What is a Square Clubface Throughout the Swing?

Not sure I understand this. Irons are generally struck with a more descending blow than woods because people tend to set up with the ball nearer the middle of the stance than with woods.

You shouldn't deliberately need much of a different swing for irons over woods; just a different ball position.

You should not be actively fanning anything open on the backswing. You may think this is what's happening but the clubhead should stay square throughout - your shoulders are rotating which gives the appearance of the clubface opening.

When the club returns to the ball, it should not be wide open. You should not need any active rolling square of the clubface; hands should roll naturally as you come through the impact.

Your top hand controls where the clubface is during the swing. It does nothing that's to do with power. Power comes from the torsion you've built up during the backswing and it's delivered by the big muscles and the lag (clubhead lagging behind hands) you are able to maintain and control for as long as possible. Of the two hands in the swing, it's the lower hand that delivers some of the the power and makes sure the clubface is rolling through impact.

Striking good irons requires practice; lots of it. There are some good pointers by Scott Minni in his "Smash and Carve Golf" book. You need hands leading the clubhead and real extension through impact amongst other things. As someone else says, ignore anything the person who mentions scooping irons says about golf! It's odd, but to get elevation, you need to hit down on the ball. To hit consistent irons which will have a chance of stopping on a green, you must hit the shot with a "ball-turf" impact. It should always be ball slightly before turf. As for ball position I have my driver just inside my left heel, and hit a "normal" sand iron from around the middle of my stance; everything in between varies with the longer clubs more towards where my driver goes from and the shorter irons the other way. Your clubs, shafts and balls (if you'll forgive me for saying so ) will influence how high you can hit a given shot somewhat as well.

Actually, the clubface opens.

You can argue about why it opens, how much, or what opens it. But the simple fact is that the club face is laid flat and open at the top of your swing.

Should yes, for many players they do not. It is not something that comes naturally to a whole lot of people so many have to train their hands to do it and then it will occur naturally.

The simple fact is if you grip too tight and the club face is not rolled or allowed to roll you will slice everything because the club face is still open.

Lower hand can actually be removed from the club at impact with no loss of power unless you are a right arm swinger or a hitter. Case and point Vijay Singh would often release the club with his right hand (or everything but release it) at impact.

I agree with you on lag, torsion, coil, and everything else. But the simple fact is that your hands are connected to the club thus that power is transferred to the ball through the hands. If your hands are working in the way they should it won't be.

Nope, I'm using the word open very simply as open.

Look at Woods and Scott in their swings. Their club begins going backwards and you can't really see the patch on their golf gloves. The club raises up the plane and all of the sudden the patch on the glove is facing directly at you. Then comes the down swing and the patch is facing you the entire time until the moment of impact and then the wrist uncocks and rolls through the ball. The patch then goes from facing in front of the player, to facing the target, to facing behind the player. That uncocking and rolling of the wrist closes the club face at impact. If the face isn't open then the uncocking and rolling of the wrist would not be necessary. If the face isn't open then the uncocking and rolling of the wrist would in fact close the face rather than square it which would send the ball dead right.

I think what iacas is getting at is that the face is still square though because their wrist has not bowed or cupped. It's just two different ways to think about things.

That's a good point; the hands have to be relaxed to come through the ball correctly. You still shouldn't need to consciously roll them (unless trying to hit a deliberate hook or similar) if the basic setup is correct.

You're right I guess with this. The hands re. power is splitting hairs but the left hand should control where the clubface is pointing.

Good point in your other post re. Tiger and his fan of the clubface. He's well known for it but I wouldn't suggest anyone models their takeaway to fan the blade open....you'd have to concede he's a bit more talented than most of us(!) and can get away with it. The wrist cock should be on plane; it shouldn't have anything to do with opening the face. If you have a one-piece takeaway with a good shoulder turn you should be going square (at address) to square (at the top) to square (at impact).

The reason it appears open pre-impact is the natural lag that's generated in the downswing; wrist action does have to square the face during the last part of the downswing. The club isn't (or shouldn't be) open on the way back.

I have always learned to allow the club to open going back and to close it at impact.

It isn't difficult to do and virtually every left arm swing that I have seen fans the club open to some degree.

The only swing I am familiar with that the club does not fan is the right arm hitting motion ala Moe Norman and Lee Trevino.

That dude really bends over, dont he?

The guy on the Youtube video is definately fanning the club open. The clubhead should point somewhere directly down against the ball. A good reference point is the shoulders, which should point in the same direction.

You can see from the Youtube video above that his left hand has straightened out and the right hand cupped or bowed.

I've always turned my hands and opened the clubface, but have worked on removing all wrist movement lately. I turn, raise and if the club gets past perpendicular to the ground it will be dragged down from gravity. The wrists should be firm enough to support the weight of the club, but loose enough to let the club drop slightly at the top.