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I went down to Jupiter to spend a couple days with Brad at Old Palm and we got some nice work in. I have always told Brad that given his problems with the approach being high and sometimes stuck he should strive to get the club on plane at the top (less across the line) so that he can have the shaft flatten early in transition and then steepen the rest of the way down, which will give him the chance to get the right arm straighter as he approaches impact and his hands as a result passing by closer to his body. You may ask why that is so important, and it would be a very good question. When the hands come into the impact area well away from the body and significantly higher than they were at address the wrists have to bend down to get the club head onto the ball. The hands already have a tough assignment in that they have to square the face at high speed, so adding another wrist angle as they arch downward while they are rotating presents an added complication that not many players can manage. All work on the mechanics of any swing should always attempt to make it easier for the hands to square the clubface. When Brad moves forward at the end of his backswing he steepens his shoulders and his right arm, which usually tries to pinch in early, lifts and wings out causing the shaft to cross the line. Brad doesn’t have the “helicopter” move that lays the club back early in the downswing (see Couples and Streelman) so his shaft is still steep well into his downswing. His only option is to flatten the shaft late, and in order not to get it completely stuck behind him he moves his arms way out away from his body. My goal is to get him to point the club more to the left at the top, flatten it from there, and then steepen it as he moves toward impact. That kind of motion will allow him to straighten his right arm as it moves toward impact and thus make the wrist and hand release much more manageable.
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