[Mike O]

I hit balls on the range today using the procedure set out by Mike O. in his posts #29 and #31. I did this with my pitching wedge after first hitting about 20 balls with my regular Swinging procedure. I made about 15 - 20 rehearsal swings to get the sequence down. There is no mirror on the range for me to "see" what was happening, so all I concerned myself with was getting the correct sequence of pronation - supination - pronation - supination (note: I quickly found that concentrating only on what my left hand was doing worked best for me).

This created a feeling unlike anything I had previously experienced -- sort of a "Jim Furyk Gone Wild" feeling.

When I hit the first ball with this method, my hands felt very "oily" and "quick" through Release and Impact. The ball went 10 yards farther than my previous best. I hit 10 balls, all of which went farther than the first 20 with my "old" method. I then went back and forth, doing an A - B comparison. "New" beat "Old" on all but one shot.

On the range, I couldn't tell what my body (pivot) was doing because I was concentrating too much on just hitting my hand positions. But the whole motion felt very coordinated and I finished nicely on balance. I also noticed I didn't pull any shots -- one of my tendencies with the short irons.

I was surprised after I got home and was able to watch this swing in the mirror. It didn't look all that much different than my normal swing -- and it certainly didn't look like Jim Furyk on acid.

It is clear to me that I was creating more clubhead speed by adding in an "extra" supination - pronation sequence. I also didn't have to think much about the body (Zone 1).

Mike O. -- you're on to something.

Bob,
Thanks for being a guinea pig! It was fun to see that you understood what I was describing- and why some would or would not see results with it (it's not a miracle cure- just a part of the puzzle that some have and some don't), it was also nice to here your results- which was what I was describing also.

Your quote:
"It is clear to me that I was creating more clubhead speed by adding in an "extra" supination - pronation sequence."

Your description of above is correct- that supination starting the downswing of the right forearm (that happens automatically- if you got up there with the right forearm pronated), combined with the related right arm motions of right humerus adduction and external rotation, and that flow through the other joints, really add power to the clubhead motion. You've effectively lengthened the downswing- by creating those additional movements. It's no different than throwing a football- at the top of the backswing the front of the ball is facing behind you i.e. you've flipped it around with the pronation of the right forearm. Notice how much less power you would have if you hadn't done that. That's how you were hitting the ball before.

Your Quote:
"I also didn't have to think much about the body (Zone 1)."

That's correct- you created a pattern, starting with how/where in space you moved your hands- that changed the forearm motion, that changed the upper arm motion, that changed the shoulder motion, that changed the hip motion, that changed the lower body motion- getting you closer to a hand- controlled pivot. The irony is that you got the pivot more involved- automatically. Versus before - to clear that right hip or to make prevent from coming over the top- you had to have a pivot controlled procedure- antherwords you had to think about moving the pivot because of improper hand/arm motions- such as trig was mentioning earlier in this thread. And so you didn't need to think about the pivot to make it move- and yet it was moving alot more - or functioning more on auto-pilot.