All of what you describe is very relevant and something you really want to have in your golf stroke, Air.
That was what I was hoping to hear. Always good to have confirmation.
(It's ok just to call me Air (all though I wasn't allowed to register with only air)
I'm thinking of the actual throwing of golf clubs and the feelings incorporated. Coming OTT seems to be out of the question. Why is that? That means that coming in low(er) from the inside is natural in this kind of activity? And keeping the club behind the hands i.e. sustaining the lag? How identical to the real downstroke is this? It feels like the weight shift into the left foot and side is much more pronounced, keeping the back to the target longer and maybe even making a little pause at the top before the downstroke begins. Are these relevant feelings/motions well worth holding on to?
You are a little too cryptic for me to know what you mean.
Do you mean that's what I have descibed when throwing a club without mentioning it or are you reminding me of what I must focus on to get a good throw (shot)?
You are a little too cryptic for me to know what you mean.
Do you mean that's what I have descibed when throwing a club without mentioning it or are you reminding me of what I must focus on to get a good throw (shot)?
Sorry. I thought you knew. That's the Delivery Path you're using while performing your Club Throwing exercises. You're describing the "feels" when one uses a Straight Line Delivery Path.
Sorry. I thought you knew. That's the Delivery Path you're using while performing your Club Throwing exercises. You're describing the "feels" when one uses a Straight Line Delivery Path.
Good. And the delivery line must come from the inside - as opposed to the dreaded OTT out-to-in path - I think I am starting to understand - with help from you and .......5,6,7.. others (nobody mentioned and nobody forgotten, as we say here).(BTW: You must never over estimate what I know)
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Originally Posted by Yoda
The Clubhead is following the Clubhead Orbit. The Angle of Attack is that straight line drawn on the face of the Inclined Plane (and viewed from above it) that connects the Impact Point and Low Point. This is Impact's Downward Dimension.
That same line viewed upon the ground is the Angle of Approach (Impact's Forward Dimension).
Impact's Outward Dimension is determined by the Angle of the Inclined Plane.
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Originally Posted by Yoda
The Angle of Attack is the arbitrary straight line drawn Down Plane between Impact Point and Low Point. The Arc of Attack is the actual curved path the Clubhead Covers as it orbits Down Plane through the same two points, i.e., the curved Clubhead blur through Impact. The Angle of Approach and the Arc of Approach are those same two lines as seen by the player on the ground from his Above Plane view. These are illusions because they are actually inscribed on the face of the Plane.
As the Clubhead Covers the Arc of Attack and Arc of Approach, it always Traces ('points at' ) the true Geometric Plane Line, i.e., the straight Line Base Line of the Inclined Plane (normally the Target Line). In so doing, it neither traces nor covers the Angle of Attack or Angle of Approach.
So, except when using the Hitter's Angle of Approach procedure, the Clubhead never covers or traces the Angles of Attack or Approach. Instead, it covers the Arcs of Attack and Approach as it traces the Geometric Plane Line.
Thankfully, all this happens automatically when you 'Trace the Straight Plane Line' through Impact with the Right Forearm and #3 Pressure Point (Right Index Finger).
Said another way, through Impact, a correct Golf Stroke (performed with a laser beam at the Right Forefinger) will only Trace, i.e., point at, the true Geometric Plane Line. In so doing, the clubhead will always cover its Visual Equivalents, the Arc of Attack and the Arc of Approach. It will point at or cover the Angle of Attack and the Angle of Approach only at Impact and Low Point.
All this sounds tough, doesn't it? Stay with us and read this a year from now.
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Originally Posted by Yoda
Both Hitter and Swinger see their respective Delivery Lines as being on the ground, not on the Plane.
There are three possible Delivery Lines to guide the Clubhead into Impact:
1. The true Geometric Plane Line. This is the straight-line Base Line of the Inclined Plane, and it may be used by both Hitter and Swinger. As the fundamental Plane Line Variation listed for both the Basic Stroke Patterns -- Drive Loading (Hitting / 12-1-0) and Drag Loading (Swinging / 12-2-0) -- it sits atop the Target Line. The player Traces this Line with the Clubhead, the #3 Pressure Point and the Right Forearm to Deliver the Clubhead into Impact.
