An interesting thing happened to me today

[Kevin Shields]

As I was playing in our weekly section event, I teed off on the seventh hole with my hybrid. I made prob my best swing of the day to that point, 230 on a rope. But for the first time in my life the friggin' head of my club flew off right after impact!

Might be an easy answer, but what do you think my follow through looked like and why? It flies in the face of what alot of TV announcers say about rotation.

 

[self-mastery]

I had this happen to me while playing a 5 iron off the tee. I don't know what TV announcers say about rotation. I think that I basically finished with my hands in front of my body like I was holding a flag.

 

[Kevin Shields]

Exactly. Alot of announcers make references to how a player "unwinds to the finish" or "rotates all the way through to the finish". But without the weight of the club to pull me to the finish, I stopped with my right heel barely off the ground and my chest still facing a bit right of the target and my arms barely chest high.

Snap your chain, arms fling by you and they pull you around from there.

Nothing new, but i thought a different way to look at it.

 

[Jim Kobylinski]

Sounds similar to a story i posted about me hitting my 3 wood the normal yardage when it slipped out of my hands after impact...you look silly but ball didn't know cuz it was gone before you let go or in your case the head came off.

 

[chrisfx811]

On one particular golf forum, there's a swing section and an oft discussed debate is between a crossover type release vs a square the club face with your pivot type of thing.
In a book I have called 'The Golf Swing' which has hundreds of swing sequence photos of various pros they all seem to have some form of crossover and their chests are facing more towards the ball than not.

Does this kind of fly in the face of, or debunk, the idea of squaring the club face with your pivot?

 

[self-mastery]

I couldnt find the head...

 

[GPM1985]

On one particular golf forum, there's a swing section and an oft discussed debate is between a crossover type release vs a square the club face with your pivot type of thing.
In a book I have called 'The Golf Swing' which has hundreds of swing sequence photos of various pros they all seem to have some form of crossover and their chests are facing more towards the ball than not.

Does this kind of fly in the face of, or debunk, the idea of squaring the club face with your pivot?

This certainly flies in the face of what Brian would call the theory of the "freeturners." Awhile back there was an interesting thread where Brian detailed what happened when he actively tried to stop his pivot at the ball, in an attempt to really snap the chain.

Though he advised against trying this, Brian mentioned that he hit the ball farther with the stop than with a "freeturning" swing.

My take is, you use the pivot to hit the ball, but part of using the pivot is allowing it to snap, sending the arms, hands, and club whizzing through the ball and up onto your left shoulder. I always thought Couples was the best example of this.

But back to the "freeturning," or pivot-only hit (whatever you want to call it). Here's Hunter Mahan, a guy many point to as a "one-plane," "freeturning" golfer.

As you can see by watching the video, he's not hitting those laser fades with an uninterrupted turn. The hips clearly slow down, appearing to stop even (though the ball is gone at that point).

You also mention the crossover. I think almost all the guys who hit it long and solid release the club pretty hard. I mean really roll that sucker. I know different hinges work better for certain swings, and that may be especially true for pitches and chips, but I can't help but feel that most pros roll it pretty hard for full shots. Especially the longer hitters.

 

[ggsjpc]

So, would the swing be different if it was just a stick?


I've seen a ton of drills with turning the head over and all them create the high pitch swoosh sound and then abruptly stop. No follow through there. Absolutely agree about the point being made here.

 

[adamscot89]

So, would the swing be different if it was just a stick?

for sure, if you have ever seen someone swing a speed stick or one of those little alignment sticks, you snap your chain and swoosh the stick, but you don't have a full follow through, all the speed stops just past waste high and you have to pull the rest of your body through to have a full finish, way different from a steel shaft connected to a steel iron head

 

[matt kluck]

Great

Exactly. Alot of announcers make references to how a player "unwinds to the finish" or "rotates all the way through to the finish". But without the weight of the club to pull me to the finish, I stopped with my right heel barely off the ground and my chest still facing a bit right of the target and my arms barely chest high.

Snap your chain, arms fling by you and they pull you around from there.

Nothing new, but i thought a different way to look at it.

Welcome to golf!!! You stored your rotation per Keplers Law.
MK

 

[cmartingolf]

Kevin, I'll bet you had a funny look on your face. WTF?

I've seen it a bunch of times, although I've never done it.

