[mrodock]

In Faldo: A Swing for Life he states, "Having turned my upper body and shifted my weight on to my right side in the backswing, it is that subtle moment of separation as the left knee and left shoulder re-rotate towards the target that sets the downswing sequence in motion. . . My reward is then the freedom to rotate my body hard through the ball as I release the clubhead towards the target" (124-125). "In all my years studying the swing, the one solid conclusion to draw is that every great player starts his downswing with a subtle reflexive action in his lower body - usually the left foot or left knee. My own feeling is that my left knee and left shoulder move toger, and that signals the move towards the target. In that split-second my body is actually moving in two directions at once. . . I get a great sense of freedom as I rotate my body through the shot. My body is the engine generating the power, while my arms and hands transmit that energy down through the clubshaft to the ball. At the very last second, my right shoulder, right hip and right knee fire and add thrust through impact - where speed matters the most. When I practice I often say to myself: left side clears, right side drives. On a good day I feel that I punish the back of the ball with my right shoulder - that's my power source" (133). WOW, I stand corrected on Faldo (shows what I can forget in 9 years), now I'll find that Golf Digest.

Golf Digest September 1997, Ernie Els: On the first move down, separate the left shoulder from the chin. This swing thought will help you fire the right side through the shot, transferring your weight while staying quiet with your lefts. More important, separating the left shoulder from the chin allows you to sling the arms down in front of the body, with the club traveling at the greatest speed possible and on the proper plane" (63).

I apologize for my earlier inaccurate comments, I have always had a difficult time thinking of more than one thing in the downswing, so I must have read about the left shoulder playing the role of initiator and thought it drove the downswing. In any case, this is the way I used the instruction years ago.

[Bold Emphasis by Yoda]

Thanks, Matt. I appreciate the time you took to research these quotes and to type them out for us all. This is the kind of dedication and sharing that takes everybody to a new level of understanding.