Confessions 12 --- Exploding Heads

[scomac2002]

I pronate my lead wrist. Hence my right-to-left tendency. I don't set-up for a classic draw as I don't get that much movement, but it's there particularly with longer clubs.

[DeNinny]

The Ideal Physics of the Trail Arm Actions

 

The Physics and Biomechanics

 

Note: There is an alternative physics to all of this and that is of the lead arm actions. One could view the same physics as the lead arm pivoting up and across the chest and this forces the trail arm to bend. Please note that they both move in conjunction with each other and so both apply muscle power to the swing. The trail arm has more movements and so that is why I explain the physics from that perspective. Plus that is my dominant hand.

 

The trail elbow is the most complicating hinge in all of the 5 major hinges in the swing. Its action is occurring within the moving frame of reference of the overall swing diagonal arc (defined by the combination of the shoulders turn and arms drop actions), plus it creates a moving frame of reference for the wrists unhinging. It creates and arc within another arc in different directions. What that means from a physics perspective is that there will be multiple centrifugal forces pulling on the CG of the swing and also the clubhead itself in different directions and at varying levels of strength. The potential for conflict with Goal #1 (consistency) is high.

 

One key reason for this complication because the arms hinges are sockets which not only just hinge in one plane and direction, they can also pivot AND hinge, giving them three dimensional range of motion. And so because of this the trail elbow bend can be done in a multitude of ways. You can bend it almost straight up. You can bend it such that it stays in place but the angle is away from the target instead of just straight up and that will pull your lead arm more across the chest horizontally. You can also drag it itself away from the target (i.e. chicken wing it) while also bending it in different directions. Ultimately, the trail elbow bending in the swing can add a lot of variability.

 

But also because of the arms connections at the shoulder sockets and hands at the grip, the trail elbow cannot move without influencing the overall structure. The parts and hinges are all interconnected, and it is important to note this because the movements change the CG of the swing in three dimensions. It is like those pop-up picture books or cards where opening the page unfolds a three dimensional image that comes up out of the page. All the hinge actions are fixed for a given structure and page folding. The arms and club structure bending and straightening is fundamentally no different than this.

 

Also there is a benefit to it too. (*** KEY POINT HERE!!! ***), if the CG of the swing is also on a defined path, which it is as per the DUST plane ideal, then the combined and coordinated movements of the arms drop, trail arm straightening, and wrists unhinging will have a discreet solution. There will be only specific actions that allow the CG to remain on the same plane and arcing path. So the key physics is to determine the specific actions and timing for the three hinges. Build that specific "pop up book image", if you will. Once that is all determined, then you can trust that the CG movements are locked to that combination of moves. And lastly, *if* you can learn to let centrifugal force pull on the CG of that complicated swing structure while your arms and wrists are RELAXED, then that will define the proper combination and sequence of the moves because the ideal physics of centrifugal force is ALWAYS planar. Essentially, while swinging the club on the DUST plane, you first have to let centrifugal force pull the trail arm straight and unhinge the wrists to define the right combination of the actions, and then once this is determined you can then start assisting the actions with muscle power. Centrifugal force can HELP you find the DUST plane and the actions needed to stay on it, but you cannot fight it with tense arms and also you have to understand how the trail elbow complicates the position of the swing CG (like that pop up picture book).

 

Also the action of bending the trail arm shortens its radius from the center of the swing and since the lead arm remains straight, it MUST cross over the chest. This action pulls the swing CG closer to the body, so ultimately the bending of the trail arm is a key move for lowering the MOI of the swing. Combined with the wrists hinge, these actions are what bring the club close to the body and enable that fast downswing turn at the first half of it. Observe this trend data again:

 

 

 

Note the blue trend, the mid hands velocity. At the first of the downswing, it has a tremendous rate of rise (or slope). The trend is initially curving upwards. This means his hands are accelerating at a faster and faster rate. The same trend is observed in the overall clubhead velocity (the brown line) - increasing acceleration initially. The reason for this is because again the club is tucked close to the body by the trail arm bending. The hips and shoulders can turn with high acceleration in this position. Also the arms can drop a little faster too.

 

And then you can even see later in the downswing that the mid hands velocity first starts to curve downward and eventually starts starts dropping. This is because again the MOI of the swing is increasing as the trail arm straightens and the clubhead gets farther away from the body. This is the action of the internal mini arc of the clubhead from the wrists unhinging and pivoting. Once the wrist pivot starts, the hands start slowing down but yet the clubhead continues to accelerate (again from centrifugal force being released).

 

Also another thing assisting the acceleration is that the trail elbow bend also sets the club to drag behind the hands which is the most efficient way to pull a weight, so this also meets Goals #1 and #2 in the first half of the downswing.

 

The Goals

 

Goal #1 - Bend and straighten the trail elbow in coordination with all the other swing actions in order to return the clubface consistently and repeatedly to the same face angle and along the same path.

 

Goal #2 - Bend and straighten the trail elbow with as much acceleration as possible in order to generate maximum clubhead velocity while still meeting Goal #1.

 

The Basic Actions

 

The trail elbow action itself should be one dimensional. It simply bends and then straightens. At some point early in the backswing it starts bending upwards, then it continues to bend at a constant rate, and then at the top of the backswing it should be bent around 90 degrees. In conjunction with it bending the arms are also lifing it and also the wrists are hinging. The combination of these actions should be done in coordination such that the club is set on the DUST plane at the top of the backswing and the clubhead is set to drag directly behind the hands. And all this is pointing to a spot just BELOW the ball. Also the trail elbow ideally should be directly under the hands so that the trail forearm is perfectly vertical.

