Horizontal Hinging Basics
 

OK... searched the forums and the book with no luck, but this may still be a very basic question (don't mean to be a "lazy TGMer").

WHY is horizontal hinging the natural hinge action for a swinger? I am trying to become a true automatic release swinger but..... I still feel I hit too many shots that have an angled hinge to them.

If I drag load down the inclined plane and my spine maintains it's angled relationship to the ground (i.e. I don't come "up and out" of the shot), why is CF not trying to simply release the club on that angled plane? I can see why you would have HH action if you were standing vertically to the ground, but why is the same hinging in effect while you're bent over in your golfing posture?

I understand the hinge motions but I'm struggling with this concept... particularly as I try to let the swinging motion be totally controlled by CF.

Don't mean to get too basic here... thus why I started the thread where I did. :)

Thanks,

CG

Per 6-B-3-0, "With true Throw-Out Action (no manual Clubface manipulation), Centrifugal Force automatically aligns the Clubshaft and Clubface for Horizontal Hinging..."

To prove this to yourself, tie a clubhead to a piece of string and spin around.

When the string and clubface are aligned, note how the clubhead looks...you will be surprised.

You ARE releasing the club on the inclined plane. Due to CF the clubhead wants to "turn over" during impact and that's your horizontal hinge. All hinge actions are executed on the inclined plane and your amount of ROLL varies with the hinge action you're using.

The short answer, physics and the design of the club. The fact that golf is a 'side on' game with a clubface/head that is offset from the shaft similar to a hockey stick.

On a related note....
 

With my irons i feel a definate "roll" to produce a horizontal hinge action

With the driver i feel like my hands are just hanging on... does this mean that i'm likely angle hinging if i don't "feel the roll"?

With the driver...not necessarily. As the clubs get longer the easier it is for CF to completely take over if you allow it to. You'd REALLY have to be "holding it off" to produce angled hinging and it'd be no accident.

Cool thanks, wasn't sure whether the "full roll feel" would be applicable in these longer shots. Definately feel the differences in hinge actions in the short shots

So that the club can travel across a FLAT plane.

Comp,

Thanks for the reference to 6-B-3-0. I'm now looking to see how I can tie a string safely to a clubhead and try that experiment. :) Seems like I recall a pic of Yoda with Lynn and some other GSED's in which he was doing that very thing.

CG

CG,

You are absolutely right on that. I tried to search for that picture for you, but to no avail.