[EdZ]

Very nice Mathew - sbark, yep another good model.

So, looking at the model, if impact were to occur at any point past the shaft being 'in line' with the belt (parallel to the two sides) you would have 'throw away'

And if you look at the end/circle/pulley section of the belt, impact should therefore occur at a point between 90 degrees and paralell (again, to the two 'sides').

And if that is the case, the ideal from a 'margin for error' standpoint would be at approx 45 degrees (to the sides), and from a 'pure physics' standpoint just exactly before it becomes parallel to the two sides.

Lynn - not to go down an old road, but it is the 'belt' that I was talking about re: force, and its orientation to the shoulder line - the top end of the pulley being the between the shoulders center, and the bottom end being the 'rotation point' or 'mirror point' - PP#1 - where the base of the right hand meets the left thumb.

IMO - both arms straight, therefore represents the shaft being in line, parallel to, the two sides of the belt - which increases the 'support' of impact - the leverage of the belt effect - because impact and separation always occur well before that condition - only being 'in line' at both arms straight, with the belt/shoulder line at approx 30-45 degrees to the ground.

The belt (force) is still ALWAYS traveling DOWNPLANE until well after impact, when the 'circle' is complete and the 'point on the belt' where the club is attached is at its farthest point away from 'center'

edit: to add to this image from Mathew, you can think of hitting (pushing) as 'using the right side to drive, to PUSH the belt down' and swinging as using the left side to PULL the belt (in a sense 'UP') however the belt will move the same regardless of which side you move - around the pulleys

and the force, will ALWAYS be moving down, until it can't move down anymore and the ball is LONG gone