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In this concept video, we're going to talk about squaring the club face.

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So one of the unique aspects of golf is because we're playing on this incline plane

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or this angle where the ball is on the ground, it's not always easy to tell exactly where

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my club face is pointing.

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So I've got one of those simple little alignment tools to help you see where the club

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face is pointing.

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I'm going to show you the three kind of forces or torques that can change the alignment

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of the club face and then we're going to simplify it and talk about the two major

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ones that you'll hear me mention frequently during the transition and the release.

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Okay?

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So here we go.

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If I were to position this club so that's point it straight in line with this yellow

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stick, you can see that those two are dead in line.

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So the club face is pointing in the direction that the target is.

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Well, there's three ways that I can adjust this.

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One would be if I were to raise the handle up and down, you can see that up makes it point

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more to the right, down makes it point more to the left.

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So even though the lines on the club are pointing in the direction of the target, if my club

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is more like this, it's actually pointing slowly to the right.

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Secondly, if I were to rotate the club in the plane, you can see that that's now pointed

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to the right and that's now pointed to the left, but the club face is still square to the

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shaft.

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So that's option number two.

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An option number three is I can twist the club to the club face.

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So it can get quite complicated because as I come down I can rotate the shaft, I can lean

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it forward and I can do all these little things that get the club face pointing in the

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direction of the target, but not necessarily the way you might imagine.

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So I want you to start thinking about how we're going to square the club face.

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And I talk about squaring the club face with the shaft.

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What I'm typically referring to is this in-plane motion.

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So you can see that the club is pointed off to the club face is pointed way off to the right.

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Now it's pointed in line with the target and now it's pointed left, but I took this

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entire club shaft and moved it in order to get the club face pointing in a different

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direction.

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Now though when I talk about just using the club face, here's what I mean.

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If I bring the club out here and then if I twist the club, now the club face is pointed

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in the direction of the target even though I didn't change the shaft whatsoever.

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So when I talk about intransition using the motor cycle and when I talk about making sure

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that that happens for long enough during the downswing, what I'm typically talking about

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is this closing of the club face to the path.

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And the reason that this is important is I set up with it just like so and the only way

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that this would be pointing at the target is if I brought it right back to where it was

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just like this.

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But that's a very poor way to have a downward strike and take a divot.

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If I want to have a divot then I'm actually going to hit it kind of like this.

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And now if I bring it down and I do that again, I've got to be hitting before I reach

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that low point.

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It's about four inches before the low point and you can see that that club is pointing

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somewhere 20 to 30 degrees off to the right.

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And so what I need to do is close the club face slightly to the path so that now it's

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pointing much closer to the target.

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So what we typically see is with good iron players, good drivers, the golf ball.

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They tend to have this closing of the club face relatively early so that they can have

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enough lean in the shaft compared to their body and that lean will look something

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like actual lean when you're hitting an iron.

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But because of the ball being further forward, it doesn't look like lean when my upper body

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is back when I'm hitting the driver.

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It's still about the same amount.

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Now for wedge shots, you'll typically talk about this reverse tumble or you'll typically hear

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me talk about using the shaft to square the club face.

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And that's because we don't want to have a lot of this club face closing.

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We want all the club face squaring to actually happen from the shaft.

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So hopefully that's a new way of thinking about it for you.

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But it will really help you understand why we're doing certain things in transition

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and during the release.

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Because if you don't square the club face early with just this shaft movement, it is

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virtually impossible to have enough shaft lean unless you lunge your upper body forward,

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which tends to cause a whole host of other problems.

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So hopefully this helps you understand how we're going to square the club face when you're

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watching the rest of these videos.

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Now before I forget, let's go over the common patterns for how people square the club

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face or how people get the club face pointed in the direction of the target.

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So one would be I'm coming with a open club face and one would be I'm coming with a

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closed club face.

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The coming with an open club face is by far the more common pattern and there's two common

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ways that people will compensate for it.

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So the first one is I'm going to open the club face and now the club face is open compared

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to my body.

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Now there's two common ways that I'm going to get this club face pointed in the direction

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of the target.

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One is I'm going to swing my path very much to the left and so now you'll see when

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I make contact the face is pointing roughly parallel to this yellow line but because the path

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is so different than where the club face is pointing it's going to impart a big slice

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pin on it.

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The other option I'm going to do the same thing with my group.

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The other option is I'm coming down very open from the inside.

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Now if I was to continue rotating to end staying my posture all that ball would go very

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far right or I wouldn't possibly shank it.

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So the common pattern for this would be I'm going to stand up and release that full angle

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so that my arms are straight and I've used that shaft to get the club pointed in the

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direction of the target.

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So that one ends up looking more like this and ends up having very fast club rotation.

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And I'll demonstrate the way that looks kind of from the face on view.

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So here we've got that perpendicular.

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So let's open it first.

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Now here would be there I've come kind of over the top with an open club face and so

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that's pointing in the direction of the target but there's a big difference between the

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face and the path so that causes curve.

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The other one there's still my open club face.

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Now I'm coming away from the inside and I stand up and that causes the club face to snap

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closed but very very quickly and there's still a big difference between the path and

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the face.

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So those are the most common patterns as far as the open club face.

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Now this one's a little bit more rare but you can have the club face in a very close position

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and typically what you'll see are the two ways to get that pointed in the direction

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of the target are going to be to release the hands up but I'm still pointed left so what

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I'll do is I'll raise the handle up so it'll end up looking kind of like so through impact.

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So if I came from here the common one there's that club face very closed and then I'm

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going to stand up and extend both wrists in order to get that club face pointed more

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in the direction of the target.

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So those are most common ways that you'll see for compensating for either an open or a closed

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club face.