While the magnitude of the bend is likely an artifact I do not believe the direction of bend to be an artifact. As I mentioned I have now examined a number of photos/videos accross 5 decades that all show the club going from a 'lag' bend before 6/100s to a 'lead' bend afterwards. For certain golfers/clubs the transition is such that the club is already in a 'lead' bend at apx '6/100s' as is the case with the video I took of Scott, and the Daley picture in this month's Golf Digest and Tiger in his book. No suprise Player would be familiar with this as video (from film) I have of him from '65 shows he is one where the 'lead' bend happens around '6/100s'.
The fact of this transition from 'lag' bend to 'lead' bend has a number of implications about the dynamics of those swings and the biomechanics.
By contrast, at the Croker site there are shots of him swinging a 'whippy' device (apparently to indicate the direction of forces in his swing). In his photos the 'head' of the device is always lagging. Consistent certainly with his notion of a continuous pushing force from the trail side but not what is shown with the pros I examined today.
