Quote:
Originally Posted by alangbaker
Nonsense. The idea that you can't use the muscles in your arms and hands consciously to accelerate the club is simply nonsense.
The problem isn't *whether*, but *when*. Focusing on the use of the hands and arms *can* lead to using them to early in the swing, but that's an entirely different issue.
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Precisely!
The hips and lower body are a vital part of power to be sure, but to say that the arms and hands have nothing to do with power is ridiculous.
When pro's talk about an 80% swing or a 90% swing and so on, what they're referring to is the use of their hands and arms. In an 80% swing, the hands and arms are relatively "quiet" and they do more or less "go along for the ride".
But when additional power is desired, then the hands and arms become active to add a bit of boost to the swing in much the same way as an afterburner adds boost to a jet engine.
I know myself that when I want to simply swing to hit a fairway and maintain as much control as possible, I keep my hands and arms relatively quiet. This is true whether I'm hitting a driver or a wedge. But when I want to "let the shaft out", my hands and arms (in my case my right arm) plays a significant role in adding power.
As has been said so many times before, it's all in the timing. If the hands / arms are too early, that can lead to a too-soon release and a smothered shot and if they're too late it can lead to a slice. But when they're properly timed and in synch with the rest of the body, they can add up to tens of yards to carry distance depending on the club being used.
The only swing that depends entirely upon the synchronous unwinding from feet to hands with no "assistance" is the so-called "Trebuchet Swing". This particular swing is just as Larry describes: A swing in which the whole of one's power is completely dependent upon unwinding the body in the reverse order in which it was wound and allowing the hands and arms to remain quiet and act simply as a connection between the body and the clubhead.
This particular swing is, in my opinion, extremely hard to time properly and takes a great toll on the body. It's similar to the "Iron Byron" swing of mechanical testing equipment and requires a tremendous amount of centrifugal force and usually has the player ending in a "reverse -C" position at the end. It works, but it's not a swing for a lifetime and the control of things like ballflight and shot-shape are dependent upon accurate alignment at the start. In many ways it is a far more difficult and limited (in terms of shot shape) than other swings.
I'd say that better than 95% of all modern swings involve use of the hands and arms to create power and also aid in shot-shaping to a large extent and to varying degrees and to say that the hands and arms play no role in any of this is wrong.
-JP