[O.B.Left]

I have a shoulder disruption problem.

Hogan has, in 5 lessons, taught that unifying the arms in a manner that at the extreme is demonstrated by banding them together. The points , to my understanding, are that the arms are united into a machine like triangle. I have a bad habit of letting the shoulders go in strange, disruptive directions. Without restraint I will lift my left shoulder, with traps, up towards my ear . This displaces my left arm and is very disruptive. The use of extensor action in itself DOES NOT restrain my shoulder. I need to establish a solid structure that will inhibit this action and I have found that the Hogan principles build this structure for me.
The Bear

Bear

If I may, you seem like you are uniting both arms and shoulders into a rigid unit. An effort that pretty much necessitates a Shoulder Turn Takeaway and some heavy duty lifting to get the Hands to Top. A very common thing back when we learned to play. Heck Homer , in his break down of Bobby Clampetts swing made note of his similar action.

Yes Hogan recommended turning the two arms into one big arm via a banding together in his book but it has been argued by Leadbetter and others that he didnt actually do that himself when playing. Another fella , cant remember his name, the John Schlee disciple guy, suggested this was due to limitations arising from his car accident and that if not for that he would have actually banded them together. What ever..............

-The arms do present a problem in that their motions are not the same. They attach to the body at different places after all. They cant do the same thing exactly , even if you did band them together. Id suggest its best to just embrace their differences, a banding together cant unify them really but it can lock them up which will exaggerate the problem.

-central to the notion of Extensor Action is the String Like, inert left Arm. It is a solution to the arm problem only if the left arm is inert.

-The Glossaries definition of the Pivot........dont have my book with me right now but paraphrasing........"a multi lever assembly that delivers the right arm along the plane". To me meaning that there is a whole mess of different levers, each with different motions , different directions, allowing for, enabling, powering the right arm and #3 pp's Tracing.

-The Shoulders and the Arms do not travel in the same direction either, so a rigid attachment at the arm to shoulder connection is ill advised as it will mandate that the shoulders and arms travel together as one..........most likely under plane given a shoulder turn takeaway. Ideally the Shoulders in Startup turn BACK, around on a flatish plane and the Hands and arms go UP. See the Vectors and the McDonald drills too, Wild Bill Melhourne etc etc. Lynn likens this to patting your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time. Something we do all the time during the course of our normal day, reaching for things......multi levers, independent motions, scattered vectors..........but netting out with the Hands traveling towards their target.........the mug on the top shelf in your kitchen or whatever. You dont lock up and align your shoulders and arms to accomplish that. You dont even think about your shoulders really.............you just direct your hand to the target. Very Homer like isnt it?

-a rigid triangle normally includes a rigid right elbow. No bending, no cocking the left wrist with the bending right elbow, no Magic of the Right Forearm. The only way to get the club back is to turn the shouders (Pivot to Hands) and then LIFT the hands and arms up to Top. Its very common to do this as a left sided push away of the shoulders. A left arm and left shoulder push of the club back in Startup. With the left side " turned on" activated doing some work, it will do a reasonable job of pushing everything back , albeit under plane but once back about half way it is faced with getting the hands to Top. Something the left side is poorly positioned to do. Try swinging with just your left arm on the club and see how difficult it is to lift the hands to top with the left arm. Not easy at all. Hence Homers recommendation for a right armed Pick Up.


Perhaps this relates to your situation perhaps not. It was a huge problem for me a while back. My One Piece, rock the triangle, Pivot to Hands, shoulder turn takeaway , my heavy lifting, often got my left shoulder raising up. Keeping it down was actually a swing thought for me at the time. In the end it was symptomatic of a the muscles I was using to take the club back and up. Merely trying to turn it off of tone it down didnt stop it.

Now I have a Right Forearm Takeaway, my right elbow bends which cocks the left wrist and lifts and lowers the Hands. My left and right arms work independently of each other but in a co ordinated manner. My arms to body connections are free of tension to allow for my arms and pivot to travel in different directions. No more left side push away, no more heavy duty lifting.

RFT is a beautiful thing........but you have to get the left side out of it and loosen up the connections. No more triangle rocking. The right elbow can get a lot of stuff done, its simplification and automation as well. I used to struggle to cock my left wrist , now it just happens. Cant stop it really.


Here's a quick test: If you can hit reasonable little chips and pitches with just your right hand on the club but all hell breaks loose when you attach the other arm..........you have some left sided action getting into the mix. A left side push away maybe, a tight left shoulder and a shoulder turn takeaway maybe.............. I do sometimes, to this day...........but they used to teach this as a method way back when. Old habits are hard to break. And the seventies were filled with bad ideas about golf and hair cuts.