Pro's and Con's
 

Fellow members,at the moment i'm still on basic motion and can do it in my sleep as now its second nature.having watched alignment dvd cise 1 over and over and over i personally use the hitting motion for basic movement.the contact is more crisper and most importantly-i find it very easy to use this technique.



my question is

what are the pro's and con's of using either swinging or hitting.is consistancy the same or distance or accurancy and so on

also during the dvd vj mentioned that its easier to learn how to use swing rather than hit but in my case im finding it more beneficial using hitting during basic motion-even though i can perform the 2 swings i still find hitting better


any thoughts

regards

Welcome to the forum x-man.

The pro's and con's of hitting vs swinging are a topic of much discussion, although I think it is fair to say that hitting is simpler for shorter shots, swinging for longer shots.

That said, you'll want to focus on just one of those until you reach 'expert' stage with your motion, and odds are your current motion tends towards one or the other.

Personally, I find hitting to be more accurate, and swinging to be more powerful for a given amount of effort, but that said the physics of both tend to even out and overall distance and accuracy is the same, it is a matter of what your natural motion is more than anything.

You are on the right track building up your motion from the short shots to the longer ones, and the information in the dvd's is as good as you will find anywhere. If you haven't already looked through them, there are some outstanding videos in the gallery section that are well worth the time to view.

Yes agreed and welcome X-man. You're building yourself a Machine in the right order. Its the best way to do it, for sure.

If you have the book read up on the Minor Basic Strokes and the Major Basic Strokes. There are options. I mention this because when I went from a Hitting Basic Motion to Total Motion I was at first working under an assumption that was incorrect. While in Basic Motion I was using Push Basic, a pure inline thrust of the right arm as demonstrated by VJ in the discs. A great and simple option but not a thing to employ in a Hitting Major Basic Stroke. There you need a Punch Elbow. Not a pure linear thrusting of the right arm more of a throwing motion with the Right Elbow leading the hands towards Release.

Something to think about as you work your way from Basic to Acquired to Total Motion if your Hitting. Good luck with it, its a great way to learn control and it'll revolutionize your short game when you start to move the ball around and employ different Hinge Actions.

thanks for the replies guys.at this moment of my very early learning i guess i have 2 options on how to swing the club ie-hot/swing.its always good to have an option in whatever you do and we are all different both physically and mentally.

another thing that was mentioned on the dvds was the right arm.i never knew the right arm basically controlled the left and over the last few months i was always trying to take the club back with the left arm to top.lynn even said that the right arm controls the hinge of the left and clearly demo'ed it which cleared up alot for me.

all i can say guys is thank you for everything and the wealth of knowledge here on this site is immense and the help is second to none and thank you all.the dvds are simply great and self explanitory but its always good to ask more

If you do both well it probably won't make too much of a difference. But I believe the two differs in their most typical less-than-perfect ball striking. After reading chapter 2 a few years ago and really understanding the issue of ball compression, and reflekting upon the typical weak spots on my long game I converted to a swinger. Don't know whether I was a swinger or a "switter" before but there certainly was more drive loading, compression leak and a figting with clubhead throwavay involved. It truly was a high-maintainance stroke pattern. Of course since I converted to TGM the stroke is solid at all times. :grin: :grin: :grin:

Swinging is more geared towards pivot driven loading action and automatic release. And horizontal hinging. All of these will support more reliable distance on full shots. With an automatic trigger etc it can be almost like an on/off button and you get very similar distance each time. But the other side of the coin is that it can be more difficult to take off a few yards in a controlled manner. And to control direction.

Hitting to me means less distance reliability on full strokes. But better direction control. Hitting is less automatic and in many ways more manually controllable than swinging in this regard. That makes it just easier to take off a few yards when it is called for. If you master the stroke. Something I don't consistently do on the total motion.

You can have some of the hitting "advantages" in the swinging stroke too - and you should if you aim for swinging. It is related to extensior action and proper application of pp#1 and pp# 3 pressure (right hand pressure) at the right times. Powered by the pivot and fine-tuned by the hands.

Whether hitting or swinging I find that right side participation is very important to achieve any finesse and shot making ability in the game. And absolutely vital for distance and trajectory control in the short game.

X-Man,

Some great replies already. Hitting and swinging is going to be a fairly even split here, I believe.

My issue with swinging is trust. You have to let the CF happen, if you don't trust it, and "flinch" you will lose it in a hurry. I learned from personal experience with a bad case of the driver yips. A conversion to "Hitting" and the Magic of the Right Forearm saved my bacon.

You will read on some forums that there is no such thing as hitting and swinging. BS! It is a very real "FEEL" to most of us who study it.

Here is the best advise from YODA and Homer Kelley:

If you don't like a given Component Variation, recommended or otherwise, then Homer Kelley would be the first to tell you to avoid it and use something else. The reasons for 'not liking' something ranges from physical inability to execute to psychological. There are ten trillion Strokes in TGM, roughly half Hitting and half Swinging. Use the one(s) you like. Again quoting Homer, "Do whatever you like. Have fun! Enjoy the game!" THAT'S WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT.

and

Alignment Golf simply smothers Position Golf, so translate your “Position Procedures” into “Alignment Procedures” as fast as you are able to do so. Alignments in motion produce feel.

Finally

THE SECRET OF GOLF IS NOT A POSITION IT’S A PRESSURE!

Kevin

Kevin,

i am doing basic motion 10days now.i hit an average 500balls over the day into a net and i must admit the motion becomes second nature once you understand and familiarise yourself with the movement.my background comes from track and field and i spent years in UH texas under the guidace of tom tellez.he had us doing specific movements and i think this is why i'm grasping these movements of TGM so easily but with aot of hard work.

from my short time of practice using TGM personally i find hitting during the basic motion far superior. WHY? because i know and most importantly feel the positions while hitting.i can feel and hear the compression and crispness of the stike and also i can feel the FLW.the hitting motion is very very similiar to a karate move which i have firmly place in my subconsious mind.

last but not least on the AL dvd lynn demonstrated a drill by simply using your right arm to move your left.i think its called "the magic right forearm" and he also showed a fuller version on VJ which both are superb.

for me i'm definitley pointing to hitting because of the feel aspect of the movement

Is this a right armed thrust as if at a guys nose with the right hand bent back? That is something I think about in regard to Push Basic.

This holding of the right wist in its impact fix degree of bend while straightening the right arm (in one manner or another) is "golfs unique move" according to Homer. A movement not commonly found in other sports and of critical importance to a swinger or hitter, something that needs to be trained and ingrained.

I too think that in Basic Motion getting to both arms straight, Follow Through, with the Right Hand still bent in its prescribed Fix degree of bend (which depends on ball placement and shot at hand) leads to fantastic compression. I found it easier to do while Hitting as well but everyone is different.

OB correct.....we are on the same wavelenght here.

i am getting great answers here and alot of help but i have one more question which i feel is also very important

Q-as i am still in basic motion its a short movement but my query is in regards to taking the club to top with the right forearm.......do all TGM students take or are thought to take it back the same way whether you are hitting or swinging during total motion??


the reason i am asking this is because very shortly i think ill be doing acquired motion(maybe after the new year) and its something i want to understand

I'm not sure about all TGM students, but I think they should. I KNOW all Lynn Blake students do! :yoda:

Kevin