Hitting vs Swinging – Part 3 – Hitting
Continuing our series on Hitting vs Swinging, let’s now review the Hitting Stroke.
The hitting action is a bit the dark side of the moon when it comes to golf instruction. It seems that a vast majority of golf instructors (with the exception of The Golfing Machine Instructors of course) are simply unaware of its existence and mainly teach golf the "Swinging way".
This is very unfortunate because it is a very efficient way to strike the golf ball and in my opinion a very interesting alternative for strong or less flexible players.
Muscular Thrust
Unlike the Swinger who manipulates centrifugal force, the pure Hitter ONLY uses his right arm to activate the Primary Lever Assembly (that is the Left Arm plus the club as a whole).
For those interested, the muscle involved here is the right triceps as it is responsible for straightening the arm. So if you are a boxer you should give the Hitting stroke a try 
!
The main action involved here is a muscular thrust of the right arm against the Primary Lever Assembly.
The clubhead is not thrown into orbit by the pivot; Instead, the hitter pushes radially (against the radius!) against the shaft with his right arm only.
Think of it like pushing against one spoke of a bicycle wheel to put the wheel into motion – Swinging would make you drag the rim of the wheel.
The proper action is to straighten the right arm without flattening the right wrist in a piston like action.
Address: Impact Fix
It all starts at address – the Hitter usually sets up with his hands in a position that is called "Impact Fix":
This position, while not mandatory, allows for an easier pickup of the Primary Lever Assembly as a whole by the right arm (the right forearm takeaway). Also it establishes the proper impact alignments right away.
From this position all you have to do is to freeze your wrists into their position and move the whole thing back and forth with your right arm pretty much in a piston like motion.
A good way to feel this motion is, without a club, to hold your left wrist with your right hand and move your left arm back and forth. Simple enough? Well this is the principle of the Hitting motion.
Half Roll of the club face
Due to the way the club is moved, the clubface doesn’t open as much as the Swinging motion during the backswing and doesn’t close as much in the downstroke. Consequently, Hitting naturally produces what is called a "Half Roll" of the clubface: When you look at the clubface at both arms straight, you should see the clubface looking 45 degrees left (for righties) instead of 90 degrees left in the Swinging motion (full roll, clubface closed).
Funnily enough, this produces a no-roll feel which is very important to note as you might intuitively search to feel a roll.
This Half Roll also has a natural fade tendency. As a consequence, the Hitter tends to adopt stronger grips to counterbalance that effect and produce straight shots.
You should also take into account that the more forward the ball in your stance (Driver for example), the more the need for a closed face and a stronger grip because the more the layback of the clubface at this point.
Experience with your grip to find the correct amount of shut face to induce.
Face constantly looking at the ball
Another interesting fact is the way the clubface swivels during the swing.
Unlike the Swinger whose clubface almost immediately swivels against the plane of the swing, the Hitter doesn’t rotate the clubface but rather keep it "looking at the ball" during the backswing: The clubface stays at right angles against the face of the plane. This is the natural byproduct of the angled hinge and you must not intent to rotate it clockwise/open on the backswing or you will have to consciously rotate it back counterclockwise on the downswing for proper contact.
Establishing the Lag: Drive Loading
You will discover that the piston like action of the right arm produces a shorter backswing than the Swinger due to the position of the right elbow set to push against the shaft instead of pulling.
From there, usually the hands cannot go higher than shoulder high – which is called the Top.
But, from such a shorter backstroke, the tendency is to rush on the downstroke.
Make sure you give yourself enough time to transition from Top to Start Down and accomplish the necessary Drive Loading.
Uh? Drive Loading you said?
Let me explain: For the Hitter, an efficient way to establish the Lag is to resist the backstroke motion then perform a right arm thrust against this clubhead Lag striving to accelerate a pre stressed clubshaft from a slow startdown through impact and to both arms straight.
Here, the Pivot (Right Shoulder) must also provide the initial acceleration of the Power Package (Shoulders, Arms, Hands and Club).
But beware! From there, you only have your bent right arm to provide the Thrust. So, if the right arm begins to straighten too soon, you will have triggered the release, and you will run out of right arm before impact and product a nasty Clubhead Throwaway.
Slow Start Down
As previously mentioned, for the Hitter a slow Start Down is mandatory to allow for the right arm to properly get into position.
In the transition from the Top to Start Down think very Slow and very Heavy and that should do the trick.
A word about Pivot Action
Unlike the Swinging motion, the Pivot (the body) doesn’t perform the blast of the left arm off the chest. Instead its purpose is to put the right shoulder into position (closer to the ball – down plane) as a platform to push against.
