Posted by: tom.guerry (tom.guerry@kp.org) on Wed Oct 17 10:46:16 2001

>>> I've done some experimentation on my swing the last month,and I had this casting problem ever since i started batting with an elevated back elbow, so then i decided to hold the bat horizontal while keeping my back elbow against my side and it helped keep me from casting, i guess it is sort of like knoblauch after i use tht to pull it back horizontal, and after i do my inward turn, im a right handed hitter, the barrel of my bat is pointed at the 3rd base dugout, I think you should try this style to see if it works for you, <<<
>
> Hi Jeff F
>
> What do you think you were doing while lowering your elbow and bat that led to your casting problem.
>
> Jack Mankin
>

Jeff-As you think about Jack's question you might consider the following if you have lots of time on your hands.A coach should know this, as well as how much or little to share with a given player.

My daughter's high school physics classs has a little poster on the wall put out by a national association of science teachers.It displays a hierarchy of sciences as a vertical list.Next to the bottom is physics.The layer above this is chemistry,above this is biology and so on to the top layer which is psychology.What's at the bottom? Theories, which are developed at a psychological level and fed back to the bottom of the list,something like this(abbreviated):

Psychology
Social sciences
Biology
Chemistry
Physics
Theories

The health of the top of the list depends on the health of the bottom with the theoretical branch organizing the generating and testing of hypotheses in an ongoing fashion which is never perfect/static/complete.You better have your physics right and you better have a theoretical framework in mind or you can not progress and be adequately successful/achieve your potential at the other levels.

The golf swing has been studied much better than the baseball swing over the years for a number of reasons,and many of the principles learned there apply to hitting.Golfers are also very familiar with "casting" and how to prevent it.What is casting,also referred to as "coming over the top" in golf? It is the club head coming out of the plane of the swing that prevents efficient generation and transfer of rotational energy of the body to result in maximum clubhead speed(without sacrificing control).This "power plane" is roughly perpendicular to the upper spine-golfers are big on maintaining the "swing plane".

There is an even more fundamental requirement for generation and transfer of energy which is so basic it is often not emphasized or appreciated by students, and this is what Jack has described and emphasized here as the circular handpath.Golfers are taught early on to keep the front arm straight.This plus the fact that the golf swing is long and smooth means that most learn to keep a circular handpath.The pro will correct this in all cases,because you can't build a swing without this piece.The same is necessary for hitting.You can't learn how to use the body and arms if this is not controlled.You must have a circular hand path.

So now we have two hypotheses that become principles as they continue to stand the test of time.You must have a circular hand path and you must keep the clubhead(sweetspot of bat/center of gravity of implement)in the power plane.If you do not maintain a circular hand path,two things happen,you are unable to rotate the body around a stationary axis and transfer of rotational energy from the body does not get a chance to build up,then get released into the club when desired.It just leaks into the club with poor swingspeed control and poor spatial accuracy to boot.This is because extension of the hands away from the body is a trigger for sucking energy out of the body.Premature extension of the hands(loss of circular handpath)sucks the energy out before it has summed/built up.Likewise,extending the hands or getting the clubhead out of the power plane will destabilize body rotation(you will "sway" instead of rotating around a stable axis)and prematurely suck energy out of the body.

The final element of the hand/club path that is important is when the clubhead extends(the hands can control when the clubhead is fired),assuming that up until now you have maintained the circular hand path and kept the center of gravity of the club on plane.This is the preferred kind of extension that can create controlled transfer of energy.If you have done these first two things and learned how to rotate the body around a stable axis,you will have achieved on going "tight connection" which means that your body rotation and movements have remained coordinated and synchronized so that energy can be built up and efficiently released as club speed while also retaining spatial precision and consistency.

So,assuming you stay connected and maintain a circular hand path and get the clubhead on the power plane and keep it there,how exactly do you build up and release energy.This is what is explained by theories of the "kinetic chain" and "summation of forces".Ideally the big muscles of the body get in the right posture so the power plane will result in intersecting the ball and the big muscles create momentum by rotating/moving the body.Once the plane is set(you get to do this ahead of time in golf),the momentum is transferred with the right timing to get the clubhead(working point/sweet spot)on the target at the right time.

The most mysterious part of this is learning how to transfer momentum,a very nonintuitive thing.It requires a ground up sequential rotation of body parts to harness the principles that allows the tip of a whip to be accelerated to supersonic speed.You have to learn coordinated control of opposing muscles to accelerate and decelerate from the ground up.The basic strategy is to get the stretching(separation)and acceleration of the body underway,and then at the right moment,decelerate the hips which feels like turning the hips or snapping the hips.The basic teaching strategy is to control other aspects of the swing as you focus on proper use of the hips and torso.
That is how energy is built up and summed in a rotating torso,but how does it get release into the club to maximize club speed?The trigger for transfer is the club head(sweetspot/center of gravity) extending away from the center of rotation.Golfers try to control all these things-circular hand path,clubhead on power plane,body rotation to build up and transfer momentum from the ground up,then waiting for the last possible point in time to extend the club head(equivalent to extending the bathead out of the arc of the handpath).The later this is done,the more time there is to build up momentum to energize the torso.The faster the club is extended,the more efficiently the transfer converts this to clubspeed.

Now we are ready to talk about top hand torque.This is where the golf swing and hitting diverge somewhat.Golf is a "still ball" sport with no premium on reaction time.Since you know where the ball is and exactly where you want it to end up control is better with a long swing created with a long backswing creating large amounts of separation(Tiger separates 80 degrees,Griffey 40 which are about max for their sports).Along with this long golf swing comes a grip that lets the hands work as a single unit to extend the clubhead and control rotation of the clubhead for contact.The long club shafts and the long swing mean that the extension of the clubhead(trigger for transfer of enegy to maximize angular velocity of clubhead)is adequate with this kind of hand action.

This is not so in hitting,Jack demonstrates this in his Final Arc tape golf swing demonstration.Release of energy must happen much quicker and more efficiently in hitting.This requires torquing the bat between the hands(with the right timing),Furthermore much of the swing has to be underway before the pitch location(anticipated contact point) is recognized.This includes "pre-launch" tht if you define launch as when the torso turn starts the handpath forward.Separation,stride lift and posture correction are all well underway before recognition of the individual pitch.

So how about some tht principles?

THT can quicken the swing,but should not interfere with the circular handpath,should not prevent the sweetspot from getting and staying on the power plane,should not loosen connection,should not interfere with posture adjustment and should not prevent rotation around a stationary axis.

Another comment on casting.In golf,you must have both a good hand/arm/club path and good body posture and rotation to keep the club in plane and to maintain good tempo to stay conected.The best approach to learning is usually to first make sure the club path is good/stable,then focus on learning how to turn the body with good rotation(no sway) and tempo(maintenance of connection).The feel of tempo lies in the body.The ultimate control of timing is in the hands.If this was easy,anybody could do it.

If you violate these physics/biology principles,you will not reach your potential.