Hitting vs Swinging – Part 1
Do you know that there is two different ways to move a golf club, each way having its own distinctive action and feels?
To properly understand that, let’s go back to school: Physics tells us that an object can only be moved either by pushing it or pulling it.
In Golf, and more specifically in The Golfing Machine, it is called Swinging (pulling) and Hitting (pushing).
Before going any further, take a closer look at those two swing sequences:
Swinging stroke video
Hitting stroke video
For easier reviewing, here are the sequences of each stroke. Click on the images below to display the slideshow, and then use the PREVIOUS/NEXT controls to navigate through the images.
Swinging stroke sequence
Hitting stroke sequence
Same player but two distinctive look and, believe me, two very different feels.
Those are the natural byproducts of the actions involved (dragging or driving). At no time I intended to adopt specific positions and it is very important that you do not attempt to copy those positions. Your body will automatically put you into the same positions if you properly employ the right set of physics and actions!
Swinging action
The swinger relies on centrifugal force to move his golf club.
The main action involved here is to throw the clubhead into orbit, down and out, hold on to it, and let centrifugal force do its job without attempting to disrupt its action.
It’s easier said than done because any attempt to "add to the shot (hit stronger)" or manipulate the clubface will disrupt centrifugal force and will result in steering disaster.
Swinging is the most common way of moving the golf club because it does not rely on muscular power but rather on the player’s skill to use centrifugal force.
As a result 99% of the children start to play golf as swingers because they have not enough muscular force and a majority of them stay this way growing old.
This is also a reason why many club pros who started the golf as youngsters (and as swingers) only teach golf this way to their students.
While this is OK if their students are children, it can make things tougher with adults starting to play golf because those adults’ natural instincts is to use muscular force as they’ve learned to do in their everyday’s life and less skilled to use centrifugal force!
Known players who are swingers include Geoff Ogilvy, Vijay Singh, Fred Couples, Jack Nicklaus…
Hitting action
The hitter on the other hand does not rely on centrifugal force but on muscular force instead.
The main action involved here is a muscular thrust of the right arm against the primary lever assembly (that is the left arm plus the club as a whole).
The clubhead is not thrown into orbit. Instead, the hitter pushes radially (against the radius!) against the shaft with his right arm only.
Hitting is less commonly used by golfers (at last consciously!) because golfing instruction out there is mainly about Swinging. However, this is a very efficient way to play Golf. It has often been reported that hitting is particularly accurate.
This said, it is worth noticing that Lee Trevino, who is a hitter, is credited to be the most accurate player of his time.
Known players who are hitter include JB Holmes, Kenny Perry, KJ Choi, Lee Trevino…
This is the end of the first part of this series of articles on Hitting vs Swinging.
In the two next articles of this series, we will explain how to successfully perform a Swing or a Hit and the distinctive ingredients of both.
Knowing to do both is fun and very instructive. It will help you discover which action naturally suits you the best to play better Golf.
By the way, forgive the fancy pants in the hitting sequence 
!
Great stuff. I just started TGM and this is most helpful. Thanks,;
You are welcomed Jerry. Don’t be afraid to ask if you need help on a specific topic, I’ll be happy to help!
TGM can be intimidating at first glance but once you know where to start I’m sure you’ll love it.
The purpose of this site is exactly that: help golfers through a step by step journey into TGM, Lag being the glue to tie everything up.
Regards.
John,
Good stuff
Where does right arm swinging fall into the equation? Ernie Els, or Goosen. Tom Tomasello’s method.
Thanks
Nice question Scott, but a very tough one because the right arm “Swing” is a special procedure.
It could be described as a stroke mixing things from hitting and swinging without employing incompatible components!
For instance, longitudinal and radial acceleration of the club shaft (the secondary lever assembly) are mutually exclusive.
However, the world is not all black or white, swinging or hitting! Think of the right arm swing as grey!
It is not that difficult to perform and here is the way I do it/see it:
The base is the hitting stroke with its active right arm. But rather than having firm wrists, ensuring you move the primary lever assembly (left arm + club shaft) as one rigid unit, you keep your wrists loose enough to allow centrifugal force to control the hand motion through impact.
