Post by imperfectgolfer on Sept 27, 2012 13:47:23 GMT -5
See this BM-forum thread.
www.brianmanzella.com/golfing-discussions/17696-squaring-club-face.html
The original poster asked-: "Since the downswing takes approximately .3 seconds, how long into the downswing do we have to initiative the torque that will square the club face? Nicklaus liked to say that he was "releasing" the club from the top. So, if needed, should the first move "down" (for someone learning to square the club face properly) be to get the club face squaring to the path as soon as possible?"
Why should a golfer have to torque the club to square the clubface - if he uses a strong left hand grip (like Dominic Mazza)? DM keeps the clubface square to the clubhead arc throughout his entire backswing and downswing, and therefore his clubface is always square to the clubhead arc at any moment of the downswing. He therefore doesn't have to perform any biomechanical action to square the clubface for impact.
The only golfers who need to square the clubface prior to impact are those golfers who open their clubface (relative to the clubhead arc) in the backswing. Why does that happen? It happens because they pronate their left forearm during their backswing action to get the back of their FLW parallel to the inclined plane that they use during their mid-late backswing action. Therefore to square the clubface by impact, they have to reverse the process by supinating the left forearm during their downswing action. This biomechanical action cannot be done between P4 and P6 because any left forearm supinating action will steepen the clubshaft angle and throw the clubshaft above the inclined plane. It also cannot be done between P6 and P6.5 while the club is still incompletely released - because it will move the clubshaft off the impact zone's inclined plane. It must be done between P6.5 and P6 when the clubshaft is nearly straight-in-line with the left arm. In that sense, BM is "correct" to state that it must be done late, and not early (between P4 and P6) as some BM groupies suggest.
Jeffy has the wrongheaded idea that the clubface must be closed relative to the clubhead arc in the early downswing - by a left palmar flexion action.
Here is Jeffy at P4.
Note that he opened his clubface (relative to the clubhead arc) by pronating his left forearm during his backswing action. Note that he has an intact LAFW, GFLW and his clubface is appropriately parallel to the back of his left forearm.
Here is Jeffy at P5.
Note that he has closed the clubface (relative to the clubhead arc) by palmar flexing his left wrist using his finger flexor muscles, and that biomechanical action twists the grip end of the club clockwise and closes the clubface (relative to the clubhead arc). That's a biomechanically incorrect action - because it doesn't eliminate his need to supinate his left forearm in his downswing in order to get his left forearm back to neutral by impact. Thankfully, no professional golfer (who uses a neutral left hand grip) uses that technique to square the clubface by impact - and they all use the release of PA#3 (which happens between P6.5 and P7) to square the clubface by impact.
Jeff.
www.brianmanzella.com/golfing-discussions/17696-squaring-club-face.html
The original poster asked-: "Since the downswing takes approximately .3 seconds, how long into the downswing do we have to initiative the torque that will square the club face? Nicklaus liked to say that he was "releasing" the club from the top. So, if needed, should the first move "down" (for someone learning to square the club face properly) be to get the club face squaring to the path as soon as possible?"
Why should a golfer have to torque the club to square the clubface - if he uses a strong left hand grip (like Dominic Mazza)? DM keeps the clubface square to the clubhead arc throughout his entire backswing and downswing, and therefore his clubface is always square to the clubhead arc at any moment of the downswing. He therefore doesn't have to perform any biomechanical action to square the clubface for impact.
The only golfers who need to square the clubface prior to impact are those golfers who open their clubface (relative to the clubhead arc) in the backswing. Why does that happen? It happens because they pronate their left forearm during their backswing action to get the back of their FLW parallel to the inclined plane that they use during their mid-late backswing action. Therefore to square the clubface by impact, they have to reverse the process by supinating the left forearm during their downswing action. This biomechanical action cannot be done between P4 and P6 because any left forearm supinating action will steepen the clubshaft angle and throw the clubshaft above the inclined plane. It also cannot be done between P6 and P6.5 while the club is still incompletely released - because it will move the clubshaft off the impact zone's inclined plane. It must be done between P6.5 and P6 when the clubshaft is nearly straight-in-line with the left arm. In that sense, BM is "correct" to state that it must be done late, and not early (between P4 and P6) as some BM groupies suggest.
Jeffy has the wrongheaded idea that the clubface must be closed relative to the clubhead arc in the early downswing - by a left palmar flexion action.
Here is Jeffy at P4.
Note that he opened his clubface (relative to the clubhead arc) by pronating his left forearm during his backswing action. Note that he has an intact LAFW, GFLW and his clubface is appropriately parallel to the back of his left forearm.
Here is Jeffy at P5.
Note that he has closed the clubface (relative to the clubhead arc) by palmar flexing his left wrist using his finger flexor muscles, and that biomechanical action twists the grip end of the club clockwise and closes the clubface (relative to the clubhead arc). That's a biomechanically incorrect action - because it doesn't eliminate his need to supinate his left forearm in his downswing in order to get his left forearm back to neutral by impact. Thankfully, no professional golfer (who uses a neutral left hand grip) uses that technique to square the clubface by impact - and they all use the release of PA#3 (which happens between P6.5 and P7) to square the clubface by impact.
Jeff.