Two Ways to Square the Club Face for Better Shots

There is more than one way to square the clubface, and that is where many golfers get confused. You may hear one instructor talk about “rolling the forearms,” while another teaches a bowed lead wrist and more body rotation. Both ideas can work, but they do not fit every swing pattern equally well. In simple terms, golfers tend to square the face in two main ways: by using more arm-and-forearm rotation, or by using more shaft rotation with body-driven motion. Understanding which pattern matches your swing can help you control contact, start lines, and curve far more effectively.

Two swing patterns, two ways to square the face

A helpful way to classify swings is by asking whether you are more upper-body dominant or more lower-body/body-centered dominant. That doesn’t mean one style is right and the other is wrong. It simply means your body has a preferred way of delivering the club.

In general:

• Upper-body dominant swings tend to match up better with shorter clubs, such as wedges through mid-irons.
• Body-centered or lower-body dominant swings tend to perform better with longer clubs, such as long irons, fairway woods, and driver.

The best players can move between these patterns depending on the shot. Think of a great tennis player: they can hit a heavy baseline shot, then soften their hands and hit a precise volley. Elite golfers do something similar. They can vary how the club is delivered and how the face is squared based on the club and the shot required.

Why this matters is simple: if you try to square the face with the wrong pattern for your motion, you may still get the face “closed,” but you will often pay for it with poor turf interaction, inconsistent low point, or ball flights that are hard to manage.

The arm-dominant way: squaring the face with forearm rotation

If your swing is more upper-body dominant, your arms tend to work more vertically and the shaft tends to get a bit steeper in transition and downswing. From there, the clubface is often squared more through supination of the lead arm and a feeling of the club “tumbling over” through impact.

This is the release pattern many golfers have seen in classic instruction: the clubhead appears to rotate through the strike, and the forearms feel more active.

What this release tends to look like

• The arms work down more steeply.
• The clubface is squared more by forearm rotation and lead-arm supination.
• The body does not need to rotate as aggressively open.
• The chest and upper body may feel as if they stay a little more over the ball.

This can work very well with shorter clubs because those shots often tolerate a steeper angle of attack. With wedges and short irons, you usually want crisp contact and a descending strike. A more arm-driven release can help you deliver that.

Why it can work with shorter clubs

Short clubs are built for precision and control. You do not need as much speed, and you do not need as much shallowing to produce quality shots. In fact, a slightly steeper delivery can be useful. If your arms are more dominant and you square the face with a tumbling or rolling release, you may find it easier to hit solid, crisp short-iron shots.

For this pattern to work best, a few pieces usually need to match up:

• You are not firing the lower body excessively.
• You are not getting dramatically open too early.
• Your lead arm is staying relatively structured through impact.
• You allow the upper body to stay more on top of the ball rather than aggressively backing away from it.

Where this pattern can cause problems

The issue comes when golfers try to use this same release with longer clubs while also adding more speed and more body rotation. Once the club gets longer, the ball gets farther forward, and the motion needs more shallowing, this arm-dominant release can become difficult to manage.

If the shaft is steep and you try to “motorcycle” the club too much from there, the club can want to dig hard into the turf. Contact gets heavy, divots get too deep, and the strike becomes unpredictable. With longer clubs, that usually means weak shots, pulls, hooks, or glancing contact.

The body-centered way: squaring the face with shaft rotation

The second major pattern is more common in elite long-game ball striking. In this style, the arms tend to shallow more in transition, and the clubface is squared less by a late forearm roll and more by shaft rotation earlier in the downswing. This is often described as a motorcycle movement.

That term refers to the feeling of rotating the lead wrist and club as if you were revving a motorcycle throttle downward with the lead hand. It is not simply rolling the face shut. It is a specific way of orienting the shaft and clubface earlier so the club can approach from a shallower, more efficient position.

What this release tends to look like

• The arms shallow more in transition.
• The shaft rotates earlier in the downswing.
• The body keeps rotating through impact.
• The clubface is managed more by wrist and shaft orientation than by a late forearm flip.

In reality, there is still some forearm rotation later on. These patterns are not completely separate worlds. But in a body-centered swing, the dominant face-closing mechanism is usually that earlier shaft rotation and lead-wrist motion, not a late tumble of the clubhead.

Why it works better with longer clubs

Longer clubs generally reward a shallower, more rotational delivery. You want speed, but you also want the club to approach the ball from a stable, repeatable angle. A body-driven release helps you do that.

