The ability to control the trajectory seperates the good players from the great players, and this swing method gives total control of that in a way the ordinary swing cannot. The release we will use to do this swings the club face in a conical arc as the club passes through impact, thus going down under and up as it passes through the hit, rather than the out over and around release used by the common swing. When the hands release this way our club face passes through impact with the club face both square to the ball as well as traveling straight down the line of flight, and not working from open, to square (hopefully), at impact and then to closed after impact as is the case in the common swing caused by the rolling over of the forearms. The conical action of the club must be felt throughout the entire range of the swing, be the shot a short flip or a full drive.
Our forearms do not have to roll over, due to the reverse roll of the counter rotation of the forearm bones. This also requires that we allow the left wrist to give as it releases instead of trying to hold it flat. This is accomplished and the release arc is grooved with the club face control drill seen above from 2/19/07. When your hands release using the toe of the club on the wall drill actions, the ball can be played anywhere from as far forward as even with the left heel, for high shots, to 6 inches to the right of the right toe line for low ones.
Since the club face will remain square throughout this entire area the grip will not have to change, nor will the hands need to change their position on the club. The shaft will simply need to angle back from the hands to the ball, effectively leaning the shaft toward the target. To facilitate this and to have the proper release arc (downward) the butt end of the club must point directly at the left hip socket at address. This will allow us up to a 60 degree adjustment to the club face, simply by ball placement. In other words: with the ball played far enough back a lob wedge could have the same effective loft as your putter. The club would naturally make a deep scar in the ground with this radical ball placement, and, naturally, the release arc could not be completed without breaking the shaft.
Practice will be required to hit these low shots, but once understood a good player would be able to hit a full 7 iron shot (power wise) that would pass under a card table placed anywhere on the flight line. In other words the shot would be very low, very straight and very hot. We would call this shot a stinger.
Conversely the ball can also be played as far forward as off the ball of the left foot, up to a vertical shaft angle, seen from facing the player at address. This shot we call the space shot, it will give maximum height for any club. Care must be taken to insure that the shaft does not pass the straight up and down position at address or at impact. The high shot cannot be hit if the angle of the shaft has the hands behind the clubhead at address, since the clubhead would have had to take a divot behind the ball, before contact, thus producing the dreaded \”fat\” shot. Learn this and you will be able to get out of many tight spots by keeping the ball low. Since the ball can be struck harder with the shorter shafted club and at a steeper attack angle you will generally get better control of the shot than by using a less lofted club swung more easily due to the increased backspin. Naturally this will also give better results in the rough since the arc is less sweeping thus keeping the club from hitting a bunch of grass before contact with the ball is made.