 

You will notice that I did not get too prescriptive about the action other than a few things. There is a lot of latitude in this action based on the fact that you can pivot your trail arm in that socket multiple ways as you bend and lift the trail elbow. The ultimate key is to just be consistent about how you get it into position and that it supports setting the club on the DUST plane.

 

In the transistion the trail elbow is relaxed like the rest of the arms and the shoulders.

 

Starting the downswing there is only one prescriptive movement path for the trail elbow. No matter where you set it at the top, It simply drops with the overall arms drop and it goes in a direct line down toward the trail hip as it is turning. When coordinated properly, the hands should be pulling/dragging the club directly behind them on the DUST plane. The club should be tight to the body and the turn should be as fast but also as smooth as possible, enabled by the movements being on SIMPLE, straight arcing paths. The goal is to turn with LOW MOI with the swing CG riding on an established plane that does NOT change throughout the downswing.

 

Once the trail elbow gets close to reachng about the same position away from the trail hip as it was at address, the centrifugal force on the clubhead will be increasing, and in conjunction with this increasing pulling force (and in conjunction with the wrists unhinging), the golfer simply straightens the trail arm it in a simple straight hinge direction with the goal to be fully straight at a point PAST impact. As mentioned earlier, the golfer will have some tilt at impact, the exact amount of tilt varies based on the golfer's preference and really how hard he goes at the ball. The harder he goes at it (with his hips and shoulders turns), the more centrifugal force he will generate and thus the more he will need to have some spine tilt away from the target. Regardless, the key to the action is a simple action from going to a bent low MOI position to a straight position using centrifugal force to power it as much as possible. The overall goal of the various actions is to time them all to catch the hips and get the upper body to be "square" to that tilted position. In the process of this, the clubhead merely passes through impact and the ball is simply in the way of the clubhead path.

 

I mentioned before that there is really only one point of squareness in an arcing path and so rather than focus on the being square at impact position, a good feel for the golfer is instead to try to return and feel "square" at the full extension position PAST impact. And furthermore if done properly, you can FEEL centrifugal force gently "yank" your arms straight into position there instead of at impact. And again, the clubface just passes though impact rather than "bottoming" there.

 

The tilt is VERY important in all of this too. The body best supports a pulling action with straight arms and the spine and upper torso oriented to be inline with the pulling direction. It's literally a tug of war with centrifugal force. In this position, the golfer is ready to resist as much centrifugal force pull as the body can generate.

 

Advanced Moves

 

The advanced moves of the trail elbow actions are just the individual personal ways to hinge it consistently. As mentioned earlier there are multiple ways to lift and bend the elbow and also in combination with multiple ways to hinge the wrists this makes for multiple ways to set the club on the DUST plane at the top. I think each one of these ways is a matter of personal preference and comfort to the golfer. And this is what is observed on tour. You see golfers with chicken wing trail elbows, cupped wrists, bowed wrists, flat wrists, high DUST planes, low DUST planes...there are simply a lot of combinations of these things that can still meet the DUST plane criteria.

 

For me personally, I like the trail elbow and the wrists hinge in the 'waiter's position' at the top. The way I get to this position is to keep trying to raise my arms straight up and also hinge my trail elbow straight up and hinge my wrists in the same plane as my trail elbow hinge. This is like the arms and club are a curled whip in one single plane ready to unhinge on that single plane. But this is a FEEL only. In reality, I cannot hinge everthing perfectly straight up because my lead arm comes too much across my chest and my hands and up outside of my trail shoulder. So my upward hinges are more upward and outward instead of straight up. But anyway, this is how I like my trail elbow and wrists to hinge and set: AS much on the same plane as possible and get to the waiter's position at the top.

 

And then another key feel for me is that I like to feel my trail upper leg and trail forearm converge to flow in parallel and exactly towards the target coming into impact. Like two people converging into a revolving door at the same time in the same direction, they meet and pass impact in unison.

 

Also, Broman PalHamski, notice that there is no need to dictate that the trail forearm be in the same plane as the shaft coming into impact. Its going to happen anyway at some point. As the hands drop below the DUST plane eventually the plane of the shaft and trail forearm is going to form a plane into the ball.

[mdgboxx]

Which is why, competent coaches insist that you must hold the club like you would a little bird. (Or an uncapped tube of tooth paste)

[scomac2002]

Which is why, competent coaches insist that you must hold the club like you would a little bird. (Or an uncapped tube of tooth paste)

 

I've heard that plenty of times and then I'm led to a vision of Edwin Encarnacion flinging his bat 10 rows up on the third base line as one got away! Better get some more pine tar!

 

That said, I don't hold my club particularly tight especially with my trailing hand. It's more or less just along for the ride with the lead arm/hand in control of the situation. I've had a few clubs spin out on impact, so maybe like Edwin I'm just a wee bit light on the grip from time-to-time.

[DeNinny]

The Ideal Physics of the Wrists Hinge

 

The Physics and Biomechanics

 

The wrists hinge is weakest of all the 5 basic motions of the swing. It covers the least amount of distance when isolated to its own frame of reference, and also it is done with the weakest muscles compared to all the others. One would think this makes the action easy, and it is, but due to the misunderstanding of the wrists action does it become a complicated action.

