The ball knows everything about the clubhead (speed, angle of attack, etc.) during impact, but it has no idea how it got there.
Measure right arm activity?
Measure the forces on the club at start down?
I agree with your comment about Ted. But he really does feel like he's using his right arm and not "spinning the flywheel". Does that make him more of a Hitter than someone who do not experience these feels?
I reckon (but have no data unfortunately) a lot of tour players out there who would be classified as Swingers actually have a lot of right arm activity during their downstroke. Whether they are consious about it or not is another thing.
I'd say the shaft definitely has some sort of different loading characteristics depending on the relation of the sweetspot to it.