Does it matter?

[Kor.A.Door]

The important part of this question is “if the same player” takes the club back differently. I would say yes it would certainly matter, because in order to get the club in the “correct position” at the top of the swing, your posture may not be in the correct position to complete the swing in a consistent manner. Muscle memory is important to build a consistent repeatable swing, if your swing goin back is inconsistent then, the byproduct of that is the swing coming down to impact would be equally inconsistent.

[PMookie]

Yes, as the teaching goes, what happens on the way up, affects how you route on the way down. One can get to the same spot at the top, but the body will subsequently react to its position to get back to the bottom. In theory, the only way to be TRULY at the same place at the top is for all three swing to go up the same way...

 

 

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[cksurfdude]

 

 

Yes it matters.

But I am going to switch things up a bit and say your hypothetical situation actually isn't possible.

 

 

 

As cnosil said above, the swing involves a sequence of events to get into position.

This is referred to as the kinetic chain... When a joint and/or muscle is in motion, it creates a chain of events that affects the movement of neighboring joints and muscles.

Taking the club back inside is a different kinetic chain from taking the club outside. Thus, even if the position looks nearly identical at the top, different muscles will be under different tension (and to different extents) at the top position depending on which kinetic chain they took to get there. (Unless you pause each swing at the top and relax and re-adjust into a specific position, which is not how we think about or execute the back swing in golf)

Thus, the restoring force of the those muscles on the downswing as they contract/relax will produce different results.

 

 

Now, the variability of golfers in terms of flexibility/coordination/athleticism means I can't tell you that taking it inside produces a certain result in the downswing exactly, as Shankster correctly points out above.

In my very uneducated opinion and limited experience, and I'm no instructor, but ...... I would tend to agree -- that for the *SAME* golfer swinging down three different ways from either...

 

1. across the line

vs.

2. inside the line

vs.

3. neutral / pointed towards target

 

...then these different actions would tend to produce three different ball flights.

[Big money]

At my age. The backswing is really the only thing I can control.No way I can ever create an impact position.

[chisag]

Yes, as the teaching goes, what happens on the way up, affects how you route on the way down. One can get to the same spot at the top, but the body will subsequently react to its position to get back to the bottom. 

 

 

... Exactly. Jlukes and Chemlab are both correct. It is possible to get to the same impact position from all 3 backswings, but it takes a very rare individual to do so. Straight back on plane and straight back down is self explanatory. But inside/outside backswings are basically a mini loop. If you freeze the camera at the top of the loop they can look the same but the club is moving in opposite directions. The inside backswing will continue to loop and go outside on the way down and the outside backswing will continue to loop and go inside on the way down. You can change the face angle at impact from both positions and hit good shots but it takes manipulation and it is a very rare player than can consistently manipulate the face.

 

... For most and I mean about 99%, bringing the club back on the inside is a death move. I am in awe of swings like Raymond Floyd that took so much manipulation and body control to get to square at impact, yet he did over and over again. I have heard instructors that believe in a specific philosophy say Floyd could have been even better had he fixed his "swing flaw" while those of us that believe there are many ways to swing a club think he maximized his unique individual talent and changing his swing would have ruined it. Swinging from outside to inside is much easier to accomplish and the manipulation to get to square is also easier accomplished. But manipulation is still necessary.  

 

... So again, it is of course possible to get to the same impact position with the same ball speed from all 3 backswings, but it takes an extremely rare individual to do so. The less the club strays off plane the less manipulation is needed on the downswing. Most of us do not take the club back perfectly on plane but stray just a little in a unique swing that is our own. But the further you stray from the plane on the backswing the more manipulation it takes on the downswing.  

[JBH]

As I have been told many times...no...what matters is marrying up the correct compensating moves in the downswing to square the face at impact. If you can do that it doesn't matter.

 

For example...I'm pretty sure Dustin Johnson's wrist at the top of his driver BS defies traditional teachings. However; he still is able to compensate and square the face at impact, so no one would dare tell him he is doing it wrong.

 

In the LPGA there a player (don't remember her name) that over swings with the driver, but is one of the longest drivers in the LPGA. Again she makes the correct compensating moves to square the face at impact. This goes against traditional teachings as well.

 

 

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[revkev]

I'm sorry but why would we use the exceptions of extremely gifted individuals to disprove the norm?

 

The norm is that simpler, less deviation from on plane, the better.

 

If someone here thinks he's got Dustin Johnson's ability or that it would be wise to copy or teach his swing because it doesn't really matter how you get to the top - good luck. In fact I doubt our ability to actually analyze which swings are doing what with much accuracy. I suspect that the so called irregular things that we think we see from the pros aren't so irregular most of the time.

 

 

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[DaveP043]

 I suspect that the so called irregular things that we think we see from the pros aren't so irregular most of the time.

I know of a teaching systems that has identified a few things that are present in every single good swing.  It happens to have an association with another golf website that I frequent, and I don't advertise for other sites in here.  I agree with revkev, there's a huge latitude for what route you take to get to impact, but there are a few basics that are always there in a consistently good swing.