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When this ‘Country Gentleman Golf Teacher’ started on this second, companion career over 50 years ago, he really struggled with ‘Golf Vocabulary’ … the language of the game! I know you share my experience and perspective!

“Inside-Out” (as describing ‘Clubhead Path’) reminded me of how my underwear and socks came out of the clothes dryer! What the heck was a “Mulligan”? “Having The Honours” just created a “What the Hell Is That” wry smile! There are many more examples shared by all of us!

In this ‘Newtonian Realm’, when something ‘Leads’ something else logically ‘Lags’. The Front Bumper of a vehicle ‘Leads’ the Trailing or Lagging Rear Bumper.

Our Earthly Journey is thereafter ‘Ashes To Ashes and Dust To Dust’. We start rather small and then end small? How big is our ‘Celestial Soul’? Different story!

Your ‘555 Team’ pays attention to all the manifold ‘Global Golf-itis’. It is endless and offers exceptional variety in its logic and intellect. We all know this! One of the substantial ‘Instruction Names’ after decades has discovered the ‘Valhalla Of Golf’ … for the second of third time. This newly spawned method is supposed to be ultra-simple and quick. I stayed with it until I started growing a migraine!

May I share our practical ‘555 Golf’ approach with you? Search the internet looking for baseline ‘Putting Mechanics and Mentality’. Do this for three or four thorough sessions. Write notes!

Read our ‘Protocols Guidelines’ … home page under the ‘ABOUT TAB’ … starting small and working up and out! We have another valuable article (‘555 Progressive Golf’). It is in the ‘Locker Room Premium Membership’ (LRPM) access section. I will summarize it for you.

‘The 555 Golf Round Table Family Members’ know what ‘Clubhead Lead & Lag’ are. To refresh, the hands are either ahead of, even or behind the ‘Lower Body Machine’. (see ‘Trailing’)

Make some very normal, short, low power ‘Wedge Iron Swings’, what we refer to as ‘Tick Tocks’ … very rhythmic back and forth, metronomic swings. Now, do these with your ‘Brace Hand Only’. Feel the isolated energy! Our ‘Clubhead Path will naturally be a little ‘Inside-Out’. Having accomplished our thorough and normal ‘5 Set-Ups’, we shall be pretty much ‘On Plane’ as well ‘On Path’. There are only three (3) ‘PATH Options’ … 1) Inside-Out, 2) Square-Square and 3) Outside-In’.

We are still primarily a ‘One-Handed, Brace-Handed Exercise’. You can also do this ‘Target Handed’ but later!

We all need and benefit from what your ‘555 Team’ refers to as ‘Baseline Knowledge’.

Here is a great ‘Baseline Question’ for you! “How can I reliably ‘Fade-Slice’ or Draw-Hook’ … emphasis on “Reliably”?

Basic #1 is ‘Clubface Aim’. This element starts the ball out on your chosen ‘Line’.
Basic #2 is ‘Clubhead Path’. This element creates the ‘Bend or Curvature’.
Basic #3 is our ‘Railway Track Syndrome’ which gives us a performance platform. (see ‘Target and Body or Foot Rail’)

See if we can keep this focus tight and pure? Let’s ‘Keep This (IT) Stupid Simple’? YES?

For arguments sake, let us consider that we have a #9 Iron in hand. We will base our consideration on our most favoured #PW, the center of our scoring bag. (48 degrees of Loft). This club offers us a ‘Factory Loft of 44 Degrees’. The #8 Iron is 40 degrees. The key to ‘Pandora’s Box is to learn to make the same swing with each of these three clubs. It is very prudent to keep in mind that all our ‘Club Full Swings’ for most golf clubs are basically the same.

The first action we can and should take to reduce our ‘#9 Iron’s Net Delivered Loft’ is to change clubs … pull another club from your bag! (see ‘Ball Flight Shape, Trajectory and Parabola’) #9 Iron in hand, want ‘Less Delivered Loft’, pull your #8 Iron. Want ‘More Delivered Loft’, pull your #PW. Exactly the same ‘Delivered Energy’ results in more or less ‘Height’ and more of less ‘Distance’.