2. The Arc of Approach. This is the curved line of the Clubhead Blur through Impact. It is a Visual Equivalent of the true Geometric Plane Line and is best restricted to Swinging. The player Covers this Line with the Clubhead and Traces it with the Right Forearm and #3 Pressure Point to Deliver the Clubhead into Impact.
3. The Angle of Approach. This is the straight line drawn through the Impact Point and Low Point. It is likewise a Visual Equivalent of the true Geometric Plane Line and is best restricted to Hitting. Because the Inclined Plane is inclined, this Delivery Line goes out to "right field." The player Covers this Line with the Clubhead and Traces it with the Right Forearm and #3 Pressure Point to Deliver the Clubhead into Impact. Hitters may use -- but are not required to use -- this Line to guide their Cross-Line Thrust through Impact. If it is used, it serves only as a Delivery Line (to Cover) and not as a substitute Closed Plane Line (to Trace). It is, in fact, the Angle of Approach to the Geometric Plane Line, not a true Plane Line in and of itself. If it were a true Plane Line, then it would have an Angle of Approach. And as all seasoned students of The Golfing Machine know...
There is no Angle of Approach to the Angle of Approach.
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Originally Posted by Yoda
Originally Posted by 12 piece bucket
Could one not also "trace" the extension of the Straight Line Delivery Path of the HANDS with the #3 PP from the Top to the Ball or Aiming Point?
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I suppose you could look at it that way. However, the Delivery Path is best conceived as a Line of Thrust, not as a Line to Trace. And, as you have stated, that Thrust is always directly toward the Ball or, alternatively, the Aiming Point, even as the Hands move in a curve.
Keep these identities distinct: Delivery Lines refer to the Delivery of the Clubhead into Impact. Delivery Paths refer to the Delivery of the Hands into Impact.
Correctly executed, both produce identical Impact Alignments and Line of Compression through the Ball.
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Originally Posted by Yoda
Originally Posted by Bigwill
Could you explain the differences between the two? I think I have a kind of vague intuition regarding those differences, but I think it would be helpful to hear it put into words.
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At the Top, the Clubhead Lag (as sensed in the #3 Pressure Point, the right forefinger), is the "stone" you are going to throw, i.e., propel, toward Impact. That Throw is accomplished as a Straight Line Effort toward the Aiming Point (usually the Ball). This is the Delivery Path of the Hands (and Thrust).
As the Hands take their straight-line Path Down Plane toward the Ball, the #3 Pressure Point and Forearm seek to Trace the straight-line Base Line of the Inclined Plane. This is the Delivery Line of the Clubhead.
These are interdependent efforts, and you should practice them separately. Monitor one or the other but not both at the same time. Both are Imperative, but of the two, the Delivery Path rules.
Under the control of the subconscious Computer, they ultimately combine to produce with maximum precision the On Plane orbit of the Sweetspot through Release and Impact.
Horizontal Hinging -- The Ideal Application of Linear Force
Jim Cook wrote:
Yoda said: "Then, repeat it from memory:
1-L #4 -- The Hinge Assembly controls the Clubface alignment. "
So in the office I yelled at the top of my lungs:
The Hinge Assembly controls the Clubface alignment.
The Hinge Assembly controls the Clubface alignment.
The Hinge Assembly controls the Clubface alignment.
The Hinge Assembly controls the Clubface alignment.
The Hinge Assembly controls the Clubface alignment.
It was funny watching all the heads pop up from the cubicles. Like groundhogs.... does that mean there will be 6 more weeks of winter?
But the Hinge Assembly does not control the Clubface alignment.
With the hinge pin verticle to the horizontal plane, the hinge blade horizontal plane the little club face stays verticle to the horizontal plane. The face of the little club is open to the intended target line, then square to the line and finally closed to the line. Is this "open, square then closed" what you mean by "The hinge assembly controls the clubface alignment?