 

As with all the motions, the overall concept of the wrists hinge is to simply hinge the club on a single flat plane. The only arc of the club should be that around the hinge of the wrists, otherwise it should travel in a straight line.

 

The amount of wrist hinge and the direction is a debatable topic and highly dependent upon the golfer's grip, his arms geometry, and his personal preference. If you were to grip a club like normal and merely hinge his wrists like they are at the top of the backswing, you would notice that you could actually hinge the club at multiple angles. The wrists ideally hinge perpendicular to the plane of the two arm bones, the radius and the ulna. Meaning they most easily hinge either towards the palm or away from it, but hinging in their plane is difficult but not impossible. Also you can individually roll

each wrist. And so combine all this with also the fact that different grips allow different types of wrist hinges, ultimately the direction a golfer can hinge the wrists is a highly variable one. So the key physics is not in a specific and prescriptive wrists hinge, but rather the key is in a CONSISTENT hinge.

 

The Goals

 

Goal #1 - Hinge the wrists in coordination with all the other swing actions in order to return the clubface consistently and repeatedly to the same face angle and along the same path.

 

Goal #2 - Hinge the wrists to allow as much turning acceleration as possible in order to generate maximum clubhead velocity while still meeting Goal #1.

 

The Basic Actions

 

The wrists hinge action itself should be one dimensional. It simply hinges and then unhinges. At some point early in the backswing it starts hinging, then it continues to hinge at a constant rate, and then at the top of the backswing it should be hinged, in coordination with the trail elbow bending and the arms lifting, such that the club is set on the DUST plane and with the clubhead set to drag directly behind the hands. And again the hands should be set diametrically opposed to a point just BELOW the ball.

 

Again, notice that I did not get too prescriptive about the action other than a few things. The ultimate key is to just be consistent about how you get it into position and that it supports setting the club on the DUST plane.

 

In the transistion the wrists are relaxed like the rest of the arms and the shoulders.

 

Starting the downswing there is only one prescriptive movement path for the wrists. No matter how you hinged them at the top, They first simply drop with the overall arms drop, and again as they drop they will be dragging the club directly behind them and along the DUST plane down to the ball. And as they drop the key is to maintain their hinge. The key to the wrists in aiding clubhead velocity is that the hinge simply pulls the clubhead close to the body. The wrists are really weak muscles compared to the torso and upper arms muscles and so it is pointless to try to use the wrists to actually power the unhinging of them. So again in keeping with the need to have a low MOI swing

initially, the wrists simply hinge in order to maintain this and also to set the clubhead dragging directly behind them.

 

Once the trail elbow gets close to reachng about the same position away from the trail hip as it was at address, the centrifugal force on the clubhead will be increasing and in conjunction with this increasing pulling force the golfer simply unhinges the wrists in a simple straight plane unhinging action. This is done in conjuntion with the trail arm straightening with the goal for both arms to be fully straight and the wrists back to how they were at address at a point PAST impact. Again, the key to the action is a simple action from going to a hinged position back to the position at address using

centrifugal force to power it as much as possible. The overall goal of the various arms and wrists actions is to time them all to catch the hips and get the upper body to be "square" to that tilted position. In the process of this, the clubhead merely passes through impact and the ball is simply in the way of the clubhead path.

 

Advanced Moves

 

Like the trail elbow bend, the advanced moves of the wrists are just the individual personal ways to hinge them consistently. I see the differences as more like pros and cons rather than there is a 'best' way.

 

For example a flat lead wrist hinge is a VERY stable hinge. This hinge I think supports Goal #1 rather well. Having the lead wrist perfectly flat is a very consistent position to acheive and also the limited motion means it will have limited variability.

 

But a cupped lead wrist is very easy to hinge and having more hinge allows the golfer to turn with a lower MOI which supports Goal #2 directly but indirectly the golfer will turn with less energy and so this supports Goal #1 under the assumption that expending more energy makes the swing more prone to error.

 

And then a bowed wrist also is a more stable hinge than a cupped lead wrist.

 

For me personally, I like just a little bit of cup at the top but actually it FEELs like I have it flat. I actually don't worry about my lead wrist cup as much as I do simply feeling my trail wrist bend perfectly towards my backhand. Again, I focus on getting to the 'waiter's position' at the top and I just bend my trail wrist backwards so that the palm faces straight up like I'm holding that tray of drinks. In the process of this it is more of a coincidence than intentional that I happen to have a cupped lead wrist.

[mdgboxx]

Which is why, competent coaches insist that you must hold the club like you would a little bird. (Or an uncapped tube of tooth paste)

 

I've heard that plenty of times and then I'm led to a vision of Edwin Encarnacion flinging his bat 10 rows up on the third base line as one got away! Better get some more pine tar!

 

That said, I don't hold my club particularly tight especially with my trailing hand. It's more or less just along for the ride with the lead arm/hand in control of the situation. I've had a few clubs spin out on impact, so maybe like Edwin I'm just a wee bit light on the grip from time-to-time.

 

Underlined has happened once, when I tried a driver with an old dried out grip. But, I have had a club slip out when a grip got wet after a sudden shower...Can't keep a grip dry with a wet towel. LOL

[Palauan Hammer]

Great stuff Ninja!

