Swing Direction - Season #3 Finale

[Michael Jacobs]

I think you did a good job explaining this, and I'm looking forward to part 2. One question if you do don't mind in the meantime: I think I finally understand that you need to swing to the left for the irons and it varies by the club. Would it be best to just mentally know that you have to do this and then swing that way, or do you prefer taking a stance that aims you left? If so, you are swinging left of the actual target, but would you then still aim the face at the intended target? would this be the same as taking a stance to the left but having an open face? sorry for the confusion.
thanks

Landshark,

Valid and great questions. Glad you enjoyed the explanation and it is helping you sort through a pretty complex idea for most folks.

Hopefully this will help your understanding -
When you strike a ball off the ground - you can expect to have a downward angle of attack.

So, lets say we have a golfer hitting a six iron and they have a 4 degree downward angle of attack. In order to get the strike direction {path} straight, the swing direction needs to be left. If this particular golfer is swinging the 6 iron on a conventional 6 iron angle, they would need to have a swing direction of 2 degrees left to to get a straight strike direction.

Why 2 degrees left? That will be explained in part 2... Drivers off a tee and all other clubs off the ground are going to have different requirements of how much the swing direction needs to be changed to accommodate the golfers angle of attack.

So think of the hula hoop demonstration in the Explosive Golf Show.... if the golfer is hitting 4 degrees down on a 6 iron under normal conditions, the hula hoop would need to shift 2 degrees to the left to give you a straight strike direction.

So what should the golfer do? Aim different? Swing Different?

Well, this answer is a bit more complex than just a simple answer. The golfer needs to first get measured to get an accurate idea of what you are actually doing. 2 degrees is a virtually impossible thing to see with just an eye or camera. For this reason, I use 3D Military Grade Doppler Radar to track the 3D motion of the club head and ball to get the measurements.
Sometimes just an aim adjustment will help the golfer, and many times a swing adjustment does the trick.
I do have a system {a formula} for you to adjust aim. So let's say you want a swing direction of 2 degrees left, I will be showing how you can aim the swing direction to a target at varying distances. So if the target is 150 yards away and you are hoping for a swing direction of 2 degrees left, I will be showing you how many yards left 2 degrees is at the 150 yard distance.

As for your question on the club face, I think it will be answered in the next post I am about to tackle in this thread... let me know if all this helps you out Landshark and thanks as always for tuning into my instruction

[Michael Jacobs]

Hi Mike,
Another great explanation by Mike Jacobs!
Jimmy

Thanks Jimmy Dean! Lots more to come this winter!!!!

[Michael Jacobs]

I have the same question. It seems like when I aim left I tend to pull it.

Spmurph,

Great question, so lets tackle the club face topic as related here.

The adjustment in swing direction offsets the downward strike....

This gives us a STRAIGHT STRIKE DIRECTION or commonly called a STRAIGHT PATH

If you watch the hula hoop shift in the video again, the left ward shift straightened out the Swing Direction. Therefore, you can let the club face do what is designed for and wants to do --- Square the heck up!!!! Well designed golf clubs with properly fitted shafts are designed for optimizing the club face's alignment at contact.

When you adjust the swing direction and achieve the Straight Path / straight strike direction this clears you for a square or straight club face. The closer the club face matches the path - the straighter the shot. The more the club face differs from the path / strike direction the more tilt on the ball.

Remember this key - THE PATH is a result of the Angle of Attack and the swing direction. So in simple terms for a shot off the ground, hitting down and swinging the hula hoop left the appropriate amount gives you the Straight PATH that we want the club face to coincide with.

If you are striking off line - check your club face orientation!

[spmurph]

Thanks Mike. Looking forward to part two and looking forward to a lesson with you in 2011 even more!

[Steve Greffen]

Steve,

There are some great little innovative ways to help golfers see and understand the concepts. But, there is no substitute for having access to the 3D doppler radar and actual measure and see the data. When a student sees their data on a computer screen it takes the opinion out of the equation and makes the learning process so much easier. It's like an xray and then we find little ways to explain and interpret the x ray results. The hula hoop demonstration here is my favorite and I always have a modification that I use for it at times that ties it in with the Vertical Swing Plane Angle.. I will take a little clip of that one as well before I do the outdoor part #2

Thanks Mike,

I agree, having the tool to really see what you are doing not only confirms what you see as an instructor, but makes it easy for the student to see what you are talking about.

I'll look forward to part 2 and the modification you mentioned.

Now if I can just somehow swing a new Flightscope! Hmmm...Santa! Lol

[Steve Greffen]

If the attempt to swing more left is because you have too in to out of a path resulting in a draw or controlled hook (see myself before seeing Michael and Brian) then a big part of the fix or at least my fix comes in the through pivot. Seeing the video of my through swing had too slow of an unwinding of my body resulting in a club that swung out more and a "chase" move with my hands to the finish. The club swung or rode up high with a certain amount of "hanging on" to the finish, obviously protecting against an over draw.

So my fix was getting more of my body to open up earlier so that my finish could be more around or more inside of the target line. That was a better diagnosis for me than simply aiming more left and was more accurate of a fix. The result gave me much more of a straight ball most importantly with my shorter irons which I had been missing the greens on the left and having to cut off my finish to keep it from hooking.

Hope that explanation helps someone else out. It is amazing when you have something so engrained how different the feel can be but how little it looks different on video.

[gspmjp]

Hi Mike,
After watching the video a thought comes to mind. Couldn't you keep the swing path at the target and have the clubface closed the correct amount to counter the down and out of a descending blow. Would it be easier to set that at address than try to aim 2deg open at a target 150 yds away or further. Also for the up and in path of a driver could that be the reason pros prefer open face drivers so they can aim straight at the target and hit a straight shot. Just curious if this was ever discussed as an another way of looking at it.

Mike

[Michael Jacobs]

Mike,

Great questions!

If the club face diverges from the path the ball will curve. You can do what you describe but you will end up with a draw. Once the club face separates in direction from the path direction you will begin to see curvature. You can make the face off set the path to get an initial launch that is straight, but if you strike on the sweet spot the ball will cruve

As for driver face angle, I fit into the category of someone who prefers an open faced driver, my Explosive Designs Driver has a 1 degree open face angle. Speaking for myself, I prefer an Open Face driver for several reasons but the main reason is:

Visual cosmetics, just about all drivers on the market are closed face and have a closed face appearance. The 1 degree open face angle gives the appearance of a square face. I am sure many playing pros would give a similar answer.

On a side note - if you got into the minutia of the impact characteristics, you could accomplish what you described but it would not be a center face strike to get the straight flying shot
Hope that helps! Great question! Let me know if you need further clarification

[joeparr]

Mike did you ever do swing direction #2 yet. I thought #1 was excellent.

[Michael Jacobs]

Mike did you ever do swing direction #2 yet. I thought #1 was excellent.

Joe,

Yes I did, glad you liked the first one. I am putting it all together as we speak with some other topics and information about the new Flightscope. Working diligently on it, this DAM COLD weather is killing me