So, the right arm is active but it is pulling the secondary lever assembly (the clubshaft) instead of pushing it. So, even if the right arm is active, it is no longer a Hit because you actively PULL with your right arm instead of PUSHING.
One more thing: Keeping the right forearm ON PLANE during the WHOLE stroke is vital to avoid injury to the right elbow ligaments (as stated by Homer Kelley).
Have fun.
John,
Great explanation of the right arm swinging procedure. That clears things up for me.
Take care…
John,
Great article. Very interesting. I know you will probably address this in the next article but what pressure points are valuable to the swinging procedure? What is the means of control to know if you are interfering with the swinging force? Is the wet mop applicable to swinging? Also can you swing and hit and the same time and is this recommended? Lots of questions but welcome to my brain lol.
Thanks
Craig
Hi Craig,
Lots of good questions here! I’ll very soon post keys of the swinging procedure and cover as much details as I can. In the meantime here are quick answers to your questions:
To discover the location of the pressure points involved in the swinging action, do the “Drag the Wet Mop” (http://www.golflagtips.com/drag-the-wet-mop/) drill and focus on pulling the mop (do nor drag it by pushing it with your right arm or you’ll switch to hitting with a different arrangement of pressures).
You can also replace the mop drill by putting your clubhead behind something very heavy and trying to move it forward by dragging the club.
You’ll easily identify 3 pressure points:
- Pressure point #4: The point where your left arm touches the chest.
- Pressure point #2: The last 3 fingers of your left hand dragging the club.
- Pressure point #3: The index-trigger-finger of the right hand resisting against the club wanting to stay behind.
If you can perform a stroke wile truly sensing a significant pressure in those points, chances are good that you will compress the ball very strong.
Now, regarding centrifugal force, you can mess things up very easily with ANY SLIGHTEST attempt to control the club HEAD. It is the tricky part in swinging: There is a sensation of no muscular effort and a freewheeling of the club head.
You know you are not doing it right if your left wrist bends around impact. In relation, you can check your right wrist and see if you straighten it at impact.
Practice doing half swings: Those are easier to check than while swinging at full speed.
You can very well swing and hit at the same time but is not recommended as you’ll face big timing issues:
Imagine whirling the club head in its orbit like a Swinger and a when your club head is 3 feet from the ball pushing strongly against the shaft with your right arm! You’ll add a little power to the shot with some “extra last minute acceleration” but the timing issues far outweighs the small power gain you can have.
Keep going and stay tuned for more.
Wow. Thanks for the detailed anwser. I am trying these drills right now. Very interesting. Looking forward to reading the next installment!
Hi Jean!
I have a chronic problem of my right and left arms collapsing at the top. TGM advise to use the right forearm to push out against the left arm thus keeping it under tension and straight. Ive tried this but it has caused disrution in my stroke – I guess I need to keep at it for longer. Any advice?
Also could you comment on how best to keep the left wrist flat without arching it and closing the face excessively?
Remerciements….
richard (Canberra Australia)
Welcome Richard!
Yes TGM advise to use Extensor Action (EA) to keep intact the radius of the primary lever assembly (left arm + club).
Persevere! This is REALLY the way to solve your problem, but yes, I know it is very disruptive when you include it the first time in your game.
The good thing is that Extensor Action feels uncomfortable and wrong ONLY if your motion is flawed somewhere.
Make it your friend! Use it to your advantage to reveal and feel were the flaw is.
When you’ll feel comfortable with extensor action you’ll know that you are on the right track and that your motion is becoming great.
But as many, you may experience difficulties with EA because it is very easy to apply it the wrong way.
The most common fault is to stretch in the direction the clubshaft is pointing to instead of stretching the left arm “below plane”…
Check how you do this:
1) Make a thumb up with your left hand
2) Grab your thumb with your right hand
3) Stretch your left arm
- If you stretch in the direction your left thumb is pointing this is not correct.
- If you stretch in the direction your left arm is pointing to this is correct.
Big difference!
