What Starts What?

There is a lot of talk about what starts the the backstroke and the downstroke. Some teachers advocate the pivot controls the whole swing and some others put the emphasis on controlling the motion with the hands.

Actually it can be either but be aware of the differences. The pivot provides the physics of the swing, rotational and linear force and reduces precision. If you decide to use Pivot controlled hands then physics are taking precedent over geometry. There are a number of players that use this procedure. While it CAN be fairly accurate there is a definite power loss. Examples would be Hal Sutton, Curtis Strange, Nick Faldo. All great players, but none of them are known for their length.

A hand controlled Pivot places geometry over physics and has all of the precision needed to control your game...since golf is a game of distance, direction and trajectory this procedure would seem to be the one that players should prefer. Examples would be Hogan, Snead, Nelson, Elkington, Els, Daly, and Tiger. These players have a lot of hand action and arm swing in their motion and all are fairly long.

Ideally, their is a perfect blend of pivot motion and arm swing.

Tiger is the biggest example of this type of motion today. Everyone talks about his hip speed but guess what, if his arms didn't match the turning rate of his pivot then they'd be left behind and he'd either hit a block to the right or try to square up the face by hand manipulation. If the hand rotation isn't timed exactly he would then hook it. We've all seen the occasional shot that plagues Tiger, the arms get left behind and then he either hits a block to the right or the big clubface pull to the left.. This is a re-occurring move that he and ex-coach Butch Harmon worked on constantly.

When working on your start down make sure that these areas of the motion match up. Some players may have to "feel" like the body chases the arms while others may "feel" the arms trailing the body.