Area Sports by Michael Dashiell

In any motion designed to create centrifugal force, this must happen. Swing a weight on the end of a string around in a circle. Notice your hand moves in a very small circle, while the weight moves in a much wider arc. Notice also that your hand is moving rather slowly in comparison to the weight.

Picture the ice skater with a line of skaters moving in a circle. He (the center) is moving very slowly in comparison to the outside skater. If that outside skater tried to do more than just go along for the ride, it would disrupt the whole line and actually slow it down.

The same is true in a golf motion if you try to swing the club with your hands and arms. Notice the baseball player in the on-deck circle warming up. He is holding a couple of bats in his hands and is just turning his body back and through and his arms and the bats are just along for the ride.

The center of the golf swing is the part of your body that is the farthest from the club head. That is in your spine between your shoulder blades. Golfers simply should turn their back on the target for the backswing, while letting their weight to transfer. Then on the through swing, let the hips move to the target and turn the center of the swing through to the finish. If they keep their arms relaxed and light while shifting and turning, they will develop tremendous club head speed.

Do the same as the ballplayer and pick up two clubs and swing them like a baseball bat by simply moving your weight and turning back and through. Note that if your arms and hands are tension free, the club heads are moving very rapidly without much effort on your part.

Unsound swings are like a dart throw. All arms and hand, and it stops abruptly. Sound swings are more like a bean bag toss. The body shifts weight back and through and the finish feels weightless.

I have a drawing of Ben Hogan's swing without the club, hands or arms. Looking at the sequences you will get the idea of the inside moving the outside. If you want this picture, just e-mail me and I will gladly send it to you.



Rules teaser

A bunker is covered by leaves. A player uses his club to rake leaves away to find his ball. Ruling?



Answer to last column's teaser:

A player misses a short putt, then in disgust holes the next one with the handle of his putter. Ruling? Match play loss of hole; stroke play 2 stroke penalty.



John Lucas is the golf professional at SkyRidge Golf Course and can be reached at john98382@olypen.com.