Shaft Loading

I ran across a couple of YouTube videos that talked about shaft loading.

This happens when you begin a downswing while the club is still going backwards.  You can feel this in your hands as you come down.  It feels like you are pulling or swinging a heavy object in a circle.

The question is, is that a good thing to do?  We are adding energy into the shaft by bending it.  We will get some of that out when it straightens.  This is a storage and release object.

However, is it better to put that energy into just accelerating the club back to the ball?

I played around with this some during today's round.  I am able to do this.  I didn't see any difference in distance.  It felt like I was swinging the club harder since the amount of resistance was higher, but no real benefit.

I wandered over to Tutelman.com, my golf physicist.  He did not address this point specifically, but he talks a great deal about trying to use your hands to impart a late swing hit to the ball.  The use of your hands can actually speed the club, but your timing has to be perfect.  It's not worth doing unless it's easy for you to do. 

So we are back to the natural release, which is to maintain the wrist cock as long as you can then let go of all control and let the dynamics of the swing act on the club. 


I was also thinking that my right hand was too strong a position to my left.  I had a strange callous on the left thumb and my hands never felt like they worked together.

I tried to move the right hand more on top into a weaker position.   This didn't seem to make much of a difference either, but I hit the ball very solidly today and maybe this is part of it.  It seems the thing to do and I'll continue to monitor this.


That's the technical wrap up for today.  played pretty well, bunch of birdies, but lost most of my strokes to errant drives.   The driver is getting better along with the longer clubs.  The game is getting easier and the scores remain lower.