Golf Loopy TIPS NEW FOR 2019: STUDY THESE! Flashcards
Golf Loopy
What is the Role of your Right Hand?
Right Hand
The right hand is the golfer’s speed hand – it has primary responsibility for transmitting the energy created in the body, and by the extension of the right arm, through into the golf club.
The right wrist, which was fully abducted (cocked) and extended (cupped) during the transition, will fully adduct (down-cock) through impact.
By fully adducting (down-cocking), your right wrist through impact, you also gain a significant boost to club head speed.
This adduction (down-cocking) will force the wrist to flex (flatten), but not completely – see Figure 12.
Figure 12. The right wrist is still slightly cupped through impact.
The remaining extention (cupping) of the right wrist at impact is a crucial factor in a powerful release of the golf club – if you don’t have it, you’re losing a huge amount of club head speed.
A useful thing to visualize is, if you could stop at impact and point your right index finger straight out, it would point at your right ankle. [Like spanking]
It is important to note that, while the right arm is still firing as it extends through impact, the right hand itself is done – *by impact, it has finished its job of transferring all of the energy from your body through to the golf club, and it is now relaxed and loose, enabling a free release of the golf club through impact. If the right hand is trying to add speed here, it will only serve to slow the golf club down!*
If your right hand is still trying to add speed at impact, it will slow the golf club down!
Again, think of our “right arm as a whip” analogy. In order for the tip of the whip (your right hand) to crack through impact, it has to be free and loose.
Note that the right hand “cracks” through impact by adducting (down-cocking), not by flexing (flattening). Think in terms of throwing an axe at the ball for this movement, not a dart.
What is the perfect impact position?
Impact is everything in the golf swing, the moment of truth – everything you do, from taking your grip and setting up to the ball, from the first move away through to transition and downswing, is all about getting everything perfectly aligned and moving in the correct perfectly timed sequence through impact.
_Impact is not a destination. Like every other position, once the golf swing gets moving, it is a position that you move *through*._
IMPACT:
If all the elements are in place, it’s almost impossible not to have a great swing!
How do you know you are in the perfect impact position?
Impact Position Checklist:
- Your hips have rotated towards the target by about 45 degrees, no more.
- You are “stacked” over your left side – your hip joint and shoulder are directly over the center of your ankle joint.
- Your spine tilt has increased slightly from address as your left hip has pulled across and your head has stayed center. Your sternum is pointing at your left knee, which has rotated slightly towards the target (external rotation). There is no feeling of your upper body dropping or tilting back, away from the target.
- Your left ear is still on the same line that it was on at address.
- What are some more checkpoints for perfect impact position?
- POINTS TO REMEMBER:
- REM TA CLOSE TO GROUND THEN HINGE UP TO MATCH MY SPINE ANGLE.
- PIVOTING RIGHT, ALIGN GRIP WITH BALL AS I BS TO MY RIGHT ARMPIT.
- KEEP RIGHT ELBOW ATTACHED TO MY RIGHT SIDE AS I TA TO BOOKSHELF.
-
ENTIRE PROCEDURE SB LIKE THROWING A BASEBALL FROM HIP HEIGHT.
*
PERFECT IMPACT POSITION 2
- Your left arm is vertical and straight, and your left wrist is flat. The back of your left elbow (medial epicondyle, or “funny bone”) is pointing straight at the target. Your left forearm feels free of tension.
- Your right arm is still slightly bent at the elbow, straightening through impact. Your right wrist is still slightly cupped (extended).
- Your hands are ahead of the ball, in line with your sternum. DO YOU HEAR THAT. HANDS AHEAD OF BALL ON IMPACT, NOT AT IT. SB JUST LIKE LIKE A MICKELSON PITCH/TOWEL SNAP TIMED WITH YOUR STERNUM.
- Your right foot has rolled onto the inside of your shoe, and your heel is still close to the ground. Your right knee has been pulled across by your rotating hips, but there is still a large gap between your knees.
- _The vast majority of your weight, ***about 90% *** of it, is driving down through your left heel as your left leg straightens through impact._
Is the right arm suppose to muscle the ball or be timed to whip the ball?
- START DS WITH WEIGHT TRANSFER AND PIVOT LESS THAN 45 DEGREES
- CORE DRIVEN
- BALL IS NOT THE DESTINATION. SWING THROUGH THE BALL
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RELEASE LAG (TOWEL SNAP) THROUGH THE BALL
*
No matter how strong you are, you will generate far more club head speed as a result of a correctly timed sequence of movements than you can through muscular effort.
Muscular effort can be beneficial, but only when applied carefully, at the right time and place, to supplement and enhance the mechanics of the golf swing. A great golf swing feels effortless compared to what most amateurs are used to.
Those of you who are good at pitching a baseball, or otherwise throwing balls, will have noticed the similarity in the movement of the right arm in Figure 1 with the mechanics of throwing. This analogy can be very useful, if you understand that efficient throwing is also core-driven, and not powered primarily by the right shoulder and arm.
CORE DRIVEN! NOT ARM OR SHOULDER DRIVEN!!!!!
If you do understand this, then the movement of the right arm looks and feels the same as if you were trying to throw a ball, at hip height, towards the target.
The club head lag, seen as the angle between your right forearm and the golf club shaft, is released through impact as a consequence of the energy generated during the swing being transferred to the golf club, by proper mechanics rather than by muscular effort.
