There are ‘Weekend Golfers and Players’ … God love them both!
Many ‘Weekend Hackers’ really want to be ‘Players’ who desire to win their ‘Club Flite Championship’ resulting in Crystal or Sterling Silver on the fireplace mantle or special study bookshelf!
So why do they come up short and feel the unavoidable sting of the ‘Frustration Quotient’?
Well over 45 years studying and teaching this ‘Great Game’ provides me a glimpse of an answer! Might I share it with you?
Small morsels are more easily masticated (Chewed Into Small Pieces) that are large chunks in mouths and minds that are over-filled? Learning about GOLF is often too much like this situation? We teachers must avoid overload whenever possible. Know you agree!
It is this learned golf teacher’s supported opinion that, although complex, the golf full-swing is not overly complicated … certainly until one adds the ‘Human Ingredients’! Even then, we must strive in concert to ‘Keep It Stupid Simple’ … a doable undertaking!
Try by starting right here, ‘Word By Word’, with our famous ‘5 Set-Ups’ (Posture, Grip, Stance, Ball Location & Alignment)! Read your ‘555 Golf Academy’ definitions of each of these and your ‘5 Essential Elements’ (Clubface Aim At The Moment Of Separation, Clubhead Path, Clubhead Speed, Sweet Spot (COM) & Angle Of Attack (AOA). Great start!
Is this about the ‘Lower Body Machine’ (LBM) or the ‘Upper Body Machine’ (UBM) or both? This learning moment is really about your ‘Total Body Set-Up’.
If one thinks about the Vertebral Column or Spinal Crankshaft, “Thoracic” is about The Chest and Shoulders. The Scapulae are the ‘Shoulder Blades’. If one pulls the ‘Shoulders’ far aft, rather at attention, this Musculo-skeletal action reduces the separation or space between the Scapulae. Your 555 Team refers to this condition as ‘Cracking Walnuts’. ‘Time For A Feel’? Get a golf buddy to stand in a good overall ‘Set-Up’ with shoulders neutral and ‘Lever Assemblies Hanging’. You will feel as though your ‘Shoulders’ are forward towards your ‘Sternum’.
One can deliver a ‘Stiff Arm’ in football. Why not in golf too? Less brutality in golf!
All our dedicated ‘555 Golf Family’ who are tolerably scientific understand what a ‘Straight Arm’ is. We all understand what ‘The 11 Swing Sequences’ are. Well done! If you have questions, we have written a lot about these ‘11 Points In Space’ that are contained in both the ‘Back & Up and Down & Out Swings’.
Have you ever taken an opportunity to ponder where and what each ‘Hand, Wrist & Arm’ is doing during this ‘Two Way Journey’? More pointedly, when and where are the Target or Brace Lever Straight?
During Swing Sequences #1 (Impact Fix or Address Ready) through SS #5 (Top Of Back Swing) the ‘Target Lever Assembly is always ‘Extended or Straight.
Let us embrace the scientific fact that ‘Over Swinging’ is often a negative characteristic. (Across The Line - Below Parallel) ‘Under Swinging’, not completing the Back Swing, is also a negative if you have pre-selected ‘A Full Swing Procedure’. (incomplete Swing Sequence #5)
Add the fact that ‘Muscular Tension’ is a very negative element. One can get ‘Tight From Toe-Nails To Finger-Nails’. (see ‘Tetanous’) This golf death knell interestingly generally starts between the ears. Practical golf knowledge, evolving into ‘Experience and Wisdom’ creates ‘Confident, Comfortable & Consistent’. (see ‘the 3 C’s – Trust & Relaxation)
We generally know that swinging a ‘Bigger Golf Back Swing Wheel’ (see ‘Arc, Width & Circumference’) is beneficial … more duration to accomplish Clubhead Speed. It is relevant that the ‘Back & Up Swing’ is the “Dress Rehearsal” to the ‘Down & Out Swing’. Feel that reality!
As discussed numerous times, your ‘555 Team’ is of the opinion that ‘FAT & THIN’ are two ball striking scourges in practice or play! If you want to ruin time on the golf property, lack of top of Tether Ball Pole Control is a direct route to destruction. This topic is about failure to accomplish and control precise BOSA!
Let us assume that we properly ‘Set-Up’ (Posture, Grip, Stance, Ball Location & Alignment).’Measuring To The Ball’(establishing Sternum to the Sole of the Clubhead) demands a ‘Chin Tallish’ function as well as ‘Lever Assemblies’ being set to their ‘Extensor Conditions’. This locates and maintains proper ‘Component Separations’.