 

I've actually been working on my wrist hinge a little after seeing a swing video from the other day. In my old swing I had a tendency to roll the forearms on the takeaway, so I still have a minuscule amount, plus I'm not hinging my wrists straight up enough. Of course I'm nit picking though.

 

I hit a bunch of 40 yard pitch shots and other greenside type pitches. Another thing I discovered on video was that I set up with the ball off the toe, then proceed to hit it off the toe. A simple setup adjustment and I was hitting off the middle so that was nice. I also before leaving hit 5 full shots with my wedge. My Aunts house is on the fence line of the golf course, it was almost sunset and no one was on the hole I was hitting to. So I hit a few, now these are the first full swings with a ball I've made in almost 3 years. 2 were a little thin, with a tiny fade. The other 3 were solid and straight. It seems I've picked up a few yards judging by how high and far they went. Filmed the last one I hit, it was a smidge thin but high and straight. More importantly the swing changes are really ingrained and I don't think, just swing. I'm really excited to get back out there, and I have a bunch of confidence.

 

 

[DeNinny]

Great stuff Ninja!

 

I've actually been working on my wrist hinge a little after seeing a swing video from the other day. In my old swing I had a tendency to roll the forearms on the takeaway, so I still have a minuscule amount, plus I'm not hinging my wrists straight up enough. Of course I'm nit picking though.

 

I hit a bunch of 40 yard pitch shots and other greenside type pitches. Another thing I discovered on video was that I set up with the ball off the toe, then proceed to hit it off the toe. A simple setup adjustment and I was hitting off the middle so that was nice. I also before leaving hit 5 full shots with my wedge. My Aunts house is on the fence line of the golf course, it was almost sunset and no one was on the hole I was hitting to. So I hit a few, now these are the first full swings with a ball I've made in almost 3 years. 2 were a little thin, with a tiny fade. The other 3 were solid and straight. It seems I've picked up a few yards judging by how high and far they went. Filmed the last one I hit, it was a smidge thin but high and straight. More importantly the swing changes are really ingrained and I don't think, just swing. I'm really excited to get back out there, and I have a bunch of confidence.

 

...

 

Palarallel Hamiverse, I'm hoping all this is just hardwiring your brain. You can have full confidence that the laws of physics fully back that swing of yours.

 

The simple physics is to set the club on that DUST plane early so that all your energy can be focused on a pure turn rather than needing to expend energy in order to reroute the CG of the swing. And then you make that turn with low MOI for as long as possible, and then in the process you build up the centrifugal force on the club. And finally you release that centrifugal force to a point past impact and just let your trail arm to go back to full extension there. You have to do this with a relaxed upper body and a stable turning base. And the overall idea with the 5 basic motions is to do them in simple, straight arcing motions that again are based on LITTLE momentum change. This is as simple as the swing has become for me now and I don't see it at all overly complicated. It just is this way now. All those actions are simple arcs and the total mathematical sum of them actually equals the arcing path of the clubhead. So it is IMPERATIVE that the actions be done in simple arcing motions that don't require momentum change.

 

And also overall this applies to the CG of the swing itself. The CG of the swing needs and MUST travel on a singe plane or again it will require energy and potential for more error to move the CG back onto a planar momentum path.

 

And when I analyze your swing, I see it as a model DUST plane swing. At the top of your downswing, you are dragging the handle to a point just below the ball. And then when your trail hand gets to the same height as the center of your swing, you start straightening your trail arm and releasing that lag with centrifugal force down to that point PAST impact. The shaft then points at the ball in this latter part since by then there is the new pivot at the hands as the clubhead goes above the DUST plane and your hands and most of the shaft go below it.

 

LOL all this swing confessing of mine has helped me better understand mine lately. I have been struggling with hitting it fat and also hitting these OTT pulls, and today on the course I realize that I've been letting my hips drift forward and I have NOT been turning with centered hips as per the DUST model. I corrected and started making a more centered hips turn and then started hitting it well again. I reinforced it all at the range today with my 3i too. I actually was able to replicate the error and then actually fix it. Also all the talk about relaxing the arms has helped me too.

 

So anyway, thanks all you confessors for putting up with my swing ramblings. LOL it actually helped me to get it out there. That's about as much of my swing cave that I can share. LOL it may be ugly, but that is only because I can shine a bright light on all of it.

[Palauan Hammer]

Ninja, thank you too! I enjoy your posts, always have! This really is helping me understand my swing more. By combining the physics, video, and feel it's really helping improve my swing even though I not hitting anything. I'm seriously excited to get back out there. Also, this past year I killed it with the workouts too and I feel a significant difference in my strength, makes swinging much easier.

 

Also, keep drilling that centered hip turn at home. That's how I did it and apparently as per the swing video my EE is basically gone. From what I see my pelvic thrust happens after the ball and at 11 o'clock (instead of 9 which would be a massive hump lol). I've basically been doing slow motion swings feeling the pressure shift into my lead leg, with the lead knee and femur shifting to the target, that pushes my lead hip up and behind me. My old swing was a "slide and wait" type hip turn. As for the OTT, the relaxed arms will help that as you know already.

