A spinning top has a single axis of rotation because it spins over a tip point that is in-line with the center of its structure and its COG is in line with the tip point.
Human beings have two legs and the pelvis cannot rotate around a single axis. The pelvis pivots over two separate femoral heads, and the backswing pivot action forces the spine to become angled when the pelvis rotates. That creates a reverse K posture of varying degrees of rightwards upper torso tilt.
Here is a photo of VJ Trolio rotating during the his backswing - from his swing video at
The blue dotted lines depict his reverse K posture.
The red arrowed line shows that his head is centralised.
Now, if you think that VJ Trolio is rotating around a centralised pivot axis that is straight in-line with his head, and if that thought helps you to improve your golf swing, then I do not feel impelled to convince you otherwise.
I simply see reality differently. I simply see the end-result of a well-executed backswing pivot action - a reverse K posture where the body is generally left-centralised between his feet with his head in the center. His body is left-centralised because he favors shifting his pelvis leftwards in the late backswing in order to get his COG closer to his left foot.
I can see and understand exactly what he is doing - and I do not have to think of a hypothetical "pivot center" or hypothetical "pivot axis" to make sense of his biomechanical actions.
He has a rotary motion and not any lateral swaying motion. I think that a good backswing pivot action must have that type of rotary motion. However, I find it perfectly acceptable if a golfer has a rightwards-centralised body position because the COG of the body is closer to the center of the stance, rather than closer to the left foot, as in these images of Stuart Appleby.
Stuart Appleby's head is right-of-center, but his COG is more centralised - compared to VJ Trolio.
From my perspective, both backswing pivot actions occur according to the same rotary principles - with no lateral swaying. They simply differ in terms of their weight distribution at the end-backswing position.
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