Sydney Robinson

, Lauren Straatman

, James Dickey

, Louis Ferreira

2,4

and Emily Lalone

1,2,4

Human Biomechanics Laboratory, The Univeristy of Western Ontario, London Ontario, Canada

The Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, The University of Western Ontario, London Ontario, Canada

School of Kinesiology, The University of Western Ontario, London Ontario, Canada

Roth McFarlane Hand and Upper Limb Centre (HULC), St. Joseph’s Healthcare Centre, London Ontario, Canada

1 OBJECTIVES

Arthritis is the most prevalent chronic health

condition without a cure, affecting 1 in 5 adults in

Canada (The Truth About Arthritis, 2018). This

chronic condition makes playing sports, such as golf,

very difficult for those affected. Arthritis causes pain,

stiffness, and results in permanent damage and

deformation in the joints leading to decreased

mobility (The Truth About Arthritis, 2018).

With 61% of people who play golf being over the

age of 50 (Golf Player Demographic Statistics, 2016)

and with arthritis being more common in older adults,

there is a large population of individuals who have

arthritis and play golf. Comprehensive examinations

have not been done on current golf grips to analyse

the forces at the hand and golf club grip interface.

Currently there are a few commercially available

arthritis specific golf grips, however they are not

based on empirical measurements nor have they been

properly tested to determine their effectiveness at

reducing joint pain in a player’s hands. The grip of a

golf club is the only contact point between the player

and the club, making the player’s grip force and the

golf grip important elements of the game. However,

grips are the most overlooked piece of equipment in

a golfer’s bag (Golf Grips Buying Guide, 2017).

Grip forces in golf have been previously studied,

but have been limited to a small number of

participants and have focused exclusively on the

driver (Komi, Roberts, & Rothberg, 2008). One such

study fabricated a steel-shaft of a driver with strain

gauges placed on the handle beneath the grip at

various locations (Budney, 1979). Since the strain

gauges were attached to the grip, the fingers whose

forces were being measured would change based on

finger orientation on the grip. With a sample size of

one, the lack of clarity in which fingers were exerting

which forces, and the lack of grip force quantification

(strain gauges were not calibrated) were major

limitations on this study, thus limiting the knowledge

gained (Budney, 1979).

Another study evaluated grip force signatures

during a standard golf tee shot, utilizing 31 Flexiforce

0.1mm thin-film, single load cell type sensors

strategically placed on two gloves in 20 right-handed,

male golfers with handicaps ranging from zero to no

handicap (Komi et al., 2008). The large sample size

increased the validity of the study; however, players

had to wear a glove on each hand, which could have

changed their natural grip pattern due to the added

bulk of the gloves. While a few other studies have

evaluated various aspects of the game, there is very

little female representation, with none having

evaluated hand forces in female players. Thus, there

is a gap in golfing related research as the number of

female golfers grows.

Sports and technology have been studied and

developed for many years, therefore increasing the

popularity of sports biomechanics in recent years.

With advancements in wearable technology, such as

a reduction in component size and the addition of

Bluetooth capabilities, the evaluation and

development of new training techniques and

equipment have become more sophisticated. These

advancements elevate and enhance players’

performance through the design of safer equipment

which decreases injuries without limiting players’

mobility. Golf grips have evolved from leather wraps

to manufactured rubber grips (Golf Grips Buying

Guide, 2017). Although they have evolved, golf grips

Holland, S., Robinson, S., Straatman, L., Dickey, J., Ferreira, L. and Lalone, E.

Investigation of Hand Forces Produced While Playing Golf: With the Use of New Weareble Sensor Technology to Assist in the Hand Function of Patients with and without Hand Arthritis.

In Extended Abstracts (icSPORTS 2018), pages 33-37

remain the most overlooked piece of golfing

equipment.

Therefore, the objective of this study is to

systematically analyse the hand forces produced from

various golf grips at the distal-phalanges of the hand-

grip interface using a mid-iron club in individuals

with and without hand arthritis using new wearable

sensor technology.

2 METHODS

2.1 Wearable Sensor Technology

The forces that occur at the hand-grip interface in a

golfer’s grip were measured with a new sensor system

developed by Pressure Profile Systems Inc., called the

Finger Tactile Pressure Sensors (FingerTPS). This

technology provides an alternative technique of

measuring forces at the hand-grip interface and is the

most accurate on today’s market, with 100x better

minimum pressure detection and 50% better pressure

sensing resolution compared to typical resistive

tactile sensing technology (Capacitive Tactile

Pressure Sensors, 2018). The capacitive sensors are

enclosed in a conformable, micro spandex finger cot,

which comfortably slides over the players’ fingers

(Capacitive Tactile Pressure Sensors, 2018). The

finger cots are minimally invasive and come in

multiple sizes to accommodate for different finger

sizes and shapes (Capacitive Tactile Pressure

Sensors, 2018). The data is wirelessly transmitted via

Bluetooth, which allows players to freely swing the

golf club without risk of entanglement in cords.

