[DukeNasty]

Just got back from Disney World a few days ago after having played the Magnolia Course at Walt Disney World (Home of the Funai tournament). The course is in great shape and it features some pretty challenging green complexes in terms of putting. Usually I can pretty much overpower courses from my traditional Blue Tees, but this was a pretty tough course due to the longish par 3s and brute force par 5s.

At any rate, I have been incubating the Tomasello Letter series...specifically Letter Series #2. I have been trying to reconcile this with a school I took from Martin Green several years ago as well as my lessons with Yoda. Martin Green is based at the Hombre club in Florida and is a protege of Peter Croker. He has an absolutly beautiful swing and could really crank the ball. Martin had me "throwing" the club, but he had me focusing on the pressure in my fingers and that worked sometimes, but also lead me into trouble other times (throwaway). I think I really just didn't "get it" though. However, through this forum and my lessons with Lynn, I really began to understand how the hands, arms, and club form the flying wedges.

At any rate, the Tomasello description of the right arm motion - and swing for that matter - is so simple that it is absolutely mind boggling! I practiced for about 2 weeks in my basement prior to leaving (no range time) and hit some of the longest and straightest drives in my lifetime while at Disney while chalking up one of my best scores ever. I am talking monster drives and I was already pretty strong off the tee to begin with.

I also found it helpful to eliminate all thoughts of lateral motion in my swing because I come from both a baseball and tennis background. I never felt as if I was "stepping into a pitch" as is commonly taught to youngsters and on the tennis court I could pound shots all day long from the baseline without thoughts of weightshift and all that jazz . My right forearm keyed the motion and I could smash the ball into oblivion.

So to make a long story short, I really feel like my right arm is controlling my swing and it moves DOWN the plane in a karate chopping motion just as Tomasello recommends. The hips rotate without swaying (checkout the 8board or get a pair of swivel disks from Peter Croker or also check out the swivel disks at exertools) and I really feel like I am building on my earlier athleticism.

Thoughts?

E.