Now here is something interesting. Go to Google and take a look at a creepy little grotesque looking thing called a homunculus. Sorry if it grosses you out a bit, but it will help us think about the golf swing and what to focus on while learning an effective golf swing. A homunculus is a useful fictional character model for neuroscientists and biologists. The homunculus is a representation of the proportion of motor nerves distributed throughout the human body. Areas with many nerves are represented as very large, while those with less innervation are proportionally smaller. Notice how big the hands are. They are huge!

Clearly, then, nature intends us to use our hands since hands have been assigned considerable enervation. We find this to be true in everyday life. When we interact with our environment it is largely with our hands. We use a mouse and keyboard with our hands. We wrote. We drive. We eat. We work. We cook. All with our hands. Almost everything we physically do is largely done with our hands.

The golf swing then should be no different. If we choose to neglect the role of the hands in the golf swing, then we choose to neglect everything that nature has assigned us to use, which, as our homunculus model indicates, is a substantial assignment. And in doing so, we neglect an enormous amount of sensation and control that we have at our disposal. Feel and control what can and should be used to hit the golf ball hard, at will.

So, as we can see, nature certainly did not neglect its hands. But much of the golf instruction does! As the large rate of weakening of the hands indicates, it is evident that nature intended us to use the hands to a greater degree than the body. But most golf instruction instead focuses on the role of the body during the golf swing, often to the exclusion of the hands almost entirely. Or even worse, there is golf instruction that is totally antagonistic to the role of the hands in the golf swing. These swing theories would have the player simply “hold the club, hands and arms do nothing…” But this type of instruction leaves a lot on the table that is available for use.

Those who take advantage of all that nature has allocated find an immense source of sensation and control. Once they are able to take advantage of what is available to them and bring it under their conscious control, they often become very good players. Ben Hogan himself said in an interview with Life magazine that his secret was in his hands.

Many body focused golfers do not take advantage of all that nature has assigned them to use. Instead, they choose to try to control their golf shots strictly with body rotation. These players can be seen in droves at the driving ranges and on the courses everywhere golf is played and practiced. They are the ones who just twist their bodies and cross the line, get frustrated and twist even more, complicating their problems.

Why golf instruction focuses so much on body rotation and excludes hand action is a long story in itself. There are a number of reasons. Part of this is plain old-fashioned ignorance. Other times, a player will be lucky enough to swing naturally from the moment he lifted the club and the hand action, while quite active, will be automatic for him. Part of it is tradition or repetition of what one has heard from golf instruction. Or, sometimes you have a lack of understanding of cause and effect in the golf swing, and how something wrong with the action of the hand can sabotage the entire swing.

Whatever the reasons, much of golf instruction focuses on the role of the body and how it turns. But nature says different. The homunculus says differently. Nature has proportionately allocated many resources to the hands compared to the body. So is nature wrong then? And is pivot centered golf instruction correct? Is Nature or Man correct in its approach? I think you know who to bet on.