Hitting vs Swinging – Part 2 – The Swing
Continuing our series on Hitting vs Swinging, let’s now explore the Swinging Procedure.
In this article I’ll try to cover the leading principles of the Swing and explain what you should feel to reproduce the correct motion.
Whirl something tied to a rope and you generate centrifugal force. That is simple and the very same principle is the essence of the Swinging Procedure.
However, in a Golf Swing you do not swing a rope, but rather a flail where the hinge pin is the left wrist.
Throw it incorrectly and the flail will go out of control and hurt you!
We must generate and master centrifugal force and make it an ally.
How to generate Centrifugal Force?
Centrifugal force allows striking the ball with a sensation of effortless power which is quite interesting!
The key here is the Throwing motion. More precisely it is a Throw-Out Action induced by the rotary motion of the swinging stroke.
The goal here is to (intend to) Throw the club out of the radius of the stroke (the Throw out Action).
Doing it is fairly easy as the only thing you have to do from the top of the swing is straighten the right arm. It won’t look like that on video but it is the correct feel.
How does it feel?
Try this tip: Go to the Top of your backswing. From there, try to hammer your clubhead right into the ground to the right of your right foot. Do not turn your body to the ball, just straighten your right arm as you would with a hammer in your hand, on a vertical plane.
You can hammer the ground very hard this way and it is pretty natural!
This is the Throw-Out Action!
Next step: All we have to do is to let this motion happen on the inclined plane of the swing passing through the ball instead of a vertical plane passing through our feet.
This is the tricky part because it means that in order to perform the same action as when hammering the ground on a vertical plane, this motion on an inclined plane puts your club face facing up and out to the right!
This is most disturbing for a vast majority of golfers because their brain senses this wide open clubface going down plane and tells their hands to urgently turn the clubface to the ball!
This is steering the clubface and it disrupts centrifugal force.
Have a look at this picture: I put in evidence the desired orientation of the clubface during the Throw-Out Action of the clubhead.
So the trick is to initially throw the club with the clubface face up under the plane of the swing.
What it means is that even very close to impact the club face remains pointing to right field almost at right angle!!! Then, at the very last moment, centrifugal force and inertia will automatically square up the club face for impact.
It’s really scary when you try it for the first time. But it is a test of faith!
The more you throw it DOWN and OUT freely “open” without trying to line up the club face yourself, the easier for centrifugal force to line up you club face at the very last moment!
What breaks the Swing?
You probably have an idea right now: You can mess things up very easily with the SLIGHTEST attempt to manipulate/control the club FACE.
Doing that will disrupt centrifugal force and you’ll break the motion.
Summing things up
- Throw the club (Throw-Out Action) to generate centrifugal force by straightening the right arm.
- Hold on to the club and resist the temptation of interfering. There is a sensation of no muscular effort and a freewheeling of the club head.
- Keep the faith until low point! Centrifugal force will align everything at the last moment!
A last word about the Pressure Points involved in the Swinging Procedure
(This is an extract of a reply to Craig Vogel’s question about this particular subject)
To discover the location of the pressure points involved in the swinging action, do the “Drag the Wet Mop” drill and focus on pulling the mop (do not 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.
Swing sequences
As a reminder, here are the sequences of the Swinging Procedure. Click on the images to display the slideshow, and then use the PREVIOUS/NEXT controls to navigate through the images.
Swinging stroke video
Swinging stroke sequence
Bonjour.
Concernant les 4 points de pression préconisés n’y a t’il pas une séquence à respecter durant le swing?
Par exemple:
- pression des 3 derniers doigts de la main gauche au take away (démarrage du BS).
-puis pression de la ligne de vie de la main droite sur le pouce gauche en deuxième partie de backswing (le bras D se plie)
- à la fin du BS pression de l’index droit (déclenchement du DS) jusqu’au finish.
- quant à la pression du bras gauche sur la poitine elle reste présente et constante pendant tout le swing sauf au finish.
Ou bien ces 4 points de pressions doivent-t’ils être présents et constants (i.e. sans variations de force) du début à la fin du swing?
Merci pour la réponse.
Welcome Biggolf17!
Note: For the comfort of other readers, I’ll answer in english if you don’t mind.
Indeed, the RELEASE sequence is important. We talk here about the RELEASE of the Power Accumulators wich is a notion we haven’t covered yet.
For now, consider you store power in those Accumulators through the pressure points.
First, you really feel pressure in the Pressure Points the moment you LOAD (another concept we’ll study later) the club (see frame #8 of the swing sequence).
So, focus on pressure on the downstroke rather than the takeaway.
