[efnef]

Efnef - That's funny, I was being a bit of a sarcastic SOB (to Birdie) to begin with!

I wasn't sure. At first I assumed you were sarcastically mouthing an "Italian Scallionism," since the Bird Man has been bowing low at Spaghetti Boy's alter lately and I was chiming in my $.02. When Birdie responded to me, I went back and reread your post and thought, "well, gee, maybe this dude was being sincere."

Well, I thought better of it all and apologized for the sake of civility (and, BTW, Homer said it, too).

I will leave you with the following, though...
IMHO, "whatever works," no matter who says it smacks a bit of being a quick fix, or a bandaid to me, no matter who says it. When I started playing this game again in 2002, after about a 35 year lay off (played as a child/teen), I did everything wrong,naturally, and was a total hack. I wound up starting over from scratch with the help of a very competent LPGA instructor in Athens, GA, by the name of Jean Harris. I doubt that she knows anything about The Golfing Machine, but she didn't even want to see my old swing. We started with chipping, then pitching, then half swing, then full swing over a period of several months. She wouldn't let me go to the next stage until I had it down with no casting, proper grip, set up, alignment to the target, etc. I worked with her for about a year and a half. My final lesson was a playing lesson with her as my course manager. Before taking lessons from her, my best score was a 108. I played those 6 holes with her at 2 under par. Throughout my whole experience with her, she was patient, and we both stayed the course, sticking to fundamentals. No "whatever works" or quick fix bandaids. I can remember that she had a cupped wrist in her own backswing, but when I asked her if it needed to be flat at the top, she said she didn't give a damn as long as the hands led the club into ball, otherwise you'd be scooping the ball. As for the pivot, she thought the left side's job was to get out of the way, so the right side could power the swing.

Anyway, you get the picture. She stressed fundamentals and building the swing from the ground up. She didn't want to see me more than twice a month, and wanted me to get whatever aspect I was working on down pat before we went on to the next step. No quick fixes, tips, or gimmicks, just because I wasn't doing well on a given day. The only devices/training aids she used with me were golf shafts to correct my alignment to the target and to teach me how to hit a draw (I was a horrible slicer; now a slight draw is my normal ball flight), a swing plane (one of those big pvc rings you stand in and swing along the ring), and the old golf tee in front of the ball to learn how to hit the little ball first and the big ball second (she had some gizmos for putting practice, but that is another story. She saw me sink about 15 putts in a row, and pretty much left me alone on my putting style).

Well, I ramble... but anyway, what's optimum? A solid foundation, not "whatever works." It probably won't work tomorrow.

Anyway, I leave you now. I was gonna tell a booger joke, but Birdie beat me to it.