Regarding your left wrist arching try this:
- reinforce the pressure in #3 Pressure Point (index trigger finger) during the downstroke. It must provide strong support during the downstroke.
- do this test: hold your club in your left hand only and hammer the clubhead into the ground in front of you.
You’ll notice that it is impossible for your left wrist to do something else that uncocking – impossible to uncock and arch or bend at the SAME TIME while hammering the ground.
You must have this hammering feeling while you swing the club. The difference is that in the golf stroke you just hammer sideways instead of in front of you.
If you hammer strong enough, your left wrist can’t do anything but uncocking and staying in line with your left arm.
Check http://www.golflagtips.com/hitting-vs-swinging-part-2-the-swing/ for more info on that.
love this website – I have always wanted to learn more about my golf swing, lag being the goal. I have alwaysfelt I was lacking something. I have heard of TGM and again wanted to learn more (slightly scared!)
I will be trying the swinging method, but really want to learn more about the hitting method – sounds like my game. Any time frame till the article?
thanks
M
Hi Mark, welcome aboard!
Sorry for being so long between posts. It is something I definitely want to address and I’ll post more often in the future as there is sooooo much more exiting things to say about all this TGM and Lag stuff.
The article on Hitting is almost finished and will be posted next week.
I often switch between Hitting and Swinging because the more you learn on one procedure, the more it can benefit to the other as you become more aware of their differences.
So, even if you feel more comfortable swinging, you should give hitting a try as it could help you swing more efficiently later on!
Beware: You could even discover that you play a lot better as a hitter
This is the most informative blog on just lag I’ve ever come across. Congrats!
John,
Regarding distance, do you find hitting, if done properly, to be just as long as swinging? I played yesterday and hit the ball straight as an arrow, but the length wasnt there compared to swinging.
Any tips on getting the most distance from a hitting procedure?
Thanks
Hi Coltsfan.
Yes, for me Hitting and Swinging produce the same distance with Hitting producing slightly less roll due to its fade tendancy.
I feel also very accurate with Hitting while Swinging produces more “wild” shots sometimes.
However, as I told someone earlier, I’m a former pro Tennis player and as such I may have a lot of punch available in my right arm that could help me get long distances while Hitting.
It makes sense as Hitting is only muscular thrust of the right arm…
One good solution to add the missing distance with Hitting would be do what I would call a “manageable” 4 barrel Hit (use all 4 power accumulators):
In Lawman terms: Instead of just using your right arm for power, add in a LITTLE BIT of body power at start down to supply the initial acceleration of the loaded Power Package so the clubhead can be endowed with Pivot speed PLUS Right Triceps Speed.
Maximum distance still with Hitter’s accuracy!
But beware do not overdo the pivot action or you might face timing problems – pushing too early/too late.
John,
Great stuff, I will try that. Im 46 now and I really don’t want to build another swing when Im 50 or 55. Do think as long as I continue to weight train and work on my triceps that a hitting pattern will age well? Or should I consider learning a swing pattern now since distance may be a concern as I start to “fall apart” :- )
Ive been dabbling with VJ Trolio’s (TGM’er) Hogan move which is a pivot based swing (possibly 4 barrel, as VJ told me he uses all available
accumulators) Are you familiar w/ his findings on Hogan?
He said Hogan was already onto his left side before he even reached the top, so once was at the top he could just turn the hips back to the target, (like he mentioned 40 times in Modern Fundamentals) w/out spinning out.
Thanks again for the hitting tip, I play tennis too and just “retired”
from hockey, so Im used to using my rt arm, just concerned about distance down the road.
Rock on!
Scott
Hi Coltsfan.
You Grandpa!
You have plenty of happy time in front of you as a Hitter!
I also think that a 4 barrel pattern is not so complicated as some might say and is a good way to compensate with body power the loss of right arm power you MIGHT have while getting older (which is not granted!).
To me it’s the best of both wolds and, I repeat, not the terrible beast some say it is.
Swinging on its side can also be tough to do well as you age: efficient tendon pull is not easy when you grow old…
I’m not familiar with VJ’s theory but I plan to take a look at his findings when I’ll have some time.
