Gravity Torque is a phrase coined by Damon Lucas. Damon Lucas is a member of the Brian Manzella Academy and teaches at Lake Presidential in Marlboro, Maryland.
Basically, gravity torque is a torque on the clubhead which tends to encourage an open clubface. It helps explain why so many people have such a hard time returning the club face to a square position. So here’s how it works. If you look at the club at the top of the backswing, the clubface will probably be somewhere between facing the sky and toe straight down. We know that a ‘square’ clubface position is one where the face lays on the plane or is 90 degrees open to the plane. A clubface that is toe down will be more than this. If you relax your grip at the top of the swing, you’ll notice that gravity pulls the clubface down to a toe down position. Opening the club face the whole way.
For a majority of the downswing, gravity is acting upon the clubhead and the left arm in an opening manner. For example, if you are watching a swing from down the line, any time the clubhead is further away from the target line than the grip, gravity is pulling on the head in an attempt to rotate open the left forearm. Also, because the clubface is on the left side of vertical(while looking from down the line) gravity is also trying to rotate the face open. Only if the face gets on the right side of vertical(while looking from down the line) will gravity aid in the closing process of the clubface. This doesn’t usually occur until somewhere around when the club is parallel to the ground for the last time before impact. If the clubface has not made it to right side of vertical by this point, consistently squaring the clubface will be a challenge.
It is for this reason that maintaining a feel of trying to get the clubface right of vertical(when looking from down the line) after the last time the club is parallel to the ground is critical for proper face closing and control. I’ve mentioned many times how important it is to get a good feeling of where the clubhead is and how it feels. Only through proper focus can one begin to learn how the weight of the clubhead and clubface are reacting with gravity.
Take some time and analyze this information with a club in your hands. You’ll quickly see what is being referenced here and how the pull of gravity works against you and works for you. Here is a video companion for this topic.
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To avoid an open clubface due to gravity torque what must the golfer do to close the clubface? Torque is the golfer’s enemy unless some counter-move is employed to square the face.
Bob,
To avoid the effect of gravity torque, the player needs to twist the shaft to the left. This twisting will help offset the opening effects in the downswing.
JG