The forearms and wrists should be as soft as possible throughout the downswing (other than wrist adduction), to enable the “whip to crack” — the forearms do not “muscle” the club through impact, as that would only slow the club head down.
What are some characteristics of the right arm in the golf swing?
There are a few key characteristics that you should note:
- The right arm stays bent at the elbow at approximately 90 degrees (the angle is distorted by the perspective of the two views), from the top until very late in the downswing — it doesn’t start to straighten until the hands reach about hip height.
- There is no conscious muscular effort applied to the right arm until the hands drop down to about waist height and the shoulders reach maximum rotational speed.
- The elbow is pulled down and in front of the body just after the upper body starts to rotate hard. As the hands reach 9 o’clock (the left arm is horizontal), the right elbow is pointing towards the right toes.
- The right shoulder seems to “pause” as the right arm straightens, enabling (and due to) the transfer of energy from the core through to the arm.
- At the same time as the upper body rotation starts to decelerate, due to its energy transferring through to the right arm, the triceps fire to amplify the energy as the right arm straightens.
- Once the energy has been transferred away from the torso, the action of the right arm is far more passive than active — the arm behaves more like a whip than a piston, it has been driven by the body and is “cracking” through impact.
- By the time the hands reach 7:30, the right elbow is pointing directly at the left ankle, where it stalls as the right arm begins to straighten into the release.
- As the right arm starts to straighten, the right forearm is moving in the same plane as the golf club, pointing straight at the target line behind the golf ball.
- The golf club lags behind the hands as a natural consequence of how the body moves, there is no sense of “holding on” to the lag angle, rather it’s a case of moving correctly so as to not throw the lag away.
- The right forearm is pointing straight at the golf ball as the golf club lag is released into impact, and well ahead of the ball at impact.
- The right arm is still slightly bent through impact, straightening as he extends (is pulled) well into the follow-through as a result of efficient energy transfer.
What controls The Spin Axis?
NOT IMPORTANT AT THIS TIME
More forward shaft lean will reduce the spin loft and produce less spin.
Tilt in the spin axis is produced when there is an angle between the club face and the club path in the horizontal plane – the greater this angle, the more the spin axis is tilted.
If the club head is moving to the right of the face angle through impact (coming from the inside), this will tilt the spin axis of the ball to the left, and the ball will curve left through the air – it will draw.
Note that producing spin requires energy. More spin means less energy transferred to the ball in the form of ball speed, a lower smash factor, and the ball won’t go as far.
In effect, producing axis tilt requires a “glancing blow” that will reduce the efficiency of impact.
Note also that, contrary to popular belief, the initial ball flight direction is influenced mostly (about 85%) by the face angle, and only slightly by the club head path.
If you strike the ball with the club face square to the target line and with an inside club head path, it will start straight and then draw.
To hit a “traditional” draw, where the ball starts slightly right and then draws back to the target, you need to have the club face slightlyopen at impact (to start it right), and the club path even more from the inside (to spin it left).
Having the club face closed at impact with the club coming from inside the target line will produce a very nasty pull-hook.
The angles involved are very small, less than a second on a clock face, unless you’re Bubba Watson!
How do you produce a draw?
NOT IMPORTANT AT THIS TIME
The Draw
To produce draw spin, the club head must approach impact from inside the face angle – the face must be closed relative to the club path.
For example, a club head path of 4° from the inside, relative to the target line, with the club face 2° open at impact, will produce a draw – starting the ball right and curving it back towards the target. The open face starts the ball right, the relatively inside path curves the ball left.
Closing the face will reduce the dynamic loft (in some respects turning your 6 iron into a 5 iron).
Attacking the ball from the inside will also produce a shallower angle of attack.
So, less loft and shallower attack angle produces a lower spin loft.
Lower spin loft means less spin and a more efficient transfer of speed-producing energy to the ball.
Lower loft and more ball speed produces more distance.
And less spin means the ball will roll more after it lands.
How do you produce a Fade?
NOT IMPORTANT AT THIS TIME
The Fade
To produce fade spin, the club head must approach impact from outside the face angle – the face must be open relative to the club path.
For example, a club head path of 4° from the outside, relative to the target line, with the club face 2° closed at impact, will produce a fade – starting the ball left and curving it back towards the target. The closed face starts the ball left, the relatively outside path curves the ball right.
Note: Many amateurs think that they slice the ball because their club face is open at impact. If the ball starts right and then curves further right, this may be the case. But if the ball starts straight or left and then curves right, this is because your club path is too far from the outside, usually caused by swinging “over the top”. A stronger grip or closing your stance are not the proper solutions, they are the road to ruin!
Opening the face will increase the dynamic loft (in some respects turning your 6 iron into a 7 iron).
Attacking the ball from the outside will also produce a steeper angle of attack.
More loft and steeper attack angle produces more spin loft.
Higher spin loft means more spin and a less efficient transfer of speed-producing energy to the ball.
Higher loft and less ball speed produces less distance.
And more spin means the ball will stop more quickly after it lands.
Show the impact conditions for a slice.
NOT IMPORTANT AT THIS TIME
- Path outside to in.
- Club face points outside to in.
- Club path points outside to in.
What are Impact conditions for hitting a Draw?
NOT IMPORTANT AT THIS TIME
- Club face looking in to out
- Club path going in to out
These are small degrees. Practice and learn heuristics.
Where should Iron contact be on clubface?
On shorter irons use a steeper angle to ball.
On Longer irons and woods, use more of a horizontal angle, or a flatter angle.
