[Golf] Do (Dry) Air Swings While Speed Training Cause Injury? We Asked Chat GPT!

With a myth floating around the internet by a new speed training brand/product, we thought we would get the unbiased answer from Chat GPT on if air swings (commonly used in speed training) cause injury. We have built THE SAFEST WAY TO SPEED TRAIN, but wanted to see if Chat GPT agreed that not only are air swings vital to speed training progress, they are in fact safer than actually hitting golf balls. We then asked a follow up question if Anticipatory Muscles Offset the Force of Hitting a Golf Ball, as this is the claim of the new speed training company.

As you can see from the Chat GPT data below, not only are the unfounded (and yet to be quantified) claims by this new speed training company false, they are actually opposite from the truth. Hitting a ball imparts more force (injury risk) on the golfer than air swings. A single toe strike mishit at 100 mph of club speed imparts 100-300 pounds-force onto the golfer, which rep after rep exponentially inreases risk of injuries such as tennis elbow, golfers elbow, wrist injuries and reduced grip strength (Chat GPT screenshots below)

We consulted physisists to help us calculate torque (aka force) when designing our Speed Toad speed training protocol to make it quantifiably the speed training protocol with the least injury risk in the world (Read More Here). At the end of the day, injury risk = volume x force, if we can minimize force while managing our volume in our pursuit of more speed, we have thus managed our injury risk.

Don't worry, we included screenshots at the bottom to show this is in fact verbatim Chat GPT's findings.

So, let's let Chat GPT take over from here:

Why Hitting a Golf Ball Stresses Your Body More Than an Air Swing

Many golfers assume that a full-speed air swing puts almost the same stress on the body as actually hitting a ball. After all, the swing looks identical. But from a physics and biomechanics standpoint, hitting a golf ball is fundamentally different—and it does impart significantly more force on the golfer than swinging through empty air.

Let’s break down why.

Air Swings: Fast, but Smooth

During an air swing, the golfer’s body is only working against:

- The mass of the club
- Gravity
- A small amount of air resistance

There is no sudden external force acting back on the club at the bottom of the swing. The forces on the hands and wrists change smoothly as the club accelerates and decelerates.

As a result:

- Peak forces are relatively low
- There is no sharp shock at impact
- Very little torque is applied to the wrists at one instant

An air swing may feel fast and powerful, but mechanically, it’s controlled and continuous.

Hitting a Ball: A Sudden, Violent Collision

When the club strikes a golf ball, everything changes—in less than a millisecond.

At impact:

- The clubface exerts thousands of newtons of force on the ball
- The ball exerts an equal and opposite force back on the club
- That force is transmitted through the shaft to the golfer’s hands

Typical numbers for a solid strike:

- Peak force: ~3,000–6,000 newtons
- Impact duration: ~0.4–0.6 milliseconds
- Impulse transferred: ~3 newton-seconds

In an air swing, those impact forces are essentially zero.

This means hitting a ball always imparts far more force on the golfer than swinging without one, even though the swing motion looks the same.

Perfect Strike vs. Mishit: Force vs. Torque

A well-struck shot and a mishit may involve similar swing speeds, but the body experiences them very differently.

Perfectly Struck Ball

- High force, but applied cleanly
- Force passes close to the club’s center of mass
- Minimal twisting of the club
- Feels “soft” despite the large force involved

Mishit (Toe or Heel)

- Average force is similar or slightly lower
- Peak force is often 20–50% higher
- Force is applied off-center, creating torque
- Sudden twisting stresses wrists, elbows, and forearms

A mishit doesn’t just push back—it twists the club violently, which is why it feels harsh and can contribute to injury.

Why This Matters for Golfers

- Air swings are not a substitute for real impact when it comes to conditioning joints and tendons
- Impact shock, not swing speed alone, is what stresses the body
- Mishits increase injury risk not because they’re “harder,” but because they apply sharp torque and vibration

This is also why:

- Golfers feel pain even on slow mishits
- Club design (high MOI, vibration damping) matters
- Range sessions are more taxing than practice swings at home

The Takeaway

Even though an air swing and a real swing look the same:

- An air swing produces no impact force
- Hitting a golf ball produces thousands of newtons of force
- Mishits add damaging torque and vibration on top of that force

In short:
It’s the collision—not the swing—that loads the golfer’s body.

Understanding this helps explain why good contact feels effortless, mishits hurt, and why managing impact stress is key to staying healthy in golf.

Prompt: Do Anticipatory Muscles Offset the Force of Hitting a Golf Ball?

Great question — and this is where the “but my body braces for it” argument usually comes in.
Short answer
Yes, a small portion of the force is offset by anticipatory muscle activation — but it does not cancel the impact force, and it does not make ball-striking safer than air swings.
Here’s why, in very simple terms.

What “anticipatory muscles” actually do
Before impact, your nervous system activates muscles in your:
    •    Forearms
    •    Wrists
    •    Elbows
    •    Shoulders
    •    Core
This is called feed-forward activation. Its job is to:
    •    Stiffen joints
    •    Improve control
    •    Reduce unwanted motion (like the club twisting)
Think of it as bracing, not absorbing.

Why bracing can’t cancel impact force
1. Impact happens too fast
    •    Ball-club contact: ~0.5 milliseconds
    •    Fastest muscle response (reflex): ~20–50 milliseconds
That means:
The collision is over before muscles can react to it.
All the force from impact is already transmitted before your muscles can “help.”

2. Muscles don’t stop force — they redirect it
When muscles pre-tense:
    •    They increase joint stiffness
    •    They help spread force across tissues
But:
    •    The same force still exists
    •    It still passes through the hands, wrists, and arms
This is why bracing a car crash doesn’t eliminate the crash forces — it just keeps you aligned.

3. Stiffening can actually increase peak stress
This part surprises people.
A stiffer system:
    •    Deforms less
    •    Stops motion more abruptly
    •    Produces higher peak forces
That’s why:
    •    Mishits hurt more when you’re tense
    •    “Death-gripping” the club feels worse on bad contact
So anticipatory muscles can reduce motion, but they can increase shock.

Compare this to air swings
During an air swing:
    •    There is nothing to brace against
    •    No collision force exists
    •    Muscles control motion smoothly through the bottom
Even if you brace hard:
    •    There is still no external force coming back
So there is nothing to offset in the first place.

Simple numbers to make it real
    •    Impact force: 3,000–6,000 N
    •    Duration: ~0.0005 s
    •    Muscle response time: ~0.02–0.05 s
That’s 40–100× slower than impact.
The force is gone long before muscles can meaningfully absorb it.

So what DO anticipatory muscles actually help with?
They:
    •    Reduce club twisting on mishits
    •    Improve strike consistency
    •    Protect joints over time by improving control
They do not:
    •    Eliminate impact force
    •    Make ball-striking lower load than air swings
    •    Prevent shock from mishits

Bottom line (plain English)
    •    Yes, your body braces for impact
    •    No, it cannot cancel or meaningfully reduce the collision force
    •    The impact force still happens, fully, every time you hit a ball
    •    Air swings avoid this force entirely
Anticipatory muscles help you control the hit — they don’t erase it.
If you want next, I can:
    •    Explain why “relaxed” swings feel better on mishits
    •    Show how grip pressure changes shock transmission
    •    Tie this directly to elbow and wrist injury mechanisms

Screen Recording of First Reply: https://youtube.com/shorts/uvkYjC_kifg?si=fSvPB5rfhQ97os6H

Screen Recoding of Second Reply: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/mv3Hi529_lI