Does the hinge pin represent my shoulder/arm joint? And the bolt at the hinge arm/plate represent my fixed wrist?
I missed that first part, Jim. What did you say? Oh! I hear you now!
1-L #4 -- The Hinge Assembly controls the Clubface alignment!
You are right!
But then you say, it does not control the Clubface alignment, and Yoda is confused. The Clubface's circular, horizontal ('closing' only) motion is the direct and inevitable result of the identical motion of the horizontal blade rotating about its vertical pin. If this is not controlling the Clubface alignment throughout the motion, then what is?
And surely you did not mean that the Clubface should stay 'square' to the Line, did you? Because if so, that would be Steering, the No. 1 Snare in the Game -- attempting to hold the Clubface square to the Line of Flight. And we learned in Lesson One that you cannot make the blade of a hinge move in a straight line. It only moves in a circle!
Remember, in G.O.L.F. we are dealing with a Force moving in a circle --the Clubhead Orbit (2-N-0). And because you measure the circumference of a circle in terms of angles from its center, we call that force Angular Force. Force moving in a straight line -- like a pool stick through a cue ball-- is Linear Force. The problem we have in golf is to produce the same effect as a Linear Force -- a point of contact between Ball and Clubface that remains welded until separation -- while our Clubhead force is moving in a circle. And the way you do that is through this Horizontal Motion of the Clubface through Impact.
At Impact a Line of Compression (2-C-0) is constructed through the Ball-- like a bullet hole through a baseball. This is a Linear Force. Now, if we can keep that point of contact -- the Compression Point, from slipping on the Face, then we will have 'sustained' the Line of Compression. This maintains the Linear Force in relation to the Ball, even though the Ball has now joined the Orbiting Clubface in its circular, centrifugal journey.
That is the goal of every Golfing Machine: To sustain the Linear Line of Compression as the Orbiting Clubhead is Arcing through Impact. And it all begins here with an understanding of the horizontal motion the Clubface must make through Impact. Then we must train our Flat Left Wrist to reproduce its motion on demand.
So, the Horizontal Hinge Assembly is producing a pure 'opening and closing'-- ONLY! -- Motion of the Clubface. THERE IS NO LAYBACK! If Impact occurred with the Clubface in the 'slightly Open' alignment, and if separation (of Ball and Clubface) occurred with the Clubface Square to the target line, then the result would be a perfectly Straight Shot and Maximum Compression.
The 'Closing Only' Motion produces the Ideal Application of Linear Force(2-C-1) because the Angled Clubshaft and the Closing Clubface are rotating about the same center. Thus, there is no glancing force (except for backspin). This 'Closing Only' Motion of the hinge blade produces the exact same motion in the Clubface. And because the Clubface does not Lay Back, the true loft of the Club is maintained throughout the Impact Interval.Further, since there is no 'tilting under' of the Clubface, the Ball and Face stay welded, and the Compression Point -- the 'point of contact'between Club and Ball -- is maintained until they separate.
Hinges whose blades duplicate the remaining two planes of motion -- vertical and angled -- do Lay Back, and this causes the Clubface to made an identical 'Layback' motion through Impact. With Vertical Hinging -- the'Layback Only' Cut Shot (2-C-2) -- as in Horizontal Hinging with its 'Closing Only' Motion -- the Point (and Line) of Compression is sustained. However, the Layback of the Clubface effectively increases the Clubface Loft and therefore produces higher, softer Shots than the Ideal Application of the Horizontal Hinge. This characteristic Ball Flight may be exactly what the player intends to produce -- out of a greenside bunker, for example. On the other hand, it is doubtful the player would deliberately employ this technique off the tee of a long Par Four!
The Lob Shot (2-C-3) is the Low Point application of 'Layback Only.'This results in a 'tilting under' of the Clubface through the Ball and a total loss of the Compression Point. This loss of the original contact point is termed 'Compression Leakage,' and in this application produces the Lob Shot, the high no-spin floater. This is the Shot Mr. Mickelson often uses greenside, but again, has probably never used off the tee.