Second, the RELEASE sequence of the Power Accumulators occurs during the downstroke and is different from Swinger to Hitter:
The swinger’s release is #4,#2,#3 – that is:
- #4: The pivot rotary motion blasting the left arm out of the chest
- #2: Uncocking the left wrist (the Throw)
- #3: Roll – Transfer power while keeping the club + left arm in line
The Hitter’s release id #1, #2, #3 because the Hitter’s doesn’t use his body to generate centrifugal force.
Now that you know the sequence, one more word on “overlaping the release of the Power Accumulators”.
The Swinger generaly “sequences” his release: He feels #4 releasing first then #2 and finally #3.
The Hitter uses a “simultaneous release”: #1 #2 and #3 release at the same time. They completely overlap and are fully released at the end of the followthrough.
Bon Golf!
John,
Thanks for the great site and these great vids and photos.
If I can ask, you talked about the feeling of hammering the right arm down, but in the power accumulator release sequence, you don’t mention the right arm, but the left arm.
So what happened to the hammering feeling with the right arm.
Thanks
Nice observation Johnny.
In the swinging procedure the right arm plays a role in triggering the Throw. It is called the “release trigger”.
It is a way to initiate the release of the power accumulators during the downswing.
So there is a difference between the action that releases the accumulators and the accumulators themselves and their distinct lag pressure feels.
To sum up things: you have to load the lag first (by increasing pressure onto the pressure points) and then use a release trigger to release all the stored energy in the power accumulators (the hammering feel for example).
Hope it cleared things out!
Best regards.
Thanks for the reply, just wondering, is that you in swing video. It is really a great swing, very smooth. How long have you been playing.
Yes, that’s me! Thanks for the compliments!
I’ve been playing for 9 years now.
Interestingly enough, I hit a plateau in my game 3 years ago and worked hard to figure out what could be the reason.
I tried a ton of techniques and common tips (Golf Digest or Leadbetter crap) but nothing made the difference.
Then I turned my attention on Lag because I saw the clubhead passing the hands on some occasions on video…
I learned the Lag using The Golfing Machine guidelines.
The improvements since are spectacular!
…and the purpose of this site is to have fun sharing that knowledge with others!
That’s great.. I’ve just recently become aware of The Golfing Machine ideas but find it a little tricky to know where to start with it.
Can I ask you what moves do you conciously make in your downswing, that is, what body forces do you use to release the power accumulators. You may have already explained, but I’m not sure I can say what it is at this point.
Are you in the U.S., or France, as I see you appear to converse in French.
Thanks
Johnny,
While swinging, I try to throw the clubhead as hard as I can down plane while keeping the palm of my right hand facing the plane: This is the Throw-Out action I talked about in this article.
I think of “hammering” the ground “sideways” and trust centrifugal force to square the clubface at the very last moment.
To release the power accumulators, I trigger the throw consciously by straightening the right elbow.
I also monitor my hands “tracing” the base of the planeline a lot. Doing this, my body “has to move” to accommodate the path imposed by the hands. This is what TGM calls a Hands Controlled Pivot.
And yes, I’m from France mon ami.
Very neat, thanks for that explanation.
Do you get to Florida, I’m in Southern Florida. There is a tour in in the area at minorleaguegolf.com. They actually get some pga tour guys who play on it,
and have had others who are now on the pga and nationwide tour. Would be interesting to see you play on it.
Only thing I am confuse is the right arm throwing action for swinging. Is this right arm throw different with the right arm throw release trigger from the book, since according to TGM it is the pushing of right arm #1 pp. But in swinging there should not be pushing. Thanks.
I think that you description of the flail action in a swingers action is incorrect. The straightening right arm doesn’t throw out the clubshaft. The clubshaft is released by a centrifugal action – AFTER the release of power accumulator #4 (release of the left arm). In most professional golfers, PA#4 is released by the pivot drive. See 6-B-4-0, where Homer states-: “As Accumulator #4, it is Pivot (body) Power supplying the initial acceleration of the Downstroke to throw the Lever assemblies towards Impact by the Thrust of the Shoulder Turn.”
I have described the biomechanics in this review paper.
-http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/power.htm-
Jeff.
Hey yodeli. Cool explanation of throw out action. I’ve never heard it explained this way in TGM land. I now Taly has a vertical drop swing that he teaches that is seems very similar to your throw out action. Also I remember Davis Love III said he was taught to imagine driving a spike in the ground to the right of him. Do you have any recommendation on where to direct the hammering throw out action (how far to the right is the spike)? Thanks again and congrats on this great site.
To Danny & Jeff:
Hi Danny, I understand my “Straighten the Right Arm” description may confuse some TGM purists… I even received some PM telling I was describing a Rigth Arm SWING ala Tomasello…!