The ‘Lever Assemblies’ are called ‘The Target Side and The Brace Side’. They are made up of very strict components … the Shoulder Sockets, the Upper Arms, Elbows, Forearms, Wrists, Hands and the actual Golf Club, which is part of the ‘Target Lever’.

What primarily do they do! What is their tasking?

The Target Lever has three specific jobs … 1) To Control The Clubhead, 2) To establish and maintain the ‘Bottom Of Swing Arc’. (BOSA or Swing Radius – The Length Of The Dead Rope) and 3) to receive Pivot Pressure provided by the ‘Pectoralis’ against the ‘Biceps’.

The Brace Lever has specific jobs as well. They are 1) To provide stability to the Target or Swing Lever, (swing the Target Lever to the Top Of Back Swing (TOB) and hold. It will not be in a very stable configuration. It will easily fatigue!

As you well know, our ‘Putting Stroke’ is a ‘Stage 1 Procedure’ and requires ‘No Wrist Cock and No Pivot’. It is the simplest of ‘Push Basic Strokes’ wherein ‘The Brace Shoulder is the Up & Down Engine’. This is the ‘How & Why’ we refer to the ‘One Piece or Triangular Take-Away’. (see ‘Connected’) If we only had it permanently perfected!

We are well-served by using our ‘8 Step Putting & Chipping Pre-Shot Routine’. You know this!

All members of the ‘555 Golf Family’ know that ‘A Chip Is A Putt With A Hop’! Logically, a ‘Bump & Run’ is just a Chip with a longer ‘Back & Up Swing or Take Away’. (see ‘The Balsa Airplane Concept’ .. The Tip Of The Propeller Windes Up The Engine Rubber Band’. The ‘Brace Hand’ facilitates our very small ‘Accumulate, Load & Coil’)

Want to have some fun ‘Discovering Cause & Effect’? You can tinker with ‘Hitting Fat & Thin’. Do so deliberately! Set-Up perfectly in a manner that makes ‘Pure Strikes’.

Now, change one element or condition at a time and make a couple more swings. ‘Dropping your Tallish Chin’ in the Down, Out Forward & Through (DOFT) segment will cause ‘Fat Strikes’ … divots starting behind the ball! Observe the anticipated outcome differential for each deliberate error. Write notes!

With a perfect ‘Set-Up’ how can I deliberately ‘Hit Fat’ or behind the ball.

I am not going to ‘List’ every swing variable and error, just going to stimulate your ‘Tinkering’. It is more efficient for you to discover ‘Swing Error Cause & Effect’ than for me to write all about them! There are various discussions in our archives.

Here is just one key point you will benefit from.

To progress at a pace that will make you happy, you need …

1. Desire, Honesty and an Open Mind
2. Knowledge of some ‘Golf Ball Flight Laws
3. Knowledge of fundamental Mechanical needs
4. To know ‘The 5 Set-Ups’ (Posture Grip Stance Ball Location & Alignment)
5. To know ‘The 5 Essential Elements’ (Clubface Aim, Clubhead Path, Clubhead Speed Sweet Spot & Angle Of Attack (AoA).

Have you ever been in a boat and docked in calm conditions? It is not complicated and clearly manageable! Now add a ‘Strong Wind’ as well as a ‘Current’ as there will be in a river. Totally different situation, right?

‘Zero Wind Golf’ is benign! If you are a straight ball hitter (Minimal Curvature) ball striking at precise targets (Landing Points) is just ‘A To B Golf’. Go through your ‘Pre Shot Routine’. This will identify the ‘Intermediate and Far Targets’. If you have picked the optimal ‘Club Selection’ for ‘Distance’ you are a ‘Smiley Faced Golfer’ … lower scores and more fun!

Now add wind! To deal with this ‘Mother Nature’s Element’ we need to understand how a ‘Moving Fluid Air Mass’ actually behaves? Often not quite as one might perceive. It is fairly easy to determine how wind is behaving in your immediate vicinity, within 100 to 200 feet laterally and ‘Ground Level’ to 50 feet vertically.