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Just had an impromptu golf swing clinic. We have them all the time. A golfer and I happen to enter into a golf conversation. I am known on our golf course. People are quite forward about saying “Hello!” when they have an issue. Another and then two more join in. We grew to five! That is a little ‘Impromptu Clinic’.

‘Mastering Golf Basics’ (MBG) and ‘Focus On Fundamentals’ (FOF) never changes substantially. We humans are very similar in components and procedures.

How simple can I make your basics? Let’s see. We have our ‘555 Golf Powerline Delivery Sequence … ‘Accumulate, Load, Store, Deliver & Release’ (ALSDR). That is the Start to finish! From the Take-Away (SS#1), to Top Of Back Swing (TOB – SS#5 – Maximum Load & Store), Transition or Direction Change (SS#6 – The Lateral Bump), to the ‘Pre-Impact’ (SS#7) and Impact (SS#80, then to the Chase (SS#8a, to the Follow (SS#9) to the Finish and Top Of Front Swing (SS#10) to an optional Bounce Back (SS#11) is you so desire. That is ‘IT’! Do this in ‘Slow Motion’.

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’)

Our brace hand is usually our dominant hand. We gesture with it, eat with it, write with it, grind with it and more!

Just a few basics for YOU!

The ‘Lower Body’ produces exclusively all the “Horizontal or Round & Round Motion’. The Target Hip rotates back and away from the golf ball. This enables the ‘Connected Brace Hip’ to powerfully advance on or towards the ‘Target Line’. It is like that ‘Pick-Up Truck Concept’. If you push the rear bumper, that will move the front bumper and the entire machine in the direction which you steer via the Front Axel or Front End! By The Way, ‘You Must Steer The Front Foot OPEN So You Can Clear Your Target Hip Back’. (see ‘The Swapping Pockets Drill)

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).
6. To have a proven professional ‘Pre-Shot Routine’
7. Pivot Axis and Spinal Engine (Imperative)

This ‘Frustration’ is the absolute ‘Number One Achilles Heel’ in golf’s shrinking participation. We are in an ‘Attrition Cycle’ that can be turned around, if we take appropriate actions.

Did you know that a proper swing takes no more energy that a poor swing? Might as well make a good one … if you have the ‘Desire’ followed by and ‘Honest, Open Minded’ methodology?

In the golf swing and game itself, it is the ‘Little Things That Matter’. (the minutia)

We need that ‘Desire, Honesty and an Open Mind’.

We need to embrace ‘Knowledge’, to convert it into ‘Experience’ and then to nourish the ‘Pay-Back’ that we deserve to enjoy!

Most of us know the difference and feeling of throwing ‘Overhand and Underhand’. The ‘Overhand Pitch’ is very similar to casting a lure out into a river. You rather throw the ‘Bait or Lure Mass’ up, out and across to the target spot. (see ‘The 12 Inch Landing Circle’) Works well in steelhead fishing, especially in brushy tight quarters.

Let’s think about tennis for a moment. Fewer people learn how to fish ‘Underhanded Forehand and Backhand’. This little ‘Tossing Action is immensely useful standing on the confining or restrictive riverbank. Little underhanded flip handed deliveries are really a sign of a seasoned steelhead or salmon fisherman. Really important in working your bait around obstructions.

Relate this ‘Hand Path’ to your golf strikes. If you have seen Jim Furyk’s unique golf swing, it is an ‘Outside & Up’ … Back & Up Swing Path. (see ‘Inside Out Path’) It starts ‘Above or Over Plane and then ‘Loops’ at the top to a ‘Below or Under Plane’.

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’.

Just a thought that might stimulate either perspective movement
or a direction change in your golf activities and overall well-being.

"Food Does Not Taste
As Good As ‘Fitness Feels."

Here endeth the lesson?

Why are my ‘Perfect Practice Swings’, on the driving range or in preparation of making the real strikes, so hard to reproduce? Seemingly impossible to make happen out on course?

The answer is really quite simple! We lack sufficient understanding of our true mechanics. (Mastering Golf Basics - MGB) We are enveloped in ‘FEAR’ and thus, soon thereafter in ‘TENSION’.

When we are too tense, (see ‘Grip Pressure’) our muscles cannot perform properly. For example, our Hands, Wrists and Forearms cannot ‘Release Through the Impact & Separation Zone’.

How can we determine that this is a very real problem? We totally understand what the ‘Pre-Shot Routine’ is and why. Our professional version is magical, if we apply it! (see ‘The 5 Set-Ups’ and ‘The 5 Essential Elements’. They make up absolute ‘Consistency’.)

Most of us know the difference and feeling of throwing ‘Overhand and Underhand’. The ‘Overhand Pitch’ is very similar to casting a lure out into a river. You rather throw the ‘Bait or Lure Mass’ up, out and across to the target spot. (see ‘The 12 Inch Landing Circle’) Works well in steelhead fishing, especially in brushy tight quarters.

Let’s think about tennis for a moment. Fewer people learn how to fish ‘Underhanded Forehand and Backhand’. This little ‘Tossing Action is immensely useful standing on the confining or restrictive riverbank. Little underhanded flip handed deliveries are really a sign of a seasoned steelhead or salmon fisherman. Really important in working your bait around obstructions.

Relate this ‘Hand Path’ to your golf strikes. If you have seen Jim Furyk’s unique golf swing, it is an ‘Outside & Up’ … Back & Up Swing Path. (see ‘Inside Out Path’) It starts ‘Above or Over Plane and then ‘Loops’ at the top to a ‘Below or Under Plane’. This is an ‘Underhanded Delivery’. It might feel slightly ‘Laid Off or Shallowing Out’ from Top Of Back Swing. (TOB) …