…er, sorry, no, it isn’t a Right Arm Swing (and I’ll do a full post on this interesting beast).
I wrote: “Throw the club into orbit by Straigtening the Right Arm” which is very different from “Perform a Right Arm Throw against the Primary Lever Assembly” (Hitting
)
Ideally I should have written “Perform a Left Wrist Throw” to trigger the release and I admit that I could have improved the “Straightening of the Right Arm” description.
But listen to this story of trials and errors:
I discovered that if I ask an “untrained” player to perform a Left Wrist Throw he will also uncock his Right Wrist 100% of the time! In doing so he’ll destroy his Right Forearm Flying Wedge and the whole thing won’t work – and a right forearm out of line is far WORSE!
I can tell: I’ve been there too!
But as you may know, the left wrist cocking/uncocking is linked to the right arm bending/straightening.
I also discovered that if I ask the same players to straighten their right arm to assist in PERFORMING THE PROPER LEFT WRIST THROW they ended up with the proper FEEL for throwing it WITHOUT destroying their right forearm flying wedge.
It’s all about curriculum… and my purpose is to help “untrained hands” players to learn the proper FEELS.
Of course, once you know the FEEL and are skilled with EDUCATED HANDS it then becomes pure LEFT WRIST THROW intent and feel.
Consider my “Straightening of the Right Arm” description more as a “passive” action only helping performing the PROPER (Left Wrist) Throw and not an “active” action which would be more suited in a Hitting stroke.
To Garagefan66:
I think of hammering the ground very hard one foot to the right of my right heel!
It may sound extreme but I tend to have very fast hips and I want to have the FEEL that the hands win the race against the hips and not get struck behind and block the shot (pretty much like what Tiger describes here at 5:00 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PplQjd6ZP88 ).
But throwing there is half the story: you must throw it with the palm of your right hand facing the plane – which is leaving your clubface wide open. I have the feeling that the clubhead will dig behind my right heel with the leading edge facing 90 degrees right of my target line!
You can also visualize the inclined plane and perform the throw under and “follow it” down and out – still with your right hand palm up against it until the very last moment!
Again, this is a feel and it won’t look like that in reality
Wow! I tried a few shots into my practice net and it feels like butter! Can’t wait to take it to the range. You the man John!
John,
I was horsing around w/ a swing last night and tried the move where PA 4 drives the left arm. I tried aiming my left fist at a spot 1 foot to the right of my right foot, while keep the club face parallel to the DS plane line.(felt very open) WOW… Now I wanna know why I pured it so well
1st I thought aiming point was the ball if set at impact fix, not a foot behind my rt foot.
2nd would this be a sweep release? (Watson)
Maybe Im just bringing the club from a good inside approach, but early results were a bit shoking in a good way. Thanks
so you are throwing out the right arm but keeping the right wrist bent and left wrist flat right?
To Coltsfan:
“while keep the club face parallel to the DS plane line.(felt very open)”
Unbelievable isn’t it?
No, sorry, it isn’t aiming point technique. Aiming point is more like throwing #3 pressure point to Low Point (not the ball by the way)…
Yes, this article (and the video) is describing a full sweep release (10-24-A) – nice shot!
You are only discovering TRUE centrifugal force with NO manipulation of the clubface (clubFACE feeling open) because you are throwing your clubHEAD on the right track (on plane! = for you and me the feel of burying the clubHEAD near my right foot) without thinking of turning the clubFACE to the ball.
“so you are throwing out the right arm but keeping the right wrist bent and left wrist flat right?”
This is PERFECTLY right Coltsfan and this is a big KEY. Trust your wrists alignments and throw it as hard as you can – because you KNOW and TRUST that centrifugal force will align the clubface at the very last moment!
You are on fire, keep going!
thanks John you website is bomb dude! At least w/ TGM we are not left searching in the dark when things go wrong. We know what the imperatives are and if we incorporate those to swinging or hitting, its so much easier to get back on track.
John,
Looking forward to many more insightful articles (pics and videos) on your site. You truly do have the passion and knowledge to dramatically help golfers, as you’ve already helped me.
Yesterday’s revelation was pretty cool, but as I mentioned, man was I working at it. Swinging with my pivot and really holding my right wrist angle through impact was a lot of work. I’m hoping my swing will feel more effortless as I get this to be repeatable, because at the moment, it feels like a hard swing physically for some reason.
Thanks again John!
Mike
John,
You appear to be looking 4-6 inches in front of the ball just prior to impact. What distance do use for your aiming point?
Ive heard 3-4 inches for a wedge and for a driver the AP should essentially be the ball itself.
thanks!
Hi Coltsfan,
It’s a move ala Sorenstam or Duval! It has no relation with aiming point in my case and I’ve always done it.