[DeNinny]

Ninja, thank you too! I enjoy your posts, always have! This really is helping me understand my swing more. By combining the physics, video, and feel it's really helping improve my swing even though I not hitting anything. I'm seriously excited to get back out there. Also, this past year I killed it with the workouts too and I feel a significant difference in my strength, makes swinging much easier.

 

Also, keep drilling that centered hip turn at home. That's how I did it and apparently as per the swing video my EE is basically gone. From what I see my pelvic thrust happens after the ball and at 11 o'clock (instead of 9 which would be a massive hump lol). I've basically been doing slow motion swings feeling the pressure shift into my lead leg, with the lead knee and femur shifting to the target, that pushes my lead hip up and behind me. My old swing was a "slide and wait" type hip turn. As for the OTT, the relaxed arms will help that as you know already.

 

Yeah so I'm hoping all the swing feels you have start connecting with that physics now hardwired in your brain. Once the feel has pure logic to back it, then you can have 100% confidence in all of it. That is ultimately what all the physics analysis does for me: it enables me to put 100% trust in my swing because there is 100% purpose to it now. And I am more in tune with the feel of my swing than ever before and it feels great. It has been something that has been building all season too. I played with my wife today and asked her to watch my swing and she said the rhythm and tempo looked better than ever. Also I can tell something is different because I am backspinning the ball much more on the greens now.

 

I don't like drills but yes I have had to work hard to get rid of my EE. I am an OCD creature of habit and so swing changes don't come easy for me. I just need to feel weight in my heels at address and during the swing feel my Word not allowed as counterweight to the forward pull of the swing and lastly again just feel those hips turning centered and not let them drift forward.

 

I think that aside from the complexity of the trail arm straightening, the second hardest move in golf is how much to allow the hips to drift towards the target and also whilst turning. Ultimately what I cannot yet 'derive' is the ideal amount of spine tilt. I can only state that you must have some spine tilt if the goal is to accelerate the clubhead past impact, but what I cannot do is figure out how much to have. So anyway if there is some 'art' to the actions of the swing I think it is in the spine tilt at impact and also the perfect combination of wrists and trail elbow hinges. These are the actions that are simply ingrained through hard work and practice.

[DeNinny]

BTW Paleolithic Hammer, the reason your pelvic thrust is at 11 o'clock is because that is when your lead hip finally stacks on top of your lead knee and foot. Once that happens, it becomes the pivot point for your hips and so your trail side has to 'thrust' forward. With the hips centered, they turn like a revolving door. With one hip stacked over its respective foot, they turn like a trap door: one sided.

[Palauan Hammer]

BTW Paleolithic Hammer, the reason your pelvic thrust is at 11 o'clock is because that is when your lead hip finally stacks on top of your lead knee and foot. Once that happens, it becomes the pivot point for your hips and so your trail side has to 'thrust' forward. With the hips centered, they turn like a revolving door. With one hip stacked over its respective foot, they turn like a trap door: one sided.

 

Nice explanation, makes perfect sense because before my hip was stacking earlier because of the slide, then my hips would go into trap door mode earlier. Thankfully I was never a full on early extender. I'm comfortable with the hips now, but I will never stop working to keep improving though.

 

What I really wanna see is what my swing looks like with a driver, hitting a ball, from both DTL and FO, then I'll really know where my swing is haha.

[DeNinny]

BTW Paleolithic Hammer, the reason your pelvic thrust is at 11 o'clock is because that is when your lead hip finally stacks on top of your lead knee and foot. Once that happens, it becomes the pivot point for your hips and so your trail side has to 'thrust' forward. With the hips centered, they turn like a revolving door. With one hip stacked over its respective foot, they turn like a trap door: one sided.

 

Nice explanation, makes perfect sense because before my hip was stacking earlier because of the slide, then my hips would go into trap door mode earlier. Thankfully I was never a full on early extender. I'm comfortable with the hips now, but I will never stop working to keep improving though.

 

What I really wanna see is what my swing looks like with a driver, hitting a ball, from both DTL and FO, then I'll really know where my swing is haha.

 

And so here are the drawbacks with that kind of pivot:

 

- Higher MOI for the hips turn which means SLOWER hips turn. When the pivot point is over one hip, now the overall radius of the arc becomes twice as long. The turn radius is the entire width of the hips instead of just half the width with a centered hips turn.

 

- Weaker hips turn since now only one leg, the leg NOT stacked, is turning the hip at that end. The centered hips turn is powered by BOTH legs.

 

- The turn is with higher variability because the turn is no longer balanced. With a stacked hip turn the entire body has to pivot with no counterweight on the other side of the pivot point. With a centered hips turn there is equal weight on both sides of the center of rotation.

 

I can't emphasize enough how efficient your swing will become if you keep focusing on how it feels swinging with the CG on that DUST plane. (That and control the position of your swing center.) I promise you, the physics dictates that swinging the CG on a flat plane is the most efficient and stable. Moe Norman really did figure it all out by developing the perfectly orbiting swing plane and hinge. He lost distance as a result of it but his accuracy was unparalleled in all of golf. And ultimately the reason for it was his simplification of his swing to be on a PURE PLANE.

 

I'm looking forward to seeing your driver swing and with a real ball flight. LOL I confess that now use my movie editing software to analyze your swings in frame by frame analysis. It is so much fun. I love looking at good swings and seeing the DUST model in them. And I even use a straight edge on my monitor screen to validate the angle.

