[comdpa]

Tong,
Don't have my book with me- Therefore would like to address the 7-17 quote and the 6-B-0 quote simultaneously- as they really cover the same general topic. (I'll look at the 6-M-1 quote another time).

In regards to the 7-17 quote- here would be the common "mis-read"- "Gee, sounds like I really want to make sure that I concentrate on the feet- specifically resisting the backward motion of the body with the feet- something like the X factor", "and then make sure that the I concentrate on the feet leading the downstroke. And this mis-read in regards to the Golfing Machine is common- in that as Homer describes the mechanical functioning of the machine parts- that happen- or are a result of something else- and all of a sudden the person is trying to perform this and that.

Taking a brief break for a paragraph here- it's important to understand a couple of key perspectives here- 1) The perspective of the ideal procedure for the movement and 2) Understanding those things that you are temporarily working on in order to make the machine function better. Those are two separate issues and must always be understood in their proper context. More often than not - what people work on becomes their procedure- and that difference between the ideal procedure and changing the movement is never clearly defined. Here's a non- golfing example. Let's say that the proper procedure for operating a car is to 1) Get in, 2) turn on the ignition with the key, 3) press on the gas peddle while steering the wheel. Now, let's say that Trig (hey, Trig I had to use somebody! ) get's up get's in the car- goes through the procedure and the car doesn't speed up very much (i.e. doesn't hit the ball very far say), he gets out - notices that the front left tire is low- takes the pump out and fills the tire up and takes off. Next day gets in the car - goes through the procedure- car doesn't speed up, gets out and sure enough needs to fill up the tire again- and Trig - not being very bright- finally understands the problem - the procedure for driving his car is to 1)Fill up the tire every morning (slide the hips), 2) Get in, 3) turn on the key, 4) press on the gas peddle while steering the wheel. Now, you would say - that's ridiculuous- I know Trig and he is a sharp guy- and he would obviously realize that his tire had a leak- and would get the tire fixed- he wouldn't make that part of his procedure. But human movement and our understanding of it is minimal- and therefore that's exactly what so many players do all the time, they add things to their procedures that are non-essential or items that they are working on- become their procedure. Because it's not so easy to see or understand the problem in a golf movement as it is with operating your car.


Anyway, back to the 7-17 quote and the proper "read":
"Halting the Backstroke motion with the Feet and letting this same tension pull the Downstroke through Impact is “swinging form the Feet” and gives the Stroke maximum Swing Radius."[/b]

The above quote is done via the #3 pressure point. Here is the crude explanation i.e. the normal method broken out for analysis. Before you get to the top or end of your backstroke- you start the effort to move the club back to the ball with the hands first, but that doesn't stop the backward movement of the arm/club, so other muscles/tendons come into play, for a full shot- this "flow" to stop the club from moving back moves from the hand, to arm, through the body to the feet- with the feet being the last supporting brace to help stop the backward movement of the club- so while the club is finalizing the backward movement- the mind has already started the downswing, and the body has helped stop that backward motion. And the load that you sense via the #3 pressure point- acknowledges all of that lag through the body, acknowledges that swing radius, and acknowledges the length of that moment of inertia arm, I.E. the feel of the load at #3 would feel different if you hadn't created that kind of pivot lag. To retain that kind of pressure/understanding that #3 has, means essentially you have to retain that pivot lag, that swing radius. If all of sudden your lower body stops- say because you subconsciously or consciously knew that the initial direction that you started down with would cause you to miss the ball- then you instantly shorten your swing radius- and instantly have throwaway- you just can't shorten your radius like that and possibly accelerate enough to retain the lag. An example of that would be the following: Imagine you've got this 20 foot heavy board- that you've swung back and now are swinging forward around a corner- you've loaded it going back and now you accelerating it around the corner with the lag pressure that you loaded throughout your body- but the basic awareness of that is in your hands- now all of a sudden - some magical force cuts that board down to 3 feet long- because of the shorter radius- it speeds up so quickly and it disrupts the motion so much that you just can't help but lose the lag pressure of the board. That's similar to the throwaway situation if you lose pivot lag suddenly.

So I may have rambled, may have got off the subject- but it's a big area of study- hoped something helped or answered the question. Don't mind if you ask more or bring it back to a specific focus- if it's on point and helps clarify this concept that we are discussing.

Mike O.

Great post there Mike.
It was fantastic in differentiating what happens independently and what happens as a result of another action.