Think of a sprinter pushing against his starting-blocks.
Think also of the action of a boxer: before delivering its punch the boxer will get his right shoulder into position closer to his opponent to strike him with maximum force. In the Hitting stroke, you have to move your right shoulder down plane to get closer to the ball and deliver the right arm thrust.
One more word about the Pressure Points involved in the Hitting Procedure
Again, to find the location of the pressure points involved in the Hitting action we’ll do a little drill: grab a club, put the clubhead against something heavy and try to push this thing not by dragging with your body but rather by pushing with your right arm.
You’ll easily identify 3 pressure points:
- Pressure point #1: The palm of your right hand against the aft section of the grip and you left thumb.
- Pressure point #2: The last 3 fingers of your left hand.
- Pressure point #3: The index-trigger-finger of the right hand resisting against the club wanting to stay behind.
Establish those specific pressures during you downstroke while performing the Hitting stroke to become an expert Hitter!
In the eye of the Hitter!
The Hitter thinks of delivering a cross line blow down and out from the top of his swing. As a result he mentally constructs a "Delivery Line" going down and out to "first base".
I thought it could be interesting and fun to show what the Hitter sees in his mind. This gives a very good sense of the Hitter’s intents during the stroke.
Click on the images to display the slideshow, and then use the PREVIOUS / NEXT controls to navigate through the images.
Summing things up
- Set up at Impact Fix and "freeze" your wrists alignments.
- Pick up the whole thing back in a "piston + fanning" like motion (a piston-only motion would make you look like starting a lawnmower which is not the motion we want).
- Perform what feels like a shorter backstroke as what you are used to.
- From the top, initiate a slow startdown by pushing against the shaft with your right arm only (pressure point #1 feel). The slow start down will give yourself enough time to get closer to the ball to deliver your blow.
- Drive it strongly down and out. Destroy the ground!
Swing sequence
As a reminder, here are the sequences of the Hitting Procedure. Click on the images to display the slideshow, and then use the PREVIOUS/NEXT controls to navigate through the images.
Hitting stroke video
Hitting stroke sequence
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It was, 7 in
In my opinion this is simply the best “How to” compilation to be found anywhere.
the combination of video, still photos and very well laid out text explanations have led me right to the “Hitters Path”… The ball contact this morning was superb. Most every shot with that crisp sound of compression.
I will be pouring over the rest of the site to glean whatever other “Gems” you’ve graciously put out.
Well done.
Hey great post love all the information here its hard to find good information on hitters.
I changed to a hitter last semester and transformed my game, just a couple of questions. Am I right in saying that a hitter shouldnt draw/hook the ball because of angular release?? and is the proper shot with a hitters motion a fade cause i feel when i do it i fizz it straight and falls to the right.
Thanks
Such an interesting discussion! Explains what happens when I start out a round of golf hitting, and as I get looser and more relaxed and start swinging the club I begin rolling my hands and hooking all my shots! What a helpful insight! Thanks John.
Interesting piece on hitting v swinging. Tried the ‘hitting’ or ‘pushing’ on the range today and like the results. I feel much more connected to where the club head is facing through impact.
I notice that in the hitting setup, the left wrist remains slightly ‘cupped’ or flexed – at least for the mid iron sample in the video. Is this the same position for metals, long irons, and wedges?
Also, I wonder if you have any thoughts on lateral dominance (strongly right handed as opposed to ambidextrous) in addition to just physical strength in determining if hitting or swinging is likely to work better for any given individual.
That’s a nice compliment Innercityteacher!
The purpose of the hip slide starting the downstroke is to lower the right shoulder in order to set the right arm in a suitable position to deliver the punch – and most important, to guarantee having enough of right arm to extend past the ball to reach the both arms straight position.
There is no problem to adjust the move to accommodate your shorter leg if you ensure that you won’t run out of right arm before reaching the ball.
Setting up for the standard hitting stroke requires to do this:
- Put yourself at impact fix condition
- Keep everything there except the hips that are returned in their address position
- “freeze” everything and move only the right arm!
You could very well change this a bit like that:
- Put yourself at impact fix condition
- Keep everything there including the hips
- “freeze” everything and move only the right arm!
Have fun driving them down to China!
Hi John. Very helpful combination of non-technical descriptions and visual aids. As a teacher for over 30 years, my highest compliment is to say that I would do this exactly the way you do it!
Could a hitter simply Hula, RFT with EA, and drive the right shoulder down and through the ball, without hip slide?
