A swing within a swing

Even with the preceding chapter, the Hogan Swing 3.0, it is still hard to bring up the club, especially the driver. There must be a way to create a swing that is automatic, the same way I putt now - after aiming, it is a mechanical movement of the shoulder doing the backswing of the putter and the hands moving forward for the hit, without even thinking of the target. Today, I went to the driving range and only brought the driver. I told myself that I will just keep on hitting it until I find that mechanical swing.

After a lot of balls hit, I found that I can bring the driver back with my right hand (see the previous posting for instructions) and just like the short irons, be aware of the face when bringing it back. And without even thinking of the plane, just bring the driver to the top where the right arm will be tightly haulted by the body. The hit is, of course, the left hand but naturally done to maximize the AJ force.

The preceding turned out to be useless when employed during play. What held up is the visualization of the plane. Also, by making the early cock swing, the visualization of the plane may become easier. This EARLY COCKING routine must be further studied.

The early cocking is like the making a abbreviated pitch within the swing. The early pitch visualizes how the club face is going away from the ball. The shoulders takes over afterwards. The hit is done by the shoulders and the "little pitch" hitting the ball is automatic.

The Hogan Swing 3.0

We can call it the Hogan 3.0 Swing. It entails the required grip, the cupped left hand and the body turn.

First let us talk about the set-up. It should be the standard Hogan set-up with the hands falling straight down while holding the club - with the L formed by the arms and club very apparent. The grip is a solid grip with the left thumb snugly fitted along the right palm line. The V of the right hand prominently pointing to the right shoulder. The right palm is not exactly in the shake-hand position, more pointed to the 2 o'clock position. The left hand is much closer to the shake-hand position. The palms are not really parallel - the left palm is more or less perpendicular to the ground at 12:00 o'clock.

Why is the right hand positioned like this? Because this is the position where the right hand can naturally flick with the wrist the club along the plane - even in a slow-mo way.

At address, the plane is visualized cutting throught the equator of the ball. At that moment when the equator of the ball along the plane is visualized, the right wrist flips the club deliberately along the plane. Somewhere at hip level, when the club shaft merges with the plane, the left arm takes over and continues the upswing - the right palm merely cradling the club like a waiter with his tray on the right hand. At the top, the left shoulder gives that extra twist.

At the same time, the twisted shoulders releases back towards the ball - and the weight fully going to the left. As the arms passes the ball, the left cupped back hand "paints" the ball. Then, after passing the ball, the body jerks to face the ball - imparting that "baseball bat hit" of the club head. All throughout the downswing, the left hand is in control - the right hand merely tags along (it is needed only in the backswing).