Opening and closing

Rather than tack this onto the AJ thread, or the wrist cocking thread, which morphed into a discussions of One Plane Swing and Two Plane Swing, I'm starting afresh.

My sense has been that I swing with my club face closed throughout my swing, or close to it. That's what it feels like to me, and in my videos it seems so as well, but hard to say for sure because the camera speed isn't that great.

Last night at my lesson I asked my instructor to work on this with me.

I attempted to swing in what I thought was the "correct" way, i.e., opening the club face to vertical by the horizontal point in the backswing, cocking wrist vertically, and reversing all this in the downswing. The result: either pushes or absolutely wicked slices (using 17* hybrid). The instructor said I was just late getting my hip around so my club face was staying open at impact. I tried and tried to get the hip around sooner but simply couldn't do it. I hit 40 or so balls this way and EVERY SINGLE ONE sailed and/or sliced off to the right, severely.

So I asked him to watch my "square" swing, where I don't open my club face in the backswing. I hit some balls, nice and straight, decent distance (180-190 yards carry). He said I was in fact opening my club face, even if it didn't feel like it to me, but I was doing so later than in the usual swing, and not as much. I.e., I wasn't opening as fully. But doing it in this way was apparently giving me the time to get the club face closed at impact and not be late. He said I should stick with it, and that there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the swing.

I'm not sure if my lessened club face opening helps me to get my hip around, or if it compensates for my inability to do so--or if the instructor has the whole thing wrong. But I do seem to be stuck with that swing.

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Todd
Philadelphia, PA
USA

The reason the pro tells you to keep your head down is so you can't see him laughing. ~Phyllis Diller

I've only been playing for a couple of months now, but I've had six lessons and have hit at least 300 balls a week since I've started.

I'm not sure how long you've been playing. I was taking a lesson a week, and I felt like I was making great progress. However, given the short amount of time between lessons, I didn't give myself a chance to let the swing become natural. As a result, after my fifth and final lesson (at that time), I grooved into a particular swing. The problem was that as things became more comfortable and I was getting my hands around correctly and on time, I began grossly hooking my shots. I couldn't fix it for the life of me, so I went back for another lesson. He explained that it had to do with my takeaway - I wasn't opening the clubface enough on the backswing. That took another week or so to begin feeling natural, and now I'm hitting longer and straighter than I ever have.

My point is that it takes time to incorporate what you learn and have it feel natural. Maybe some parts catch on quicker than others. So, if you're swinging great now, that's awesome. If you start hooking shots because your hands have learned to turn over quicker, then work on opening the clubface more on your backswing. At least, now you know how your opening and closing the clubface on the back and forward swing affect direction. I didn't know before, but now I do so I know how to correct myself when things aren't going the way I want them to.

Good point. I've been playing almost two years--three if you count the summer of 2003 when I got out maybe 4 or 5 times to try it out. But this is the second season of playing regularly and trying to do it right. Last year I didn't have lessons but was trying to master the one-plane swing, to no avail. This year I decided to start over with the "classic" two-plane swing. I took lessons, about every other week. I didn't find the lessons to be all that helpful with the full swing. They did help with short game though.

Initially, the instructor taught me the standard opening and closing. I went to the driving range and practiced and practiced, hitting thousands of balls, to no avail. I just couldn't get the timing down, and my ball striking was worse than what it was when I was just going by trial and error (and that was pretty bad). Frustrated, I went to opening the face less--feeling as if I wasn't opening it at all. I didn't say anything to the instructor about it; I just started doing it that way, and my ball striking improved. The instructor, if he noticed at all, didn't say anything, but congratulated me on the improvement. Last night was the last lesson, which was why I wanted to go over the whole opening/closing thing one more time.

So for now I'm sticking with what I'm doing, but as you say, if I see a hook developing I'll know I have to modify it.

To me, the first priority is to be able to address the ball with a feeling of confidence that I might actually succeed in hitting it in the direction of the target. I'm closer to that goal than I was at the beginning of the season, but I'm by no means there yet.

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Todd
Philadelphia, PA
USA

The reason the pro tells you to keep your head down is so you can't see him laughing. ~Phyllis Diller

You know what's funny? I'm in my second year as well, and I played much better my first year (for the most part).

Now I KNOW I didn't pay attention to opening the clubface on the backswing (toe pointing to the sky at horizontal, like you were saying) the first year. I have paid attention to it the second year, making sure I do it. Result: slllllllllllllice! I wonder if I have the same problem as you and should just forget about opening the face on the way back.

I swear, though, the times when I've played well, I've gotten my left hip out of the way early and didn't have to do a damn thing with my hands to square the clubface.

Stupid game!!!

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Mike Ryan
Rhinebeck, NY

TaylorMade R5 N, 8.5*
TaylorMade V-Steel, Aldila NV 65 Stiff, 13*
TaylorMade Rescue Mid, 25*
Mizuno MP-32, 4-PW
Cleveland Tour Action 588 Wedge, 52*, 56* & 60*
Scotty Cameron Studio Style Newport 2
Nike Tour Accuracy TW

"You can talk to a fade, but a hook won't listen."
- Lee Trevino

Try this to ensure your clubface is square at impact. Grip a tennis raquet, (or badminton, squash, etc.) or even a broom and grip it as you would a golf club in your address position. Ensure the face is square to the target line. As you start your backswing, you will see how the face works in trelation to the target line. As you swing down from the top of your backswing, watch the face to see how it closes as it approaches impact. When you get to the impact position, it should be square again.
It could be your swing, but it may also be your grip. If you find that you are unable to get back to square, try this drill: http://members.shaw.ca/gord962/drills/clubface.htm
It may be a simple adjustment with one (or both hands) to get you back square. I have found with many people that have their left hand closing the club at impact and their right keeping it open, resulting in a straight shot, but after adjusting both hands to square the club are much more consistant ball strikers because their hands aren't working against each other. Others have one square, the other hand is leaving the face open or closed. Very few people have both hands opening or closing the clubface, unless they have a very strong or very weak grip.

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Gord

Quote of the month:
"It's easy to see golf not as a game at all but as some whey-faced, nineteenth-century Presbyterian minister's fever dream of exorcism achieved through ritual and self-mortification." ~Bruce McCall

That drill looks really great - gonna try it tonight.