Article #41
Teacher: Bobby Steiner
To meet this week's teacher, or to purchase a copy of MUNIE ~ The Jitterbug Collection, go to www.bobbysteiner.com
Dear Jitterbug Gang:
Can you explain what it means to cast the club?
Rick Severn
Jitterbug Gang Fan
Jitterbug:
To cast the club, Rick, is to spend stored energy before it's useful. Generally speaking, powerful ball strikers have at least 90 degrees of wrist cock at the top of the backswing. Wrist cock is measured by observing the angle between the left forearm (for right-handed players) and the shaft of the club at the top of the backswing. To "cast" the club is to lose that 90-degree angle in the early part of the downswing, thus burning energy before it can be used.
Mr. Vaughn:
The opposite of casting is to maintain "lag," Rick, and lag is one important key to effortless power. If you were to look at a frame by frame downswing sequence of Ernie Els, you'd notice that the very last frame before impact, he still has 45 degrees of wrist cock. The frame before that he has the same 90 degrees he started with. Ernie maintains lag extremely well, and as a result, hits the ball hard with undeniable ease.
The average player, on the other hand, in an 8-frame downswing sequence, has no wrist cock left during any of the last four frames prior to impact. This type of player looks like he's really goin' after the ball, but ain't hittin' the ball near as hard as he's swingin' at it.
How does one learn lag? Well, first you have to have a good grip and wrist-cock, and your local pro can teach you all about that.
After that, I suggest you perform a little drill. Grab an 8-iron and practice hitting balls with wrist cock only. In other words, use very little body turn, keep your hands low to the ground (below waist height), but cock your wrists as much as possible (stick that club head in your right ear if you can). From there, just unleash your fully cocked wrists into the ball. You won't believe how far you can hit a ball with just wrist cock.
Once you''ve hit a few dozen balls, add a little more body turn to your backswing, but still keep the hands as low as possible. From there, I think you'll discover a great deal about lag, and find the thoughts and sensations you need to incorporate it into your normal full swing.
Lord Berry:
The drill Mr. Vaughn describes is useful for short game practice as well. Generally speaking, golfers too often attempt to blend all three engines-wrist cock, arm swing, and body rotation-to execute short shots around the green. With so many engines in motion, it's no wonder less than crisp impact is the number one cause of errant short-game shots. Isolating wrist motion during practice, however, will give you the sense of how to turn on and off different engines, and perhaps more significantly, what type shot each engine is most aptly suited to carry out.