Stressing the shaft and gravity

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OK, I sure hope this makes sense:

Brian talks a lot about "stressing the shaft". My question is, don't you lose this "stress" if you use gravity to let the club drop during the transition? Many thanks,

Curtis
 

lia41985

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If you do a David Lee "Gravity Golf" type counterfall and don't input torque into the club there's a good chance it'll reverse tumble and get "under".
 
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The golf swing tends to be analysed in a way that would suggest it is completely unique to all other athletic motions.

Of course, it is not unique. You will begin applying a significant force to the golf club before it even reaches the top. So much so that the force of gravity will become almost completely insignificant.

Letting gravity start the downswing in golf makes as much sense as letting gravity start the final downstroke of an underhanded softball fast pitch.
 
Letting gravity start the downswing in golf makes as much sense as letting gravity start the final downstroke of an underhanded softball fast pitch.

The reason I was thinking about this is that I'm trying to get away from trying to kill it from the top which I believe can put a lot of force on the clubface opening it up correct? So I've been experimenting with getting to the top and letting it just fall a bit and then get after it. Am I thinking this wrong?
 
Yeah, I love how the pro's always describe "feels" and explain it as that is exactly what they're doing. Kinda like the whole pinching the ball between the club and the ground. Just doesn't happen. If you "let the club do the work" and just used gravity you'd barely get the ball out of your shadow. There's just such a massive difference between being a good player, and a good teacher.

I think you're on to something to use as a feel though. If it helps you add fluidity to your transition then by all means. I'm pretty guilty of "hitting from the top" as well. My brain knows it's a bad idea, but my body doesn't always want to listen.
 
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I personally found it helpful to learn to let gravity drop the arms for a bit from the top before adding any active force to the shaft via my right arm/side. Once I learned to do this fairly well, I moved on to adding left side pull from the top followed by active right arm/side.

Learning to let the club drop taught me 2 things:
How to keep the shoulders passive during that instant.
That if I actively pull from the top, it has to be more vertical (in the right pocket or over the right ankle) than out toward the ball so that you do not risk coming OTT.

My mantra used to be "Drop. Throw." This turned into "Pull. Throw"

Here is Brian Manzella addressing the concept:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aB61Iw5D7YU&NR=1
 
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The reason I was thinking about this is that I'm trying to get away from trying to kill it from the top which I believe can put a lot of force on the clubface opening it up correct? So I've been experimenting with getting to the top and letting it just fall a bit and then get after it. Am I thinking this wrong?

Curtis, if you have a "sensation" of letting the club fall from the top, and it's giving you better results, then more power to you. I suspect that this helps your sequence which is a common denominator shared by ALL good ball-strikers. I was pointing out what I believe is actually happening, which can be a totally different discussion from what we feel we are doing to improve our strange individual assemblage.
 
OK, I sure hope this makes sense:

Brian talks a lot about "stressing the shaft". My question is, don't you lose this "stress" if you use gravity to let the club drop during the transition? Many thanks,

Curtis

The shaft goes through 3 main "stressing episodes" - take away, transition, release. The shaft "recovers" from those episodes very quickly. So any stress you apply at the start will be gone well before the transition, and any stress at the transition will be gone well before the release.
 
The shaft goes through 3 main "stressing episodes" - take away, transition, release. The shaft "recovers" from those episodes very quickly. So any stress you apply at the start will be gone well before the transition, and any stress at the transition will be gone well before the release.

Just curious. So when considering a shaft's flex profile, as suitable for your swing, should you only be concerned about how the shaft stresses and recovers at release?
 
The shaft goes through 3 main "stressing episodes" - take away, transition, release. The shaft "recovers" from those episodes very quickly.
Am I being a smart-ass when saying that you forgot impact :p

From the tutelman's site
gearef10.gif
 
Yes you are :p

The collision dynamics are a differnt topic, and something that happens to every shaft no matter the flex. But I know that you know that you already know that.:)
 
Interesting thread.

It sure feels like it is possible to let gravity take over for a bit in the "transition".

Not sure if that is real or not...or much contributing.
 
The shaft goes through 3 main "stressing episodes" - take away, transition, release. The shaft "recovers" from those episodes very quickly. So any stress you apply at the start will be gone well before the transition, and any stress at the transition will be gone well before the release.

So why does BManz talk about stressing the shaft during the takeaway if you are saying it "disappears" shortly after? thx
 
So why does BManz talk about stressing the shaft during the takeaway if you are saying it "disappears" shortly after? thx

The goal isn't to stress the shaft during the takeaway so it stays stressed during the swing. What happens to the shaft during that time is a by-product of what you are or aren't doing.
 
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