I have decided to start this thread because I thought that it may interest forum members to understand why some golfers may choose to use a reactive pivot rather than an active pivot in their golf swing. I will present my opinions on this issue, and you are free to agree, or disagree with my opinions.
I will start off by discussing the active pivot swing.
The active pivot swing is best exemplified by Ben Hogan in this swing video.
The pivot starts from the bottom-up - with a shift-rotation movement of the pelvis. Presume that a golfer rotates his pelvis 45 degrees in the backswing, and ends up with his pelvis facing the target at the finish position - that represents 135 degrees of pelvic rotation during the downswing/followthrough/finish. During the initiating pelvic shift-rotation movement - also called the hip squaring phase of the downswing - the pelvis shifts left-laterally and also rotates 45 degrees so that the pelvis is square to the ball-target line by the end of the early downswing. One can see that hip squaring action in in Ben Hogan's initiating lower body move. During that pelvic shift-rotation movement, the lower lumbar spine moves leftwards, and if the head remains stationary, then the golfer develops a greater degree of secondary axis tilt. Then, when the shoulders start to rotate perpendicularly around the rightwards tilted spine, the right shoulder can move downplane - due to the fact that the initiating pelvic shift-rotation movement first produced secondary axis tilt. If the right shoulder moves downplane, it helps direct the arms to approach the ball from an inside track (getting into the "slot"). The upper torso rotates after the pelvis and the force moving the upper torso comes partly from the lower torso via torsional forces transmitted up the spine and external torso musculature, and partly due to the active muscular contraction of mid-upper torso muscles. In other words, one can conceptually think of a torque generator situated in the pelvis and that torque generator starts the pivot action. That torque generator first rotates the pelvis and then secondarily torques the upper torso via torque forces transmitted up the spine, paraspinal muscles and external torso musculature (the X-factor idea). For the pivot action to work properly (as described) the golfer needs to have a certain level of hula hula flexibility - which I will simply define as the ability to independently rotate the lower torso without necessarily rotating the upper torso.
Here is my simple test for estimating a golfer's level of hula hula flexibility.
Adopt a golfers posture and then perform a backswing action (without a golf club) and stop at the end-backswing position - ensuring that you have made a 45 degrees pelvic rotation and a 90 degrees shoulder rotation (relative to the ball-target line). Have a friend stand directly behind you and get him to place his right palm on the front of your right shoulder, so that he can prevent your right shoulder from moving forward, and so that he can sense the "pull" on your right shoulder as you perform the next maneuver. Then perform a hip squaring action - an initiating hip shift rotation move.
If you can rotate your pelvis 45 degrees to a hip-square position while keeping your right right shoulder back and your friend doesn't feel any pull-pressure against his palm - then you are ultraflexible.
If you can rotate your pelvis about 20 degrees before your friend feels a tremendous amount of pull-pressure against his right palm (due to the right shoulder being pulled forward) - then you have moderate hula hula flexibility.
If you can only rotate your pelvis about 5-10 degrees before the right shoulder moves forcefully forward in response to torque forces transmitted via the spine, then you only have a small amount of hula hula flexibility.
If you cannot rotate your pelvis at all without your right shoulder immediately moving forward - then you have zero hula hula flexibility.
I personally have zero hula hula flexibility due to severe spinal inflexibility problems and I cannot generate even one degree of dynamic torso-pelvic separation (one degree of dynamic X-factor) at the start of my downswing if I use the standard pivot action. The significance of this fact is that I cannot get my right shoulder to move downplane - because the right shoulder immediately moves outwards (roundhouses) as soon as the pelvis starts to shift-rotate. By the time my pelvis moves left-laterally enough for me to acquire a certain level of secondary axis tilt, my right shoulder has already roundhoused and I have already come OTT.
Consider a secondary problem.
The following composite photo shows Tiger Woods and Adam Scott at the end-backswing position when using a driver.
That's my idea of a desirable end-backswing position for a swinger - the hands are well behind the right shoulder, the left arm is across the shoulder turn angle, the clubshaft is parallel to the ball-target line and the right forearm is vertical to the ground.
I lack the torso and left scapula flexibility to get to that end-backswing position.
Here is a photo of me at the end of my backswing - using a short training club.
Note that I cannot get my hands behind my right shoulder, and that my right elbow has to fly (jut backwards) so that my right hand can move outwards enough (in the direction of the ball-target line) to reach my left hand. That's a disadvantageous hand position - because it is too close to the ball-target line and it is too easy to come OTT from that non-deep hand position.
If you combine the fact that I have zero hula hula flexibility and the fact that my hands are too close to my my toe line at the end of my backswing, then you should be able to understand why my hands immediately go OTT when I use a standard active pivot action. That's why I have to use an alternative swing approach to get my hands and therefore clubshaft to come more from the inside along a shallower attack angle (rather than too steeply down from an OTT position).
My personal approach is to use a reactive pivot action, and not an active pivot action.
I start my downswing by pulling (throwing) my hands straight down-and-out onto the plane in the direction of the ball (aiming point) before my torso moves reactively. That allows me to get the clubshaft coming from the inside (desired approach for an in-to-square clubhead arc). In other words my "educated hands" have learnt how to get my left arm, and therefore clubshaft, into the optimum downswing "slot" by starting the downswing from the top with an active hand movement (rather than starting from the bottom with a pelvis-shift rotation movement). I pull my hands down by pulling with my left arm (ala the Leslie King swing methodology) and I do not use the alternative technique for throwing my hands/clubshaft down-and-out on the plane (TT's "right arm throw" technique).
Here is a link to the Leslie King method of starting the downswing.
Here is a photo showing which torso muscles I use to pull my left arm downplane.
What happens to my torso when I actively pull my left arm downplane at the start of the downswing? The active left arm pull downplane secondarily pulls my right shoulder downplane via forces transmitted through the intact power package assembly. That also causes my upper torso to rotate secondarily as my right shoulder moves downplane, and the upper torso rotation transmits a force down the spine to my pelvis and causes my pelvis to shift left-laterally. In other words, my hip squaring action (pelvis shift-rotation) occurs secondarily (reactively) in reaction to my active left upper limb pull action (which starts the downswing). Also, the torso torque forces are moving down my spine (and not up my spine as occurs in an active pivot action).
I personally think that my reactive pivot action is a viable alternative for elderly inflexible golfers who cannot perform an active pivot action due to a lack of hula hula flexibility or other physical incapacities. I also think that flexible golfers can consider using this reactive pivot action if they have an OTT problem due to hip spinning, an excessive pelvic slide action that they cannot control and that causes their head/spine to slide ahead of the ball during the downswing. I think that flexible golfers can also use a reactive pivot action if they want to use TT's "right arm throw" swing action as an alternative swing style.
Threaded Mode
