Does a poor backswing pivot cause casting?

[JeffM]

Does a poor backswing pivot (reverse pivoting) cause casting?

Here is a series of photos that demonstrates how an excellent golfer can reverse pivot because of a poor setup posture - spine not angled to the right at address, and poor ball position.

See - http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/Anonymous-ReverseversusBSpivot.jpg

Yellow lines were placed alongside the head at address.

A blue line indicates the spine position at address.

The green dotted line indicates the likely spine position at that particular point in the backswing.

In the first series (above) note that the spine is tilted to the left at address, and that it remains tilted to the left throughout the backswing resulting in a reverse pivot end-backswing position. Note that there is no space under the arms at the end-backswing position, and the golfer therefore has to re-route the arms in a slightly over-the-top backwards direction at the start of the downswing, and I think that this initial downswing move predisposes to casting.

In the second series (below) the spine is appropriately pre-tilted to the right at address, and the spine remains tilted to the right throughout the backswing. Note how the right pelvis is tilted to the left at the end-backswing position, and note how this creates space under the arms - for the arms to drop into the "slot" when the downswing begins.

The difference is subtle - but critical.

The end-result is a huge difference in the degree of wrist lag, and casting, as a result of the difference in the two end-backswing positions.

See - http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/Anonymous-CastingRPversusBP.jpg

Jeff.

 

[Jim Kobylinski]

No, reverse pivoting is not the "cause" of casting because you can still cast it with a "perfect pivot." However it can/will exaggerate the problem.

Most notibly because the right shoulder is so far out of position to go downplane. The secret to "holding that angle" that everyone wants relies in the downswing pivot and the right shoulder going downplane.

The more off plane the right shoulder is the sooner YOU HAVE TO straighten the right arm otherwise you'd miss the ball completely. So now knowing that, if you reverse pivot you are making it VERY DIFFICULT to accurately get that right shoulder to go downplane and in most cases (even for better players) your shoulder will go too out instead of down and thus you'll have to straighten that right arm or "cast it" to still be able to hit the ball.

So quick review:

Reverse pivot cause of casting? No.
Can it exaggerate the problem? Yes.

 

[Brian Manzella]

Simple.

I will do a video on this today. Good topic by the way.