Why not deloft the club at setup ?

[yanni]

If you look at videos you will see when the club hits the ball it has way less loft than in setup position. People say an iron 7 actually becomes something like an iron 5 or 6 when you hit the ball. This only occurs if you do your wrist hinge quite late (which is the correct way). In this case the hand position is way left from the clubhead.

My wrist hinge was way too early all the time. So what I did was to deloft the club already at setup position so I had the same loft at setup and at impact. Even though my wrist hinge was wrong the ballflight was quite OK cause the position of the club head still was quite OK during impact and I did not hit too many fat balls or did top anymore.

I took a trainer lesson now. Obviously the trainer told me to not to shift the club handle as extremely to the left as I did in the past (so not to extremly deloft it) during setup. While this is "correct" this leaded to fat shots. He told me I have to move my weight to left (which I did not do in the past) so actually the club again is delofted a bit. Using a late lag will further correct this. And when I do all this I will get the correct delofted position on impact again (Hands way left from the clubhead)

Now to my question ;) I tried to deloft extremly again during setup and did all the rest "correct". Than I did the setup like you should do (which is only very little delofted) and I can hardly see a difference. Why is it the position of the club during setup is different than position at impact ? Why don't just place the hands way left in relation to the clubhead on setup just as it will be on impact anyway ?

Especially beginners probably don't even notice the position of the shaft should be difference on impact compared to the position on setup and this is why they are hitting fat or topping. 

 

Edited June 28, 2017 by yanni

[JonMA1]

5 hours ago, yanni said:

Why is it the position of the club during setup is different than position at impact ? Why don't just place the hands way left in relation to the clubhead on setup just as it will be on impact anyway ?

I think many golfers do this at least to some extent, but perhaps not "way left".

I might be talking above my skill level, but with a "normal" address setup, I don't think the idea is that you're going to get back to the same position at impact. It's more of a consistent starting point from which to start the backswing. I think it's ok to have your hands a bit forward at address. Personally, I move mine forward as a "trigger" to start my backswing.

As far as weight forward at address, I struggled when I tried to do this. Seems like there's more power and less wasted motion when I start with my weight even or back a little and then come forward from the top of my backswing. But that's just a "feel" for me and isn't really applicable for others. 

Seriously, I'm not very good nor do I know enough about the mechanics to do much beyond just discussing them. Hopefully, one of the more skilled members of the forum can provide better information than I can.

If you're taking lessons and trust your coach, does he have an opinion or reason why you shouldn't?

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The drill below is pretty good for those wanting to learn a good position at impact, although it sounds like you're already familiar with it.

Good luck.

[iacas]

6 hours ago, yanni said:

Why is it the position of the club during setup is different than position at impact ? Why don't just place the hands way left in relation to the clubhead on setup just as it will be on impact anyway ?

I can start with the club in almost any position and, if I'm allowed to get to the top of my backswing in about the same position as I normally do, I'll return to a decent impact position.

Setup has less relevance, particularly on something so dynamic as the shaft position throughout the swing, than anything else that happens after setup.

If you're having more success setting up with shaft lean, that's cool… but it's probably changing something else - the location of your head, the rate at which you hinge/cock your wrists, etc.

[arturo28mx]

At setup (address) if the club is too forward (not vertical or nearly vertical) your backswing will be off plane!!!! This is bad. With very few exceptions, most humans need to have a backswing on plane so they can return the club to impact on plane. You can verify this in a mirror. That is the explanation.

[yanni]

Thanks. This makes sense. I only noticed recently that position at setup and impact is pretty different and I think many beginners won't notice at first.

[Ernest Jones]

Most high caps have a hard enough time getting decent height without delofting, might be a short term fix, but your likely losing distance. 

[onthehunt526]

I've heard a slight forward press, is okay. Maybe not ideal, but ok. I don't usually do it anymore, but maybe I'll give a slight shaft lean at address a try.

[Buckeyebowman]

I've seen lots of tips and drills where a slight forward press of the hands and weight shift targetward is used to give the student some idea of the proper impact position. And a lot of golf instruction in the past advocated a slight forward press as a kick starter for the swing. They didn't want you freezing over the ball.

I don't see that idea as much these days, but I'm sure it's still around.

To the OP. I don't see any problem with a slight forward press, but you mentioned several times that you seem to do it to an extreme. Maybe just throttle back on that a bit. I'd much rather see a slight forward press than the opposite. I see guys on local courses set up with the clubshaft leaning away from the target. I's like they're setting up in a "pre-flip" posture.