The Angled Hinge also results in Compression Leakage. Here, we have simultaneous 'Layback' and 'Close' and thus an 'uncentered' motion and Slicing tendency. There are compensations for this deficiency, but the Angled Hinge application of Linear Force remains inferior to the pure 2-C-1 Ideal Application of the Horizontal Hinge.
So, the Hinge Assembly does indeed control the Clubface alignment, and tomorrow we will re-orient the hinge pin to see exactly how that occurs.
I'll be back tomorrow to complete our 'mechanical' stuff. Then we'll get on to educating our Flat and Vertical Left Wrist to duplicate the Three Planes of Motion on the face of one Inclined Plane.
__________________
Yoda
1. The Stroke Patterns of 12-1-0 and 12-2-0 are ideal. Any deviationfrom them will result in a loss of power or accuracy or both. With the possible exception of making the Power Package Release Automatic -- which is what the Tour Players spend most of their waking lives trying to get right -- and also, adding the No. 4 Power Accumulator to the Hitter's Component No. 4 (Stroke --Variation) to produce a Four Barrel Stroke (10-4-D), the player should accept them for genius they represent. The wheel has been invented already. Use it!
2. The Right Shoulder Turn Thrust (6-B-4-A and 10-13-D) in the StartDown (8-7) is a key move for both Swingers and Hitters. And it should bemastered -- programmed -- consciously. At the programming stage, I wouldn't think so much of driving the Right Shoulder "into the No. 4 Pressure Point," as I would driving the Right Shoulder straight against the Ball. When you do this you will Feel your Left Arm Load -- weld! -- against the No. 4 Pressure Point (6-C-1-#4) and the Lag Pressure Load -- weld! -- against your sensitive Right Forefinger No. 3 Pressure Point (6-C-1-#3). Having first Loaded the Power Package, your Right Shoulder now has the second of its "dual" functions to perform, namely, Transporting the Loaded Power Package Down Plane for Release -- Sequenced (Swingers) or Simultaneus (Hitters) per 4-D-0.
So, from the Top, Swingers should Load, then let'er rip! "Blast" the Left Arm toward Impact (2-M-4). Hitters, once that Right Arm has been accelerated, should start Driving it -- with its priceless Bent Right Wrist -- through Impact. And don't Quit, because Mother Nature -- CentrifugalForce -- ain't around to help you out. You must keep driving...or else be prepared to watch your Shot fall a Club of two short of your target.
As soon as the Mechanic of the Right Shoulder Thrust has been identified and reduced to its Feel Equivalent (1-J) and fully integrated into your Total Motion (3-B), be sure to turn the whole operation over to your Hands. It is they that must trace the correct Stroke Geometry through the Three Stations-- Address, Top and Finish.
Continuing to focus on the Right Shoulder once its correct Action has been properly programmed leads to Pivot Controlled Hands, the antithesis of The Golfing Machine's Hand Controlled Pivot.
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For Swingers utilizing "Body Power" per 2-M-4, Pivot Thrust must drive Accumulator #4 through Impact. For Hitters, it is optional. They can (1) Use the Basic Hitting Pattern (per 12-1-0) with its Three Barrel Stroke (Right Arm Thrust driving the Lever Assemblies via the #1 Accumulator and PressurePoint); or (2) use the Four Barrel Stroke (10-4-D) with its Right Shoulder Thrust driving the Lever Assemblies via the #4 Accumulator and Pressure Point.
The Geometry of the Stroke is the same in both Actions. Only the Physics change, i.e., you can either Pull the Club through or you can Push the Club through. In both instances, however, it will still be a Left Hand Stroke (1-F) unless the Right Elbow replaces the Left Shoulder as the Center (10-3-K). The "describable feel" (1-J) you seek will be dependent on the Physics (1-F) of the procedure employed.
