Posted by: daw (daw@bellevue-law.com) on Tue Jun 17 08:07:05 2008

> Jack -
>
> You descriptions keep getting better and better.
>
> I would still prefer to say it is the shoulders TILTING that is accelerating/torquing the handle more in a direction that is different from the one the hips and lower torso turn in.
>
> the result is additional twist/coil/front side stretch of the torso which then reverses and turns the shoulders.
>
> so shoulders are tilting to accelerate bat the way the hands demand while hips turn and coil works up to turn the shoulders.
>
> from a control/sequence point of view, shoulders are a more passive link in between hips and hands
>
> If you try to actively turn the shoulders, you sequence differently and interrupt the coil and make it less controllable and less powerful and less quickly reversible which degrades timing and acceleration and plane match.
>
> the same is true in the classic old fashioned 2 plane hips and hands or arms and hips golf swing.
>
> the arms must swing down while avoiding any turning of the back shoulder out or the club is thrown out over the top, last bit of coil is aborted and early batspeed is lost.
>
> This has recently been well described by Jim hardy in his book PLANE TRUTH FOR GOLFERS, where he agrees with you that early "casting" is the way to widen the swing as with the outside adjustment.
>
> this has never before been understood in golf. I think you are the first to describe this mechanic, certyainly in hitting.




If "tilting" the shoulders works as a cue for a particular hitter, excellent.

I agree with you that the actual "rotation" of the shoulders isn't the first thing that happens when the swing is initiated. But in our experience having the kids focus on pulling the trigger by exploding the shoulder around into the ball works well as a cue, and "unifies' things in the correct sequence without them thinking about them. The "out-of-sequence" issue you describe hasn't shown up for us but it no doubt would for some players, who might benefit more from your cue, or from some other.

They don't have a lot of time to think about their swing as the ball's coming in. A single cue is best. It really doesn't matter what the words are, so long as the cue helps them swing efficiently.