Since I’ve learned in the Yellow Book that the head can rotate to “follow the shot” provided it stays stationary (no bob or sway) I decided to leave it as is.
Aiming point is always a personal preference and can vary a few inches from player to player: some players need to aim their thrust slightly differently to produce the desired shot because of normal physical differences.
You have to find your own Aiming Point through experimentation.
However, a good reference to start with is Low Point. You must go to Low Point with all your shots, from a cut lob to a Drive.
Aiming at Low Point will make you aim 3-4 inches in front (and a bit out) for a wedge and aim at the ball with the Driver because the ball will be AT Low Point in that case.
Take a look at the first image of the Hitting article http://www.golflagtips.com/hitting-vs-swinging-part-3-hitting/ : I’ve drawn some arrows that show MY aiming point (a bit beyond Low Point for me) and how to direct the thrust to it.
This is not reserved to Hitting; you can do the same thing while Swinging.
Good Golf,
John.
Bonjour John,
Excellente information méritant ***
Tout au plaisir de lire les futurs développements.
Roger
Thanks for your support Roger,
Hello to a fellow CH’ti (I’m from Lille, now living nead Paris!!!)
I’ve taken what you’ve written out on the course and its amazing on the zip I get on the balls now. What’s confusing me is this…
You say you hammer with your palm facing up toward the plane almost as if you were karate chopping the ball…
But you also say, that your right finger should be on the side of the shaft to feel the pressure build up relentlessly.
How do you feel that pressure in the finger A) with your hand hand side chopping or B) without the right hand essentially back handing the ball early in the swing?
To clarify, my right arm feels overly too active to be a swinger style that I’d like to have.
John,
I’m hitting crisp shots using the swinging technique but still lack power.Can’t seem to keep the pressure on the right trigger finger now.
any suggestions?
Good question Vince.
Let’s move to the advanced section:
There is a subtlety with the location of the #3 pressure point in the Swinging procedure at the Top of the backswing.
The loading action (Drive loading) of the Hitter carries his hands shoulder high on the backswing and not higher.
From this position, the #3 pressure point is still in a position to push BEHIND the shaft.
Noting special here.
But for the Swinger, because of the nature of the loading action, the hands go farther to shoulder high and go to a point where the clubshaft is parallel to the target line.
From this position, the #3 pressure point is no longer FELT behind the shaft but has “rotated” on theTOP OF THE SHAFT!!!
You can feel it moving from one knuckle to another in your index finger of your right hand!
With that #3 pressure point located on Top of the Shaft it is now easy to perform that Karate Chop from the top while feeling Lag Pressure.
Now, on its way down, when the hands will pass shoulder high, the #3 pressure point will automatically rotate back to its initial position: in the aft of the Shaft.
At this point, centrifugal force inertia will take care of the rest and the #3 pressure point is now sort of “passive” feel (while it will feel more active with Hitting).
To Damian:
It is easy to loose Lag Pressure by improperly tracing the base of the plane line: you certainly forgot to go DOWN and also OUT to Low Point.
I’m pretty sure that your target is the ball and not at least Low Point. Check here again if needed: http://www.golflagtips.com/hit-out-on-the-golf-ball/
And of course, if you feel that you are swinging too fast it means that you are over accelerating the clubhead.
Find a SLOW and HEAVY feel in your hands.
Thanks.
So to clarify,I need to concentrate on the ground ahead of the ball and outside the target line?
Careful with that picture in your mind – it is not exact:
Your statement is OK with mid-irons but with the Driver, ball and Low Point coincide: Some people who prefer hitting up on the ball with the driver even place the ball further low point. In that case your Aiming Point is BEFORE the ball!!!
Think in terms of Low Point and clubhead destination. The ball is only placed somewhere on the clubhead arc of motion regarding the shot at hand.
You should also make a conscious effort to move your hands way past your left leg at impact which should be waaaay more on your left as you are used to.
So, for you two things to remember:
- go to low point with your clubhead
- continue to accelerate your hands past your left leg at impact with a Flat Left Wrist
Power will come from this improved leverage and mechanics and not from speed.
Hey John,
I was happily hitting crisp irons for a while now without having to think about it. However, I stopped practicing and playing for two weeks and went back to the range last night.
I couldn’t for the life of me hit a decent golf shot, let alone hitting them crisp. In fact I shanked half of them. I panicked because I have heard urban legends about people losing swings but this is the first time for me.
In my mind I was doing everything like I always do but I kept hitting it fat or shanking it. I always tried to hit the PP#3 at my left toe.
In desperation, I stopped consciously thinking about the PP#3 and just swung – well I managed to hit the ball.