That said, the true Swinger "lets the Club do the work." Among other things, he uses the Standard Left Wrist Action (10-18-A) and actually Swivels his Hands and Forearms (a true rotation)from Release (8-9) into Impact. He then executes the "fullroll" feel (2-G and 6-B-3-0) of Dual Horizontal Hinge Action(8-10 and 10-10-D) before Swiveling out of the Follow-Through (2-G and 8-11) and into the Finish (8-12). As a result, he will feel much more "Wristy" than had he used -- your words from the quote above-- "more or less a turn of the body into and past impact."
No doubt your descriptive phrase also meant that the rotating Body and the orbiting Arms (per 2-G) were responsible for the Rotation of the Hands, i.e.,there was no actual, independent rotation of the Arms and Hands themselves. And that is correct. Through Practice, that correct Mechanic -- the substitution of a Hinge Action Feel (per the last paragraph of 2-G) from the Top through to the Finish for the "Two Swivels and a Hinge Action" previously described -- can be translated (per Chapter 3) into a"describable sensation" per 1-J, i.e., describable to and by the individual player.
Hitters, on the other hand, do not allow "the Club to do the work." In fact, the Hitters I know dearly love to control the situation!
"To heck with Centrifugal Force doing all this stuff for me; I want to do it myself!"
"You want to pull? By golly, I'll push!"
In fact, Hitting was Homer's preference:
"Both procedures are equally accurate," he told me, "but I just like to control all that flying around!" And if ever a "control"guy ever lived, it was Homer Kelley!
Now, if you choose to "control" -- and Swingers can do it, too, given the appropriate adjustments -- then you will be "Feeling" what you described as simply "turning the body into and past Impact." With that "Feel" (of the Pivot Motion turning back and through from Release through the Follow-Through, the Acquired Motion of 12-5-2), you will have substituted a Hinge Action of the Hands -- the Flat Left Wrist remaining Vertical to one of three desired Planes of Motion, i.e.,Horizontal, Angled, or Vertical -- for their Swivel Motion.
As a result, it is not only possible that you will Feel "less Hands," it is probable. In fact, when I asked Larry Nelson how he got so good so quickly -- he broke 70 a year after he started playing at age 21-- he said, "I took my hands out of the swing." Now, this is Pure Golf Machine:
Per 2-M-3, "the Hands are strong, educated, adjustable Clamps attaching the Club to the Arms for control of the Clubface alignments. By themselves, they are actually able to drive the ball only a relatively short distance. Even the Wrist cock is not properly an action of the Wrist muscles. So, the only absolutely essential muscular contribution of the Wrists is "holding on." [Italics mine.]
Okay, if the Hands aren't the Power (and they are not), then just what do they do? The answer is that they control the crucial geometric alignments of the Golf Stroke, that's what. And per Chapter 5, it is your job to educate them properly.
Each of the Three Zones (Body, Arms, and Hands per Chapter 9) has its respective assignment. Zone #1 provides Balance, On-Plane alignments, and the initial Thrust so necessary to the Power Components located in Zone #2. But it is Zone #3 -- the Hands -- that control the entire operation, not only the sequencing and alignment of the employed Pivot Components of Zone #1, but also the Accumulation, Loading, Storage, Delivery, and Release of Power in Zone #2.
And it is within their own Zone #3 that the Hands execute that ultimate simplification of The Golfing Machine, the Star System Triad:
the Three Imperatives controlling the Three Functions (Face, Head, and Shaft) through the Three Stations (Address, Top,and Finish).
Each of the Three Imperatives is monitored and controlled directly by The Hands:
1. The Clubface is controlled by the Flat Left Wrist executingits Hinge Motion (2-G, 7-10, and 10-10);
2. The Clubhead is controlled by the steady-as-she-goes drive of the #3 Clubhead Lag Pressure Point; and
3. The Clubshaft (or more accurately, the Sweetspot) is controlled by the Right Forearm tracing with the #3 Pressure Point the Straight PlaneLine.
Thus, per Chapter 5-0, you must "Learn to Swing the Hands. Monitor the Hands... until the Hands no longer consciously Monitor the Clubhead or Body--only themselves-- and automatically dictate total Component compliance with Delivery Path (6-E) and Delivery Line (2-J-3) requirements (7-23)."
