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Open & Halfway Down

To improve club face control, there are a few key checkpoints to look at when shooting slow motion video using the "down-the-line" view. Players who are prone to hitting big pulls or blocks should use these to determine when the club face is becoming too shut or open. Most notably, we want to make sure that the face is relatively square at shaft parallel in the downswing; this will allow for a timing-free release and straighter, more consistent shots. However, if the face is considerably closed or open at this point, be sure to take a look how the wrists are moving in the take-away and backswing. Often times, the feeling of a more "bowed" or "cupped" wrist at the top is all that is needed to remedy any clubface issues that manifest themselves here.

Tags: Poor Contact, Not Straight Enough, Impact, Backswing, Transition, Concept

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This video is discussing open halfway down.

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So in this video, we're going to discuss a couple of the key reference times when you're

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looking at your swing on down the one video.

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What should you look for as club-based control?

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This is really driven by a member question that I got about if your wrist is cup to the top

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of the swing.

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So I thought it'd just be easier to discuss the club-face from that key shaft parallel

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delivery position and then work our way backwards and basically understand what's going

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on when are the common times to lose control of the club-face.

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So the check point is basically looking at the club when it's parallel to the ground.

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I'd say this is about as open as you would want to be and this would probably be about

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as close.

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So somewhere in between those is going to give you a relatively easy and straightforward

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closing in the club-face.

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So you've already done a fair amount of it.

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All you have to do is keep pivoting and extend those arms and close the face a little

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bit more as opposed to if the face is really open at this point.

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Oftentimes you have to close it so fast that it's really hard to timing control with

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the driver.

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Be it's hard to control low point because you will usually have to stall to get that extra

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little closing zip.

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So what happens if you are open here?

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So the next checkpoint I would go back to is the top of the swing.

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So many golfers have long thought that you want to have that the club-face pretty much

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parallel to your forearm at the top of the swing.

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That's not a bad reference point because to get it parallel to the top of the swing it's

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going to be closer to flat rather than open.

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We know down it impact we want to have it roughly 25 degrees more flex than where it was

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it set up.

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The neutral grip that means I'm going to be flat or slightly bowed at impact which means

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if I have the wrist pretty flat at the top of the swing then I don't have to do quite

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as much changing of the wrist on the way down.

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So if you have the club-face in a very open position kind of like this where the toe

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is pointing straight down and you have the club-face in an open position here then I usually

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find that's telling me that you tend to keep the club-face pretty consistent during the

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whole downswing.

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I would focus then on trying to get that wrist to feel almost like a dust and Johnson

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and feel like it's more flat so that then when you come down it'll be much easier to get

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into that checkpoint.

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Now if you have it cup to open at the top of the swing the next thing you want to do

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is look at well when did it get open is that because I started with a really weak grip

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and then even though my wrist was in a good position I was pretty open at the top of

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the swing or what is very common is I will fan the club open and have a lot of rotation

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during the backswing or it's fine through here and then I fan the club open as I go to

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set the wrist to help me kind of pull down on the club almost like I'm using an axe.

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So the checkpoints would basically be like in the takeaway I want to make sure that I

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didn't fan the club open from the takeaway to the top of the swing that I didn't fan

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the club open and then from the top of the swing to that shaft parallel delivery position

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making sure that I didn't fan the club open during any one of those three phases.

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If I did that's where I want to put some emphasis to keeping better control the club face.

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If you struggle with having the club face really open then one drill that I like to combo in

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is having the club up here at about parallel and then making almost like a baseball swing or

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just turning and basically feeling like the club face stays square and then slightly closed on the

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way down. If you're used to fanning it in the takeaway then even doing this drill you'll probably

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spin the club open like this just from a natural movement that you've trained with the forms

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and it'll be beneficial for you to start training the club face thing a little bit more

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square to the path of moving on. So the shaft parallel club face position from down the line

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is very useful diagnostic for looking at your face to path relationship. If it's open too much

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at that point then circle back and look at either the top of the swing or shaft parallel in the

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backswing so you can figure out when you're opening the face so you can find the fastest way to correct it.

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