csf.com
Member
- Joined
- May 11, 2020
- Messages
- 61
- Reaction score
- 10
I wish to post an idea on the above topic and invite comments and feedback.
I have watched the swings of many professionals on youtube. I noticed that the shaft of the club assumes a concave shape before the clubhead impacts the ball. It soon prompted me to wonder why this should be so.
After all, the shaft has a convex shape when the left arm is at 9 to 8 o’clock position. Why does it not stay that way? Why must it transition to straight before it assumes the concave shape before it strikes the ball?
Most of us intuitively know that the convex shape is a strong shape. If the objective is to drive the ball as long we can, the convex shape should be preferred. So, what is causing the shaft to lose its convex shape?
When that thought occurred to me, I started to think about it and actively looked for the reasons why the transition happened with all the swings that I have watched in slow motion (thanks to modern video technology).
Is it caused by the downswing slowing down? And if so, what are the factors causing the deceleration through the impact zone? When I got thinking in that direction, two features of the modern swing occurred to me.
The shoulder-width stance that most golfers used, including Rory McIlroy, has always occurred to me to be too wide for efficient motion. Hogan has always emphasized that the downswing must be as fast as possible. For that reason, he advocated a lateral slide before turning the left hip onto the left heel. But that movement over a wide stance is hard to do for many golfers.
To tackle that problem, Mindy Blake in his Golf Swing of the Future book proposed a much narrower stance. This fits Blake’s idea of using the legs as the dominant power source. Like Blake, I drew on the experience of field sports. The dominant source of the power of field sports is the rotational movement of the lower body. I noticed that the final swing movement of the hammer throw or shot put is done over a narrow stance. But it is wider than Blake’s.
So, I deduced that a stance in between Hogan and Blake seems logical. A stance in between should allow the rotational movement of the lower body to express its full power potential. The rotational movement of the lower body over a narrow stance can overcome the issue of the loss of momentum in the downswing. This movement is superior to that of the lateral slide and then turn movement advocated by Hogan.
What else might be causing the downswing to decelerate throughout the impact zone before the shaft strikes the ball? I have noticed that many long drivers of the ball ended up with the left foot opening after impact on the ball.
So, I wondered whether the 22 degrees open left foot advocated by Hogan is indeed impeding the downswing. If not, why do long drivers more often than not need to open the left foot in order to finish their swing? Then it occurred to me that opening the left foot at address can only be a good thing. A simulation of a downswing will suggest that a left foot opened to be about 45 degrees is the minimum required for it not to impede the downswing.
In addition, Blake proposed that the right foot be turned towards 10 degrees. This so that the shoulders need to be turned less around the body to obtain short but nevertheless full backswing.
Will these changes be sufficient to allow a professional golfer to retain the convex shape shaft (when the left arm is at the 9 o’clock position) throughout the impact zone? If that can be done, then the convex strike on the ball can be achieved.
But, will it result in longer driving distances? One way of looking at it is to consider the convex tapered end of the fishing rod casting the line. The more convex-bend the shape is, the further the casting. Or consider the convex bend of the pole propelling a vaulter over the bar - the more acute the bend the higher the vaulter goes.
Thus, by analogy, a ‘convex’ strike on the ball should deliver longer drives.
With that, I invite your inputs.
I have watched the swings of many professionals on youtube. I noticed that the shaft of the club assumes a concave shape before the clubhead impacts the ball. It soon prompted me to wonder why this should be so.
After all, the shaft has a convex shape when the left arm is at 9 to 8 o’clock position. Why does it not stay that way? Why must it transition to straight before it assumes the concave shape before it strikes the ball?
Most of us intuitively know that the convex shape is a strong shape. If the objective is to drive the ball as long we can, the convex shape should be preferred. So, what is causing the shaft to lose its convex shape?
When that thought occurred to me, I started to think about it and actively looked for the reasons why the transition happened with all the swings that I have watched in slow motion (thanks to modern video technology).
Is it caused by the downswing slowing down? And if so, what are the factors causing the deceleration through the impact zone? When I got thinking in that direction, two features of the modern swing occurred to me.
The shoulder-width stance that most golfers used, including Rory McIlroy, has always occurred to me to be too wide for efficient motion. Hogan has always emphasized that the downswing must be as fast as possible. For that reason, he advocated a lateral slide before turning the left hip onto the left heel. But that movement over a wide stance is hard to do for many golfers.
To tackle that problem, Mindy Blake in his Golf Swing of the Future book proposed a much narrower stance. This fits Blake’s idea of using the legs as the dominant power source. Like Blake, I drew on the experience of field sports. The dominant source of the power of field sports is the rotational movement of the lower body. I noticed that the final swing movement of the hammer throw or shot put is done over a narrow stance. But it is wider than Blake’s.
So, I deduced that a stance in between Hogan and Blake seems logical. A stance in between should allow the rotational movement of the lower body to express its full power potential. The rotational movement of the lower body over a narrow stance can overcome the issue of the loss of momentum in the downswing. This movement is superior to that of the lateral slide and then turn movement advocated by Hogan.
What else might be causing the downswing to decelerate throughout the impact zone before the shaft strikes the ball? I have noticed that many long drivers of the ball ended up with the left foot opening after impact on the ball.
So, I wondered whether the 22 degrees open left foot advocated by Hogan is indeed impeding the downswing. If not, why do long drivers more often than not need to open the left foot in order to finish their swing? Then it occurred to me that opening the left foot at address can only be a good thing. A simulation of a downswing will suggest that a left foot opened to be about 45 degrees is the minimum required for it not to impede the downswing.
In addition, Blake proposed that the right foot be turned towards 10 degrees. This so that the shoulders need to be turned less around the body to obtain short but nevertheless full backswing.
Will these changes be sufficient to allow a professional golfer to retain the convex shape shaft (when the left arm is at the 9 o’clock position) throughout the impact zone? If that can be done, then the convex strike on the ball can be achieved.
But, will it result in longer driving distances? One way of looking at it is to consider the convex tapered end of the fishing rod casting the line. The more convex-bend the shape is, the further the casting. Or consider the convex bend of the pole propelling a vaulter over the bar - the more acute the bend the higher the vaulter goes.
Thus, by analogy, a ‘convex’ strike on the ball should deliver longer drives.
With that, I invite your inputs.