This is pretty cursorily covered in the yellow book, but is obviously pretty important for drag loaders at least, as its where the loading procedure is set up.
The hands have to retrace the arc before tracing the straight line delivery path, but how is this done (hands, shoulder turn, shoulder slide etc)?
What got me thinking about this was Gregg McHatton's blobman program (which shows an idealised swing with tracing of some components). The interesting thing for me was the way the right shoulder worked away from the target, basically all the way up to release point. This makes sense when you think of the shoulders rotating around the spine, but with comments about driving the right shoulder towards the plane line (and the associated setinng up of pressure point #4), I'd never really considered that this might be towards the plane line but (initially at least) away from the target.
I first learned this by using a feeling of the right shoulder moving almost behind you at startdown. It'll feel like you "punch" something that's back behind your right shoulder. Imagine a clock. At address you're facing 12:00 and the target is 9:00. At startdown, punch the right shoulder to about 4:00.
This ensures you don't dive into the ball at startdown. The right shoulder moves back and around and then downplane. Feel like your right pectoral is dragging your right shoulder. I would agree that the first move is pretty much "away" from the target. Simply a Rotated shoulder turn in both directions. Lots of people "drive the right shoulder at the ball" but in the process forget (or perhaps have never been taught) that it must, at the same time, stay back too. Back and down.
As to the top arc, I don't think the Swinger has much of an option. The hands, in an End backstroke position, are basically blocked by the body. You can only straight-line from shoulder height. Swingers who take the backstroke (the hands) past shoulder height must first return the hands to shoulder height and then straight downplane. However, in my experience, feeling a straight-line path from the End won't be counterproductive. A straight-line feel, from the End, will result in a Top Arc and Straight-Line path. So don't necessarily try to consciously feel an arc and then a line. Your Computer knows that body parts are in the way and will move them accordingly to provide a clear path for the hands.
The Computer automatically knowing the pivot must accommodate the path of the hands...sounds familiar...hand controlled pivot? Aim the hands. Fire the right shoulder. Hang on for the ride.
I first learned this by using a feeling of the right shoulder moving almost behind you at startdown. It'll feel like you "punch" something that's back behind your right shoulder. Imagine a clock. At address you're facing 12:00 and the target is 9:00. At startdown, punch the right shoulder to about 4:00.
Yes, I think that was what I was feeling! Crazy as it sounds I think I've been trying to take the side of my right shoulder at the ball - which seems to me to be a recipe for all kinds of disasters, particularly relating to spine angle maintenance. Practicing some pitches in my lunch break, I was getting some good feelings from driving the front of my right shoulder at the target line, some distance behind the ball. Rotating the shoulder rather than sort of sliding it. Felt like I was hitting down on the ball with my whole body, rather than just my arms.
Hybrid Mode
