Swing vs Hit or Draw vs Fade

Went to the range today with the camera and tried out some things that I was hoping to get some thoughts on…

Realising that most here (1) love golf and (2) benefit from LPs proprietary ball striking classes, I do not want to transgress what is appropriate to discuss without actually signing up for the course (which I intend to do anyway). Please tell me if the solicitation is frowned upon…

That said, I have noticed that I can hit the ball one of two ways (pictured below). I cannot tell if one his a swing versus a hit, or whether the differences I feel as I do it highlight the differences between drawing and fading the ball. I apologize for not including full images of the swing–apparently I’m getting older and technologically challenged.

Anyway, the top sequence is produced by taking it slowly to the top, then completing the swing with the following intention: starting the downward movement feeling as though I’m about to hit a left-handed forehand tennis shot, feeling the left shoulder lead as the body moves towards the left toe, feeling the hands push out to the right. The contact is pure, the ball flight is generally right left, mostly coming back to midline. The misses are generally hooks. I’m not intentionally trying to draw the ball.

The bottom sequence is produced by intending to hit the ball with my right hand. I take it slowly to the top then try to drive hard with my right hand and ‘rip it up the plane,’ a concept I found on here and adopted for this swing. I find that the misses tend to go right so I have opened up my stance a little, resulting in a fade back to midline. The feeling I get when I try to rip it up the plane is that the club head and my arm are almost chasing the ball out to the left and the finish is very hay, almost like I have to decelerate at the end in order to avoid not falling backward. The contact is similarly pure but tends to be a little shorter.

Thoughts?

PS. The grass range is still closed here in PA.
swing1.JPG

Certainly there are a million variations on hitting and million variations of hitting and some shades of gray in between. While the Hogan/ABS style of hitting certainly emphasizes active forearm/wrists/hands, there is a certain way to use the muscles to release the angles you form in the backswing. This hand/wrist protocol, which is the first thing Lag teaches in his modules, involves holding wrist cock much more than in your sequences. Unfortunatley, this type of release is not really compatible with standard lie angle clubs so if you’re playing off standard or upright the gear will make you uncock to sole the clubhead properly. You’d also want to freeze lock the angle between the forearm/upper arm and replace this active arm thrust with a violent, grounded pivot that continues after impact.

Thanks for your input. I guess I was vainly hoping that the ball flights being produced were indicative of “doing it right.”. It’s hard to imagine the pressure that is generated by keeping those angles, especially considering I feel a decent bit of pressure as it is. Very excited. Application will be in the mail this evening!

There is an easier way to do things once you put in a little bit of work.
You do have some lag so it won’t be completely off the map to work into a more proper P3 pass through.