 

One more thing while we are talking trap doors. That is how I see the trail arm straightening action. The wrists unhinging is also a rotational motion where again the clubface turns from in the plane of rotation to square to the plane of rotation. This is another trap door action in the swing. The clubface is simply closing down like a trap door and the trail arm straightening in conjunction with the wrists unhinging is what powers and moves the clubhead.

[Palauan Hammer]

Ninja, do you think I should try to get my hips more open at impact or would that be a bad idea? I was thinking I could stand to (perhaps) squat a bit more in the downswing, or get my lead femur angled toward the target allowing my hips to stay more centered,getting the lead hip rotated up and behind me a little more through impact.

 

With the trap door style pivot I can see how timing would be a great variable. Again, makes sense as to why my game before could be ON of OFF. I mean I could shoot 82, then 68. Too much timing, timing requires things to be very very consistent. Hence why I'm trying so hard to simplify things.

 

As for the trail arm action, I think that is where I get my "sneaky" distance. Most people I play with say my swing looks slow/lazy but they can never see my ball leave the driver. All the speed is saved for the impact zone, and the trail arm piston action gives it a little more pizazz. Like Tabasco for the release LOL

[Palauan Hammer]

BTW this is the video I use to work on my driver swing. I have an iPhone 5s my Brother just gave me. The swing video I posted was actually filmed in slo mo but because the phone is not jailbroken it's not hooked up to the net. So I had to download to my old laptop then upload it to youtube. Anyway, I used the slo mo on the iphone to check my driver swing. It's not terrible, I can see quite a few things that are good and few that need work. One thing is a WIDE open clubface, that probably because the is no ball. Here's the interesting thing, once I saw that I started actively releasing hard while making driver swings and it seems to make my swing feel more balanced and fluid, does that have something to do with centrifugal force/CoG? Perhaps my arms where working too much in to out and thinking of releasing keeps it on the DUST plane better? I just know there is a big difference.

 

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Edit: When I say wide open clubface, I really mean no release on the downswing. At the top my clubface is square.

[DeNinny]

Ninja, do you think I should try to get my hips more open at impact or would that be a bad idea? I was thinking I could stand to (perhaps) squat a bit more in the downswing, or get my lead femur angled toward the target allowing my hips to stay more centered,getting the lead hip rotated up and behind me a little more through impact.

 

Hambooger, that is minutia detail for you to evaluate yourself. When you make a statement like that, I have to just take it at face value: more open hips at impact without changing anything else means that you will have needed to separate the relationship between your shoulders and hips more at impact. Does that mean you will generate more power? Perhaps, but that may come at the expense of consistency.

 

Now if you are saying you have an open clubface at impact and that you are swinging OTT, then yes, getting your hips more open at impact will help to square the club. And also although it is not an absolute cure, it is a compensation for OTT.

 

So when you ask about where your hips need to be at impact, you have to ask yourself specifically what you are trying fix or improve by that. Just stating more open hips means too many things to me.

 

With the trap door style pivot I can see how timing would be a great variable. Again, makes sense as to why my game before could be ON of OFF. I mean I could shoot 82, then 68. Too much timing, timing requires things to be very very consistent. Hence why I'm trying so hard to simplify things.

 

The way the math of adding up all the arcing motions of the swing will work out is that there is only one single point of "squareness" in all of the swing, so really there is no avoiding "timing". It's ALL TIMING!!! But yes, simplifying the motions to the most direct and least curving is the best for consistency.

 

Here is what is ideal: the lowest point of the swing, meaning the literal lowest that it will go along its arc, should be the point of squareness to path and this should be where ball contact is made. You could argue that the ideal is impact just before this point and that would be fine, but the point is that because all the motions of the swing are arcing motions, it is impossible to have more than one specific point of "squareness" in all of the swing. You get ONE chance and ONE position for a square impact point. That's it. So you cannot avoid timing. All you can do is simplify your actions to be more consistent and then work on repeated timing of them.

 

As for the trail arm action, I think that is where I get my "sneaky" distance. Most people I play with say my swing looks slow/lazy but they can never see my ball leave the driver. All the speed is saved for the impact zone, and the trail arm piston action gives it a little more pizazz. Like Tabasco for the release LOL

 

Yes if you can assist centrifugal force during the trail arm straightening action, then yes you can add power to the shot. But it is not so much brute force power as it is quick power. And with your drummer timing, I'll bet it is easy peasy for you to repeat it. Once you set a cadence for your swing, then you can make a modification like a power move to help with it.

 

And that's the thing with swing moves and timing. You cannot change one thing in the entire swing without it affecting either the path or the timing of the swing and moreover path and timing go hand in hand. Their physics is entwined.

 

BTW this is the video I use to work on my driver swing. I have an iPhone 5s my Brother just gave me. The swing video I posted was actually filmed in slo mo but because the phone is not jailbroken it's not hooked up to the net. So I had to download to my old laptop then upload it to youtube. Anyway, I used the slo mo on the iphone to check my driver swing. It's not terrible, I can see quite a few things that are good and few that need work. One thing is a WIDE open clubface, that probably because the is no ball. Here's the interesting thing, once I saw that I started actively releasing hard while making driver swings and it seems to make my swing feel more balanced and fluid, does that have something to do with centrifugal force/CoG? Perhaps my arms where working too much in to out and thinking of releasing keeps it on the DUST plane better? I just know there is a big difference.

