I’ve read a few posts of late mentioning Hitters and Swingers.

What is the difference between the two and how can you determine what you are?

Swingers pull the club, like pulling a rope around you.

Hitters actively push the club as if it were an axe at a tree.

And if you find that you do both does that make you a Shitter or a Hinger?

A “Switter”.

And if you find that you do both does that make you a Shitter or a Hinger?

Greg Norman, proof that lots of sex before a major competiton is good for you. ;)

Either extremely talented or headed for a lot of trouble.

I believe I prodominantly fall into the “switting” category. Have never been comfortable with the exact definition of a swinger and a hitter as I neither solely pull or push the shaft. Im greedy and want the best of both worlds!! lol

Backswing to Transition is a probably all swinger however once the left wrist uncocks and I am nearing impact, I definitely hit, firing with everything I own via the right hand pushing the shaft through.

Long arc back, Pull to “set”, push to “fire”.

I would recommend it to anyone, it just feels natural to me.

Slight thread hijack

What produces more lag? – Swinger or Hitter?

I’d have thought swinger initially, because your left hand is pulling the club down and the club head effectively catches up..right hand is less active. Hitter however has a stronger right hand, pushing the club through and forcing more rotation….which in the end will produce more lag…hmmmmm

Sounds like I am confused. I’m probably guessing now that they both can produce the same amount of lag if you get the arms right.

Think I answered my own question, but feel free to smash my theory. BTW I think I am a hitter….Dart, is that right? :) – you saw me swing…sorry, hit….whatever :)

Make sure we are talking about the same thing..
Lag… as a lot of angle of the left arm in relation to the shaft?
or actual lag pressure applied to the shaft itself..

You can have a ton of “lag” coming down but no pressure at impact.

I’ll take PRESSURE any day..

Big difference…

Swingers pull the club, like pulling a rope around you.

Hitters actively push the club as if it were an axe at a tree.

I like TGM and Kellys work,how can you not admire someone spending their lifetime researching the golf swing…but i’m not convinced there is that much difference in hitting and swinging.

How do you push the club from the top of the backswing?

dap,

have a look at the “flat vs upright” thread, I wrote a recent post describing in full detail the difference in forces that are applied.

Tiger claims that when his swinging is off, he tries to hit the ball & has a tendancy to flip his wrists, but when he starts switting (swing hitting) the ball, it all falls into place & his rhythm is back.

Had a new client in today. Hitter by nature. Did not take long to iron out the Sw from the itter and make it a Hitter motion only.

To be fair a higher handicapper starting a journey but the wide open eyes then smiles are hard not to get enthusiastic as a coach about.

Basic Set up, lift and crunch.

“This feels strong.” Oh yeah.

By getting rid of some of the swingers motions the downstroke thrust became deliberate rather than an outracing effort. Rhythm the result.

What about the terminology?

Basically, the first time I saw this site I felt that ‘swinging’ was proper golf and what I wanted to do.

Now, I’m much more interested in hitting and determined to master it (over the next five or ten years).

It seems to me to hold the key to the mythical lifetime of satisfying golf. It’s also my choice because I’m not really in a position to work on my golf as much as I’d like – gotta work! – and hitting would appear to tie in with that limitation a bit better.

My current (learner’s) take on hitting:

The way I think about hitting is that it based around building gradual accelaration during the downswing. There is no need to load the club with your transition move at the top.

The ‘magic’ happens on the way down and only really kicks in from about half way into the downswing. Going from in to out at the ball is vital (‘down and out’).

Best Results So Far: drives up about 50 yards to a max 300 yards, iron striking looks and feels absolutely great with a great improvement in trajectory and a really straight flight. Can’t believe how well I hit it – it seems like magic.

Worst Results: Played one of the worst rounds of my life – much worse than usual. Couldn’t figure for the life of me what was wrong but eventually worked out that it was probably to do with an overdone right wrist bending that actually had the palm of my right hand and my right forearm pointing at the sky. Hit the fattest shots anyone’s ever hit and just couldn’t stop as I was dumping the club over and into the ground on the downswing.

Quick Question: One thing that has not yet been resolved for me is the ideas about the mental approach to hitting and swinging.

Do the experts reckon it’s possible to achieve better results thinking ‘smooth’ and ‘rhythmically’ when hitting. My best results have been achieved when I’ve had that kind of feeling e.g a nice relaxed transfer from the top tends to see me do my best.

Beezneeds

Rhythm is equally important in both hitting and swinging. The key is to have it…. and to really understand the difference between radial (hitting) and longitudinal acceleration. The intent is totally different, yet they both need an application of rhythm.

Do you have any confusion here?

surely the goal is to be able to do both.

I have been advised that I am a swinger, however I can hit if required – best example is if I need to hit a punch shot.

My goal is to be able to swing all day long but have the ability to switch to hitting over the last 3/4/5 holes to bring home a good round.

Lagpressure -

On rhythm – yeah I’ve got a little bit of an issue with the terminology I’d say.

Getting too aggressive from the top and also probably winding up in the backswing a bit much can both creep in.

On a related point, I haven’t had as much success with translating the good things happening in my full swing into my short game as I would like.

Recently began working with having a pretty pronounced pause at the top of my backswing in chipping before starting back.

Is a top of the backswing pause something that fits in with hitting – short game or long?

Styles, on choosing to work exclusively with hitting for now, as I said I don’t think I’ve got the time to mix up the methods and having tried a bit of the swinging advice I reckon its a good bit tougher. Can just about see from a little bit of range work how major distance can be obtained though.

Mind you, I don’t have a distance problem at this stage so I like the straight, control that hitting gives me. And I just love the feeling through the hands and body you get from it.

Not sure if on the psych side of things, switching methods in the way you describe is the best idea mid-round? Seems quite defensive?

As LP will testify, a lot of pros have made a million bucks plus by doing just that!

Quick from the top can be a great thing if you are swinging.. but that quickness must come from the torso being quick and not the arms and hands. In other words, the torso starts down and leaves the arms and hands behind..

A good coil is a great thing either way, hitting or swinging.

Personally I am not an advocate of a pause in anything swing related.
I find it very disruptive to rhythm. A slight looping motion would be preferred.

Styles – each to their own and best of luck with it.

LP – gotcha, thanks.