Rock’n roll!
Hey John what do you think or know about TGM and Lynn Blakes hitting methods?
I feel they are working awesome and go along with what you have really well.
I do find that using a hitting method my swing feels much shorter and more compact. Is this normal?
Hi Jake
I give a lot of credit to Lynn Blake’s work. I take him as one of the best TGM expert around and his PGA tour student, Brian Gay, is doing wonders this year.
3 years ago I didn’t know a thing about TGM and I’ve never heard of Hitting.
At that time, my game hit a plateau. I’ve tried all the Leadbetter crap with no improvement at all.
Then I bumped to Lynn’s site and TGM and while very complicated, it sounded right…
So, I used Lynn’s site as a starting point to learn that TGM stuff. It was tough at the beginning because the forum is haunted by hard time TGMers and sometimes you can get lost if you don’t have the book with you as a reference!
But the results and improvements on my game were staggering!
This is why I decided to create that site: to talk in Layman’s Terms about the important TGM things I’ve learned so that it could be accessible by the average golfer.
And, yes Hitting produces a shorter backswing.
)
You must also make sure you perform a slower stardown and focus on destoying the ground!!! (I love that
Great job of explaining the different procedures! Keep up the good work.
NYC Lagster
Hi John,
Hope all is. I was wondering your thoughts on if you felt the hitting procedure is more “back friendly” than swinging.
I dont have a bulging,ruptured disk or even sciatic pain, but I think I have have abused my back from landscaping and poor swing form over the years.
I know thet the golf swing is inherintly bad on the back no matter how you swing, but I was just wondering if using primarily #1PA #4PA may spare my back a little more than pulling hard w/ #4
Thanks!
I came across your lesson on swinging versus hitting today, and it has helped me quite at bit. I thank you very much for it. You are the first online eaching pro that I have found has recognized the there are different kinds of swings that come from different approaches to moving the ball. I read an article on LPGA tour players about 20 years ago on a similar subject, but not since. In that article, the author talked about the swinger who is ballet like, where the ball just happens to be in the path of the swing, and the striker who sees the ball as an object to be struck. It also talked about the advantages of each method. Since I do research in cognitive differences in the ways that people approach learning biomechanicsl movement (dancing, drawing, etc.) and making decisions (risk/reward), I have been looking for information like this to help justify my way of thinking about golf. I have tried to convert to being a swinger, but I always to back to being a hitter on the course when I have to revert to my natural tendencies. I am more kinesthetic than rhythmic, and I see motions in terms of hits pieces more than its holistic image. Now, I feel like I can be me and not someone else. Now I know that I can search for a local pro that knows what you know. Thank you.
John,
Great stuff here about “swinging” and “hitting”. I really feel there is a best seller of a book somewhere here. Just as Jim Hardy wrote a book explaining the differences between a one and two plane swing, you could write one detailing the differences between hitting and swinging. I am sure I am not alone in this, but sometimes I may read a lengthy instructional article or watch a video and at the end of it, I still don’t know whether it was about pulling or pushing the club. Knowing that would make learning the game a less frustrating task. Keep up the great work.
Sven. (Canada)
If you are still monitoring this blog for questions from readers, I have two from watching the videos again (and again and again).
The first one is on a difference I think I see of head movement in the vertical direction during the downswing. On the swinging video, the head does not travel downward, and on the hitting video, the head travels downward slightly before traveling back up, like on some of the Nicklaus videos. Is this a swing difference or something that is individualistic, depending on the person?
The second thing relates to something I heard on the course yesterday–to look at the ball with the forward eye during the takeback, presumably on the assmption that if you turn your head slightly to the rear to look with your forward eye, then as your head rotates with your body to the target, you still have more “eye” to use to see the ball. Is this a general principle, or is this a technique developed by golfers who are forward eye dominant? In my case (right handed), I am very right eye dominant and have an uncomfortable feeling in my visual system if I try to focus on the ball with my left eye.
Thanks for responding if you come back to this page and catch this question.
Charlie Y