Setup..Shaft and Right arm

[Greg Schoenberg]

First of all, congrats and mucho thanks for starting this site, Mr. Blake and company.

I've been slowly incubating TGM this winter. One concept that confused me was principle of the right forearm being on the same plane as the shaft at address. Conventional setups usually have the shaft pointed at one's belly button or lower, thus creating an angle between the right forearm and shaft at address. Frankly I've ignored this principle, focussing more on bent right wrist, pp#1 and 3, etc.

Then I saw Lynn's driver video lesson located in the gallery. I noticed that indeed, that his right arm and shaft are on the same plane. Grabbing my wife, we headed out to the course for 9 holes (it's unusally warm in Oregon...60 degrees) and I put his setup in motion, carding a 39. There was immediated improvement with the driver and woods....at least 15 yards difference. Irons were well struck also but often hit left, as in dead pulls.

Which brings me to my question. My irons are 4 degree's upright, accomodating my old setup and swing. It appears that I will have to change the lie significantly....perhaps 4 degree flat??

Has anyone else had the same experience? More important, is my observation of Yoda's setup correct?

-Greg

[PChandler]

Greg

I am new to TGM as well but I noticed no one had responded yet. I had the same exact question posted on Chuck Evans site a few weeks ago. I thought the new setup felt weird and I was wondering about my lie angle, mine is 5 degrees upright. I never changed a thing. Just drive through impact (down, out, and forward) out to right field and everything works out...at least for me it does.

PChandler

[PChandler]

Greg

A followup. Check out 1-L #10, #13, #14, #15. They helped me with the same problems you mentioned.

PChandler

[Greg Schoenberg]

Thanks a bunch for responding!

I mispoke on my OP. Imitating Lynn's setup would probably mean acquiring more upright lies vs. flattening them.

Nonetheless, since it's winter and the season for experimentation, I've been using my father's old Browning irons of late, which are standard in lie. Result is straighter shots instead of the dead pull I was fighting with the 4 degree upright.

As for Lynn's setup, other's in a different forum have pointed out that his shaft plane may not exactly parallel to his right forearm. In other words, it was attributed to camera angle.

I PM-ed Lynn about this last week but have yet to hear anything.

Perhaps I should look for an Oregon AI who can help me piece this together.

-Greg

[12 piece bucket]

Greg:

It's all about Impact. Most clubfitters fit lie angle dynamically (tape on the sole as you hit off of a board) and adjust the lie angle accordingly. Most clubfitters will also tell you that a player's clubshaft angle at Impact is steeper than the Address angle. This means the player employed a Plane Shift during the swing (knowingly or otherwise).

If you fall into the above description, I'm not sure that having your Right Forearm on the "Address Plane" is particularly useful.

Yoda's stroke pattern uses the Turned Shoulder Basic Plane Angle (Component #6) with Zero Shift (Component #7) and, as you noted, his clubshaft and Right Forearm are "On Plane" at Address and Impact.

Maybe this quote from 7-6 will assist in your study:

"Clubs cannot be designed to be perfectly Soled (2-J-1) and still align the Clubshaft with more than one Plane Angle Reference Point. So those aligned between the Elbow and Shoulder Planes have become the most widely accepted, because actually the Toe or Heel can be lifted enough to safely accommodate either the flatter or steeper Plane and therefore any listed Plane Angle reference Point also (2-D-0). Even on hardpan, the Ball, normally, is gone before the ground is touched. Then too, there is always the true Clubshaft Angle with 8-6 and/or 10-6-E. The ideal solution is a slightly rounded Toe and Heel for all Clubs."

Hope that helps you.

RWH,

Good post. This got me thinking. Since clubfitters fit dynamically based on your 7-6 reference, would you advise a different "fitting procedure" for a player that has the right forearm on-plane at address? Or should you just have rounded heels and toes?

Is there such a thing as TGM endorsed club fitting?

Thanks man!

Richard