Posted by: Melvin () on Tue Jun 3 08:39:38 2008

"Getting all hung up on the breakdown on every, single, solitary miniscule, movement of the swing, becomes, in my opinion, counter productive."

Hi Folks

Amen. The above sentiment is pure gold.

Many athletes have said as much. Ben Hogan said he started to win when he reduced the complexity and just told himself to do a couple of big, overarching things well. That, he hinted many times, was his swing secret.

Want to hit well? Let's do it Ted's way:

1. Learn the hip cocking motion. Spend a year or so on it.

2. Learn to open the hips, keep the shoulders stationary, and cock the hands during the stride. Spend a year or so learning that part.

3. Learn to continue the swing (it has already started, that was Step Two) by swiveling the hips, getting them ahead of the hands, which contact the ball with unbroken wrists on a slight upswing out in front of the plate. Spend a year or so on the "hips ahead of hands" and "unbroken wrists" part.

Well, let's face it. No one will do any of this. Too simple and too expensive. Too expensive in terms of time. No one wants to spend a whole year on one aspect of the swing. But anyone who does will hit ropes.

We also need to thank Jack for doing the best job describing Ted's mechanics, and providing drills that seem to develop some important aspects of the MLB swing.

Melvin