"Can a Type of Mallet Improve the Mechanics of a Swing?" ... Yes, absolutely.
Watch this polo lesson to find out more.
Can a Mallet Improve the Mechanics of a Swing? Answering Your Polo Questions
Transcription:
He asked. I'd like to know if a type of mallet, lighter, heavier, stiffer, softer, small, etc, can make a difference in improving the mechanics of the swing. Will the heavier one, lift the ball as an example. Definitely the right mallet for your strength is really important.
And for your hand size, the grip size is really important. Because if you've got a really big hand, then a tiny shaft is really difficult to hold. But what you have to actually understand guys, is that the bigger the grip, the more passive your wrist is going to be, and the smaller your grip, the more active it makes your wrist.
So, you have to figure out, is your swing very wrist active, because if it is, you might need to increase slightly the size of the actual mallet handle. Okay.
But now the important thing when you're choosing mallets, is the ratio of the weight between the head and the shaft. Because a normal man's mallet that I would use would be between 500 and 520 grams.
Now, just to put that into perspective, 20 grams is a huge difference in, in the weight. If you were buying golf clubs and you were going. They have what they call swing weights. Okay? So, the one golf club would be a D1 swing weight. The next would be a D2 swing weight. And the difference in the actual weight of the club is like a $10 bill it's negligible, but it makes a huge difference because the golf club is reasonably long.
Now, if you take 20 grams, okay, over 52 inches, man, that's a huge change. And also how stiff your shaft is. Because again, if I liken it to golf, if you go into a swing analyzer of golf, they will measure your club head speed to figure out what kind of shaft you need in your golf club.
Because if it's below a certain number, you go to a regular shafted club, which has a little bit of flex in it, to help speed up the head. The stiffer shafts you have to have a very high club head speed to be able to use them. And to be honest, mostly it's only the pros that can use those really stiff shafts or a low handicap golfer.
Now with polo, it's the same thing. If you're a pro and really able to hit the ball hard and long, you would want a slightly stiffer shaft. If you're not, and you're a slightly lower handicap, you would want a mallet that is slightly flexible, but it's got to flex in the bottom two thirds of the mallet, so that if you hold that mallet against your thigh and flex it either with two hands on one hand, if you're one, if your fore arms not strong enough to flex it, don't flex it this way.
You can't feel where the flex of the mallet is. Hold it against you, flex the mallet and make sure that it's the tip that's moving from about two thirds down of the mallet, not from the top of the mallet, just below the handle. If that's the case, then the head is too heavy for the shaft.
Now, also, if you're a lady, you're looking for this, you probably got smaller hands. So, go to a size two handle, not a size three handle, and also choose a mallet that all up weight is around about 480 grams. And that your head weight is between 180 and 190.
If you're a man sort of my size, I'm going to a size three handle because my hands are normal size. I'm going to, I don't like very sensitive shafts. They kill my timing, because I'm not trying to really hit the ball that hard. And that little bit of flex gives me a lot of distance. But I'm choosing between 500 and 520 gram mallets, with about 210 grams in the head.
So, yes, definitely the choosing. If you've got a mallet that's too light for you, you will always jerk your swing. Because if it's too light, you're trying to find the mallet. So, now you go hand first in the swing, instead of going with your hip, shoulder, hand,mallet, that's the sequence of the swing.
If it's too heavy, you're going to give yourself tennis elbow and you're going to really battle with anything that's not just a straightforward swing. If the ball deviates, if you want to try and tap it round the corner, a mallet that's too heavy for you will really hurt you.
So, that's as much as I can help with that, without actually, you know, being with you. So, Rob again, back to you, mate. Lekker, awesome Gav.
