[Burner]

Golfie/Ed,

Yes, why take up slack unless the tautness is needed for some reason. Now just what could that reason be? Let's see what Hogan says - "he(the golfer) wants the mid-section of his body to be tightened up. As the hips turn back to the left, this turning motion increases their tension, IT IS THIS INCREASED TENSION THAT UNWINDS THE UPPER PART OF THE BODY." The caps are by Hogan, not me.

I really cannot take seriously all this stuff regarding tension of the lower body causing the upper body to move and am greatly surprised that, in these enlightened times, anyone else does.

It is possible for most half fit guys to turn their shoulders back through 90* without moving their hips from a line parallel to the target line. You telling me that because I have not moved my hips in order to create tension with my upper body that I cannot get my shoulders back to, and beyond, the point from which I started? If not, what the bejabbers are you telling me?

It is also possible to make a backswing with the hips wide open and still get your lead shoulder behind the ball. Tension - what tension?

Furthermore, what happens when this fictitious tension is alleviated? Does your upper body react like a spring and leap, involuntarily and only by relief from tension, into action. Damn right it doesn't. Try it.

As for Baseball Pitchers; their totally ridiculous leg in the air starting posture is just that - ridiculous; showy but ineffectual. And, before you all pile into this Limey and ask what I know about Baseball I should tell you that I have spent a lifetime playing Cricket where throwing the ball fast, flat and accurately over distances of up to 75 yards is a regular feature of the game. Curiously, I always managed it without waving my front foot in the air to initiate the process.

The Pitcher extends his arm at 90* to his starting position - shoulders square to the batter - before again pivotting his upper body back to starting point only to facilitate the catapulting motion of his arm, against his bodily resistance, to the point where he releases the ball.

As in golf, the rotational motions of the hips, shoulders et al are merely means by which the arms are conveyed to the starting point of their intended function - the far end of the swing/throw - before they reverse the process in order to allow the arms to catapult/swing, forwards/down and out and propel the baseball/clubhead at its intended target.