Playing Tips with Rege Ludwig: Two Forms of Rotation

Lateral & Vertical

Renowned polo coach, Rege Ludwig gives his expert advice on how to get more out of your game

When executing an offside fore shot, it only makes sense that your right shoulder rotates back, laterally. What is not typically realized is that your hips initiate torso rotation, which initiates torso rotation, and torso rotation initiates shoulder rotation, which is a continuation of The Law of Sequence theory.

The order and the degree of upper body rotation for hitting an offside fore shot are as follows: 1. Your hips rotate first up to a possible 20 degrees from perpendicular, with ten to 15 degrees being the typical degree of range of motion of the hips for most offside fore shots. 2. Your torso, then, rotates laterally up to another possible 40 degrees beyond hip rotation, with 20 to 30 degrees of torso rotation being the norm for most offside fore shots.

At this point, your upper body will have rotated between 30 to 50 degrees from perpendicular. 3. Then your shoulders rotate laterally up to another 25 degrees beyond torso rotation, with the norm being ten to 15 degrees of rotation of your shoulders.

Depending on the power you want to create within the swing process of hitting an offside fore shot, your upper body should be rotating between 40 to 75 degrees from perpendicular. 4. Finally, if you want to create more power, your shoulders should begin rotating vertically around your spine, which will have your shoulders rotating close to parallel to your horse’s spine.

When swinging the mallet with the intention of generating power, the rotation of your shoulders should seldom be greater than 75 degrees from perpendicular. The reason being, when you rotate your shoulders past 75 degrees from perpendicular; you will, most likely, soften your upper leg grip into your horse’s shoulders proportionately to achieve that greater degree of rotation.

A negative effect associated with softening the grip of your upper legs is, your hitting platform begins to destabilize to the degree that your upper leg grip softened.

Because the power of the swing is equated to how strongly your hips rotate against your upper legs gripping strongly into your horse’s shoulders; any softening of your upper leg grip decreases the power that can be generated because your hips are rotating against a softer upper leg grip.

The softening of your upper leg grip is not the only negative effect of rotating your upper body past 75 degrees from perpendicular. Once you have rotated your shoulders to 75 degrees from perpendicular, your mallet hand has most likely reached the point of being established on a plane of the swing that is correct for a straightforward offside fore shot.

As you continue rotating your shoulders past 75 degrees, your mallet hand begins to move to the inside of the plane of swing to the degree that your shoulders rotated past 75 degrees.

At that point, your hand and the mallet must be moved out toward the plane during the downswing. The problem with the outward movement during the downswing is, your hand and the mallet typically do not stop at the plane, but continue moving out past the plane as the mallet continues its decent down toward the ball. And, because your hand and the mallet have moved out past the plane during the downswing, they both have to be moved back in to the plane before the mallet head reaches the ball.

Because of all of that extraneous movement (inside, to outside, to inside) there is little chance of the mallet head establishing on a plane of swing that is consistent with the desired direction of the hit, prior to reaching the ball. Consequently, there is little chance of the ball going in the intended direction.

Once your shoulders have rotated laterally to a maximum of 75 degrees from perpendicular, that is when your shoulders should begin the second form of rotation, which is vertically up and down around your spine; as well as, parallel to your horse’s spine.

In my first video, “Hitting with Power and Accuracy,” I refer to that action as rotisserating to suggest that your shoulders should rotate around your spine in a manner similar to something cooking on a rotisserie grill. Another example of vertical rotation was stated to me by Carlos Gracida during a penalty lesson I was conducting with him. Carlos told me, “If I want to hit an offside fore shot with power, I concentrate on pointing my left shoulder down toward the ball”.

From the way I understand the hitting process, the twisting, or rotating, of your shoulders vertically around your spine is the most difficult form of rotation to use correctly. With that having been said, I must also let

you know that it is also the form of rotation that facilitates creating maximum power of the swing effort. That is true because vertical rotation necessitates a strong upper leg attachment of you to your horse as you are in the process of rotating your upper body to swing the mallet; therefore your hips are rotating against a firm to strong grip of your upper legs.

As a matter of fact, the further you rotate your left shoulder down toward the ball, the greater the power you are generating. Because of the power generated by way of your upper hips rotating against a firm upper leg grip into your horse’s shoulders, the upper leg contact into your horse’s shoulders must be at least equal to, or stronger than, the power generated by way of your upper body rotation.

Compare the mechanics of swinging a polo mallet to those of swinging a golf club or a baseball bat. Out of the necessity for swinging the hitting instrument most effective, the mechanical process for swinging each of those hitting instruments, is quite similar. It is that final vertical rotation of your shoulders around your spine that yields the greatest degree of upper body rotation; and, the greater the degree of upper body rotation, the greater the degree you can rotate your shoulders. A consequence of

Vertical rotation (left shoulder down/right shoulder up)

which is, the greater the degree to which you can point your left shoulder directly down at the ball, the closer you will have come to generating maximum power with which to hit an offside fore shot.

When you can execute both forms of rotation correctly, each directly affects the power with which any offside fore shot can be hit. I am not suggesting that rotation is easy to accomplish. However, I am unequivocally stating, “When you can execute both forms of rotation correctly, as Carlos could, each form contributes a truly meaningful role to the process of hitting a polo ball with maximum effectiveness”.

Thanks, and I wish for you the best of possible outcomes when practicing the two forms of rotation. Rege

WTR Horse Transport

Specialising in the safe transport of Polo Ponies from short UK journeys to European long journeys. Based in Berkshire.

18 tonne auto, 11 stall Tristar • Front and rear cctv of horses • Roof fans • On-board pumped water tanks • 3.5 tonne stallion box • Operators’ licence • DEFRA approved for international transport • Drivers CPC • Type 2 long journey animal welfare transport certifi ed • Level 2 City & Guilds long distance transport (driver) • Fully insured