Why do they teach to re-route on the backswing and downswing?

[Maverick]

Why do they teach to bring the club straight back on the backswing and then re-route and drop the elbow and come on the inside on the downswing?  Personally, I do not play this way and my back swing (which stays on the inside with elbows close to body) mimics my downswing.  It seems like such a big disconnect to have a swing back, re-route, then swing down on the inside.

What are the benefits of this way? I used to play this way, but there are just to many timing issues to get consistent.  If anything, with my swing, it tends to push the ball at it's worst..but too me that's not a big deal.

A close friend of mine, swings like I mentioned before with the re-routing, but he says it's because he has a big mid-section (chubby guy), and would get stuck any other way.  He obviously clears his hips through so he can get through with coming from the inside after..lol.

Just curious what you guys have to say and why you swing the way you do.

[Maverick]

Well, as I see no reply, here's one I found from GD.  So, the main reason is to feel the club head at the transition..hmmm.  If that's all it does, so I can feel the weight of the head, then I don't plan on switiching.  I feel the weight of the head, plenty, and it's a straight road..no curves to deal with.

Doesn't it make sense to come back down on the same road yout travelled?  Why do a figure "8", when you can just deal with a straight line segment?

Weekend Tip: Re-route the club for accuracy

Saturday, November 5, 2011 Comments (0)

I was speaking with Jim Flick a few days ago. He was telling me about his induction on Wednesday into the PGA of America's Hall of Fame. This is a great honor for the 81-year-old Master Teacher, who has coached more than 200 tour pros, including Jack Nicklaus and Tom Lehman, taught in 23 countries and headed more than 1,000 multi-day academies during his 51-plus years of teaching.

But he didn't want to talk about himself. He wanted to tell me how he's learned that the players who have re-routed the club from the backswing to the downswing have traditionally been the most accurate.

Photo by Allan Henry

"Why is that?" I asked. He said it's because re-routing the club gives you more feel for where the clubhead is throughout your swing. It feels heavier and lighter when the clubhead is on a different plane than the shaft. Players who swing the club back and through on an identical path might have swings that look pretty, but they tend to miss shots in both directions because they might not be able to feel the weight of the clubhead. Players who re-route the club usually have just one miss. They eliminate one side of the golf course.

There are great examples throughout history. Lee Trevino, for example, took the club back outside, then looped it severely to the inside and rarely missed to the left. Jim Furyk is perhaps the ultimate modern-day example. He's one of the most accurate drivers on the PGA Tour. Bruce Lietzke was a great example of looping the other way, another very accurate driver. Other re-routers from the past include Julius Boros, Hubert Green, Miller Barber, Fuzzy Zoeller, Sam Snead, even the great Bobby Jones. Today's most noted re-routers include Nick Price, Sergio Garcia and Rickie Fowler, all accurate drivers.

Perhaps the hottest player today who re-routes is Keegan Bradley, ( pictured here ). In an upcoming issue of Golf Digest he notes that on the backswing he purposely takes the club back so the clubhead is outside his hands. Then he tries to drop the clubhead "into the slot" on the downswing. There doesn't seem to be a fairway he's afraid of.

If you're hitting pulls, pull-slices and pull-hooks, you might try re-routing your club on the downswing. Do it first with slow-motion swings on the range or in front of a mirror. It might take a few swings to get the feel of it. But there's a good chance it will straighten your ball flight and you'll become a more accurate driver.

Roger Schiffman
Managing Editor
Golf Digest

Read More http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-instruction/blogs/theinstructionblog/2011/11/weekend-tip-re-route-the-club.html#ixzz28Aewzw1A

Well as I see there aren't any replies here's one from GD:

[Maverick]

Okay, in this article, also GD, it states that it's to also create more club head speed.  So, we have:

1. Feel of the club head.

2. Club Speed.

Monday Swing Analysis: Like Rory, re-route the club

Saturday, September 8, 2012 Comments (3)

By Roger Schiffman
Managing Editor
Golf Digest
Twitter @RogerSchiffman

Have you noticed an interesting thing about Rory McIlroy's swing as he's been on his tear this summer? Yes, he seems to be playing effortlessly--driving the ball beautifully, sticking his wedges and making a boatload of putts. But I'm talking about something that seems a little different in his swing. As I discuss what I've seen with some of my colleagues in the golf business, it's pretty clear that Rory is doing two things he didn't use to do:

(1) He's starting the downswing with a more pronounced hip bump and then active lower-body turn.
(2) His downswing plane is noticeably inside his backswing plane.

I think they are related. The hip bump in No. 1 leads to No. 2. And No. 2 is a really good thing if you want to swing the club into the ball from inside the target line, thereby creating a shallower and more powerful angle of attack. And No. 2 is also one way to gain feel and sensitivity for the clubhead.

As my good friend and teacher, Jim Flick, once told me, re-routing the club to the inside on the downswing is usually preferable than re-routing the other way (though some great players did that, namely Sam Snead and Bobby Jones). For the average golfer, Jim would much rather see a Jim Furyk move (dropping the club to the inside) than a Bruce Lietzke move (looping it  to the outside).

