Posted by: Coach C () on Wed Sep 17 19:05:22 2003

My 9 yo has a very smooth swing. He makes good contact but has two 'problems' (for lack of better word) that I'm having difficulty explaining to him...
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> #1...Once he loads, his bat is angled behind his head, thus making his swing longer having to move his barrell further then most.
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> #2...Once contact is made he doesn't tend to follow through...His swing just kinda of stops. When he does follow thorugh completely, it's usually no higher then chest high, and usually just above waist high...
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> He's a golfer and completly understands the concept of following through, but the impact with a golf ball is no where near the force of a baseball...
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> Any good advice on correcting these two glitches in his swing...
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> Thanks in advanced...
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> Joe

As it is in golf, when the body outraces the hands the arms are left to drag and can supply no apprecable power. With his hands loaded so far behind him it seems he could be only aggravating the problem. Tough to tell without seeing, but my first guess is he's trying get his power from his legs only and the arms are dragging through the zone, which makes the follow through near impossible, because the body is blocking him. It sounds like his swing is too flat as well, with the very low finish...these are all signs to me that he's using too much body. He may need to quiet his legs. Manny Ramirez, Larry Walker and Nomar Garciaparra are great examples of quiet legs, use them as a model. Think of the baseball swing as the beginning of the downswing in golf, no forced lateral movement with the legs.........one magic move:)

Sincerely,

Coach C