Extensor Action Release->Followthrough Feel...
 

A big thank you to all you extensor action evangalists! I've been working hard on extensor action for the past week or two, and today I finally started seeing some results...best range session I've ever had.

My question has to do with the feeling of extensor action from release to follow through. I don't feel myself actively stretching with my right arm, but rather lag and CF (I'm a swinger) stretches my left arm all the way to followthrough. I know feel is different for everyone, but I'm curious if other swingers have a similar feel, or if I should be applying more of an active stretching action with my right arm?

Remember extensor action keeps the left arm straight because extensor action is the act of the right arm TRYING to STRAIGTHEN. It doesn't straighten because it is keeping the left arm from bending. So once impact --> follow through happens, the right arm is now straight, the left arm breaks down and extensor action is lost.

Make sense?

Thanks I understand that.

To word my question another way...

Hitters actively straighten/thrust their right arm through impact, but this disrupts CF for the swinger. So, as a swinger, do I continue to actively straighten my right arm (without applying force)?

It seems like the line between straightening/stretching and thrusting during the release/impact interval is very thin, and if I have applied extensor action correctly from fix to release, everything else feels automagic.[/b]

Bambam,

It does seem like a very thin line and I've always been concerned about it as well. One of the things that is helping me tremedously is learning how to hit. I'm far enough down the path with hitting that I'm very aware of the differences. Once you feel the difference in passive motion vs. active thrust the "seems as if" goes away.
There is a huge difference between the two procedures. The best way I can describe it is; The swinger is actively allowing the right arm to straighten as sensed in pp1 and pp3, but the straightening force never disrupts or overwhelms the main thrust for the swinger, which is pivot thrust sensed through pp#4 and pp#2.

Bagger

Am not sure....but once centrifugal force takes over you don't have to do anything or worry about extensor action *i think*.

Thanks, this helps; based on your description, I think I'm doing it right. The "seems-as-if" fog rolled in because I have worked on taking the hit out of my swing, and the lack of a hard, thrusting right arm feels like a drop in extensor action when in reality it's probably a sustained, constant stretch.

I've been devoting a little time each range session to hitting with the short irons, but am far from being able to use the procedure on the course. When I do it right, the feel/ball flight/etc.. is noticably different from swinging - distance is about the same. This probably belongs in another thread, but I've been meaning to ask you, from a swingers perspective, what are some of the areas you've really had to work on as you've learned to hit?

Even though you are not actively trying to straighten the right arm you need to be ABLE to straighten your right arm (keeping your bent right wrist). In other words, if you come 'over the top' you have no room to straighten your right arm, but if you are correctly hitting the inside corner of the ball, you will be ABLE to extend your right arm as the SWING pulls it straight at follow through.

Split grip drills are a great way to feel this difference. Trying the extremes of OTT and "right field", you'll quickely get a sense of what I mean.

Thanks, great post. This absolutely nails what I'm feeling - arm can and does straighten vs. me straightening it. I'll play around with the split grip drill - do you like to actually hit the ball when doing this drill?

My natural tendency is to get too far out to right field, and OTT has only crept into my swing when trying to fix that pre-TGM; it felt so crowded I knew I wasn't on the right track. To far to right field, and I don't get to both arms straight, either. It's amazing how many recurring problems have gone away and/or been exposed with the application of extensor action!

Losing extensor action may be the single factor why things are going wrong in one’s swing. Losing the taut left arm “short circuits” the master accumulator which nulls any rhythm.
The extensor action of the left arm is the “checks and balance” of the folding magic of the right forearm. The left arm may be a noodle but the noodle is key in its function in the machine.

Reverse Psychology
 

Really good question. I like the approach.

Specifically the reliance on pp#4 for leading all the accumulators deep into the swing, and getting used to the Angle of Approach procedure rather than focusing on the plane line. I also have to remember to start close to an impact fix position vs. mid-hands adjusted address.

I really like the swingers start down move, but I have to time it so I release #4 quickly and start driving with the right arm at the release point. It's hard to let #1 take over sometimes but I get all 4 barrels that way and some of the longest drives I've had yet.

How about you as you learn swinging after hitting?

Bagger