This is why many great drivers of the golf ball and elite long-iron players tend to show more of this pattern. Their body rotation, pivot, and shallowing motion support the way the face is being squared. Everything matches.

When those pieces fit together, you often get:

• More stable contact with longer clubs
• Better face-to-path control
• A more penetrating push-draw style ball flight
• Less need for last-second hand timing

Why mismatching the release creates bad shots

The biggest problem is not that one release is good and the other is bad. The problem is using a release that does not fit the rest of your motion.

For example, if you swing more steeply with your arms and then try to add a strong motorcycle move without the right shallowing, the club can drive too sharply into the ground. You may hit fat shots, shanks, or low left misses because the club is closing and digging at the wrong time.

On the other hand, if you shallow the arms and rotate the body well, but then rely too much on a late forearm roll to square the face, you may leave the face open too long or struggle to time it. That can lead to blocks, wipes, or inconsistent curvature.

This is especially important if you fight a pull. Many pulls happen when the body and clubface pattern do not match. If the face closes too quickly while the path is moving left, the ball starts left immediately. If you are using an arm-dominant release while also spinning the body hard open, that mismatch can produce exactly that kind of shot.

Common mismatch patterns

• Steep arms + too much motorcycle = digging, heel strikes, heavy contact, possible shanks
• Shallow arms + too much forearm roll = timing issues, hooks, or inconsistent start lines
• Arm-dominant release + aggressive body opening = pulls or pull-hooks
• Body-driven pattern + not enough shaft rotation = blocks or pushes

How ball flight can tell you which pattern you need

Your ball flight gives you clues about whether your release matches your swing.

If your short clubs are solid but your long clubs are inconsistent

You may be relying too much on an arm-dominant release across the board. That can work beautifully with wedges and short irons, but it often breaks down when the club gets longer and the motion needs more shallowing and body support.

If this sounds like you, learning more shaft rotation and a more body-centered delivery may help your longer clubs immediately.

If your long clubs are decent but your wedges feel sloppy or thin

You may be trying to use too much body rotation and shaft rotation on shots that need a little more vertical arm motion and a more natural tumble through impact. Sometimes golfers try to make every club look like a driver swing, and short-game precision suffers.

If you hit pulls or pull-hooks

Look first at whether your release is too arm-driven for how aggressively your body is moving. If the clubface is being closed by a tumbling forearm action while your pivot is also pulling the handle left, the face-to-path relationship can close down quickly.

Often the fix is not just “hold the face open.” It may be to choose the correct squaring pattern for the motion you are making.

How the two patterns blend in real swings

Even though it is useful to separate these into two categories, real golf swings are blends. An arm-dominant player will still have some shaft rotation. A body-centered player will still have some forearm rotation through the strike.

The key is understanding which one is doing most of the work.

With a more arm-driven swing:

• The tumble or supination is more dominant.
• The body supports the motion, but does not overpower it.

With a more body-driven swing:

• The motorcycle or shaft rotation is more dominant.
• The later forearm rotation is still there, but it is more of a blend than the main event.

This is why you can watch two excellent players and see very different-looking releases, yet both produce great shots. Their patterns are matched to their overall motion.

How to apply this in practice

The best way to learn this is to experiment with both patterns and pay attention to contact and ball flight.

1. Hit short shots with an arm-dominant feel. Let the arms work a little more vertically and feel the club tumble or rotate through impact. Notice whether contact becomes crisp and controlled.
2. Hit longer shots with a body-centered feel. Let the arms shallow more, feel some motorcycle earlier in the downswing, and keep the body rotating. Notice whether the strike becomes more stable.
3. Watch for your miss pattern. If you pull or hook it, you may be overusing forearm roll for the amount of body rotation you have. If you block it, you may not be rotating the shaft enough for a shallower pattern.
4. Match the release to the club. Do not assume your wedge release should look identical to your driver release.
5. Use turf interaction as feedback. Deep, diggy divots often mean your release and shaft delivery are not matched. Clean, predictable contact usually means they are.

The real goal is not to pick one release forever. It is to understand the two major ways the clubface gets squared so you can use the right one for the shot and the club in your hands. When your release matches your swing pattern, the face-to-path relationship becomes easier to control, contact improves, and your ball flight starts to make much more sense.