Jtill your statement "it's impossible for your head not to go down if you shift weight totally to your left leg via hip slide while maintaining a centered head." is NOT TRUE, try it for yourself, i can do it!... it's sort of saying, 'ya homer was on the right track with the head thing but not really when it comes down to reality cuz it's impossible to really do...' reality is based on physics, geometry and the laws of the universe, a bouncing post with an object rotating around it is no good. It is most certainly possible to shift the weight via a hip slide into the left leg and tilt the axis of the shoulders with a stationary post NO BOBBING NO SWAYING its perfectly possible and to say otherwise is wrong and is calling homer wrong.
Im gonna go ahead and call the tour player head bob wrong, if its unintentional its not wrong, its a malfunction to be refined until eliminated just as with any other swing fault. If its done consciously it is WRONG and injustice to golfdom as the fate of golfdom rests partially on the shoulders of ELDRICK....which are bouncing up and down...
It would have made them better! I can guarantee it. bouncing up and down is not adding any snap or power! no matter how much it seems like it is, this is what homer calls a SEEMS-AS-IF partially the reason for the book, to eliminate the seems-as-ifs by applying law because the golf stroke is governed by only that, the laws of the universe, physics, geometry. other things they are employing to power the swing may inadvertently cause the head to drop and so it seems that the head drop is the power move, the head dropping and jumping up is not adding anything and is ALWAYS A MALFUNCTION no matter how many majors they have.
Whip, I appreciate your response and am impressed with your confidence. Im not even going to get into the you guarantee you could make the best players ever better by not letting their head move thing, but I do want to clarify a couple of things...
(1)on the hip slide/ head dip: I should have specified that I was referring to this in the context of Tiger Woods (the man who is dooming golfdom from a head dip). What I meant was that under the tutelage of Sean Foley, where he's getting 90% of the weight left, the back shoulder IS NOT going "down plane", and low point (left shoulder) IS NOT returning to where it started, but rather will move forward (as many many many do), that it will be impossible for his head not to go down. The "totally" to your left leg is the part I should have bolded I guess. I have zero interest in trying to call Homer wrong. TGM is the groundwork for all I have done and learned and built upon, and I think it is the most complete instructional golf book ever written. If I have different views on this or that will never change that. To your totally disagreeing and try it for yourself idea, believe it or not I have. The amount of weight shift is the key ingredient though. With a centered head, centered pivot, right shoulder moving down plane, and left shoulder returning to a similar location, as Mr. Kelley described, of course it is possible. (I know cause I tried it). Mr.Kelley was a brilliant man. I also don't remember him ever guaranteeing he could make the best players in the world better or saying you HAD to do this or that as the only way..... Brilliant man. My comments on the head dip were meant to be under the Foley umbrella. I have found however, that for me personally, I learn alot more from studying the greatest players in the world by what they actually do. And why it works. Regardless of if it goes against someones suggestions or breaks a theory or two. It is always easy to say they would be better if they didn't do this or that......there's just no evidence of whether or not that's the case, especially as a rule of law. Seems way more beneficial to learn from what they actually did. There have been tons of players improved by instruction, and there have been double that many ruined. Sometimes an off the cuff conclusion about a broken rule is more than meets the eye. As you said, sometimes positions are unintentional .......and sometimes preparatory and subconscious, and other times manipulations. I've never said that I teach players to squat and jump, or encourage it. Foley, who I was referencing through Tiger, does. And sometimes its a little more complicated than "don't do that". Theory is great and I love it, but you can also learn from what's actually happening ...... even if you don't like it or it doesn't fit your mold. So Whip, please forgive my ambiguity regarding the head dip; you are absolutely correct that you can slide your hips to the left and keep your head centered without a bob........just only to a certain extent of a weight shift, with a certain shoulder plane, and tracing a certain line. I am always happy to explain my opinions if they are ones that I post, but would rather not be pinned against one of my idols as an instructor and researcher with only pieces of the story. (Mr.Kelley used everything he could get his hands on or that was available to him to cultivate his theory and ideas, and never called it a done deal. I think he would have his followers do the same. To cite him as an inspiration and idol, and to try to continue to learn and build from the wealth of information he gifted us is how I would assume he would be the most honored. I hope nothing I ever do or say gives any impression otherwise.)
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