Brian Manzella
Administrator
The first thing to consider when you are hitting a shot is simple—what shot can I play here? And what kind do I need to play?
Let’s use the example of the second shot on the 9th hole at English Turn. It is a short par-4 that has an extremely shallow green, that is about 2/3rd guarded in front by a bunker, and in the back by a deeper bunker and very steep sloped collection area with the grass growing hard against you coming back toward the green.
I usually hit a hybrid off the tee, but in this example, we are playing into a 10-15 mph west wind, and I choose a 3-wood.
I hit my 3-wood about 235-250 off the tee, and this example 3-wood shot goes 225, leaving me with about 130 into the green.
The pin is in the right portion of the green, over the front bunker.
If I hit my 140-150 yard club, my 9-iron, it could fly far enough, but could spin back in the bunker. Also, it leaves me with the possibility of getting the ball up-shot in the wind and plugging in the front bunker. No good.
The shot here is a little soft cut 8-iron, without much spin.
For me to hit that shot, I need to start applying Alpha (in-plane) torque earlier in the downswing, to take some speed off of the club without reducing my effort too much, and to make the angle of attack shallow enough, so that if I lean the club just a bit forward, the spin loft will be low enough to reduce spin a sufficient amount.
I also need to aim left enough to have my swing direction and resultant path left enough (maybe 2° or 3°) so that my square-ish face will produce the correct amount of fade and curve toward the pin and crab away from the dreaded collection area.
So, when we use the term, “Lining the Club up for Impact,” this is what that term means:
The desired position of the club at impact to produce a certain shot with a given swing speed.
Now, on this shot, I could mess it up royally in many ways.
Fat….dead in the water on plugged in the bunker.
Thin and hot….over the green, into the grain, up an Evel Knievel ramp.
But, I could flush it and not line the club up for the desired impact.
How?
4 different kinds of Handle-Dragging.
1. Too Late Alpha Torque.
I needed to start “tossing” this clubhead a little sooner on this shot—as per above—but I dragged it too long.
2. Too much late Positive Alpha.
I needed to start “going normal” from the ground up and applying some negative alpha late on this shot. Instead, I kept pushing forward and not pulling back enough.
3. Too much hand speed late in the downswing.
I could easily ruin this shot this way, even if I starting alpha-torquing mid-downswing as I needed to, if I just have too much speed and too much much force along the hand path.
4. Kill the spider.
Instead of allowing the overtaking of the clubhead to have my lead wrist move toward extension pre-impact, culminating in the classic spiderman-left hand look in the 2/3rd past the ball location, I panic and shove the handle forward late, adding flexion to the lead wrist and hitting a bullet over the green.
You could make the point that #4 is Handle-Pushing and I’d probably agree with you.
Before too long, I’ll hot all four of these shots using this exact scenario, as well as do some standard full swing versions. We will compare and contrast all of the above with the best software for this type of analysis every created—Jacobs 3d.
Let’s use the example of the second shot on the 9th hole at English Turn. It is a short par-4 that has an extremely shallow green, that is about 2/3rd guarded in front by a bunker, and in the back by a deeper bunker and very steep sloped collection area with the grass growing hard against you coming back toward the green.
I usually hit a hybrid off the tee, but in this example, we are playing into a 10-15 mph west wind, and I choose a 3-wood.
I hit my 3-wood about 235-250 off the tee, and this example 3-wood shot goes 225, leaving me with about 130 into the green.
The pin is in the right portion of the green, over the front bunker.
If I hit my 140-150 yard club, my 9-iron, it could fly far enough, but could spin back in the bunker. Also, it leaves me with the possibility of getting the ball up-shot in the wind and plugging in the front bunker. No good.
The shot here is a little soft cut 8-iron, without much spin.
For me to hit that shot, I need to start applying Alpha (in-plane) torque earlier in the downswing, to take some speed off of the club without reducing my effort too much, and to make the angle of attack shallow enough, so that if I lean the club just a bit forward, the spin loft will be low enough to reduce spin a sufficient amount.
I also need to aim left enough to have my swing direction and resultant path left enough (maybe 2° or 3°) so that my square-ish face will produce the correct amount of fade and curve toward the pin and crab away from the dreaded collection area.
So, when we use the term, “Lining the Club up for Impact,” this is what that term means:
The desired position of the club at impact to produce a certain shot with a given swing speed.
Now, on this shot, I could mess it up royally in many ways.
Fat….dead in the water on plugged in the bunker.
Thin and hot….over the green, into the grain, up an Evel Knievel ramp.
But, I could flush it and not line the club up for the desired impact.
How?
4 different kinds of Handle-Dragging.
1. Too Late Alpha Torque.
I needed to start “tossing” this clubhead a little sooner on this shot—as per above—but I dragged it too long.
2. Too much late Positive Alpha.
I needed to start “going normal” from the ground up and applying some negative alpha late on this shot. Instead, I kept pushing forward and not pulling back enough.
3. Too much hand speed late in the downswing.
I could easily ruin this shot this way, even if I starting alpha-torquing mid-downswing as I needed to, if I just have too much speed and too much much force along the hand path.
4. Kill the spider.
Instead of allowing the overtaking of the clubhead to have my lead wrist move toward extension pre-impact, culminating in the classic spiderman-left hand look in the 2/3rd past the ball location, I panic and shove the handle forward late, adding flexion to the lead wrist and hitting a bullet over the green.
You could make the point that #4 is Handle-Pushing and I’d probably agree with you.
Before too long, I’ll hot all four of these shots using this exact scenario, as well as do some standard full swing versions. We will compare and contrast all of the above with the best software for this type of analysis every created—Jacobs 3d.