How you start the downswing is one of the most important movements of the golf swing that the golfer needs to control. The backswing sets up the downswing; regardless of where everything is aligned in the backswing, how the golfer transitions into the downswing within the first 80 milliseconds accounts for a large influence of distance and consistency results.

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Instead of thinking of the downswing as a single continuous “proximal-to-distal” movement, the downswing can be conceptually divided into functional phases based on how velocity is produced vs. how it is preserved and transmitted. In the early downswing (approximately 0–60% of downswing duration), increases in clubhead velocity are dominated by active distal arm segment acceleration. During the latter portion of the downswing, the body's role shifts toward preserving and redirecting angular momentum, with proximal segments contributing less to incremental velocity generation and more to stabilization and impact delivery. This transition reflects a change in mechanical function rather than a stopping of proximal involvement.

 

Phase 1: Generating Smoothness - Why Acceleration Beats Raw Velocity

Let’s begin by answering this question: How much effort do your best swings take versus your poor shots? The answer is usually less effort, and the ball goes further. Poor shots require more effort, feel handsy at impact, and are quick or jerky. This can lead you to think you need more body and use less arms and hands in the golf swing. However, this is the exact opposite of what really happens. How Power Flows in Consistent Distance is based on Limb‑Segment Contribution (Ferdinands et al., 2013). Peak rotation speeds don’t explain how to swing the club faster. Proper acceleration timing does.

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Often, when golfers seek to increase clubhead speed, traditional instruction recommends rotating the hips or using the ground to generate more clubhead speed. While it can increase speed, this approach can be unsustainable. Adding lower-body speed early and quickly often leads to a last-second attempt to save the golf swing, with your hands and arms near impact. Thus, many golfers and instructors attribute swing problems to the hands and arms and recommend removing the hands and arms. Wrong understanding and interpretation. 

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To test my hypothesis about the importance of using your upper body, arms, and wrists to produce speed, I had my junior golfers hit golf balls with their feet together, measured their clubhead speed with a small radar device, and then hit balls from their regular stance. Not surprisingly, these drills produced 80–85% of the golfers’ max golf speed in their regular stance. Often, their ball flight was straighter with feet together than in their regular stance. Then, did the same using the Flamingo Drill. This involves taking your trail foot and dropping it straight back after starting with your feet together.

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Core findings: Limb-Segment Contribution & Sequencing (Ferdinands et al., 2013)

To achieve your highest clubhead speed, you will need to develop coordinated acceleration patterns throughout your entire limbs, your body, and your golf club. When you do this during the golf swing, your swing will feel effortless. To control your downswing, it's essential to assess your upper- and lower-body acceleration, as well as your arms and golf club. The human body moves, changing acceleration but not constant speeds or velocities. Reaching for an object or controlling a golf club will require changes in speed (acceleration), either positive or negative. To identify the factors contributing to higher clubhead speeds, I reviewed several studies by Rene Ferdinands et al. (2008-2013), particularly “A twenty-segment kinematics and kinetics model for analyzing golf swing mechanics.” Here is a synopsis of the research:

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• Downswing sequencing is not a textbook proximal-to-distal cascade; distal segments do get faster, but the pattern is blended rather than strictly sequential.  

• The downswing sequencing scheme suggested a more integrated relationship between the large body segments and the arms: the arms did not wait for the trunk to reach maximum rotational velocity before contributing power, as would have been the case if the classical proximal-to-distal scheme were followed.

• Pelvis & thorax contribute up to ~85%, and ~25% respectively (first ~10% of downswing), then taper to ~10% (pelvis) and ~15% (thorax) by impact; i.e., hips are important to start the chain but are a minor direct contributor at impact.  

• The thoracic rotation power was positive and larger in magnitude (mean, 241.5W; maximum, 618.5W at 80%) compared to the lumbar rotation power (mean, 2178.3 W), which tended to increase negatively throughout the downswing phase.

