Paul,
Many people seem to have a dislike for that question. I’ve noticed that there is a distinct dislike for straightforward answers on SL.
Your approach to working out the haul first is interesting. It’s generally accepted that hauling is an advanced technique and you did say that that your comments were specifically about distance casting so I’m assuming you are beginning with casters who have progressed above the beginner level. Presumably, since hauling is considered by most to be an advanced technique, your approach is to take people who have already developed a personal style and may or may not have been introduced to the haul and have them totally deconstruct their existing style in favour of rebuilding their cast by beginning with a blank slate and concentrating on first and foremost finding out what works best for them as a haul. After that is established you add in the other bits around it while maintaining that haul throughout the addition of those bits and concentrating on bits that enhance the haul? Am I understanding that correctly? Note that I’m not commenting on the efficiency or efficacy of your approach. Just trying to see if I understand it. Like most things I can can see pluses and minuses in that approach. I don’t think there is ever any single best way but you will do what works best for you as an athlete and a coach. I think whatever you are doing is the product of many years of experience and experimentation.
And that is a segue into part of my reasoning for the question. I was curious to see if the majority of experienced casters (and experienced thinkers about casting) assumed that beginning with hands near to each other at the start of the haul was best because that is what most people appear to do or if they had considered the ramifications of using a different starting point and had experimented at some point.
Again, there is no absolute best choice. It’s going to depend partly on the situation, purpose, physics/mathematics and biomechanics but if in the majority of cases most experienced casters gravitate towards doing something similar there is probably a reason, or number of reasons, for that.
Gordy appears to be advocating for something that appears to be radical but there is merit to it for some situations but I don’t think it applies to the majority of situations. He is also advocating for determining haul speed strictly by measuring the rate of change in distance between the stripper guide and hauling hand but I think that’s something better discussed on the technical board. Graeme and Gordy have both made excellent beginnings in that regard.
You have indicated that you may change based on whether it’s the forward cast or backcast. Fly casting is an asymmetrical activity built around a symmetrical body so that has some real merit imo. GF seems to have gotten around that partially by moving the activity overhead where the asymmetrical aspects are less important. Your approach is to take advantage of the asymmetricality.
Torsten has pointed out that it really is situational and I agree with that but that needs a lot more discussion. Some of what I’ve seen through this discussion is that we need to realize that something that works well for single hauling may not work well for double hauling and vice versa.
Lastly, I think there is a lot of interesting stuff that hasn’t been discussed such as the importance of feel in the double haul but it’s really off topic from the start of this topic. I’ll probably start a new thread for that.
, but if it was then for me it’s neither. 
