[alangbaker]

Originally Posted by larryrsf

Not unless you are some sort of contortionist!!! Even in a good golf swing the back arm elbow brushes the back hip, barely clearing. All it takes is a little lateness to cause the elbow to impact the hip and force the clubhead outside the target line.

If that were the whole story, then please explain how rotating around the front hip would make that better and not worse. If you rotate around the front hip, the rear hip is going to move forward; making it more in the way of the right elbow, not less.

Reference: "Swing Like A Pro" Page 106

"Finally, the initial move forward with your feet, legs, and hips sets up a chain reaction of movements in the upper body that allows you to transport the club forward along the proper swing path.

Although the main purpose of the transition move is to produce power, it has the nice residual effect of allowing the correct swing path to occur. One of the major reasons most golfers fade or slice the ball is because they're unable to move their lower body out of the way of the upper body and club. It is obvious that if the hips are in the way during the downswing, the arms and club cannot follow the inside path required to hit the ball straight. Instead, the lower body is an obstacle that forces the arms and club outside, producing the dreaded slice. "

I suggest you read the first sentence of the second paragraph over and over and over...

The fact is that for an inside approach the the ball, the lower body is less of an obstacle when it has rotated back and then lags behind the upper body.

I think what actually leads golfers to come over the top is the perception that the correct direction to the ball is straight towards the target while the hips and shoulders have rotated away. If at that point, you start a movement which takes the clubhead on what feels like a path that will be directly to the target when the clubhead reaches impact and then the lower body and shoulders rotate, then that path rotates too; taking it from an inside to square path, to an outside to in path.

I realize that that may be a little difficult to visualize, but does anyone here see what I'm driving at?

Read Bobby Jone in "Bobby Jones on Golf" Page 145 as he describes "The Magic Line" and the overriding importance in the golf swing to start the downswing with hips in order to allow ourselves to retain the clubhead inside the target line extended back through the ball. He says there is no other way to hit the ball straight -- except by quickly flipping the clubhead closed to compensate for the slice spin imparted.

And he is vastly oversimplifying matters for general consumption.

One of the things that can happen to a golfer who fails to move the hips first is a hook. Since a good golfer knows how to use the hands and arms to make the clubhead approach impact from inside, if he or she fails to use the lower body, then upper body will still be turned clockwise (for a right-handed golfer) as the club approaches the ball and with the shoulders thus pointing right and the club already moving out to in with the proper arm and hand action, the result can be either a block out to the right or a hook.

If you like, I'll post a video of precisely this move.