Just to be sure...Downswing

Thank you @Tom Saguto Your teaching is invaluable and especially your clear and concise way of explaining. You are right @Russell Hogue, PhD was tremendous in his commentary on this topic.

Russell, the prevailing teaching methods for the last number of years have done nothing to lower the handicap average and so, to keep doing the same old thing is to expect the same results I have been getting the last 7 years - That would be insanity. So, I am opting to go with @Tom Saguto's teaching and use the right arm as main source of power.

The vast majority of players will not use their dominant hand to swing. The older way of teaching Is to swing with the lead arm and the trail arm is just along for the ride.

if you are swinging using the lead arm, it is impossible for the trail arm to add any power and in theory, any muscular thrust would only serve to disrupt the centripetal force of the club releasing.

Just be aware if you go down the path using the trail arm/hand, that will require you to ignore swing tips where coaches are discussing techniques used to swing.

The two mechanisms hitting vs swinging are not compatible techniques. Use one or the other. Or both independently.

Thank you Russell for that complete answer. Prior to reading your comments, I did some research on this very forum to see if this question had been asked and I saw that Tom addressed a similar question with this YouTube video below. And based on this video Russell, you are correct, the Right Arm (for the right handed golfer) is the main power source.

That’s an interesting question. What powers the swing? Right or left arm? There are different theories on this Topic and the discussions can get incredibly complicated.

Let me suggest it this way: both the right and left hand are on the club and both are capable of being the primary power source (or some people just feel both working together).

Left arm becomes the power source through swinging and use of centripetal force. The right arm becomes the power source through pushing or muscular effort, hitting. In many cases, your focus on left pulling (swinging) or on right pushing (hitting)…will be a feel and indistinguishable from someone else watching. However, you will feel a massive difference and on video the two will look identical.

I was working with a pro one time, I asked this same question. He warned me, “you want to keep your right hand out of the swing.using your right hand will lead to terrible problems.”

I hit some shots focusing on my left arm as instructed and just hit it terribly. Without saying a word, I decided to try what he wanted to see by focusing on my right arm hitting motion.

”That’s it!“ the pro exclaimed.

Then I realized, I can use either hand to drive the motion, the question was, which feeling makes the club show up where it needs to be?

In most discussions you will hear this broken down into “hitter” vs “swinger”. There are also discussions about right arm “swingers”, but they are much less discussed. I suggest you stay as far away as possible from those discussions as it is a rabbit hole that goes super deep and will lead to untold miseries.

I am a relatively new golfer. I play with legit players all the time (all played college golf, some were pro’s)…not one of them think about right vs left. Apparently, that is a detail left to hacks. I suggest you get on video, see that you are in the right positions and then see what those positions feel like to you. Right, left, both…whatever. Thsts how it feels to you. :)

I say all of that to tell you this, I go back and forth between powering my swing with a right arm punching motion or a left arm swinging motion. I find that I have different tendencies with each swing process. On the downside, I sometimes find myself in no-man’s land and those days are particularly painful.

For me, using the right hand to control the swing, since it’s my dominant hand, I find it much easier to have a shorter, more compact swing. I also find that a punching motion, palm facing up, directed straight down toward the hand path (toe-line), inside the clubhead path works exceptionally well to drive my motion.

When I use the right arm punching motion, the location of my punching motion changes from day to day…most of the time, I hit my first shots with the feel of punching toward my trail toe. Sometimes lead toe. Sometimes a foot behind my toe. The punch location changes based on shot and flight I want to see.

I hit some balls and match the flight to the feel and thats what it feels like on that day.

So, to answer your question, I would say that 100% you can use the right hand to power your swing. The question is, can you match up the right hand feelings with the correct swing pattern? This needs to be done on video because what you feel is very likely NOT what you are actually doing.