[YodasLuke]

There's actually more spin with full compression than a "soft impact", but it doesn't nearly hold the green as well because the greater momentum of the ball going forwards offsets the increased amount of spin.

One of my buddies, to whom I've referred before, won the GA Amateur, won an Australian Tour event, the Georgia Open (15 under), the Atlanta Open, and played very well in the Buick Southern Open. I think, he was also an All-American at the University of Georgia. He came to take a lesson a few months ago, then he went and broke the course record (64 or 65, I think) at Wade Hampton, in Cashiers, NC. I can't say the lesson had anything to do with the record, because it's hard to make perfect any better. He's amazing. He's a financial advisor now and plays very infrequently.

The reason I give you his credentials is to validate the conversation about "soft impact". Louis could perform the shot off of hardpan or asphalt. It was truly a butterfly with sore feet when landing. (Compression leakage at it's finest.) He was explaining to me how to hit the shot. He said he didn't want the ball to compress, but he wanted it to roll up the face. He used vertical hinging, and would regulate the power in two ways. Firstly in 2-M-2 #1, he would vary his acceleration rate. He could go to top and carry the ball no more than 5 yards. It looked like the swing took five seconds. He felt like it was a "single speed" swing, but I think he was feeling constant lag pressure. The club was accelerating, but looked oppressively slow. And secondly in 2-M-2 #3, he would vary the length of the stroke.