Because it is anatomically impossible to get the left hand "back and up" there (top of the backswing) with out some rotation, the face fans open on the way up and closes again on the way back down. (And it is unfortunate that the process is likely not anywhere near as precise as with a set of high quality gears... ala iron byron). This has nothing to to with angular momentum vectors axis of rotation or lathe imbalance forces either.
So, regarding your "beautiful theory", are you suggesting that the rate of closing is always constant in the Downstroke?
Instead of having "nothing" to do with Angular Momentum, would a delay in the closing have something to do with Angular Momentum and/or an axis of rotation?
So, regarding your "beautiful theory", are you suggesting that the rate of closing is always constant in the Downstroke?
Instead of having "nothing" to do with Angular Momentum, would a delay in the closing have something to do with Angular Momentum and/or an axis of rotation?
I'm not suggesting anything is constant in a real golfer... but yes.. the gears make the rate proportional to the arm rotation angular velocity and.. its not my theory gone bad .... its yours Yodasluke.
As I was thinking about issue this I asked myself: why would they would they design clubface rotation into the swing machine since it complicates the machine (one more DOF to contend with). I made a call and the answer was because that was the way Byron Nelson (the model) did it and also because they found they needed gearing there to help manage the deceleration. (It took Battelle 3 years to develop the iron byron and initially they were breaking a lot of shafts). Then I asked myself why does iron Byron Nelson and everyone else fan the face open on the backswing? The answer to that is... TRY IT. You can't not.
As far as leaving the face open at impact goes (delay in closing?) bottom-line is golfer's left hand is not getting back where it was at takeaway.
Many golfers look a lot different at impact than they do at setup... hands may be way forward... shoulders too open or too closed etc. They can compensate for different impact positions by intentionally (closing usually) the club face at set up. (You would be amazed at how "toe-in" my dad sets up with his driver but it works for him... he's ALWAY down the middle) That way when they get back to impact the face is aligned where they need it to be.
Get the back of your left hand back to facing the target at impact (like it was at se-up) and your club face will be fine......
I understand your idea of the COG of the clubhead and I have no problem understanding the lathe example. I also can understand Toolish's comment about how the hosel twists around the COG of the clubhead when one twirls the vertical club. I don't disagree with all these points. I can even agree that PP#3 traces the SPL through the sweetspot when the clubhead in the immediate vicinity of ball impact (when the clubhead has rotated so that there is a small, but significant, difference between the sweetspot plane and the clubshaft plane).
What I cannot understand is what relevance these "facts" really have with respect to the golf swing. I never sense the hosel rotating around the sweetspot-PP#3 axis in a golf swing. I can only sense the clubface closing and opening, and it "feels" like the clubface is rotating around the clubshaft axis. It is my present belief that the reason why I harbor this "belief" is that I presently believe that natural human biomechanical actions dictate opening of the clubface opening in the backswing and clubface closing in the downswing/followthrough, and that these actions have no necessary causal connection with the idea of there being a axis between the sweetspot and PP#3. However, I am open to new insights.
I can understand why human beings open the clubface in the backswing, because the left wrist has to remain flat and the left arm has to rotate clockwise in the backswing to get the left hand to the usual end-backswing position. However, I do not know whether the Robot-Fit type machine also rotates the clubface that much in the backswing, and if it does, how it gets the clubface to rotate back to square by impact if the wrist joint simply consists of two enmeshing gears that operate passively in response to centrifugal release forces.
I think the sample of a center shafted club would be great tool for analysis, especially in such a discussion.
So, if we swing such a club without changing anything else, would it mean that we would hit the ball dead center of the face = where the shaft is attached behind...or...would we toe the ball each time ?
I think the sample of a center shafted club would be great tool for analysis, especially in such a discussion.
So, if we swing such a club without changing anything else, would it mean that we would hit the ball dead center of the face = where the shaft is attached behind...or...would we toe the ball each time ?
NMGolfer remarks have a lot of sense, IMO.
Cheers
Nice idea. Id think that assuming we are swinging the sweet spot, we would hit the sweet spot. Homer Kelley in his tape with Tom Tomessello (on the Peter Croker site) said something to the effect that "if you are not swinging the sweet spot, you're swinging the shaft and if you are doing that, your in trouble". Im thinking shank.
He also spoke of old long nosed clubs and how they promoted CF closing the face. This makes sense to me. Take a center shafted putter and compare it to a heel shafted putter. Even at these low speeds you can feel the heel shafted putter "gateing". Crenshaw's old 8802 putter for example, you have to time its closing but it is sweet and packs a little extra punch too I think.
Nice idea. Id think that assuming we are swinging the sweet spot, we would hit the sweet spot. Homer Kelley in his tape with Tom Tomessello (on the Peter Croker site) said something to the effect that "if you are not swinging the sweet spot, you're swinging the shaft and if you are doing that, your in trouble". Im thinking shank.
He also spoke of old long nosed clubs and how they promoted CF closing the face. This makes sense to me. Take a center shafted putter and compare it to a heel shafted putter. Even at these low speeds you can feel the heel shafted putter "gateing". Crenshaw's old 8802 putter for example, you have to time its closing but it is sweet and packs a little extra punch too I think.
OB
I tend to agree. However, a small but important implication is that in case of a center-shafted club the shaft plane = the sweetspot plane.
Therefore, we can go further and create a variable weighted toe/heel of such a club and see if e.g. with a heavy toe/light heel center shafted club (imitating the proportions of a standard club to a degree) the shaft plane still equals the sweetspot plane.
I always attempt to mimick his swing pattern - by attempting to be on the same inclined plane in the backswing and downswing (while slowly and progressively shifting planes between the elbow plane and turned shoulder plane in the backswing and vica versa in the downswing), and to always be on-plane even during the followthrough and early finish. I try to always get my clubshaft to be parallel to the ball-target line at the third and fourth parallels.
