Everything on this beautiful, small, green planet of ours works on the principle of force and resistance. From running, walking, swimming, sailing a boat, or shooting an arrow with a bow, both of these forces must be working against one another to achieve the desired result.

In swinging a golf club the golfer must get energy from the ground. This is done when the weight transfer delivered primarily by the head and the shoulders are resisted by right leg. The same thing happens when the athlete moves the head and shoulders to a resisting right leg in order to change directions and cut to the left. This motion or change of direction is three dimensions and is the first of several changes made in performing the swing.

This first change of direction starting the downswing is the most noticeable and is commonly called the transition. There are three other transitions later in the downswing. The best way to recognize the four downswing transitions are to imagine a clock. The backswing is a clockwise motion that begins at six o’clock. The downswing, a counter clockwise motion, begins as the hands and handle of the club enter the nine to twelve quadrant; the transition direction is to the opposite quadrant, the six to three quadrant, and results in a sitting down position.

The second transition just as the first is a pulling motion from the nine to six quadrant to the opposite quadrant, again like the first, a three dimensional pull to the opposite quadrant as we see the golfers left side straighten up. If you see a pattern developing it is all very logical: the pulling motion is always 180 degrees the only effective direction we can pull.

The third and forth transitions follow the same pattern, as the club enters the six to three quadrant the golfer pulls back to the nine to twelve quadrant, and finally when the club enters the twelve to three quadrant the golfer again pulls to the opposite quadrant.

The golfers pulling direction changes precisely the same as the hammer throw athletes does. His would seem more constant than the golfers because of the cocking and un-cocking of the wrists and the right elbow due to the change of direction.

Because the club and the golfer are pulling against each other, centrifugal force against centripetal force with equal energy the golfer remains perfectly balanced, much like the ice skating tandem when a skater is being swung around horizontally.