Then I tried another of your ideas, instead of aiming at my toe, I traced the line with my right hand – MY GOD – I whacked the life out of the ball and if this is possible – the compression was even more pronounced than before!!! WHy is this?
Anyway, the guy next to me, who had been very distracted with my shanks and were showing his irritation silently, suddenly stopped everything and just looked at me swinging. I finished the last 30 balls like this – crisp and far.
I need to know what I did right/wrong so I dont panic next time.
Anyway thanks for a wonderful resource.
cheers
Jools
Hi Jools,
This is an extract of a PM I sent to Craig a few weeks ago.
He was having trouble with the shanks too:
Let’s cure that shank of yours so you can sleep well next night:
There are two main things creating the Shanks and you have figured one of them:
First one:
The Shank is more likely to happen when you perform an Other-The-Top move – you throw out your right shoulder instead of moving it down plane.
A too big shoulder turn can lead you to go too much on the inside on the backswing and as a result the right shoulder kicks out on the downswing.
The solution is indeed to clear the right hip (Hip slide toward the target but with a stationary head). This will lower your right shoulder instead of throwing it out.
Second one (this one is your bullet proof vest for the shanks!):
You are lagging the hosel and not the sweetspot!
Explanation: Your clubhead is not rotating correctly during the stroke.
While you may sense a lagging clubhead you are using all the pressure points except pressure point #3!!!
In other words, you feel heaviness through pressure points #4, #1, #2 – so you think you have established your Lag BUT you have no pressure in #3.
For that reason, it can go unnoticed and leaving you wondering what is going on.
As you can see, #3PP plays an important part in avoiding the Shanks.
Forget to apply pressure on it WHILE feeling Lag Pressure (on the other pressure points) and your clubhead will not properly rotate: SHANK!
But in your case, you seemed to have a good feel for pressure in #3PP…
In that case, your problem was more related to the first cause: You were not on the correct track = you were not on the correct plane = you were not tracing the base of the plane but something else!
Directing your #3 Lag Pressure on the right track by Tracing the Plane Line is a marvelous idea not only to avoid the Shanks but to improve your whole game – Driver to Putter!
And yes, tracing is a little secret I still haven’t exposed in a post; Feeling Lag Pressure is only half the story: we also must be aware to direct that pressure along the Plane Line!
Say no to Shanks!
When you say tracing the base of a plane line… what do you mean? is the base of the plane line just the line through the ball to your target?
Thanks John.
Yes it was the first case… I went back to the range and purposely tried to overdo my backswing and keep the lag when I hit the ball – and I could reproduce the shank half the time. Thank You thank you..
So when is the tracing post coming he he…..
cheers
To Vince:
Yes. The plane we are interested in is the tilted one defined by your clubshaft and right forearm at IMPACT FIX.
That plane interesects with the ground forming a line going towards the target (at least for a straight shot!).
Just trace that line with your Lag Pressure point in your index trigger finger (in fact you point at it) back and forth and you’ll have it.
To Jools:
That’s great:
And there is no need to consciously perform the backswing rotation.
The Golfing Machine uses the term “Right Forearm Takeway” to explain that your shoulders and truck will be moved as a chain reaction to your hands movements.
For example, in everyday’s life, if you need to reach an object placed on a shelf behind you, you just think of directing your hand to that object and your body automatically follows…
If you transpose that to the “one piece takeway” widely taught nowadays, you would first consciously think to turn your body first and then grab that object… not very natural!
So, the good news is that with moving your hands along the base of the plane, your body follows and the backswing takes care of itself, just the right amount needed!
And this is one more mechanical thought to ditch away, replaced by the FEEL of your Lag Pressure traveling along the plane line!
Cool!!!
Everything your saying is changing my game for the better. Another question i have is, i still like making a “swingers” length backswing but i start down slow and heavy while using more of a piston motion cross line line a hitter does. I’m more conscious of feeling the pressure build in PP3 this way vs dragging with my left hand like a swinger. Is this bad to do for making such a relatively large backswing than the conventional hitter?
Or is this all right handed swinger? which if you can, elaborate on this topic.
Thanks,
Vince
Played another nine holes today. Why is it so easy to drag the mop for a short iron say a nine iron but the driver is SO hard and I still hit it all over the place? Thoughts?
Thanks for your knowledge on lag. I was wondering if you could post a video that demonstrates your description of throw out action and the straightening of the right arm to generate centrifugal force.
Cheers
You said:
While swinging, I try to throw the clubhead as hard as I can down plane while keeping the palm of my right hand facing the plane: This is the Throw-Out action I talked about in this article.
Hey John,
It’s me again. I am doing great as a hitter with your help, thanks a million again. I am tho curious about the swinger style. In the passage above when you say the palm of your right hand facing the plane, I take it to mean that the palm is facing the front of the player ie if I was facing you, your palm would face me so to speak.
