Saturday, September 12, 2009

3Jack's Translation of TGM: Part 3


We are now into the 2nd part of the reading sequence prescribed by Homer Kelley in List #1. This includes all of Chapters 8 & 9, then section 7-0.

Chapter 8 (Twelve Sections - Itinerary and Preperations)

While there are 24 components in the Golf Swing (aka the Golfing Machine), that's different from the 12 sections of the actual swing. MORAD and S&T systems use a way of describing these section as 'parallels.' For instance, 'P2' is when the clubshaft is parallel to the ground on the backswing. P3 is when the left arm is parallel to the ground on the backswing. P5 is when the clubshaft returns to parallel on the downswing...and so on and so forth. This is different from components which check things like hip turn, elbow position on the downswing, grip, etc. Homer Kelley didn't create a 'Parallel' system like Mac O'Grady did. Instead he just labeled them into 12 sections. I will translate the only sections I deem that are not quite self-explanatory

Section 2 - Impact Fix - Impact fix is the golfer addressing the ball with 'impact hands' instead of 'address hands.' Here's a sequenced photo of Tiger Woods swing at address and then at impact. Notice the difference in the alignment of the hands.


If the golfer wants to, they can just keep the hands at the same position they would be at address. This is known as 'impact fix.' Here's a pic of a golfer with his hands at impact fix.


I actually use impact fix on punch shots when I want to take a full swing, but keep the ball a little lower than normal.

Section 3 - Adjusted Address - This is the section where the golfer has already taken their practice swing and waggles and decided where they want their hands at address (either impact hands or 'mid-body' hands --- i.e. the butt of the club pointing towards the belt buckle) and then assumes the address position.

Section 9 - Release - I feel this is often misinterpreted by golfers, but my translation of the release is that it's the point where all of the power and lag pressure the golfer has accumulated is now released and the goal is to release all of that into the ball. If you do it before the clubhead reaches the ball, then you will not get optimal results. It's not about rotating the club over.

Section 10 - Impact - Homer talks about 'seperation.' That's just the point after the clubhead makes contact where the ball is no longer touching the clubface or it 'seperates' from the clubface. It's actually important when understanding D-Plane because technically the initial direction of ball flight is mostly due to the angle of the clubface at seperation. Most who understand D-Plane will say it's due to the face angle at impact...either not realizing it's seperation or trying to prevent some possible, unnecessary confusion. But the reason why shots off the toe tend to start out to the right is at impact the face angle is square, but the contact off the toe actually opens the clubface at seperation, causing the ball to initially fly out to the right. Here's a video showing a tee ball that was hit off the toe by Woody Austin.





3JACK

4 comments:

BerkeleyRican said...

thanks jack. this is is really good stuff. i learn a lot reading your blog. i have been playing horrible as i tinker around with hitting and swinging, but the good news is i'm finally getting the hang of it and i think i'll be shooting some low numbers next summer.

John Graham said...

Look forward to these every day.

Keep it up.

JerryG said...

This blog is of utmost assistance and offers great insights.
The more I study and gather as much TGM info as I am able to stuff in this puny little computer (brain), the more sense I can make out of a lot of other golf methodology.
Thanks a lot for your personal insights through the study you have done.

Rich H. said...

Thanks guys.