[rwh]

12 Piece,
Out of steam right now, but 5-0 3rd paragraph somes it up pretty well - from the A) Hand Controlled issue, to the B) dictating to the FEET as well as the clubshaft, to C) clearing the right hip - "Hula Hula" importance posted by "Power Package" in post #27. (And thanks for the nice comments PowerPackage!)

In regards to "Do you ever graduate?"- well, maybe not- but it's the learning that's fun, i.e. the goal of accomplishing the graduation- that you don't have, that's the exciting part, not the graduation itself.

Finally, here is a final thought for you- that I'm just going to throw out- anotherwords it's not going to be as detailed as it could or should be.

There is definitely alot more detail and potential discovery in regards to really understanding the hand controlled pivot concept- Homer had it correct but just touched on the subject- and I think most of us either consciously or subconsciously realize that.

So everthing really flows from the movements made at the hands, and then the forearms, arms and so on.

For example, as Powerpackage essentially said- clearing the hip is so important it should be an imperative.

So we've got three basic options for clearing the right hip. 1) Just take your hands down the plane and in order to do that - you'll have to clear the hip in order for the elbow not to crash into it. 2) Take the hands up to the top, then practice your start down waggles and train your pivot to clear the hip- Look, Look, Look until you can turn those mechanics into the proper feel.
Those first two are the basic Golfing Machine approaches- the third approach is as follows- and I'm going to cover it quickly without alot of detail. When you pronate (palm down) with the forearm- the pattern of movement is as follows: the arm straightens, and the shoulder moves forward. That's basic reaching out pattern of movement to grab something. Let's review- reach out and grab something on the table- say with your left hand, it's pronation of the left forearm, extension of the arm, lateral abduction of the upper arm from the torso (i.e. moves out to the side slightly) and forward movement of the clavicle of the shoulder girdle. Now, as you bring back that little bug to eat, the opposite pattern occurs, supination of the forearm, flexion of the arm, lateral adduction of the upper arm (elbow comes back towards the midline of the body) and retraction of the shoulder girdle. So you've got these patterns of movement that flow through the body. So in alot of sports motions and golf here's how you do it.

Let's assume that we are all right handed golfers.
Stand up and put your hands palms facing in front of you, with your arms parallel to the ground, and the hands vertical to the ground - or the back of your left hand (target hand) facing the target. Now, we're going to go through one motion and see the pattern of motion flow through the body. So, turn i.e. supinate your left hand (palm facing the sky) and pronate your right hand (palm facing the ground)- do that as much as you can- anotherwords hit the extreme range of motion. Hold it there. You should see the pattern emerging that I described above, the left arm wants to bend the right wants to become straight, the left elbow wants to come towards the mid-line, the left shoulder lowers, the right shoulder raises. Because of those motions, the hips have slid- the left hip has cleared to the right, so on and so on. Note this is the opposite of what the right hander wants to happen on the backswing. But if we start back at the beginning and pronate the left forearm and supinate the right forearm, then you'll see the proper downswing motion for the right handed golfer- right elbow flexes and the upper right arm wants to externally rotate i.e. the elbow wants to come into the body (say pitch position), that creates lateral flexion of the trunk (hip slide), and all of those movements: 1) the flexion of the right arm, 2)the external rotation of the humerus (elbow moving towards the mid body), 3) retraction of the right shoulder girdle 4) the lateral flexion of the trunk on the right side, all keep that right should back and down- i.e. on plane.

So- to make the quick jump- the pronation and supination of the forearms are crucial and one of the first links to the whole thing working correctly. And in the golf swing, the basic program may be as follows: Start in the standing position with palms facing and arms parallel to the ground, back of the left hand facing the target- You'll just be turning the forearms in this excercise, but I'll be noting if you were swinging a golf club where you would be in the swing.
1) Supinate the right forearm (right palm faces the sky) and Pronate the left forearm (left palm faces the ground). (In golf - your half way back - clubshaft parallel to the ground)
2) Now, fully pronate the right forearm (right palm faces the ground), and fully supinate the left forearm (left palm faces the sky). (In golf- your at the top/end of the backswing)3) Now, fully supinate the right forearm (right palm facing the sky) and fully pronate the left forearm (left palm facing the ground). (In golf- your half way down on the downswing- clubshaft parallel to the ground)
4) Now, pronate the right forearm and supinate the left forearm until your back to the beginning- back of left hand facing the target and both hands vertical to the ground. (In golf, your now at impact)

You might try it- those kind of joint motions starting at the hands will produce and create the kind of body motions that result in clubhead lag and on-plane motion, clearing the right hip, etc, etc. In a full motion swing, you need to concentrate on 1, 2, 3 but 4 will take care of itself via centrifugal force.

I think that's some of the additional information you'll need to get that diploma!

Mike,

This is a fascinating discussion. Thank you for these posts.

I assume you are describing a Swinging procedure with the exercise. To put a "label" on these motions, I would say that #1 describes the "start up swivel" and #4 describes the "release swivel".

I'm probably doing something wrong because I don't do step #2. Once I reach the step #1 position, I maintain it to the top and back down to club once again parallel to the ground.

What am I missing?