Is this right?
Cheers
To Vince
As a Hitter, the main source of power is your right arm straightening in a piston-like motion.
So it is vital that you do not straighten it to soon in the downswing or you’ll run out of right arm before reaching to the ball.
This is the main reason of the slow start down.
With a shorter backswing, the Hitter is in a better condition to avoid firing his right arm too soon.
You seem to be able to trigger the right arm throw slowly enough in the downswing to support a bigger backswing, so that’s OK!
“Or is this all right handed swinger? which if you can, elaborate on this topic.”
You’ll find the answer to that question here: http://www.golflagtips.com/hitting-vs-swinging-part-1/
Read from the 3rd comment.
GOT IT. thanks for the info. im definitely classifying myself as a hitter. I “freeze” my wrists and push the club head vs pulling down. This has elevated my game to another level, i’ll see if I can get a swing posted for you tomorrow.
Can you please explain horizontal hinging? I feel I am missing right due to not releaseing the club and if I focus on horizontal hinging I could change that? Is is a deliberate move by the hands?
To Courtney
Consider this:
Poor players think as the ball as their target. As a result, they stop their action (they quit!) when their hands are in front of the ball (and often before). As a consequence, the hands decelerate before impact and there is clubhead throwaway disaster.
Thanks to this Blog, many of you know that your hands must continue to accelerate well past the ball – at least in front of low point.
As a result, there is no more trouble with the irons, because the ball is positioned prior to low point.
But there is still trouble with the Driver because the ball and low point coincide.
With the Driver, you reproduce the hand/ball condition of the Poor player with his irons: the hands stop accelerating opposite Low Point……. this is NOT ENOUGH!!!
Your final destination is the Both Arms Straight position!
You must continue to accelerate your hands until you reach this position: No more trouble with the Driver because you’ll contact the ball with your hands still accelerating.
You must also make sure that your right arm is not fully extended at impact with the driver. It must be slightly bent at impact because you still need to go to the both arms straight position from there!
To Jose
Ok, I can do that.
I’ve prepared a draft on that subject but you’ll have to wait a bit as I have many other interesting topics to expose before!
Best regards.
Hello John!
Excellent website! I really enjoy ALL of your detailed answers. One question I have is about club head speed. Is there a optimum speed or a percentage of maximum exertion while hitting the driver? Should it be the same each time? I am practicing your technique’s and my speed seems to fluctuate a lot. What is a good number to strive/ goal for?
Thanks~
Brock
Still wondering about horizontal motion? Is it basically a full release of the clubhead? With angled hinging was I hitting push slices cause I wasnt releasing the clubhead?
Thanks!
To Jools
“It’s me again. I am doing great as a hitter with your help, thanks a million again. I am tho curious about the swinger style. In the passage above when you say the palm of your right hand facing the plane, I take it to mean that the palm is facing the front of the player ie if I was facing you, your palm would face me so to speak.
Is this right?”
Exact!
It is a bit frightening for some players because they sometimes feel that they come with the face wide open to the ball. So in a attempt to correct that, they steer the clubface to the ball and it creates clubhead throwaway!
This is why I speak of a “test of faith”: throw it wide open and do not hold to the shot: let it go and trust centrifugal force to shut the clubface at the very last moment.
To Vince
Great! Welcome fellow Hitter!
You’ll love Hitting, it is simple, accurate and efficient.
Keep on the good work.
To Brock
Welcome Brock and thank you very much, I’m glad you appreciate this work and I’ll hope it will help you get the max out of your game.
If your club head speed is fluctuating, you can take for sure that your pressure in your index trigger finger (#3 Pressure Point) is fluctuating too.
You must learn to think in terms of pressure in your hands to control your clubhead speed.
To make it more clear: dismiss the clubhead in your head – forget it! Move your attention to your #3PP during the WHOLE STROKE – startup to finish – and strive to keep that pressure steady during the downswing to the both arms straight position.
If you FEEL that steady pressure in your index finger it will mean that you keep accelerating your hands and so the clubhead.
Most of all, you’ll soon discover that you’ll be able to put a PRESSURE FEEL on different amount of pressures producing different amount of clubhead speed!
Then, you’ll trust favorite pressure to ALWAYS produce the same amount of clubhead speed!
To Courtney
“Still wondering about horizontal motion? Is it basically a full release of the clubhead? With angled hinging was I hitting push slices cause I wasn’t releasing the clubhead?”
The release of the Power Accumulators and the Hinge Action used are two independent things.
The horizontal hinge associated with the Swinging motion is a natural byproduct of centrifugal force and the Throw Out motion.
