Left Shoulder Stroke Center Exceptions

[Yoda]

Yoda wrote:

Instead, per 2-H, the center of the Stroke is always the Left Shoulder, whether it is in motion (turning) or not. [That said, it is the Player's option to utilize another Center for special applications, e.g., the Right Elbow in the Bat Minor Basic Stroke (10-3-K).]

Amplifying on the above quote from my previous post, there are two othernotable exceptions to the Left Shoulder always being the Center of the Stroke,one (usually) unconcious (and disastrous) and the other deliberately applied(and highly effective).

The first of these occurs when the Player bends the Left Wrist through Impact.Automatically -- and unconsciously -- the Player has created a new Stroke Center; namely, the Left Wrist at the point of bend. [Note: The experienced Playerwho deliberately bends the wrist to produce, say, a Lob Shot, does notfit within this classification.]

To quickly grasp the consequences of this disruption, proceed to the nearestplayground. Go to the swing set, and pull the swing seat back six feet or so.Then simply let it go and notice the consistent curvilinear motion the swingdescribes as it conducts its partial orbit around the bar at the top of theswing set. So far, so good.

Now repeat the process, but this time, after letting the swing seat go, walk toa point directly under the bar and in immediate proximity to the passing seat.As the seat passes, stick your arm out directly in front of it about halfway upthe connecting chains. When those chains impact your extended and immovable arm,you will immediately notice a distinct disruption of the path of the swingseat. This is because the center of the motion has been transferred fromthe attachments of the chains at the top of the bar to the new center you havecreated with your arm. [Note: Do not attempt this experiement with a loadedswing seat, i.e., with a child on board, because the results are likely to bedisastrous and perhaps legally cumbersome! ]

This is precisely the disruption the average Player experiences when he shiftsthe center of his Stroke from the Left Shoulder to the now-Bent Left Wrist. Ofcourse, with a lot of practice and enough compensations -- habit reinforcingits ignorance -- even a bending Left Wrist procedure can become a somewhatserviceable alternative. However, because of its inherent geometric limitation,it will always be far less reliable than the procedure employed by theG.O.L.F.er armed with the Flat Left Wrist, his bullet-proof vest for the links.

The second widely seen exception is in the use of the long putter, either theoriginal version or its more recent belly cousin. Here, the center of theSweetspot orbit has been transferred to wherever the top of the Putter has beenanchored. [Unfortunately, that pre-determined center can be (and often is)abused when a player chooses to use a Pivot motion, i.e., rocking Shoulders, topower the Club away from and through the Ball.]

With the longer putter and a geometically correct Stroke, the motion is reducedto an incredible simplicity. I suggest anchoring the Putter just above the leftpectoral (and hence just inside the Left Shoulder); position the Magical RightForearm On-Plane (pointing at the Plane Line); and power the Putter away fromand through the Ball via the bending Right Elbow. In other words, a Zero PivotStroke -- no rocking shoulders! -- coupled with the Push Basic Stroke and the#3 Pressure Point directly behind the shaft.

This is a pure Hitting procedure that is childishly simple to execute, and becauseit is so simple, it is highly repeatable and therefore deadly accurate.[Note: All sound procedures -- and many unsound ones! -- are deadly accuratewhen executed correctly; the problem is that some are just much more difficultto consistently execute correctly than others, e.g., a Putting Stroke employinga Dual Horizontal Hinge Action!]

Try it. You may find that your Golf Ball all of a sudden finds no place quiteso interesting as the bottom of the Hole!