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If you wanted to pick a swing to model your pivot movement after it would have to be Martin Kaymer. His body works so well that he can get away with crossing the line and dropping the hands not only straight down but actually backwards. I always try to get my students not to do this, as it usually leads to multiple problems in the downswing (the pattern has the shaft steep early in the downswing then flattening late, which causes the shaft to get stuck behind the hands, and also lends itself to having the right leg shoot out toward the ball and the hips driving out of the box), but Kaymer controls the shaft beautifully and stays deep with his hips and clears better than almost anybody you can name. I compare his swing now to 2010 when he won the PGA, and it seems to me that the biggest difference is in the shaft movement in the backswing, which is now more on plane (the shaft pointing more at the ball at left arm parallel) than it was then, when it was much more vertical. He has a fairly long swing with the driver regularly going past parallel, but it seems to fit his fluid motion and when he is on he hits it as good as or better again than anyone out there. I don’t know if this action can produce Tiger-like consistently great results, but he has proven that when he is in the groove he can beat anyone and everyone. Look for Kaymer to be a factor any time he tees it up, but don’t be surprised if he goes through periods where he loses it a little. I still think that the hands dropping backwards is a more difficult technique to manage, but we will see how it plays out.
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