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In this analysis video we're going to discuss the cast pattern.

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Our definition of the cast is an early straightening of the trail arm.

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This can either be from the elbow as demonstrated here on the left,

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or this could be from the wrist as demonstrated here on the right.

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The most conventional and easiest way to look at the cast pattern is from the

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space on view.

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What you can typically look at is the angle between the left forearm and the

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club,

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or you can look at the space between the club and the body, such as that space

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there.

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What you will see on the cast pattern is that space is going to tend to

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increase,

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or that angle is going to decrease more or less straight from the top of the

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swing,

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or at least before parallel to the ground.

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On the right you'll see a little bit more subtle change because the cast is

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happening more

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from the wrist than it is from the elbow.

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Sometimes the cast pattern is hard to see if it is occurring more from the

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trail wrist than the trail elbow.

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One easy way to look at it, the easiest way to look at it would be on 3D,

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but one way to look at it on video, would be if you look at the top of the

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swing,

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and if you were to just analyze or look at the angle of that trail wrist,

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if you were then to bring the club down until it's just in delivery position or

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until it's about waist tight,

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if that angle has decreased, then there's a good chance that this player has

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cast.

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Most players with an efficient release are going to maintain or increase the

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amount of hinge or extension in that trail wrist.

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So here's another example, you can see the amount or the angle roughly there,

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and then if we were to bring this golfer down to waist tight,

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you can see that most of that angle is gone, and you can see if we go one or

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two more frames,

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it's almost completely gone, that's a clear evidence of a cast pattern.

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Frequently, the cast is described as an unhinging of the wrist or an ulnar

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deviation,

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which would be essentially extending your wrist like you're using a hammer,

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pointing it out that way.

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From what I've seen on 3D, it is very possible to not unhinge yet still cast,

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which is why we define the cast as a movement from either the elbow or trail

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wrist flexion early in the downswing.

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While not 100%, the typical pattern for a caster is going to be complaining of

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distance or feeling that they're weak.

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They will typically have trouble hitting the ball more than about 250.

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Good wedge players, typically bad drivers of the golf ball, and their missed

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pattern will typically be more on the toe as opposed to the heel.

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Now let's take a look at one of the most prominent casters who ever played the

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game.

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His name would be Nick Faldo, and I probably wouldn't have known that he was a

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caster if I hadn't seen the wrist grafts for his 3D,

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but it does make sense with the pattern given the fact that distance was always

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one of his issues.

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He is more of a wrist caster, so from the face-on view, the cast will be very

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subtle.

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He actually loads his elbow, but unloads his wrist straight from the top of the

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swing.

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So if we were to look at the angle, we may be slightly confused, because if I

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bring him down, say to there,

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it gives the appearance that he has increased the angle, which he has.

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So he has actually increased the amount of hinge in his wrist, but if we were

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to look from this down the line view in the way that I showed you during the

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definition section,

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you can see a subtle and gradual unloading of the right wrist to the point

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where when he gets to this waist-type position,

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that right wrist is relatively straight compared to where it was at the top of

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the swing.

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So it's just a slow gradual unhinging or flexing of that right wrist that

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produces his cast pattern, which is part of the reason why,

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even though he produces a path that's very good and a face pointed where he

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wants to, he struggles with distance.

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Now I don't want you to think that cast patterns can't hit the ball far, it's

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just the common pattern that they don't.

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Here's another golfer, Jason Zubak, who does have a tendency towards this cast

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pattern.

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If you were to look on at his face-on view, and we would draw this angle, you

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can see that early in the downswing he's going to release a good bit of that

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angle.

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Right about here, this is not the best camera angle for looking at it, but if

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you were to kind of visualize, you can see that he's released that angle.

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He's creating pretty much all of his speed from his body rotation, from his

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shoulder pull, his tricep extension, but he's getting actually little speed

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from his wrist,

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which is actually pretty phenomenal given the fact that he can hit the ball

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about 400 yards.

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From a power path and face perspective, what typically is going to happen with

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the cast pattern is from a power perspective, the arms are going to go early.

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Now when the arms accelerate, that's going to cause some stabilization to occur

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in your rib cage, which is going to limit its ability to create speed,

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and it may even travel further down the chain and stabilize your lower body.

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So it tends to create slower body rotations, but as you saw with Jason Zubak,

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that's not always the case.

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From a path point of view, it gets the club head further away from you.

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So since it increases this distance, it creates a bigger circle and thus a

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shallower, typically angle of attack.

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Also, while not always, it's going to cause a path that's going to go slightly

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to the left, or slightly more to the left, which will require an adjustment

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from the body in order to not have the path go left.

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Lastly, because of what's happening with the right wrist, it will tend to open

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up the club face, as we'll see in the typical example somewhere around there.

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Now there are two typical complementary movements that you will see to the cast

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pattern.

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One is a forward lunge or a shift of the upper body towards the target, and the

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second would be either a lift or a lack of drop.

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So if we look over here on the left, as this golfer makes transition, you will

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see the upper body in the head drift forward and then more or less stabilize

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there.

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There's not much backward movement. Backward movement would cause access tilt,

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which would, because that right arm is getting straighter sooner, would

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typically cause the club to hit the ground.

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Also, you'll notice during transition, the height of this person's head stays

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almost the same.

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Now, while this is frequently talked about as a good thing on TV, you will

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rarely see a good ball striker, especially with the driver, execute that

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movement.

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Over here on the right, we have Roy McElroy, and you'll see that compared to

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where he started, he gets further behind the golf ball and actually backs up

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slightly during the release phase.

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But you'll clearly see a significant amount of drop. The drop helps support the

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lower body creating speed, but if that right arm were straight, at this point,

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you could see that that would lengthen or lower his hands, which would pretty

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much put the club head into the ground.

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So, the combination of the lunge forward and the standing up helps to account

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for the increased distance between your hands and your chest that's common with

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this cast pattern.