[Mike O]

Mike O - I missed this post from you earlier. What do you mean by "bowing up"? I think you basically reiterated the explanation given by the physics guys for the reason for the forward bend - the fact that the head sweetspot (center of gravity) lines up with the center of gravity of the shaft. Since the sweetspot is actually behind the face and shaft, there is a forward and downward bend (is this what you mean by bowing up?) of the shaft so the head CofG can line up with the shaft axis. For a driver (extreme case) the CofG is usually around 30mm behind the face.

Actually, bowing up of the shaft was a reference to a vertical frame of reference- that is the Sweetspot is out on the clubhead somewhere- not at the end of the shaft- so the shaft has to bend up or I think Maltby or someone referred to it as clubhead droop. If you have that going on and are looking at it from an angle as in those photo's above-then that alone would look as if the clubhead was ahead of the grip- or bowing forward when really it was just bowing up.

Of course, you bring up a good point- that if the center of gravity of the clubhead is behind the shaft- due to the construction of the club - then that would create a situation for the Swinger who is using centrifugal force- where by during the swing/release -the shaft would be bowing forward.

In that regard, again the Hitter and Swinger are going to have different shaft motions- due to their acceleration methods- and that's why you have the Pre-stressed shaft for the Hitter and the Wallop of Centrifugal force.

For the swinger using centrifugal force (bowing up- to the degree the sweetspot is out away from the end of the shaft i.e. the longer your clubhead the more the shaft will have to bow up or the more the clubhead must droop down)for the Swinger. Likewise, the wider the clubhead/face the more the center of gravity is moved back in relation to the shaft and the more the shaft would have to bend foreward to line the center of gravity up with the #3 pressure point.

Here is the important distinction to make- for the swinger using a driver where the center of gravity of the clubhead is behind the shaft alignment based on the construction of the club. During release centrifugal force will want to line the #3 pressure point or grip end of the clubshaft with the center of gravity of the clubhead i.e. the longitudindal center of gravity of the club itself- thereby creating a situation where the shaft would bow forward. But that wouldn't mean that you don't have a lagging clubhead- if you're pulling/pulling/pulling and creating centrifugal force, you would have clubhead lag- in fact based on the construction of the club- if the shaft was straight and not bowed forward- that would be a situation where you did not have lag if you were Swinging the club!

P.S. pulling/pulling/pulling is more a mechanical description and not a procedural description- because I just invision someone trying to pull/pull/pull to make their movement- so don't go out and do that.