8-2 Impact Fix

[Yoda]

The Fix (7-8 ) ; Homer states, "If there is one mechanical imperative in the Golf Stroke, it is CORRECT IMPACT ALIGNMENTS. There is no advantage in leaving these to chance if they can be consciously defined and selected by a preliminary positioning."

How many tour players actually go to Fix (8-2) before adjusted address? It seem many ignore this vital alignment. Many tour players schooled in the ways of TGM seem to skip it as well? Am I missing something here? Are they just relying on intuition and habit?

The Fix as a studied, distinct Stroke Section (8-2) does not exist in today's Golf World. It does, however, exist to one degree or another in almost every good player and is brought to an art form with the great players.

For example, the #1 and #2 Impact Alignments are the Flat, Level and Vertical Left Wrist and its complement, the Bent, Level and Vertical Right Wrist. Rounding out the Big Three is the On Plane Right Forearm and Clubshaft. Do the great players assume these alignments in an Impact Fix? Maybe not. But, they know exactly what these alignments are and how they feel, and they often assume them at times you might least expect. The next time you see the Bobby Jones videos, look carefully as you see him standing around talking to the gang with his Hands and Club waist high. You will see his Left Wrist Flat, Level and Vertical; his Right Wrist Bent, Level and Vertical; and his Right Forearm and Clubshaft On Plane. Now, to be sure, it's on a horizontal plane -- not an inclined plane -- but the Impact Alignments are clearly in place and their Feel established. This is the sole purpose of Impact Fix, and when you've got it...you've got it. All that remains to be done is replicate that Feel on the Inclined Plane of Motion.

Watch Sam Snead as he lectures to the camera, and you will see the identical Impact Alignments in place. Chi Chi sets his Grip and Impact Alignments while behind the Ball and looking down the Target Line. Except for an over-the-Top-of-the Ball Waggle, they never change until the Club leaves the Back of the Ball. Watch any group of Tour players as they wait on a Tee. You'll see Flat Left Wrists and #3 Accumulator Rolls, Right Forearm Tracings and even Downstroke Waggles.

Lee Trevino's Address Routine is pure artistry. Away from the Ball, he rehearses the Total Motion with a Practice Swing. He then walks into the Ball with the Clubshaft in the Cup of the Right Hand and with the Shaft running up his On Plane Right Forearm. As his Feet settle in to their accustomed positions, he soles the Club with the Ball just off its toe. His Left Wrist joins the fun in its Flat, Level and Vertical Position (10-2-B Grip). His Flying Wedges align to the Ball and Line in a choreographed sequence worthy of a Fred Astair dance routine. He lasers in on the Plane Line. He Waggles. His lower body moves into its Impact Alignment as his Left Foot tap, tap, taps. At the last instant, he Turns his Left Hand on the Grip -- he just made it a 10-2-D -- Forward Presses and with his Right Forearm takes the Club immediately Up, In and Back on an Open-Open Plane Line. And then, almost always, he stripes it. This may not be the 'academic' version of Impact Fix, but it's Lee Trevino's, and a glance at the Record Book proves that it works. Big time.

No, the Tour players don't fit neatly into Section 8-2, Impact Fix. But you can bet your boots its function has been met:

They know Impact.

They Feel Impact.

They live for Impact.

It's what they do.