• Right upper-arm adduction is the largest positive arm power during the downswing; wrist flexion torque is small, and elbow extension is largely controlled rather than driven by local torque.   ​​​​​

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The key takeaways from this research are that the lower body initiates the downswing; however, the goal is not to rotate the hips as quickly as possible to generate clubhead speed. The role of the upper torso and arms, predominantly the trailing arm, is critical in generating clubhead speed. When analyzing the acceleration rates in a kinematic sequence of the hips, upper torso, and arms, it is evident that the rate of acceleration for the lead arm is increasing, even as the pelvis is decreasing. Thus, the pelvis does not supply energy to swing the arms; instead, it supplies momentum to the entire system through impact.

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Ferdinands (2007) demonstrated that the contribution of limb segments to clubhead speed is governed by angular impulse more than just torque magnitude alone, as the timing and overlap of torque curves dictate the efficiency of energy flow. Thus, a slow-moving pelvis over a longer period can contribute more angular momentum to a golfer’s swing versus a quick or fast movement during the transition. When golfers describe the feeling of their mishits as quick and jerky, this is what they are experiencing: a quick but shorter pelvis or upper body angular acceleration that produces less angular impulse to the swing. The body then stalls, leaving the hands and arms to deliver the golf club at impact. An example of this is emphasized with the “Flamingo Drill.” If a golfer attempted to make a sudden change in direction, they would lose balance. I used this loss of balance as a gauge of how much you rely on your arms versus your body during the transition.

 

Arms

The role of the arms in transition is to create the proper hand path trajectory for the desired shot path. The hands and arm swing is the mechanism that transfers energy from the body through the club to the ball. The arms must actively guide the club along the proper helical trajectory. Research has shown that the arms move away from the target during transition (Putnam, 1988) and accelerate faster than the rest of the body. In the picture below, you can see that by halfway down, the golfer is accelerating his arms 80.30 m/s/s. If the arms are passive too long → hands lag excessively and get rerouted. In an efficient sequence, in what I call the ABCs of the Downswing. The A-Arms contribute the fastest acceleration to the club, then the B-Body, then the C-Club delivery into the ball. This acceleration profile allows the hand path to move downward, enabling the club to be delivered on an inside-out or straight path. It maximizes the total angular momentum imparted to the golf ball.

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• Fastest Smooth Acceleration - The hand path traces a downward arc or helical trajectory — down from the shoulder plane.

 

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Upper Torso

During transition, the upper torso continues to work with the legs and pelvis to shift the golfer’s center of gravity toward the target. The rotation of the upper torso carries the arms forward, adding angular momentum to the swing. Early or high angular rotation of the upper torso pushes the hand path outward. Also, if the upper torso tilts too far laterally away from the target, the club can drop too far inside; both problems ruin consistency and dynamic swing-plane alignment.

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• 2nd Acceleration - The rotation of the torso accelerates more slowly than the arms pulling on the club away and down along a helical trajectory, increasing extension at the trailing wrist (lag). 

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Legs & Pelvis

The role of the legs and pelvis in the downswing is analogous to the posting up in throwing a ball. There is a push from the trail side with the lead side resetting or posting up in preparation for impact. Generally, over-accelerating the hips laterally causes the hands to start too far inside and then kick out late—the classic “stall and flip” pattern. This goes right to the heart of proximal–distal sequencing and why “timing” matters more than “raw speed”. That’s why a swing that often feels quick or hard to work produces a chaotic hand path — the motion no longer matches the brain’s predictive map of how energy should flow. If the body's energy is too quick during the transition and gets ahead of the arms, there isn’t enough time for the arms to catch up, and you feel handsy at impact. It is not a fault of using your wrists and arms; the body accelerates too quickly. 

 

• Posting Up & Slowest Acceleration: The legs initiate the downswing, shifting and rotating the entire body toward the lead side; however, at a slower rate than the hands and upper torso. 

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