Posted by: donny (donnybstr@aol.com) on Tue Dec 16 05:05:08 2003

>>> Dear Jack
>
> It should be said that your insites are always interesting and informative however on this we shall see. Principals of rotation of the swung object the effect of the lead foot rotation is due to the angular rotation of the object in a more horizontal plane in baseball then in golf. Not too many golfers hit a ball off a tee that is 3 feet high because if they did then the foot would open up in order to finish the rotation around the horizontal plane.
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> The lower body movement of a golfer and a baseball player follow the exact same biomenchanical principal of kitematic sequencing. I quote "During the forward swing of all body segments, including the pelvis, upper body, arms and bat/club must accelerate and decelerate in the correct sequence with specific timing, in order to most efficiently transfer energy and accelerate each of the following body segment. In addition to transfering energy across a joint, energy is added by the muscles across that joint. If the timing is wrond the engergy (speed) will be lost.... The correct sequence during the forward swing requires the pelvis to speed up, peak first, then slow down, followed by the upper torso, then the arms and finally the bat/club."
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> The legs/big muscles lead the swing in golf and baseball. The swing plane of the upperbody and arms determine how and where the feet will finish.
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> I would encourage any thoughts on these comments <<<
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> Hi Dave
>
> Thank you for an excellent response. For the most part I agree with your statement. And, I understand that the laws of physics and bio-mechanical principles do not change regardless of changes in the endeavor. However, this does not alter the fact that the lower-body mechanics we teach to optimize the trajectories for the golf swing does not attain the desired results when applied to the baseball swing (or visa versa).
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> As you pointed out, changes in the angle of the swing plane influence how the feet will finish. I would add that because the contact point is much farther back in golf, and that the wrist roll prior to contact, hip rotation to contact in the golf swing is about half that of the baseball swing. Also, differences in the amount of inertia that must be overcome in the two swings also plays a role in changing swing dynamics.
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> Therefore, the demand for the legs to drive hip rotation is much greater for baseball than golf. All these factors have an influence on the optimum lower-body mechanics required for each swing. Yes, there are similarities in the two lower-body mechanics. But differences in the swing dynamics demand that there must also be differences in the lower-body mechanics.
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> Jack Mankin
>
.>
> Hello Mr. Jack

> Don't know if I see the "wrist roll prior to contact in golf". I'm sure you can get away with some of this when you are working a shot( big draw) BUT the video footage of guys driving the golf ball seems to show me that the hands are square at impact and the elbow is slotted, and the head is behind the ball.If the hands are approaching the ball from inside the target line then the rolling wrist would be a smother hook. I play my best golf by applying the things I learned on this site about creating effortless power.

In golf , I think you can load, shift, moving the axis more forward, and then rotate, which creates a steeper angle into the ball taking a divot through and in front of the ball. You also have the luxury of changing the upper body swing plane to to hit low shots etc. which I guess could be true in baseball of guys like Rose with a flatter bat hitting flatter trajectory maybe? PLaying and studying the two togther can be very interesting and helpful.