Found this and immediately thought about how it relates to what 99% of most recreational players are missing. Without this, a player is going to come OTT. Keep in mind the difference between the golf swing and a baseball swing is the pivot, but this video shows essentially the first move in the downswing or what Ben Hogan describes as the first move from the top of the swing aka the transition. Without this first move, the rest of the swing is all for naught.
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Beautiful stuff feel…just sensational! 
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Some may call it creating bat lag. Or snap, or a recocking move. Problem with using that thought for anything longer than let’s say a 6 iron. Is timing up the face of the golf club. Your going to have such an altered approach to the ball that the face will be wide open. And also better have a spot to bottom it out at to release all that built up torque. That is very timing dependent. But I bet it feels very powerful with a real whippy feeling in transition. Closest I can think of a golf motion that did that would Jim Thorpe
That was fun to watch!
That’s exactly how I hit a 220 foot home run at age 10. I did it naturally with lots of practice but weird in golf I was so far off.
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Loved Jim Thorpe. Mr us open. Saw him in Boston 86 with quite the “entourage “
I played with some great local and college baseball players.And if I recall each of them would hit massive slices.And one guy told he doesn’t play a lot of golf because it messes up his baseball swing.I’m thinking they did that move in the video above in baseball.But it doesn’t translate as well to golf.Plus the bat itself is rounded and shorter.True they turn the barrel into the hit area.But a golf club has less forgiveness.The face is square not rounded.I think that drill would spell disaster
What I love about this is the automated response of the body to applied forces in opposing direction of logical thinking. That is what I really appreciate about this site too…thinking outside the box.
I think a lot of what he is saying can and will transfer to a golf hitters protocol. Just have discuss the difference of forces and vectors on an inclined plane. Ben Hogan called it 2 swing planes.
It’s no mystery that Ted Williams and Ben Hogan were friends. We have a cross pollination thread here that gets deep into that.
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Forgive this long post.
My son was really into the grade school,little league baseball summer and fall leagues.He would even take lessons from a hitting coach I found for him.The instructors were so upfront and just kept it simple.Terms like -squash the bug-aim the bat-lead with the hips.And the students I saw him coach all did it.He had children and adults.Infact I would never see a bad off kilter baseball swing at any of his games.Nor at any of the adult games I watched.
But when it comes to golf it is a different story.The In person lessons I had were pros slow motion video.Lines on the screen saying need to do this do that.Many would than use these big terms and go on and on about nothing.Where the baseball instructors were quick and to the point.
On any given course or driving range you will see golfers with the oddest most out of sync movements known to man.My reasoning would maybe be the equipment.But then, during these baseball games some kids would swing wooden or metal bats and look the same.So I’m just thinking golfers in general might be just un athletic with maybe little to no coordination skills.Maybe that is the big hold up.Just lack of athletic ability
I admit, I was more a runner.And even to this day hitting a golf ball can feel so foreign and never natural.Just never could pick up a club and hit a ball with no thought of what I’m doing.Like a local
Baseball player could.Why when I get back into golf after a long hiatus I have to do the ABS drills for a week or so.If not, I start the season very steep, out of sync and hitting from the top every time.Usually the sign is massive deep divots.Versus 10 rounds in the season so far this year.I had more bacon style divots.Since I’ve been at least swinging a club daily since this spring.The divot says a lot about what your doing
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One of the difficulties with translating that baseball downswing action into golf, and why it’s so easy to do it in baseball, is that your hitting the baseball with basically the fist of your right hand - directionally. If you look at the impact of the kid, his right fist is driving in the direction of the back of the ball/target - belly up right forearm/belly down left.
In golf, give or take, the palm of the right hand/clubface is facing the target/back of the ball at impact. If we did it like a baseball swing, we’d hit it with the back of the hosel. It’s why our brains won’t let us do it like that generally.
From my old time on ABS, it looks like you guys bring it into the slot like that, then do the rotation stuff, so it makes sense that the rotation stuff is thought first/early as far as I remember. You’d have to know that was going to happen in order to bring it into the slot like the baseball action imo.
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He was so feel oriented - vertical drop and horizontal tug, brilliant stuff.
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That stuff in the wrong hands could be deadly. That massive side tilt
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And do it with tons of width in the backswing
The difference like I mentioned - is in the pivot and you can see how it differs in your kid’s pictures…
For the baseball swing pivot, the weight-shift and the pivot happen simultaneously. This is because the baseball is almost level with the batter’s hips and the batter is making contact with the ball at roughly where the golfer would still be at P3.
For the golf swing pivot, the transfer of weight is gradual because it’s a long pressure toward the lead foot. The weight doesn’t actually “land” onto the lead foot until just before the club contacts the ball or shortly after depending on the club and type of shot.
Regardless, the arm/hand motion is the same.
Just my .02
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It’s interesting how the motions are different. But yet the same in areas
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What happens when you add more gravity? You need more CF and mass to keep the plane stable (speed does it too, but not as well). Knee action and hip action is slightly modified to protect your lower back, but mostly the exact same motor patterns. My best striking days, I’m making baseball swings down the 3rd base line. There is a reason you hear the chants of “level left shoulder rotation” through the halls of ABS. Leverage is quite a revealing…
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Pretty cool stuff, the shorter, more concentrated power swings on these two didn’t hold them back.
I was also flicking through the book ‘Lou Gehrig: The Lost Memoir’ and came across this passage where he discussed his pitching coach bringing him to Yankee stadium. Beautiful interpretation of what he saw in the Babe’s swing.
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Seems like In the baseball swing. The weight stays back way more than the golf swing.They are launching the ball as high as they can
I once saw David Justice play at a charity golf outing. And at the time he has one of the smoothest baseball swings in the league. But his golf swing and shot dispersion was awful. Huge slices, fats and toe hits
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