The angled hing associated with the Hitting procedure is a natural byproduct of the active straightening of the right arm of the Hitter.
In either case, you must FULLY RELEASE your Power Accumulators.
In Swinging, the release is sequenced: Body first, uncock the left wrist with the throw out action and finally a full roll sensed by the #3 Pressure Point.
In Hitting, the release is simultaneously done by actively straightening the right arm.
If you hit push slices, it is very likely that you do not fully extend your right arm (the #1 power accumulator is not fully released!), certainly in an attempt and false feel to “control” the shot.
Therefore, a good visual reference to check if release is done properly Hitting or Swinging, Active of Passive, is to check the fully extended state of your right arm in the both arms straight position.
Straighten that right arm!
Hey John I have a pretty good question here…
Since an iron is behind our low point about 5 inches or so, the right elbow isnt extended at impact but then becomes fully extended at the low point right?
So now the question is since driver is teed up near the low point of our swing…Should you’re right elbow be close to being fully extended at that point if its behind low point and completely extended if after that low point? (I use my left armpit as a reference to a low point from wherever the ball is positioned)
Pretty much to sum this whole post, should your right elbow be fully extended at the low point with any club in your bag?
minus the putter s(-_^)-b
Hey Vince
You are right; this is a very good question.
But Low Point and right arm extension don’t work the way you see it!
And I feel happy for you because you have a major improvement at hand with this one!
The truth is that Low Point is not where you reach the Both Arms Straight Position (aka the end of the Follow Through)!!!
Watch every pro swing sequence and you’ll see that at impact (even with the driver) the right arm is still bent.
The bend ends at Both Arms Straight position.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/golflagtips/2230351405/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/golflagtips/3477470303/
Also check frames 9 and 10 of Trevino’s sequence: http://www.flickr.com/photos/golflagtips/2231145322/
This has a purpose:
When the right arm straightens, Lag Pressure ends. So it is vital that you still have some right arm at impact (especially with the Big Dog!).
Setip up like that might FEEL a lot different to you but you have a way to greatly improve your ball striking as it makes a lot of difference in ball compression.
Lucky You!
Hey John,
I’m having a hell of a hard time working with the driver. 3-LW is pretty consistent and straight because it’s easy to aim for the low point, but with a driver its a whole new story. Let me give you an idea of my flight paths…
1) Straight to a huge slice
2) Huge Cut
3) Duck hook
4) Push slice
No matter what I’m trying it’s just not happening with the driver. If I focus just on PP#3 i end up with a low pull hook. I just dont know whats going on with this club. I’m trying not to control the face at all so I think its my body stops rotating. Any ideas to get me through this pain in my life?
I fear that I’m throwing the club away with my driver. Where is my new “low point” to aim for?
Hey Vince
I suspect your erratic shots are caused by your right arm straightening too soon.
This facilitates a straightening of the RIGHT wrist right at the ball which in turn causes consistency problems.
You can go away with that with the other sticks because the ball is not at low point and you still have a bit of right arm left but the driver won’t let you go away like that!
Ideally, you should make sure that your right arm is still bent at impact with the driver, but you already know that
and may have trouble doing it.
There is another solution : you must focus very hard to keep your right wrist bend (the more the better!) while straightening your right arm: I repeat – learn to straighten your right arm without bending your right wrist!
This is not a natural move and you could Feel that your clubface is way too delofted and that the ball won’t be able to lift off – but this is the right way and you’ll look right on video!!!
Got it, my instructor actually got on me previously for throwing out that right wrist too early instead of keeping it hinged and maintaining the angle + lag through impact with irons, didn’t think of the application for the driver. I bet that was the case, cause irons and so on since theyre behind the low point i kept that wrist cocked still while straightening the right elbow through the impact point which lead to great shots, actually got a lot of compliments today out on the range followed by chuckles when they saw my driver, ha. There’s not enough hours in the day to practice!
Another thing I noticed which lead to some throw away/slicing/baby fades with irons is that when I focused on PP3 and mixing right arm thrust with swinging is that my left arm stopped accelerating when I tried thrusting with my right arm. Leading to flipping but still feeling like I’m accelerating. I think this is the main problem with what’s been going on.
In swinging it’s straightening of the right elbow right and not by muscular effort thrusting that right arm?
You’ve talked about trying to hammer the club into the ground outside your right foot. If you perform that action/feeling trying to hit balls, how do you make this happen on the inclined plane without digging the club into the ground way behind the ball? Also, how do you control shots fade/draw? I’ve been taught that the initial path of the ball is controlled by the direction of the swing plane and the open/closed club face controls the spin or fade/draw.