2.2 Test Protocol

Hand measurements of each participants’ bottom

gripping hand were taken without the sensors on: the

length of their hand from the base of the palm to the

tip of the middle finger, the length of their middle

finger, and the breadth of their hand. One sensor was

placed on each participant’s index, middle and ring

finger of their bottom gripping hand (right hand for a

right handed player and left hand for a left handed

player). Latex finger cots were placed underneath

and overtop of the sensors in order to protect the

sensors from the high shear force experienced at the

hand-grip interface during a golf swing. Each sensor

has a single wire that is connected to a receiver, which

securely and comfortably attaches to the participants

wrist via a Velcro strap. The receiver connects to a

small wireless transceiver that is lightweight and

attaches to a belt that is worn around that participant’s

waist. An athletic compression sleeve ensures that

the single, long wire connecting the receiver to the

wireless transceiver is not obstructing the player’s

swing. Each sensor is calibrated with a single degree

of freedom load cell designed by Pressure Profile

Systems Inc., specifically for the FingerTPS sensor

system, which minimizes recalibrations thus saving

time and improving results (Capacitive Tactile

Pressure Sensors, 2018).

The participants did not wear a golf glove on

either hand for the test and hit off of artificial turf into

a net. They were each evaluated on their maximum

golf grip strength by gripping a standard size, medium

firmness grip in their normal golfers gripping style (as

they would if they were to swing the club) and asked

to grip the club as tightly as they could. The

participants performed two golf shots with each of the

12 seven iron clubs that consist of several types of

standard and arthritis golf grips, varying in material

and diameter size.

2.3 Participants

The inclusion/exclusion criteria for patient

recruitment is that they were 18 years of age or older

and play or go to a golf range a minimum of two times

a year, allowing for different skill level golfers to be

tested while excluding individuals who have never

played golf. The data presented here has a sample

size of 4, two right handed female golfers aged 18-35

and two left handed male golfers aged 36-50.

Participant 1 was an experienced golfer with a

handicap of 3.4, participant 2 was a recreational

golfer with a handicap of 20, and participants 3 and 4

were professional players with handicaps below 1.

2.4 Testing Equipment

The various types of Golf Pride and Arthritis grips

that were tested in this study cover the spectrum of

grips that are designed in order to gain a better

understanding of each grip and the different forces

produced. The CP2 Pro soft performance grips in

standard, undersized, mid-sized and jumbo diameters

are built for comfort and control featuring a larger

lower hand diameter and high-tack rubber. The soft

rubber allows for lighter grip pressures and dampens

the vibration through impact (Frequently Asked

Questions , 2017). The MCC Plus4 medium firmness

hybrid grips in standard, undersized and mid-sized

diameters contain two materials to create the best

combination of moisture management and feel,

featuring cord in the top hand and soft rubber in the

bottom gripping hand (Frequently Asked Questions ,

icSPORTS 2018 - 6th International Congress on Sport Sciences Research and Technology Support

2017). The Z-Grip hard firmness grips in a standard

and mid-sized diameter are corded, such that they

contain a cord material in the composition of the grip

to allow for better traction with the drawback of the

grip being more abrasive and uncomfortable (Golf

Grips Buying Guide, 2017). There are also three

different grips specifically designed for arthritis that

were being tested. The Winn oversized soft firmness

grip is a wrapped grip which creates a soft surface

texture that provides a tacky touch (Golf Grips

Buying Guide, 2017). The Lamkin arthritis grip and

Tacki-Mac arthritis standard grip are designed based

on the unique serrated or ‘nubbed’ texture, increasing

tactile feedback and prompting a lighter grip pressure

as well as vibration dampening (Artritis Golf Grips,

2017).

2.5 Data Analysis

The data was exported from the Pressure Profile

Systems software after testing and graphs were

created using Matlab 2017b from The MathWorks

Inc., USA. Each graph demonstrated the variation in

force for each of the different grips in the index,

middle, and ring fingers of the bottom gripping hand

through the golf swing. The graphs showed force in

Newtons on the y-axis and time in seconds on the x-

axis.

