Does anyone here practice with a light stick? Like a shaft without a head? I had my nephew over for a visit and somehow he managed to snap my spare driver down by the hosel. So now I have a shaft with a grip at my hands. I figured - why don’t try a few swings?
It is quite easy to feel how the pressure points are applied throughout - and seems like a good approach towards finding a swing plane, path and release that has the least unproductive force application.
It is also amazing how fast you can swing a light shaft one-handed. You get to use all the speed your body can produce. And after doing a dozen of one-handed swings with each arm, swinging with a regular club feels like dragging a tonn.
But the thing that has amazed me the most is how difficult it is to produce good swing speed with the light stick while swinging with two hands. The left side gets in the way and prevents a speedy motion. The right hand snaps to straight as if it has nowhere to go. You can get similar challenges with the left side, if you focus on swinging with the left. Release of accumulator #3 seems to be the most determinant key for the light stick swing speed. So a key success factor is to prepare the pivot for a speedy a #3 release.
It is quite interesting to try to adjust the pivot etc in order to provide the max two-handed swing speed. So far it seems like a flat shoulder turn, a flat swing plane and plenty of knee bend enables the greatest speed.
What I’m trying to take out of this is to find a motion that works best for a speeedy two-handed swing. That, and speed rehersal itself.
Anyone else trying something like this and what have you gotten out of it?
What you need to be careful of is the lack of weight on the end of shaft. If there is no clubhead then there is nothing to stress the shaft during transition and with no stress on the shaft there is no pressure in the hands. Swinging a shaft with no head may be great for swingers because it’s easy to generate velocity, but in Lag’s hitting procedure it’s not all about velocity…it’s about mass and acceleration.
You would not likely be practicing anything positive.
best thing to practice with… is a golf club, and one that is weighted so that it both puts stress on the shaft, and into your body, so that you can be feeling something that would be the same as when you are hitting a golf ball.
Clubs too heavy are equally poor…
I would say you could go with a club one ounce heavier than what you use when you play.
Golf is very much a game of feel, so I don’t really promote swinging any kind of device or drilling club that is not a golf club.
It is important that we feel not only the weight of a club but also how a golf club is balanced… so again, I am not promoter of fan clubs… or other gimmicky clubs that teach an non golf club feel.
If you are a musician and play the trumpet, would you practice with a flute even though they are both wind instruments?
I’m not going to defend this light stick swinging as a core practice method. Most people will breed bad habits when they practice swing motions without a club and without a ball.
But do I believe in high speed training? Oh yea… Hitting light balls with light sticks and with a proper stroke would be a great idea. But nothing will ever beat doing the real thing. You basically get good at what you practice. Specifically. In golf and in most other areas of life.