Lets put it this way:
If you control your Hands, you control the Club.
If you control the Club, you control the Ball.
And if you control the Ball...
You control the Game.
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Some things -- mercifully -- are not hard. Also mercifully, this Hands-Controlled Pivot business is one of them. It is the most natural thing in the world!
Say you see a dime in the parking lot tomorrow. You reach down and pick it up. Guess what? You just made a "Hands controlled" move! Yes you did! And you didn't think a thing about it, either. Know why? Because, as I said, it is the most natural thing in the world to do!
You didn't think about your weight shifting. You didn't think about yourshoulers going down. You didn't thing about your arm extending. No. You didn'tthink about any of those things.
All you thought about was picking up that free money. Next million on the way.Only $999,999.90 to go! You reached down and picked it up. Your Hands made a bee line for the dime because that's the assignment your Computer gave them. And everything else cooperated in exactly the right way.
That is all in the world Hand Controlled Pivot and Alignment Golf are all about. The only problem is that Golf Stroke Geometry is more complex -- but not hopelessly so...we're still tracing straight lines as we make our circular Total Motion. And, we are simply unfamiliar with that geometry. It takes work and effort understand the alignments and relationships involved. Not to mentionthat you're playing the smallest Ball in field sports, and it is very unforgiving! [/b]
So, it just takes a while to train all those pieces (the Three Zones) to execute their respective assignments without at least some of the other pieces interfering. But learn them you will and then will come that glorious day when you will forget the Mechanics and play subconsciously by their Feel. And they will have absolutely nothing better to do than to simply get out of the way of the Hands.
You will note in the Mechanical Checklist of 12-3-0 that there are no Pivot Components included. That is because this is an Alignment Checklist. And using this Checklist, the Pivot Components and actions are totally subjugated to the control of the Hands.
Just like picking up that dime.
How long will it take? How good do you want to be? The better you want to be the longer and harder and smarter you'll need to work. But no matter how hard you work or how good you get, perfection -- even relative perfection -- will always remain slightly beyond your grasp. And that is how it should be.
You and I have corresponded, but I don't think the rest of the gang has heard yet of your plan to return next March. Your private golf cart (with the yellow 'all access' flag!) is waiting!
I know you don't want to sacrifice even a day of your Norwegian golf season, but if you could delay your trip until the second week in April, I've got a Masters badge with your name on it. After all, Augusta is only 90 miles east of Cuscowilla, and you might as well make it the journey of a lifetime!
Also, there's a good chance you'll have a 'fairway friend' to share the day with . . . Scotland's own Alex Chung! Two of my favorite guys from 'way up north' having fun 'way down south'.
Fun!
Originally Posted by airair
You are really tempting me here, but unfortunately I don't think I want to wait so long as April, even though I'll miss a wonderful opportunity that you offer me. I am more than happy to come in the middle of March and don't need to top it with something even better a month later - however tempting it sounds. But thank you for the possibility that I'm stupid enough not to take advantage of - this time... As usual I'll follow it on the TV instead - together with my memories from Oktober AND March. That's more than satisfying enough for me. Sorry.
Huh, huh.
No golf today. The greens are now too soaky after the frost period, I was told. No play, no pay. Too bad.
But in two weeks the whole extended famlily (us two at home, daughter+husband+granddaughter and my son in-law's parents) is headed for the south of Spain (the Canary Islands) on vacation. There will be some time for me to practice and play as well, I was promised.
Huh, huh.
No golf today. The greens are now too soaky after the frost period, I was told. No play, no pay. Too bad.
But in two weeks the whole extended famlily (us two at home, daughter+husband+granddaughter and my son in-law's parents) is headed for the south of Spain on vacation.) There will be some time for me to practice and play as well, I was promised.
WOW, what a fun family trip. I'll bet it's BEAUTIFUL there!
Kevin
__________________
I could be wrong. I have been before, and will be again.
Linear Mode
