Posted by: tom.guerry (tom.guerry@kp.org) on Wed Dec 12 09:50:39 2001

Mark-

Kids seem to make good progress following Dave's program.He includes lots of good drills and overload training.My concern is that he does not communicate a good mechanical model of the swing.He defends his ideas by saying that the swing is both weight shift and rotation,but I think Jack is much more on the mark when he says the swing is weight shift THEN rotational.

Dave comes from the school of thought that thinks you have to constantly fight the tendency to open up the shoulders to early.He recommends turning the hips against a firm front side and pushing things open from the back as if this will prevent premature shoulder opening and store energy for a rotational swing.This is not how the body works.Furthermore when he shows the still shot of himself in the background in what you would assume would be a preferred body position,he shows himself with the hands extended away from the body before the bathead has fired out.No rotational power hitter can successfully do this.Ultimately this is confusing and will be limiting to most who try to follow this program as players progress.

I believe the better way to think of mechanics is that what prevents premature shoulder openeing is increasing separation.This gives better power and quickness and more of a timing window in the bottom up transfer of energy via the kinetic chain.The feel of pulling the hips open or learning to use both legs is much more successful.You have to keep the hands in until the hips have decelerated.If you follow Dave's advice and take more and more measures to limit the front shoulder opening you will end up decreasing separation and making the problem worse.