[rwh]

I wonder if I don't understand what a right forearm takeaway is. To me, it refers to bending the right elbow upward while doing nothing with the hands and wrists. In other words, while retaining the right arm flying wedge. Am I correct about this? I just sudied the picture (Thanks, Ben), "Flying Wedges Assembly in Startup," however, and I don't see any bend in the right elbow.

On page 226, Homer describes the basic motion as being, "about two feet in both directions." So do all of you bend your right elbow very slightly on your chipping backstroke and then pull with your left arm on the very short downstroke to get a swinging feel? I'm realizing as I type this that a further part of my confusion is that I'm learning to use centrifugal force in order to swing. However, in a chip, there really is no centrifugal force, right?

Finally, for now, I think that the fog would be cleared in 10 seconds if I were able to see a slow-motion video clip of a swinger's chip that uses the RFT. I have seen videos of Bobby, Ben, Brian, Mike Jacobs, and Rick Nielsen, and all seem to my untrained eyes to use an abbreviated shoulder turn takeaway for their chipping. I fervently hope that Yoda will cover this when his DVD comes out.

Thank you all once again for your help.

teach

P.S.- Birdie_man, once I straighten this out, I'll look into your post on putting. Right now, I can't visualize how RFT could be used for putting either, but that's obviously because my coconut is missing something.

teach,

Have you factored in Extensor Action ?

In a proper set up, the flying wedge assembly will result in some degree of bend in the Right Arm at Address. Extensor Action is the effort to straigten your Right Arm more than what it is at Address. However, the Left Arm acts as a rein ["checkrein", as Mr. Kelley termed it in the book] that prevents the Right Arm from straightening all at once. Instead, the Right Arm straigtens gradually as the Left Arm goes from Address to the Top of the Backstroke. Similary, the Right Arm gradually straightens as the Left Arm moves down, out and forward through Impact.

This is why the Right Elbow will not bend as much on a chip or putt as opposed to a pitch or full swing. The great thing is that you don't have to worry about it. The reining action of the Left Arm does it automatically -- as long as you employ Extensor Action!