To Vince:
Indeed, Hitting and Swinging are mutually exclusive. If you try to overpower centrifugal force with muscular thrust you end up with timing issues.
It could be done but it’s very tricky with little benefit:
It would be like spinning a bicycle wheel by pulling the rim and then push the spoke… pretty tough to time uh?
You are right: In Hitting, straightening the right elbow is very active and done radially while in swinging it’s more passive and goes along with centrifugal force.
To Mark:
You’ve talked about trying to hammer the club into the ground outside your right foot. If you perform that action/feeling trying to hit balls, how do you make this happen on the inclined plane without digging the club into the ground way behind the ball?
Well, this is only the geometry of the circle!
http://www.golflagtips.com/hit-down-on-the-golf-ball-dammit/
Pure geometry: if your clubhead is travelling in a circular motion on an inclined plane with a radius center at your left shoulder and the ball between your feet AND YOU REALLY GO TO LOW POINT, it is IMPOSSIBLE to hit the ground BEFORE the ball no matter how hard you try!!!
Again, “trying to hammer the club into the ground outside your right foot” is a good drill/feel. But at the end of the day, the clubshaft still lays full length on the inclined plane!
There is very often a huge difference in what you think you’re doing and what is really happening.
Also, how do you control shots fade/draw? I’ve been taught that the initial path of the ball is controlled by the direction of the swing plane and the open/closed club face controls the spin or fade/draw.
Shot making is only done by opening or closing the clubface, aligning your body accordingly and swing on your newly oriented swing plane. Just forget that your clubFACE is shut/open, forget that your body is closed/open and perform your normal swing!
A very common knowledge in Golf is to think that the ball will start along your swing path and finish where your clubface is aiming. This is in fact the opposite that is happening: the ball ALWAYS leaves the clubface at right angles!!!
But this is a huge topic on its own that must deserve a full length post!
What are you doing with your hips on the downswing?
Is it just a ripping turn and your arms are following?
Or are you just pushing off with your right instep and the hip turn is just a reaction due to your hands keeping PP#3?
I mainly just dont understand what is the source of power in a swing and I think I’ve been under a false pretense that it is the hip just turning furiously that creates power.
Hi Vince
If you turn your hips “furiously” to initiate the downswing they’ll in sequence furiously turn the shoulders and put you at great risk of doing the dreaded OTT (Other The Top) – fore right!
The proper sequence is to perform a Hip Slide FIRST then you are free to turn your hips as “furiously” as you want.
The Hip Slide is often referred as “clearing the hips” in magazine (They claim that it gives room for the hands to come from the inside without colliding with the hips – and is a “pro” move…!)
The precise reason is as follows:
1) Do a Hip Slide toward the target WITHOUT moving the head – no sway/bob (practice the move in front of a mirror to check that).
2) Sliding the hips toward the target will lower you right shoulder and put it back ON PLANE.
3) Well, from there you are on PLANE – you’re safe! Be aggressive with your PP#3 and drag/drive a heavy Lag/pressure to the ball.
“Or are you just pushing off with your right instep and the hip turn is just a reaction due to your hands keeping PP#3?”
This is a very interesting question…
Incubate this: when you try to throw a stone with your hand, do you consciously think of spinning your hips to throw it hard?
Or is it the natural byproduct of your intent to throw it far with your “mind in your hand”?
Hint: Drag the Wet Mop ( http://www.golflagtips.com/drag-the-wet-mop/ ). Max out pressure in PP#3 (press your clubhead against a heavy tire) and check how your hips naturally move to comply.
Result: The more you increase PP#3, the more your hips strongly rotate to provide support (Body Power – PP#4 – where your left arm hugs your chest).
This said, the source of power in the Swing is centrifugal force.
So the goal is to generate it on plane and let it go – and I explained how to do it in this post
John,
Could you explain the use of the visual equivalent for a swinger, 2-J-3-A per The Golfing Machine? It talks about the blur of the clubhead but I don’t understand this at all. The equivalents for a “hitter” are very straight forward but this is alluding me.
Can you shed some light?
Hi Gmbtempe
The difference comes from the way you “see” things.
From the top, the Hitter “sees” a direct line going from the top to his aiming point (let’s say the ball to simplify) and intends to direct his thrust down that line.
On the other hand, the swinger thinks in terms of “whirling” the clubhead into orbit and “sees” curves instead of line.
The blur of the clubhead passing over/through the ball in a curved path (in to out for instance) is what you see in your mind when you swing.
As a drawing is often worth a thousand words, take a look at this image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/golflagtips/3477469577/
The hitter will only have the blue to red arrow in his mind – a line.
The swinger will only have the yellow curve in his mind and will imagine the clubhead travelling (in a blur!) over the ball to low point.
Come back John…I need help quick!