"aiming point" question

[smbruin22]

hi, my first post on this board, but i've lurked occasionally and quite enjoyed this forum.

i've done alot of reading on golf machine/impact zone. i like the ideas alot, but golf machine is too complicated, and clampett's book, while excellent, seems fairly incompletely (vary aiming point by club) and probably wrong about at least one thing (hitting down on driver)

anyway, something i've never seen addressed is if the "aiming point" is directly in front of the ball or diagnolly (sp??) in front of ball. most descriptions just say "in front of ball". in front and to the right of the ball (for a RHP) resulting in a fairly gentle diagonal seems to make more sense, but i've never really seen that explicitly stated.

my other question is more general and probably harder to answer. when i get my hands nicely ahead of ball like suggested (say for shorter iron), i find my club face is very open. i'm thinking i need to do some combo of the following to square the clubface:

1) stronger grip

2) make sure wrist is flat (maybe even aim to have to it somewhat bowed knowing i won't get i.e. when teacher pro's have you overdo things to get rid of bad ingrained habits).

3) release the clubface earlier.

i realize it's almost impossible to answer this conclusively without seeing my swing, but just looking for some thoughts.

thanks in advance!!

 

[Jared Willerson]

Make the club work like a club. Monitoring aiming point is something that has never been really advocated around here.

The thing to understand is how much you want to hit down or up for the selected shot and adjust your aim accordingly.

To answer your questions, where you begin to release the club depends on how much or how little you pivot, IMO.

I ran into these same problems early on trying to put all this information together and I think you would be better off understanding and studying the D-plane and how that relates to the club path and club face.

 

[Brian Manzella]

You need Twistaway.

I dislike the heck out of the aiming point concept.

Primarily because it is INCORRECT!!!!!!

 

[bccoop]

How is aiming point incorrect? Isn't it a CONCEPT? The concept of taking the hands to a location and letting the club follow.

 

[Mike O]

hi, my first post on this board, but i've lurked occasionally and quite enjoyed this forum.

1) stronger grip

2) make sure wrist is flat (maybe even aim to have to it somewhat bowed knowing i won't get i.e. when teacher pro's have you overdo things to get rid of bad ingrained habits).

3) release the clubface earlier.

i realize it's almost impossible to answer this conclusively without seeing my swing, but just looking for some thoughts.

thanks in advance!!

Stonger Grip is the best answer of these three. When you say stronger grip - we'd need to address at least
four items that will affect the clubface.
1) The hand rotated more
2) The clubace closed more
3) The shaft leaning more forward WHEN you grip it
4) The clubhead /ball further forward in the stance than you currently have it.

In summary, you can have a "Strong Grip" i.e. left hand location AND still have a weak grip based on impact conditions created by the other three.

 

[Todd Dugan]

What confuses folks about the "aiming points" is that there are two different procedures to achieve the same result, which, of course, is a delayed release of the clubshaft past the left arm. One is a "circle "procedure, the other is a "line" procedure. The Clampett method is the latter. The aiming point is on the plane line. Obviously, the hands don't move to a point directly over this "line" aiming point. Rather, it is the point where the straightening thrust of the right arm is directed.

A delayed release will usually cause the clubface to be more open at impact since the release is usually accompanied by corresponding wrist roll. Rotate hands rightward of the vertical clubface at set-up to reduce the required roll. And remember, roll and release are two seperate motions. You can have more or less of either simultaneously.