 

[BIGBALL]

I did it one time...only problem ( or I guess it was a good thing! ) was that it was at an Adams demo day at the driving range, and I was demoing a brand new Adams driver. Head probably flew 40 yards - but it was probably the best ball I had to that point lol! Yep, with no weight on the end of the shaft, my swing basically died right there.!

Obviously, I didn't buy the Adams driver

 

[Kevin Shields]

Kevin, I'll bet you had a funny look on your face. WTF?

I've seen it a bunch of times, although I've never done it.

We were howling, no doubt.

 

[Kevin Shields]

This certainly flies in the face of what Brian would call the theory of the "freeturners." Awhile back there was an interesting thread where Brian detailed what happened when he actively tried to stop his pivot at the ball, in an attempt to really snap the chain.

Though he advised against trying this, Brian mentioned that he hit the ball farther with the stop than with a "freeturning" swing.

My take is, you use the pivot to hit the ball, but part of using the pivot is allowing it to snap, sending the arms, hands, and club whizzing through the ball and up onto your left shoulder. I always thought Couples was the best example of this.

But back to the "freeturning," or pivot-only hit (whatever you want to call it). Here's Hunter Mahan, a guy many point to as a "one-plane," "freeturning" golfer.

As you can see by watching the video, he's not hitting those laser fades with an uninterrupted turn. The hips clearly slow down, appearing to stop even (though the ball is gone at that point).

You also mention the crossover. I think almost all the guys who hit it long and solid release the club pretty hard. I mean really roll that sucker. I know different hinges work better for certain swings, and that may be especially true for pitches and chips, but I can't help but feel that most pros roll it pretty hard for full shots. Especially the longer hitters.

I think Mahan just pins his left arm to his chest more than the average tour player. His pivot still stops, look at his youtube swings, and the weight pulls him around.

 

[rogerdodger]

It happened to me in a junior tournament with a wooden driver. Head flew off into a pond, took the windings attaching the clubhead with it, looked like a kite. My playing partners laughed for the rest of the round.

 

[GPM1985]

I think Mahan just pins his left arm to his chest more than the average tour player. His pivot still stops, look at his youtube swings, and the weight pulls him around.

Yeah, I was only referring to Mahan as a golfer some people (incorrectly) label as a freeturner. No doubt his pivot stops.

He does really lock that arm in. I've been tinkering with that lately. I clamp it on and then try to whip it off coming through the ball. I think that's an accumulator.

I do this more with longer shots, drives and long irons, etc. I tried it with a 125 yard pitching wedge and hit it so high I started to laugh. I think I could have caught it if I'd ran.

 

[puttmad]

Heads coming off used to be a more common feature in the old days..
Graphite shafts on drivers and three woods seems to have cured the problem quite a bit..

Strange that most people agree it was also the best shot they hit (my own experience)...

Extending that thought, there is a school of thought that maintains that during the downswing, everything you are "doing" must be done before the impact zone, .i.e. you shouldn't be interfering in any way with the clubhead or swing towards its lowpoint and impact....

Makes sense then that the best way to "not interfere" is to disconnect the clubhead at impact....and that everything you have already done is maintained and allowed to happen, instead of being dissipated by interference....

Perhaps that's why the shot is always a good one....perhaps we interfere too much when the clubhead stays on the shaft....

Thoughts?....

 

[GPM1985]

Somewhere between over-acceleration and just slapping at it, there is the freewheeling, whip-like action I drool over. Some guys look like they just get the club going and follow it to the finish.

This makes me think of a thread with some Michael Finney footage, wherein Brian commented that Finney's swing thought is something like "pivot and hold on."

I think people who have a hard time with submitting to the pivot are too caught up in exactly where the club is going after the ball. They're trying to make it go to a certain position, concentrating too hard on it, and not getting past it, mentally and physically. You gotta let it go. Like this.

The hard part, in my opinion, is when you need to make some alteration after the ball (more left, wedding ring up, etc.). It's difficult to swing and not get jammed up think about where the club is going. I think that's when you throttle down, swing freely, but give yourself a little more time (during the swing, and on the range). At some point, you have to be able to rip it and know that the club will do what it's supposed to do without any conscious manipulation.

Pivot and hold on. That's the grail.

 

[2mongoose]

The only time I ever broke a club, a driver, it hurt my left arm like hell. Abrupt change in weight or something?

....now back to regular programming.