This is the clubhead path that I try to emulate.
When starting the backswing, I trace the SPL during the takeaway - and that means that the PP#3-sweetspot axis line points at the ball-target line. After the first parallel, it is the butt end of the club that points at the ball-target line and not any "hypothetical" axis of sweetspot rotation. For me, the most critical part of the swing in terms of being on-plane is between the first parallel and the third parallel. If I can keep on-plane during that time period and get to the third parallel perfectly on-plane, then I know that my clubshaft will be perfectly on-plane during the downswing time period between the third parallel and impact. In other words, I am mainly focused on ensuring that my clubshaft is on-plane when the club is above waist level, and during that time it is the butt end of the club, and therefore clubshaft, that points at the baseline of the inclined plane. In other words, all your theorising about options 1,2, and 3 have no relevance with respect to my above-waist biomechanical movements that are required to keep the clubshaft -on-plane.
I have tied a string between the sweetspot and PP#3 and it is no value, because the only time that I actually see the string is during the takeaway, at which time I can easily stay on-plane. The string has no value for the critical biomechanical movements that occur above waist level- in both the backswing and downswing. Seeing the string blur between the third parallel and impact has no potential value because if I am not on-plane during that time period, then it is far too late to alter events.
In fact, I have now trained my hands (specifically PP#3) to move correctly by "feeling" it trace the SPL and I never even think of the clubshaft and/or the sweetspot. My only awareness of the clubshaft is after I have completed the shot - when I replay the shot in my mind. I can then usually recall where the clubshaft was situated at the third and fourth parallel, and I know retrospectively that if the clubshaft wasn't parallel to the ball-target line at those two time points, then I obviously didn't succeed in my goal of being on-plane throughout the entire swing.
Jeff.
p.s. I am not a good golfer by Ben Hogan's standards, but I am a great golfer by my standards. I never dreamt that I would ever regularly break 80 (from the senior tees) considering my degree of physical inflexibility and lack of golf athleticism. I never play 7,200 yards courses because I am not a masochist. I only play 6,000-6,500 yards courses by always playing from the senior tees. My driving distance is 220-240 yards.
I tend to agree. However, a small but important implication is that in case of a center-shafted club the shaft plane = the sweetspot plane.
Therefore, we can go further and create a variable weighted toe/heel of such a club and see if e.g. with a heavy toe/light heel center shafted club (imitating the proportions of a standard club to a degree) the shaft plane still equals the sweetspot plane.
Cheers
Not sure I follow you 100%, but Id think that with a heavier toe the sweet spot would move and you'd be back to a non aligned shaft and sweet spot.
All of this begs the question: Why arent there face balanced , center shafted irons? There must be a very good reason. We must need the rotation perhaps? Or is there something else? Homer suggested the long nosed, low profile irons of the 1930's were a delight to hit.
I've sort of struggled with tracing conceptually as there seemed to be a parallax issue. I now realize that while I was swinging the sweet spot, I was trying to trace the shaft plane. Lukes point about tracing the sweet spot plane, the imaginary string from #3 to sweet spot is insightful. Like pointing your finger at a bird in flight, tracing. This way I am aiming that which I am swinging, the sweet spot!
Per 2-F PLANE OF MOTION. "Regardless of where the Clubshaft and Clubhead are attached it will always feel as if they are joined at the Sweet Spot---the longitudinal center of gravity, the line of pull of Centrifugal Force."
What I cannot understand is what relevance these "facts" really have with respect to the golf swing. I never sense the hosel rotating around the sweetspot-PP#3 axis in a golf swing. I can only sense the clubface closing and opening, and it "feels" like the clubface is rotating around the clubshaft axis.
Any reasonable person could "feel" the same thing. But, reality is a different thing. They are very close in feel. But, the Clubshaft is not the center of rotation. The reality is that the hosel (extension of the Clubshaft) is not always tracing the Delivery Line.
Let's examine each example:
1. The Clubshaft traces the Delivery Line and the Clubshaft is the center of rotation.
This results in aiming the hosel at the ball, with obvious consequences. In this example, the hosel would remain on the Delivery Line before, during, and after Impact. The Sweet Spot would rotate around and outside the ball and the hosel would hit the ball.
2. The Clubshaft traces a parallel line that's inside the Delivery Line and the Clubshaft is the center of rotation.
In this example you'd have to be a proponent of tracing a line that doesn't extend through the ball. The Sweet Spot would have to rotate out and around the hosel. I'm seeing a windshield wiper type of effect, just like in the previous example. The force vectors are terribly scattered.
3. The center of rotation that extends through the COG traces the Delivery line.
Here, the Sweet Spot is being Delivered to the ball. This is the obvious choice for solid contact. The hosel approaches the ball on the same Plane with the Sweet Spot, but it rotates away from the ball (counter-clockwise) as the center of rotation moves down the Delivery Line.
Do something for me, and I'll promise that it will help you to see the options. You need to see the center of rotation. Take short iron and tape a piece of string to the Sweet Spot and to the #3 Pressure Point. This is your new 'shaft'. Trace the Delivery Line with every option that I listed, above. Then, let me know what you find.
Originally Posted by Jeff
It is my present belief that the reason why I harbor this "belief" is that I presently believe that natural human biomechanical actions dictate opening of the clubface opening in the backswing and clubface closing in the downswing/followthrough, and that these actions have no necessary causal connection with the idea of there being a axis between the sweetspot and PP#3. However, I am open to new insights.
I'm not opposed to this idea of this utopia. But, if it was so 'natural', I wouldn't see the walking disasters that hit balls at my public range. They're doing what seems 'natural' to them.
Hybrid Mode
