Clubface Control (Key #5) Challenge

[iacas]

In a different topic, I said this once:

On 12/9/2018 at 9:09 PM, iacas said:

P.S. I can hit a ball straight with my left hand completely on top of the club… and with my right hand completely on top of the club. As in a ridiculously strong grip and a ridiculously weak grip.

I could have sworn I started a topic specifically on this. Turns out, after ten minutes of searching for it, it was a blog entry, and it's here:

So, rather than just being a challenge in a blog, I'm making a real challenge. You can win a badge for your account:

https://thesandtrap.com/awards/category/5-challenges/

To complete the challenge:

1. Get an 8-iron.
2. Film a video of yourself with a ridiculously strong grip hitting the ball at least 85% the normal distance of your 8-iron.
3. In the same video, show yourself with a ridiculously weak grip hitting the ball at least 85% the normal distance of your 8-iron.
4. Both shots should clearly be straight and toward the target.
5. Post the video in this topic and claim the Challlenge flag for yourself!

Here's mine.

These were the first two swings with these grips that I made this day, and they were consecutive swings, as @saevel25 can attest (I forgot to tell him to keep recording).

The second one was a half a groove heavy (with a bigger divot) but the ball still went 140 yards.

[saevel25]

2 minutes ago, iacas said:

as @saevel25 can attest (I forgot to tell him to keep recording).

I attest 😉

 

[DeadMan]

Dang it, I meant to try this last night when I was the range but forgot about it. I remember fooling around with it when you posted the original blog, and I hit the exact same shot with both grips. But it wasn't really a straight shot - it was a pull draw. I don't think it would have qualified for this challenge.

Anyways, it's on my list to try.

[billchao]

On 9/23/2017 at 4:51 PM, billchao said:

Strong grip started on my target line and drew about 15 yards left of target, which actually isn't much different than my normal miss. Weak grip pushed right of my target line and held its line with maybe a slight fade at the end, 15 yards right of target.

I failed this back when it was just a blog post but I'll try it again sometime.

[Shindig]

Is this something that someone working on keys 1 & 2 (I don't recall any priority pieces focusing on keys 3-5) should try, or is this beyond my likely ability at this point?  

Or maybe I'd just learn something from trying. 

[iacas]

6 minutes ago, Shindig said:

Is this something that someone working on keys 1 & 2 (I don't recall any priority pieces focusing on keys 3-5) should try, or is this beyond my likely ability at this point?  

Or maybe I'd just learn something from trying. 

It’s just about seeing if you have this form of clubface control.

[Shindig]

22 minutes ago, iacas said:

It’s just about seeing if you have this form of clubface control.

In that case, I will try this next time I hit outdoors (hopefully, tomorrow morning) and will report back.

[dennyjones]

The video helps enlighten the concept.   I'm going to give it another try.

[inthecup]

I know people that play with that strong grip!  Not well but they do it.

[Shindig]

Okay, tonight's practice session was the usual, then Speed Sticks, then reacclimating ... and finally trying this.  I think I got them straight, but I don't think I got the requisite distance.  Will try again in the future.  

[Grass Destruction]

I did this over the weekend at the driving range at the end of my bucket of balls. No full practice swings, just a couple loose waggles to get the feel of it a bit. The drastically strong grip was the harder of the two in my opinion. It didn't draw and was straight and about 10 yards left of my target. The weak grip was right of the target by about 10 yards too. Both were about the same distance (135-ish if I had to guess). I didn't have anyone around to video it unfortunately. It was an interesting experiment. 

[iacas]

Where are the videos, fellas?

[DeadMan]

7 minutes ago, iacas said:

Where are the videos, fellas?

Dang it. Going to the range tomorrow night. I put a reminder in my phone to do this and film it. Expect something later this week from me. Not sure if I'll be successful or not, though...

[billchao]

38 minutes ago, iacas said:

Where are the videos, fellas?

I tried this a couple of weeks ago when I was in VA, didn't think I could do it. Nailed it on the first try so I figured I'd film it. Failed spectacularly the next three attempts on film. The closest I got was on the last set of swings where both shots started on roughly the same line, but one faded and one drew. I'm going to say I failed at this challenge.

Also to add insult to injury (or in this case, injury to insult), doing one of those super weak grip swings is when I tweaked something in my left shoulder, which still hasn't healed completely. Needless to say, I'm not doing this again 🤦🏻‍♂️

[mvmac]

Cool challenge, I'll film mine this week.

The weaker grip will be more of a challenge.

[DeadMan]

Drum roll please ...

Both shots were pretty straight. Second one had a bit of draw on it, but landed maybe 5 yards left of the first one.

It felt freaking weird. You can see me wrestling with the club, trying to a ball in position to hit, and trying to make the grip feel less awkward. It felt like I couldn't just easily move a ball on the ground.

Not sure the grips were strong or weak enough to count, but this is at least a good first effort.

[Patch]

I'm not in this badge contest, since I don't do videos, but I would like to add this piece of info (questions) for perusal.

With an overly strong grip, if you set up with the the right amount of degrees of an open club face, would not the stronger grip square the club face up at ball impact?

Also with an overly weak grip, with the right amount of degrees of a closed club face, would not that square the club face up at impact?

At least square enough in both instances to send the ball reasonably straight. 

Just courios.......

[iacas]

47 minutes ago, DeadMan said:

Not sure the grips were strong or weak enough to count, but this is at least a good first effort.

Dan, I'm not sure what you were doing.

In the first shot, your left hand was weak but your right hand was strong. Then the opposite was true in the next grip: a strong left hand and a weak right hand.

Challenge not defeated.