I ask because my front hip is artificial and I have a 1.75 inch shorter front leg. ////When I place my weight on my front leg to Hula, I feel really tilted!
Sven,
if you learn how to trace a straight plane line you wont have to worry about what your elbow is doing because you will always be on plane
Timothy, I certainly hope your description of hitting is correct, it sums up all of what I have learned in the last year in one paragraph! Nice job
John………This golf instruction site of yours is awesome. Thank you.
I gather from your articles that putting the right elbow in the “slot” (Penick’s magic move) would be applicable to hitting, but not to swinging. Is this correct? I appreciate your help.
Sven
Hi John,
I have a question about tracing the plane line. I know going back we need to trace the target line or base of the plane, but on the downswing are we supposed to trace the delivery line or just try to trace the target line up to point of impact then just cross the targetline?
I have my dowels set up along the base of the plane, should I set up a third “downswing dowel” that goes more out to first base to help w/ the downswing tracing?
Thanks!
I think I’ve had an “aha” moment with my swing. I looking at the TGM concept of the accumulators between hitting and swinging. I’m a natural swinger. I started to have some problems with my ball striking because as a hitter I was rolling the left forearm across my chest during the back swing. This meant that I was loading accumulator #4 in addition to 1,2, and 3. This meant that on the downswing I had to rotate my left forearm and still fire 1,2, and 3 which caused timing issues on the downswing. After studying the backswing sequence of a hitter, I realized that I have to take the club back the club face “looking” at the ball. So, now on my back swing, I just simply turn my shoulders keeping my left arm straight without rotating it and just fold my right arm at the elbow ensuring that my hands are no more that shoulder high and that there’s a 90 deg angle between the club shaft and my right arm, so at the top PA#1 is loaded and I start down slow with the hips leading back to the target while maintaining the flying wedge established at address and firing the right arm. The ball is compressed going high and straight with a tour trajectory. Did I describe this correctly, so far I’m getting the repeatability of my swing by doing this?
I meant to say I’m a natural hitter of the ball, sorry!!
John, one question. I’ve tried the wet mop drill and, while it worked very well, on short pitches, it created some issues on longer ones, which faded too much. Any ideas? Thanks. F.
John, Thanks again for your generosity with this site. Studying it and practicing it has literally dropped my scores from low nineties to low to mid 80′s. Now I have a realistic goal of breaking 80 for the first time.
Enjoy your golfing season…
Bill
Video of impact position: Hi John, I came across a video of impact position and wondered if you would take a look at it. This seems to explain it well, if it is correct. I was having more bend in my right wrist and starting off with the club handle in the center of my belt as opposed to the left thigh.
Here is the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muqpd_hTBHM&feature=related
Yes, that’s it.
Look at 4:00.
Cocking the wrist is the same motion you would use while hammering.
Bending the wrist is a slapping like motion.
The left wrist cocks and uncocks only and never bends.
The right wrist bends back but not forward and NEVER cocks or uncocks (a very common mistake).
Combine the two wrist motions during the swing and you will find that there is no much room left for improvisation.
I am sorry, I haven’t read the yellow book yet, just happened to run across a couple sites that talk about TGM so I am not real familiar with all the terms, thus, the term, “bend wrist back” to me meant cocking the wrist. Is bending the wrist back to mean bending it toward the body at address?
I believe I figured out the hooking issue. I have been cocking my right wrist as far as it will go at address, instead of right wrist slightly bent st address and locking it there. Haven’t tried out the theory yet, but sounds good on paper…
A bit of a warning here Bill: If you want repetitive and precision shots, the right wrist NEVER EVER cocks (even slightly). It can only bend back and must stay on plane.
To figure that out, grab a club in your right hand, bend your right wrist back and lay your right forearm + clubshaft flat on a table:
This is the right forearm flying wedge, an ideal geometrical configuration for maximum efficiency and precision in your shots.
I am gradually going from a nice draw to an ugly hook, especially with my driver. Any thoughts?
John,
Good to have you back.
Silly question but how can you compress a ball on a tee?
There’s nothing to compress it against (as opposed to when a ball’s on the ground?)
Thnaks,
Damian.
Might as well add to the list all in one day: I used to hit a fade for a dog leg by swinging out to in, but don’t really want to have to change my new hitting form to that awful swing again. So for a hitter that wants to maintain good hitter form, what is the best way to shape a shot?
My home course has a dog leg par 5, that bends to the right about 190 yards down the fairway. Sometimes, I just use a 7 wood and hit it straight, leaving me 230 yards to the green, but most people I play with fade around the corner and have 190-200 yards to the green.