 

I think releasing hard is just you timing the point of "squareness" better. I think to swing with only centrifugal force is not enough, there is still some arms power added to the shot. As mentioned, it doesn't need to be brute force power but rather quick power. The arms and hands still have to do "work" in the shot, too. So to me if the feeling of releasing harder helps with you to square the face, then that is simply a timed move for you. Releasing harder to me, provided it doesn't violate the DUST plane, just means that you are speeding up either the trail elbow or wrists unhinging actions and so it makes complete sense to me that it helps you achieve that intended "squareness" better.

 

Edit: When I say wide open clubface, I really mean no release on the downswing. At the top my clubface is square.

 

Remember, the DUST model doesn't dictate the level of "squareness" at the top. While being square like you state is probably ideal. It really doesn't matter as long as whatever angle the face is set at the top returns to square at impact. And as long as the return to square is a simple action, then it really doesn't matter what angle the face is at the top. Again, the key is a CONSISTENT unhinge action of the wrists.

[DeNinny]

By the way, Hammer, I do think there is a relationship between how much to squat and how much tilt at impact. Guys that squat are really generating centrifugal force through a high early acceleration turn. And since they squatted they are closer to the ball. By squatting alone there needs to be another compensation and so more spine tilt is part of it. That way, you can catch the ball even earlier in the process of the trail arm straightening and still be at the right distance from the ball.

[Palauan Hammer]

Thanks for that! My bad with the timing statement, a better way for me to think about it is more consistent :) Or in musical terms, basic 4/4 time, no odd time signatures LOL

 

I shouldn't nitpick my swing so much. I'm starting to be one of the guys that want to change their swing to make it look pretty by chasing positions haha. Not a good rabbit hole to down. I should just keep doing the drills and swings I'm doing now and wait until I get some ball flight/course results.

[mdgboxx]

Check out the hip turn on this girl

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UR29soiXFQM

[DeNinny]

Check out the hip turn on this girl

...

 

I checked it out and then some! Very nice form. She's got a power move coming into impact. It's like she's giving that last bit of centrifugal force just a little more 'oomph' right before impact.

 

You also prompted me to validate the DUST model in her swing. Here's a compilation with some wonderful viewing angles (hee hee).

 

 

So one thing off the bat is that she doesn't have much arms raise at all in her swing. She is about as close to a true one plane swing as possible. You can see this in her lead arm is nearly parallel to her shoulders at the top of her backswing. As such, I don't see her setting the club on the DUST plane as per how I have defined it, BUT...one thing she does do is downswing on a nice flat plane and she loses a lot of the angle between her lead forearm and the shaft so her entire lead arm and shaft are almost a flat line coming into impact. Her hands are definitely higher at impact than address looking DTL, which means for sure the angle has flattened between address and impact. So it is effectively an on plane swing, and the way she lays that lead arm across her chest is a VERY simple position. She still swings with low MOI to high MOI like all DUST swings, and also she has that classic trail arm straightening like a piston PAST impact. And to me her key for that one plane downswing is that early wrist hinge. She even waggles it in her PSR. She sets that wrist hinge VERY early in her takeaway because she is going to simply get right back to that position going into impact and then she's going to release it going hard and late into impact. She snaps her hips (that power move) in sync with that late wrist release and so effectively her DUST plane is about as on plane with the ball as possible. And lastly she has some MAD spine tilt just during impact...and it's all because she's got GREAT hips. That power snap in her hips is MAD SKILLZ. That's an advanced move for sure.

[mdgboxx]

The hip snap is what caught my attention when I first saw that commercial. And yes, I too went looking for a little more. It led me to try and mimic the take away, since I had already accepted that the hip snap was not an option for me personally.

 

In the end, it became the cure for my sadly renowned "Pretzel Swing"......!

 

In case you were wondering: No, I didn't buy a SOUL, I've been a Toyota nut since 1980. My 2010 Corolla has a whopping 30,400 miles on it. :taunt:

[DeNinny]

The hip snap is what caught my attention when I first saw that commercial. And yes, I too went looking for a little more. It led me to try and mimic the take away, since I had already accepted that the hip snap was not an option for me personally.

 

In the end, it became the cure for my sadly renowned "Pretzel Swing"......!

 

In case you were wondering: No, I didn't buy a SOUL, I've been a Toyota nut since 1980. My 2010 Corolla has a whopping 30,400 miles on it. :taunt:

 

I think the combo of the hips snap and late wrists unhinge is a dual move for her where the combination of the two result in even more power. It's a tandem twitch.

 

And she has a helluva flexible back. She doesn't need much hips turn at all but her shoulders turn 90 at least. She can generate a lot of stretch and tension in her torso muscles and so when she adds that snap to her downswing those stretched muscles recoil back with even more force. I hope she enjoys that flexibility for a long time. There is no way I can turn my shoulders without much hips turn like that.

 

I drove an 89 celica and then a 92 camry in my younger days. Both great cars.

[Palauan Hammer]

My Mom has a 2016 Kia Soul, good little car!

 

One thing that always stood out in Wie's swing has how little hip turn she has in the backswing, then BOOM hip action on the downswing lol. I think these days shes turning her hips a little more in the backswing though.

 

2 favorite LPGA swings are Lydia and NYC.