‘Hanging Back’ occurs when one sweeps, turns and lifts to the Top Of Back Swing (TOB – Swing Sequence #5) and gets stuck there … remains weight shifted to the Brace Foot. (see ‘Hanging Back’) This ‘Lowers the Brace Shoulder’ and thus the ‘Sole of the Clubhead’. As one swings ‘Down & Out’ towards ‘Bottom Of Swing Arc’ (BOSA), the sole of the clubhead becomes lowered below the intended or prescribed BOSA, striking the grass and taking an annoying ‘Divot’ almost always behind the ball.
We understand that the ‘Sweeping Back & Up Move’ is an ‘ALS activity … Accumulate, Load and Store. In balance, the ‘Front Down & Out Swing is the ‘DR Activity … Deliver & Release natural response. (see ‘ALSDR’ – The Power Line Delivery Sequence)
What is a useful ‘Bullet-Proof Skill Drill’ that will help us learn and appreciate this ‘ALSDR’ activity? The ‘Brace Lever’ windes up the ‘Core’ ‘From The Top Down’. Then the ‘Lower Body Machine Spinal Engine Core’ unwinds the entire ‘Machine’ ‘From The Ground Up’ and ‘From The Inside Out’. We must learn this physical mechanical truth!
Here is the ‘Drill’! Using the Driver, stick the head (‘Toe-Up’) just under and behind your Target Armpit. Reach well-extended down the shaft with your Brace Hand in contact with the nose of your grip or handle. Next, reach under the shaft with your Target Hand, placing your Fingers & Palm on top of the Brace Elbow. This firms up your ‘Lever Triangles’ … produces ‘Connection’ with the Core. (see ‘Quiet Triangles’)
Flat or breaking, inside a foot or two … choke and puke! A life or ‘Round Ending’ faux pas?
‘The Missed Dinker’ shall be the Talk of the often more expensive 19th hole!
Never make ‘ANY Strike’ without a ‘Pre-Shot Routine, even if it is slightly ‘Abbreviated’.
If you have to do ‘The Devil Made Me Do It One Hander Swipe’ (with No 5 Paces Back Behind The Ball and ‘Intermediate Target’), here is how to survive the moment!
Firstly, please stretch and warm up properly. Then you can make ‘Full Swings’ to your ‘Top Of Front Swing’ (TOF), what your ‘555 Team’ refers to as ‘Finish & Hold’. (see ‘Swing Sequence #10, 10a or #11 also known-as ‘The Bounce Back’). If the Target Foot is rolled over towards its Target Outside, you are two things … 1) Out Of Balance and 2) suffering from a ‘Pivot Obstruction’ or a ‘Target Foot Block’. Target Foot Position can obstruct full ‘Pivot Release’. (see ‘STI’)(see ‘Accumulate, Load, Store, Deliver & Release’ – The Power Line Delivery Sequence’ … ALSDR)
Why? You need to assess your ‘5 Set-Ups (Stance Width & Target Foot Aim) to determine if you are willingly yet unknowingly exposing yourself to ‘STI’ …’Soft Tissue Injury’. It is a very common golf physiological reality. To play a long time we need to be cognizant of ‘Work Smart’. We need to invite and accomplish ‘Confident, Comfortable & Consistent’. (‘The 3 C’s)
With a totally, normally ‘Set-Up … Push Basic, Stage 1 Putting and very short Chipping Stroke Procedure, the ‘Arced Clubhead Path’ is a reality … back & inside – front & outside. ‘Time For A Feel’!
With a ‘Normally Set-Up’ ‘Triangular Lever Assembly’, your ‘Clubhead Path shall become at least slightly ‘Arced’. The ‘Straight-Back and Straight-Through’, ‘On Target Line’ stroke procedure is necessarily manipulated, contrived and deliberate … not radial Newtonian normal.
This ‘Smallest Of Strokes’ tracks around the ‘Forward Inclined Spinal Crankshaft’. (see ‘Pivot Axis’ … even when there is no actual ‘Pivot Action’ as in a Stage 1 Procedure’. (see ‘No Wrist Cock and No Pivot’). Utilization of a ‘Clubhead Sweet Spot Arc’ is quite normal. (see ‘Brace Shoulder Up & Down’ is your ‘Putting & Chipping Engine’)