3 RESULTS

Preliminary data from four healthy participants’

bottom gripping hand was collected. The hand

measurements of each participant were taken before

testing began and are shown below in Table 1.

Table 1: Hand measurements for participants 1 to 4 in

centimetres. Hand length was from the base of the palm to

the tip of the middle finger, middle finger length was from

the base of the metacarpophalangeal joint to the tip of the

middle finger, and hand breadth was taken at the widest

point of the palm.

Participants

Hand

Length

[cm]

Middle

Finger

Length

[cm]

Hand

Breadth

[cm]

17.9

8.0

8.7

16.4

7.0

7.5

19.0

8.5

9.3

20.0

8.4

10.0

Golf grip strength was measured for each player;

participants 1 and 4 had a higher overall maximum

golf grip strength and participant 2 had the lowest. In

evaluating the peak forces that occurred throughout

each grip, participants 1 and 2 demonstrated a larger

force output across all the fingers in the larger, softer

firmness grips and a lower force output in the smaller,

harder firmness grip. Alternatively, in participants 3

and 4, the smaller, softer firmness grips produced the

higher forces and the larger, softer firmness grips

produced lower force outputs. As participants 1 and

2 had smaller hand measurements than participants 3

and 4, this demonstrates that hand size may be linked

to different force outputs in different types of grips.

A comparison chart showing hand size to the force

output of the grip that produced the highest and

lowest forces in each participant is demonstrated in

Figure 1.

The individual graphs shown in Figures 2-5

exhibit the high and low force outputs for participants

2 and 3. These graphs also demonstrate the

repeatability of the force pattern during each

participants swing and how they differ between

participants 2 and 3. Out of the three arthritis grips

tested, the serrated grips (Lamkin arthritis grip and

the Tacki-Mac arthritis standard grip) had the highest

force output for all the participants across all the

fingers tested (Figure 6). There is also a potential link

seen between the high force outputs in the non-

arthritic grip compared to the serrated arthritis grip of

the participants as they have very similar results

(shown in Figures 5 and 6).

Figure 1: Hand size to force output of the golf grip that

produced the highest and lowest forces.

Investigation of Hand Forces Produced While Playing Golf: With the Use of New Weareble Sensor Technology to Assist in the Hand

Function of Patients with and without Hand Arthritis

Figure 2: The grip that produced the highest force output

for participant 2 was with the CP2 Pro, soft firmness, jumbo

grip.

Figure 3: The grip that produced the lowest forces output

for participant 2 was with the Z-Grip, hard firmness, mid-

sized grip.

Figure 4: The grip that produced the highest forces output

for participant 3 was with the CP2 Pro, soft firmness,

undersized grip.

Figure 5: The grip that produced the lowest forces output

for participant 3 was with the CP2 Pro, soft firmness, jumbo

grip.

Figure 6: The Tacki-Mac arthritis standard grip

demonstrated by participant 3.

4 DISCUSSION

The preliminary results are demonstrated by the first

four healthy participants of this study. The data

showed force variations throughout the swing and

that each player had repeatable force output patterns

across all the various types of grips, with variations in

force magnitude being evident between each

participant. Preliminary data also indicates that there

might be a relationship between grip materials and

geometry to finger force as well as hand size to finger

force. Currently, active recruitment of patients with

and without arthritis is ongoing to compare the results

of healthy players to those with arthritis.

Previous studies (Budney, 1979; (Komi et al.,

2008) have demonstrated that each golfer has a

repeatable grip force pattern with the magnitude of

force varying between golfers, which was also

demonstrated from the results of this current study.

Unlike the High Speed Video study (Komi et al.,

2008), which utilized 31 sensors on both hands, this

current study provides a more targeted measurement

as the bottom gripping hand holds the grip more so in

the fingers unlike the top hand that holds the grip in

both the palm and the finger segments. Also, as

osteoarthritis primarily affects the DIP and PIP joints

of the hand, the measurement of the distal finger

segments will provide the most accurate and relevant

measurements to the research question of this project.

The limitations of this study are that only the index,

middle, and ring fingers of the bottom gripping hand

are being measured.

The preliminary data collected in this study

potentially demonstrates a correlation between hand

size and grip type. Comparing the various graphs as

to which grip produced larger and smaller forces for

each participant, there is a potential link between

hand size and grip (material and diameter size) as to

which grip produces a larger force output. For

participants 1 and 2 who had smaller hand sizes, the

material of the grip was the biggest influence in if a

high or low grip force was produced. For participants

icSPORTS 2018 - 6th International Congress on Sport Sciences Research and Technology Support

3 and 4 with larger hand sizes, the diameter size of the

grip was the most influential component.

