Posted by: Jack Mankin (Mrbatspeed@aol.com) on Fri Apr 22 23:33:06 2005

Golf aside :

My opinion is what is being discussed is the improvement in mechanics that includes better timing of weight shift synching and better coiling of the body which require better associated arm action which is what jack describes as "THT".

All these things go together for a better /quicker swing.

One of the best and certainly the earliest accessible description of this phenomenon is by Bobby Jones in golf. While arm action is different in golf since the swing does not have to be as quick, the correction of the "spinning"/reverse pivot flaw in golf is much the same thing as Mac's progression from leaning back and uppercutting more to his later/better THT type swing. Jones golf swing was very similar to hitting because he did not focus on creating such a huge twist/separation of shoulders and hips like the modern player with steel and newer shafts. This gave him great clubhead control which is also necessary for a wood bat swing. Jones also used a flail type swing, rolling his wrists only after contact (uncok adduct wrists late/feel of backhand swing led by lead arm with back arm catching up just at contact but back hand not climbing/rolling over front until after contact.

The Jones instructional tapes are still seen frequently on the golf channel.To correct spinning/improve rotation, the timing of weight shift going forward must be such that the player does not either stay back or fall back on the back foot too early (reverse pivot/rotating/uncoiling with too much weight carried on back foot-this prevents momentum from getting efficinetly transferred up into club/batspeed/quickness. With regard to weight shift the player needs to avoid starting with too much weight on the front foot, and needs to avoid shifting weight to the front foot too early/during the back swing (weight needs to start forward only just before the downswing starts).He also needs to avoid making the contact point too far back (this can happen in baseball too,if for instance you move the contact point/tee too far back. In this case the player can not shift the weight smoothly forward on time and has to make a jerky jumping swing at the ball instead of a smooth build up of power with the back and forward swing transitioning smoothly.

The weight needs to start forward at the right time which is seen as a slight lateral slide before the hips start turning open and then the club has to start turning back instead of out "over the top" much as Jack describes for THT.

The weight staying/falling back early is a sure sign of a suboptimal swing, but it takes a lot of things to happen right to improve it which jack describes well for hitting. Look for those Bobby Jones tapes on TV if you have trouble sleeping at night. Look especially for ones on hitting the long irons, brassie (fairway wood) or driver. <<<

Hi Tom

I have not studied Jones' golf swing, but your description of his swing raises some questions to me. You noted, "Jones also used a flail type swing, rolling his wrists only after contact (uncock adduct wrists late/feel of backhand swing led by lead arm with back arm catching up just at contact but back hand not climbing/rolling over front until after contact."

If his top-hand is not "climbing/rolling over front until after contact," I was wondering how he addresses the ball on the tee. All the best golfers I have looked at address the ball with the club-face about perpendicular to the line of flight (and the swing plane) with the top-hand over the bottom-hand. That would be the contact position of the club-face and the hands.

As they cock their wrist on the up-swing, the top-hand, bottom-hand and the club-face rotates so that they are parallel with the intended ball flight and swing plane. On the down-swing, the top-hand rolls back on top of the bottom-hands causing the club-face to rotate back to perpendicular to the ball.

It would seem to me that if Jones does not roll the back-hand over the bottom-hand prior to contact, he would have to keep the club-face perpendicular through the up-swing as well as the down-swing. I am almost sure that is not the case. To clear this up for me, would you explain how he addresses the ball with his hands and the actions of the club-face and wrist on the up and down swing?

Jack Mankin