Holding the twist, lagging the sweetspot, and hitting the box - my interpretation (reasonable or not) of that advice made me want to drag the handle.
Me too. I think the way NSA 2 covers this material, it's quite natural to think that you are going to be adding/controlling forces to the club head at points right around impact. My reading of the release thread says that this can't really happen, and that trying to add these forces might hinder much more than it helps.
The information in the release thread has helped my ball striking immensely. I think I understand a lot of what is being said there. However, I am still trying to wrap my mind around how one would go normal at impact while doing the moves required to finish wedding ring up.
I don't know for sure, but I think that a proper release where you go normal simply will NOT put you in a wedding ring up position. Now, some golfers may still need to learn wedding ring up to help them square the club face, but it seems to me that in an "optimal" pattern, one just isn't looking to BE in a wedding ring up position.
In my own experiments I've found that where I used to use wedding ring up to try to hit a draw, it often led to pull draws. With the release thread thoughts I feel like I can hit a draw by simply making a natural full release thread, but by also swinging a bit more from the inside. The ball starts a bit more right and then turns over. In fact, with the release thread info I have hit the first push draws of my life (the first time I've ever hit the ball with an open club face and had it go left).
So I feel like a good release from the top is squaring the club face on its own, and if I want to work the ball I am adjusting my path and not the club face. The club face is relatively square anyway, so to draw the ball I swing more right and to fade it I swing more left (with the obvious alignment changes as well).
[side note: this resonates a bit with the way that Nicklaus talked about working the ball, since he basically said to make a full release and square the club face very time, but to draw it, start with a closed face and to fade it, start with an open one But in his actual swing he was not manipulating the face at all, but instead just "going norma" and making the same swing as always]
At least that's how it feels and has worked for me so far...