The majority of golf grips are made of a foam or

rubber material, as it is easy to shape, produce and can

offer different firmnesses while maintaining an

adhesive feel (Golf Grips Buying Guide, 2017).

Many manufacturers have begun to experiment with

different rubber hybrids by including silicon,

elastomers and plastics into the grips to give them

different properties for different climates and

preferences (Golf Grips Buying Guide, 2017). There

are generally three levels of firmness with the softest

firmness being best for climates that are dry with little

rain, the hard firmness grips are best for hot and

humid or rainier climates and the medium firmness

grip are the standard, versatile grip.

The other component of golf grips is the size

(diameter) of the grip. Studies suggest that up to 75%

of players are using the wrong size grip with there

being five different diameter size grips: standard,

junior, undersized, mid-sized, and oversized/jumbo

(Golf Grips Buying Guide, 2017). The diameter of

the grip can also influence the shot shape (draw or

fade; curve to the right or curve to the left for a right

handed player) as a larger grip limits wrist movement

and smaller diameter grips allow for more

manipulation (Golf Grips Buying Guide, 2017).

Many players also add athletic tape underneath their

grip to make minor adjustments to their grip size

allowing them to customize their grip to their game.

Looking specifically at the arthritis grips, the

serrated arthritis grips (Lamkin arthritis grip and the

Tacki-Mac arthritis standard grip) seemed to produce

the highest force outputs out of the three grips tested.

The graphs of the serrated arthritis grips compared to

the grips that produced the highest force output in the

non-arthritis grips showed similar magnitudes of

force across all the participants. This potentially

demonstrates that this arthritis-assisted golf grip

design may not be the best solution for reducing the

forces in a player’s hands. As well, all four players

commented that the serrated grips were the most

uncomfortable to hold and that they would not

purchase these grips for their own clubs. This

suggests that currently marketed arthritis grips may

not be the best option for comfort and in reducing

harmful high forces when swinging a golf club.

However, further tests need to be conducted on

different skill level golfers, as well as on individuals

with and without hand arthritis, to obtain an accurate

representation of the forces that occur in a players

hands and to show if there is a consistent pattern

between the various types of grips (both size and

material).

With arthritis being the most prevalent chronic

health condition with no cure (The Truth About

Arthritis, 2018), and with the advances in technology

specifically in wearable devices, the understanding of

the effects that various materials and diameter sizes

of golf grips have on the forces occurring at the hand-

grip interface can be evaluated. This research will

contribute to the understanding of the complex

structure of the hand and can be translated to other

sports such as tennis, squash, baseball, etc. By

providing a better understanding of the mechanics of

arthritis and its relation to sports, the design of more

advanced sporting equipment can be developed to

protect players’ joints and be more customizable to

each players’ performance.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to acknowledge the Strategic

Operating Grant from the Arthritis Society for their

support of this study.

REFERENCES

Artritis Golf Grips. (2017, February 22). Retrieved from

Lamkin: http://www.lamkingrips.com/shop/arthritis-

golf-grips.html/

Budney, D. (1979). Measurement and analysis of grip force

during a golf shot. Loughborough University

Institutional Repository.

Capacitive Tactile Pressure Sensors. (2018). Retrieved

from Pressure Profile Systems: https://

pressureprofile.com/capacitive-sensors

Frequently Asked Questions . (2017, May 11). Retrieved

from Golf Pride Grips: http://www.golfpride.com/

faqs/technology/

Golf Grips Buying Guide. (2017). Retrieved from Golf A

Lot: http://www.golfalot.com/buyingguides/grips.aspx

Golf Player Demographic Statistics. (2016, October 30).

Retrieved from Statistic Brain: http://

www.statisticbrain.com/golf-player-demographic-

statistics/

Komi, E., Roberts, J., and Rothberg, S. (2008). High Speed

Video Footage for Enhanced Evaluation of Grip Force

Signatures in Golf. In A. World Science Congress of

Golf (5th:2008:Phoenix, Science and Golf V:

Proceedings of the World Scientific Congress of Golf

(pp. 60-66). Phoenix: Mesa, AZ: Energy in Motion,

Inc., 2008.

The Truth About Arthritis. (2018). Retrieved from Arthritis

Society : https://www.arthritis.ca/about-arthritis/what-

is-arthritis/the-truth-about-arthritis

Investigation of Hand Forces Produced While Playing Golf: With the Use of New Weareble Sensor Technology to Assist in the Hand

Function of Patients with and without Hand Arthritis