Why is that? When you swing into the ball from the inside, you can create extra clubhead speed with less effort, and it's easier to draw the ball, which not only rolls more but has a more penetrating flight. This is especially good if you are a weaker player and need distance rather than control.

But why re-route the club to get it to the inside? Why not simply take the club back to the inside initially? Because if you swing the club straighter back (the modern term is wider), you can create a bigger swing arc before you re-route the club to the inside. Generally, the bigger the arc, the more clubhead speed you can generate (see Davis Love III, John Daly, Ernie Els, Bubba Watson).

Here's what Jim says to do: Swing the club straight back with your hands and arms (not your shoulders--that would cause the club to go back on an inside path). Then, as your first move down, shift your weight to the outside of your left foot while keeping your shoulders turned. While still keeping your shoulders turned, feel as if you simply drop your arms and the club down to the ball. You need to feel this move with your arms, not your hands, which only would flatten the clubshaft. Jim says to think of Jack Nicklaus' key of keeping his shirt buttons facing to the right of the ball as you swing through impact.

All of this combined will allow you to swing the club into the ball more from the inside, resulting in more delay of the wrists, and longer, more powerful shots that curve from right to left (for a right-hander). Prominent tour players (present and past) who make this inside move on the downswing include:

--Rickie Fowler
--Sergio Garcia
--Nick Price
--Hubert Green
--Fred Couples
--Lee Trevino
--Gary Koch
--Miller Barber
--Lorena Ochoa

Read More http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-instruction/blogs/theinstructionblog/2012/09/weekend-tip-1.html#ixzz28Ahzemo4

Doen't say that re-routing is necessarily the easier swing, more consistent swing..either.  Sure, if you do it correctly and consistently (which I say it is more difficult to be consistent with) then you would reap these beenfits.  But, I'm still not sold to this re-routing method and there are other ways to generate speed.

[Cracker24]

I'm a re-router, but for neither of the reasons mentioned in the posts above. I tend to take the club back outside my hands and in front of my body on a more upright plane and then drop it to the inside on the downswing.

When i decided to change my swing a year or so ago this was just the way that i decided to do it. I'm not completely sure why, but i think it was mainly because previously I had looped it the other way, and Tiger was swinging it this way at the time (when he was primarily hitting draws and before he started with the swinging left work).

The main reason that i like it though is that i feel like the clubhead is more 'stable' going back from having the hands underneath rather than the club being flung more around my body. Also i feel like dropping the club to the inside and the movements necessary to do so have other positive effects on the swing e.g. elbow getting in front of body, weight getting forward, right shoulder coming under, right foot banking etc.

That being said, having a 'one plane' swing definitely has its own merits. personal preference i guess.

[secret_dirt]

hmm...good question.  i think there is some power in a swing that "changes planes", so to speak.  if you look at baseball players, none of them wait for the ball with the bat parallel to the ground, even though this would give them the advantage of starting the bat on the same plane as the incoming pitch

[Titleist72]

I am working on taking the club back on a more outside path, lately my miss is a low pull due to the club getting stuck behind my body thus coming over the top.  Its such a terrible feeling, for me, it is usually accompanied with a sway towards the target on the downswing.

I have much more control over my swing from the top when the club is in front of my body,  It is much easier to reroute from this position than to fight the over the top move from a stuck position.

[JKolya]

I am very curious on this too as in many myswing threads I see comments on how at P3 the shaft should be putting at or inside the ball, but on the downswing at P5 it should be pointing well outside the ball. This requires a reroute or "laying off," which I struggle with. I am not sure how exactly to "lay off" the club.

[mvmac]

I am very curious on this too as in many myswing threads I see comments on how at P3 the shaft should be putting at or inside the ball, but on the downswing at P5 it should be pointing well outside the ball. This requires a reroute or "laying off," which I struggle with. I am not sure how exactly to "lay off" the club.

Typically the shaft shallowing on the downswing isn't something you need to think about. More of a reaction to other things, like how the arms/forearms work and getting the weight forward on the downswing. At A3 the arms are generally deeper than they are at A5 which helps the shaft go from "steep to shallow".

[JKolya]

Can you elaborate more on what the arms/forearms are doing? That is also something I have been thinking about in doing mirror work as I often, when working on positions, readjust where my left elbow is pointing (more out to down.... As in 'tightening' my arm and rotating it down). I don't know why or what I should be doing there, or if it is just something I see and do when working so slow, but in a normal full speed swing it is not an issue.

[mvmac]

Can you elaborate more on what the arms/forearms are doing? That is also something I have been thinking about in doing mirror work as I often, when working on positions, readjust where my left elbow is pointing (more out to down.... As in 'tightening' my arm and rotating it down). I don't know why or what I should be doing there, or if it is just something I see and do when working so slow, but in a normal full speed swing it is not an issue.

Players that tend to go "shallow to steep" can have the hands work away from them on the takeaway, clubhead works in and low, forearms rotate at too fast a rate. You basically want a nice blend of forearm rotation, rear elbow folding and the wrists hinging/cocking. Not saying you have to "hit" an exact position, there are a variety of good/functional takeaways. Some players need to feel more wrist hinge, some need more turn, some need to feel like they don't rotate their forearms, just depends on the player and their swings.