Posted by: tom.guerry (tom.guerry@kp.org) on Tue Aug 29 10:34:29 2000

Shawn-
In golf weight shift is important but striding is not.I think if you are teaching hitting to a beginner you do want them to rotate around the spine because this is a shorter swing(shorter swing radius) than rotating around anything else.You want to keep stride /weight shift to the minimum required for good energy generation.This would probably require weight shift,but not necessarily a stride.They would then develop their target recognition/visual system in this sort of swing and would end up with the shortest fastest swing possible.Some may need more of a stride to get the lower body going and you could use batspeed measurement to assess this.
Bonds is constantly refining his swing.He has done well(last year) just picking the front foot up and putting it down with the front foot slightly more closed than in the stance.This is really more of an accentuated weight shift and body repositioning than a move to generate forward motion.
Nomar does well with no stride,but he must be shifting weight.
What are your thoughts?