Squaring The Club Face Explained
Subscribe now to watch the full video.
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
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,000
This video is discussing open halfway down.
00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:08,000
So in this video, we're going to discuss a couple of the key reference times when you're
00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:12,000
looking at your swing on down the one video.
00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:16,000
What should you look for as club-based control?
00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:21,000
This is really driven by a member question that I got about if your wrist is cup to the top
00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:23,000
of the swing.
00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:28,000
So I thought it'd just be easier to discuss the club-face from that key shaft parallel
00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:32,000
delivery position and then work our way backwards and basically understand what's going
00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:37,000
on when are the common times to lose control of the club-face.
00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:42,000
So the check point is basically looking at the club when it's parallel to the ground.
00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:47,000
I'd say this is about as open as you would want to be and this would probably be about
00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:48,000
as close.
00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:55,000
So somewhere in between those is going to give you a relatively easy and straightforward
00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:57,000
closing in the club-face.
00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:00,000
So you've already done a fair amount of it.
00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:03,000
All you have to do is keep pivoting and extend those arms and close the face a little
00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:08,000
bit more as opposed to if the face is really open at this point.
00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:13,000
Oftentimes you have to close it so fast that it's really hard to timing control with
00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:14,000
the driver.
00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:19,000
Be it's hard to control low point because you will usually have to stall to get that extra
00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:21,000
little closing zip.
00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:25,000
So what happens if you are open here?
00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:29,000
So the next checkpoint I would go back to is the top of the swing.
00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:36,000
So many golfers have long thought that you want to have that the club-face pretty much
00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:39,000
parallel to your forearm at the top of the swing.
00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:43,000
That's not a bad reference point because to get it parallel to the top of the swing it's
00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:46,000
going to be closer to flat rather than open.
00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:51,000
We know down it impact we want to have it roughly 25 degrees more flex than where it was
00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:52,000
it set up.
00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:58,000
The neutral grip that means I'm going to be flat or slightly bowed at impact which means
00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:02,000
if I have the wrist pretty flat at the top of the swing then I don't have to do quite
00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:06,000
as much changing of the wrist on the way down.
00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:11,000
So if you have the club-face in a very open position kind of like this where the toe
00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:17,000
is pointing straight down and you have the club-face in an open position here then I usually
00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:22,000
find that's telling me that you tend to keep the club-face pretty consistent during the
00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:23,000
whole downswing.
00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:28,000
I would focus then on trying to get that wrist to feel almost like a dust and Johnson
00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:33,000
and feel like it's more flat so that then when you come down it'll be much easier to get
00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:35,000
into that checkpoint.
00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:40,000
Now if you have it cup to open at the top of the swing the next thing you want to do
00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:46,000
is look at well when did it get open is that because I started with a really weak grip
00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:50,000
and then even though my wrist was in a good position I was pretty open at the top of
00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:58,000
the swing or what is very common is I will fan the club open and have a lot of rotation
00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:04,000
during the backswing or it's fine through here and then I fan the club open as I go to
00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:10,000
set the wrist to help me kind of pull down on the club almost like I'm using an axe.
00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:15,000
So the checkpoints would basically be like in the takeaway I want to make sure that I
00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:21,000
didn't fan the club open from the takeaway to the top of the swing that I didn't fan
00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:27,000
the club open and then from the top of the swing to that shaft parallel delivery position
00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:34,000
making sure that I didn't fan the club open during any one of those three phases.
00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:38,000
If I did that's where I want to put some emphasis to keeping better control the club face.
00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:44,000
If you struggle with having the club face really open then one drill that I like to combo in
00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:50,000
is having the club up here at about parallel and then making almost like a baseball swing or
00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:57,000
just turning and basically feeling like the club face stays square and then slightly closed on the
00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:02,000
way down. If you're used to fanning it in the takeaway then even doing this drill you'll probably
00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:07,000
spin the club open like this just from a natural movement that you've trained with the forms
00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:12,000
and it'll be beneficial for you to start training the club face thing a little bit more
00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:18,000
square to the path of moving on. So the shaft parallel club face position from down the line
00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:25,000
is very useful diagnostic for looking at your face to path relationship. If it's open too much
00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:30,000
at that point then circle back and look at either the top of the swing or shaft parallel in the
00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:35,000
backswing so you can figure out when you're opening the face so you can find the fastest way to correct it.