[Matt J]

I was a bit of a Toyota enthusiast as a younger man - had a couple of the old FJ's that look like a Jeep (one was actually a pick-up back) - also still have a "vintage" 1985 VW Westphalia camper van although it's been sitting out front since a big camping trip mid-summer. Lately we've been Subaru people, we had a '95 we just sold, now we have a '97 and '13 both wagons.

 

Putting question for the Confessions crew:

 

do you vary the length of your backswing?

 

My confession: I've been unable to play, but I can putt, so I'm on a putting deep dive. I think I'm making some progress having doubled back on some previous ideas and fine-tuned some stuff.

 

I went to a single length backswing a few weeks ago and went out and made a bunch of good strokes from outside of 5 feet, but we were playing a 4 ball and I had a bunch of clean up putts that didn't matter and found I have a big two way miss with that much deceleration on short putts. So, now I've got the outside of 5 feet stroke and a "short putt" stroke that's more what I used to do on shorties. Basically a super slow, super short backswing. Seems complicated but it works.

 

I'm going to try and get out on the practice green at the club and really put it through the paces over the weekend. At home carpet putting always builds a bunch of confidence, but then the practice green ruins it. After going to the single length backswing, also putt the Betti BB1 with the counterweight grip into play, went to the practice green and was draining everything. Took it right to the club tournament round and was putting well. So, I think it's here to stay. The minor change for the short putts is actually very intuitive for me and I don't think I'll have a problem with it. Eye alignment is so huge. I've finally found a stance where the ball is middle, my rear dominant eye is just inside the ball, and there's some shaft lean. I push and pull the ball both ways, but it's like 1/2 to 1/4 of an inch at 6 feet, not 2 or 3 inches.

[Palauan Hammer]

Sounds like your on the right track MJ.

 

I never really thought about my backstroke with the putter, but I do vary the length. I think my stroke is tempo based, shorter putts, a little shorter backswing but same overall tempo and overall time of the stroke. So not short and quick, or long with a hit at the ball.

 

As for eye alignment, this is something I've been looking into (pun intended). I watched an interesting video with Mike Malaska on the subject. Here I'll embed it. It's interesting. And I like his approach. Hitting the sweetspot, getting a immediate and good roll is the secret to speed control, then the rest is aim. Of course you have to read the green too lol

 

[Matt J]

Might not be for everybody, but I play with a guy that does the same length backswing and it works for him. I think I would vary my stroke based on my reaction to how far I took the putter back. Now, I just take the putter back, 30 degrees or so from perpendicular and then vary the length of the follow through to change the speed. So, if I stop it just after impact it rolls about 5 feet on my carpet at home. If it's inside of that I need to use that little shorty stroke. My speed control has been better with this constraint, seems like just enough factors for me to dial it in, where changing the backswing and follow through was one too many variable.

 

I'll check out that video, thanks for posting TJ.

[Palauan Hammer]

Makes sense reducing variables in the stroke. Putting is the most personal part of the game so the best way to putt is the way you believe in and obviously puts the ball in the cup. For me that's letting the weight of the putter head swing which provides the energy to the ball, that way I don't have to worry about adrenaline too much. I want to explain my theory but I don't even know how to explain it LOL. It's almost like a pendulum, but not really, or maybe it is....haha.

[Matt J]

Sounds like you stay loose and swing the head which is a good intuitive way to putt.

 

I was never a statistically good putter. I've always sunk my fair share of bombs, but suffered with poor speed control. I think my emphasis was on line and if I tried to lag it up I might leave a 40 footer 10 feet short or run it 10 feet by.

 

I got my speed more under control, but realized my natural stroke pushes putts. Had to do something about it.

[DeNinny]

Same backswing vs same acceleration rate and tempo is not about one reducing variables more than the other. It's about deciding which variable do you want to take and which do you want to isolate.

 

If you take the same distance backswing, you are eliminating the variability of how much to take the club back, but with that comes varying the overall stroke tempo and acceleration of the clubhead in order to control how far the ball rolls.

 

If you vary the length of your backswing based on how far you need to putt it, then you are taking variability in the backswing distance, but you are also eliminating the variability of tempo and clubhead acceleration.

 

I personally prefer varying my backswing and having the same tempo and clubhead acceleration. One of my warm up routines whenever I play greens that I'm not used to is to always learn the distance a flat putt goes based on taking my backswing as far as my trail foot. That is usually about a 10-15 foot putt for me and so then I know at least one point of reference when I have to judge how far to take my putter head back. This is why I like varying the length of the backswing. You can actually see it and calibrate how far a known backswing distance goes. If I were to be a single distance backswing putter, it would be hard to standardize a specific tempo and then calibrate that to a specific distance on a specific green.

[DeNinny]

Sounds like you stay loose and swing the head which is a good intuitive way to putt.

 

I was never a statistically good putter. I've always sunk my fair share of bombs, but suffered with poor speed control. I think my emphasis was on line and if I tried to lag it up I might leave a 40 footer 10 feet short or run it 10 feet by.

 

I got my speed more under control, but realized my natural stroke pushes putts. Had to do something about it.

 

Matt J you are a fine putter. A freaking ROCKSTAR. Even if you aren't, you shouldn't ever admit it. Blow it 10 feet by or 10 feet short? PSHAW. That ain't $hit. It's just a 10 foot tap in!

 

LOL I know I have my own putting demons (we all do), but I putt much better when I'm in denial about them.