COMMUNITY

Pull. I start my swing by turning my torso. The arms follow.

Followed by the famous 5 wood whirlybird toss.

Not anymore. If I know it's a terrible shot I just let go at the top of the swing. The club gently falls to the ground. This removes the club and temptation from my hands. I then calmly pick the club up and carefully return it to its slot in the bag.

Not completely sure...I think both side work together.

I'm more of a pull swinger. Lots of forward press and ball compression. On chips and pitches, I try to pull down with left and thump the ball.

Pull if I'm trying to hit a draw, and push if I am trying to fade it. It is actually something that the pro at Kiln Creek taught me to do. It obviously doesn't work every time, but it is something I try to repeat when the shot calls for a drastic left or right shape. I think it helps more with the direction my club follow through more than anything else.

Based on the responses, seems I've been doing it wrong forever. I've always been a right side hitter. And Jay can attest to my over the top tendencies. So the last week or so I've had pain in my right hand. Feels like a broken bone but no swelling. So probably a tendon or nerve pinch or something. Been tender at practice. So today it just went totally out. I dropped the club it hurt so bad. But I had a half bucket left. So I started chipping left handed with the right hand just along for the ride. I felt something I never before felt. Acceleration. So I took it all the way through my irons and woods and to the driver. And for some reason I had no pain. I have never hit the ball more pure and long as I did today. But then the pain came back so I quit. I will be taking a week off and when I go back to practice I'm gonna stay with the left side feel. Took me 60 years to figure out the right way it would seem.........

The key is the preferred flight you like to hit Don. I think Scott mentioned the draw, and I like to draw my irons too, and that's the swing more reliable on the pull down method. The fade has a tendency to hang back and weight is more on the push style swing. When I hit my power fade off the tee with Driver, I'm much more upright and swing back and thru with no pull (because I don't want to be steep with Driver).

It's definitely a preference thing based on comfort of ball flight, but watch Lee Trevino swing and you see that "hang back" push fade that he was famous for. He's never seen a steep swing in his life ever. Worked pretty damn good though.

Pull. I'll never forget in how the 1st lesson I ever got, the dude told me to pull the club rather than push it. Think about if you needed to move a box 10 feet. If you pull it, it's going to reach the endpoint faster with less energy exerted from you. Push it, it'll take longer to get there, and you'll have to put forth more effort. Same thing applies to the golf swing when you need to get the club to the ball. The ball's going to get a lot more distance if you pull the club towards it as opposed to pushing the club to it.

Maybe i'll sound like a smart ass, but I'll say both: start with a pull and extend as much as I can with a push of the right hand. Wasn't it Ben Hogan thay said he'd rather have 3 right hands? Then again he was fading the ball.

But, i am not as good a player as Jay or Scott or even you Don, so maybe my way to find the maximum extension isn't the best. The pull/push perception has helped improve my game though...

I will post one the greatest quotes from a living legend Bob Toski, legendary PGA tour player and current teacher:

"As a player, I was doing things intuitively and instinctively. When I started teaching, then I started to break down my body parts and what I was doing … to understand how to communicate better and teach somebody else how to swing a golf club.
See, golf is nothing but muscle control. Through your mind. Your mind is trying to teach your muscles to control your golf swing. You can only swing a golf club at a rate of speed which is the strength your arms and hands can bear. And why is that a true statement? Because your hands and arms travel further and faster than any one part of your anatomy. And if your hands aren’t strong enough to hold on to the club and control the handle to find the club head … and if you’re thinking about other body parts that don’t touch you and have no sensitivity, then you’re not doing the right thing.
Big muscles do not control the golf swing, they only support it.

One Final Bob Toski classic statement : "in the golf swing, you push-pull, instead of pull-push."

Push first then pull to sync it up

I have been trying to push with the right side recently. Really trying to feel my right foot solid on the ground and push off to get up on the left side at the finish.

I sort of feel the same way. I feel when I fade the ball it feels like I'm pulling with my left hand. When I draw the ball it feels like I'm pushing with my right.