3 - Downswing difficulties:-

The classic swing has many planes, all different, involving the rotation of the several parts of the body and the club. The sketch below shows an expert golfer having just struck the ball with a driver:-

There are 6 principal ellipses in the golf swing – feet; knees; hips; wrists; arms; and shoulders – that have to be on the right plane, unique to each and in proper sequence. These will vary for each and every player, and must be individually tailored.

The torques on the club can be considered as five, including one from gravity acting on it. The torques on the arms are generally five as well including a shift towards the target while rotating the body.

These complex motions are extremely difficult to do for all but the talented few. Even they require constant practice to hold their swings together. As we know, even top Tour players lose their swings suddenly and have great difficulty correcting the problem.

Symple Swing is essentially a single axis swing that eliminates these complications, as can be seen in the sketch below with the player using a five iron.

By establishing a plane to the top during the backswing the player then swings by rotating his upper body on the same plane to impact with the ball. The hands automatically uncock into a position of a powerful “late” release, as can be seen in the hand position above just after striking the ball.

The right calf automatically thrusts forward, adding horizontal thrust and added mass to the shot. The combination of movements  turns the front hip slightly out of the way, while the left leg also forms a solid post against which the right side is fired with power. Any troublesome lunge is eliminated.

The only variations, from player to player, will be in ball position – distance from the body and location along the target line in the stance. Once the basic setup and takeaway are learned, these can be readily determined.

Strictly speaking,  the wrists do form a second axis. However, the Symple Swing unique grip and front arm setup forces the wrists to be in the same plane of rotation while cocking in the backswing; and to release along the same line during uncocking in the downswing.

 4 – Accuracy

Accuracy is vital to good scoring. If we take a case of a clubhead at a small 3 degree opened or closed position at impact ( which is barely noticeable to the eye ) we can see the offline spray is considerable:-

On a shot traveling 150 yards :-

• A 3 deg. closed face pulls the ball to the left of target by 24 feet.
• A 3 deg. open face pushes the ball to the right by 24 feet.
• A pulled hook sends the ball much farther off target and may propel the ball too far as well.
• A slice sends the ball much farther off target and will probably come up short as well.

 On a shot traveling 250 yards :-

• A 3 deg. closed face pulls the ball to the left fo target by 40 feet.
• A 3 deg. open face pushes the ball to the right by 40 feet.
• A pulled hook sends the ball much farther to the left, mostly likely in the rough, or worse.
• A slice sends the ball much farther to the right and will definitely be short, probably in the rough, or worse.

 Not shown is the pulled slice. This may drop somewhere near the target line but will certainly come up short.

During a typical round, the average player often  strikes the ball with more than a 3 degree face angle error. The results are proportionately much worse.

The unique grip (PowerThumb) and left arm setup solves this problem. The clubhead remains square to the ball from setup through the backswing and finally through the downswing. At no time is it off line. The downswing orientation of the club face is depicted below:-

sketch #5

(The drawing has a slight perspective error, deliberately done to show the square face position at all stages more readily).

Failure to hit fairways, and greens in regulation, are the most common faults of the average player. Straight shots down the target line will lower the score faster than any other improvement he can make. Even if the player cannot reach the very long holes in regulation, in spite of the added distance he will get from Symple Swing, he can expect very accurate pitches and chips that give him a reasonable putt for PAR.

Shots with open or closed faces are generally glancing blows as well and impart less energy to the ball. This produces shots shorter than he should get from the energy he is using while swinging. Square contact increases distance with no additional effort.

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