[phillygolf]

tongzilla is very excited about the revamped forum and is poised to make his first contribution. I hope Yoda won't smack me with his dowels for butting in .

As phillygolf has elluded to earlier, there are two Secrets of Golf. I will give an overview which hopefully will spark off some discussion.


1) Sustaining the Line of Compression (2-0).
One can imagine this to be a shooting a pool stick through cue ball. The straight path the cue takes as it goes through the ball is the Line of Compression. The point where the stick striks the ball is the Compression Point. This is a Linear Force, which simply means the force acts in a straight line.

In golf, the Clubhead is moving in a circle, hence we have Angular Force. But our objective is to produce the same effect as a Linear Force with the orbiting Clubhead. We achieve this by having the contact point between the Ball and Clubface welded at the same point from Impact to Separation. All while the Clubhead is moving in an arc.

This can only be achieved by using Horizontal Hinging.

Hitters using Angled Hinging does not have the Clubface and Clubshaft rotating around the same center (in fact the Clubface has no center), and hence cannot maintain the same Compression Point through Impact. So you better find a good way to compensate for this inferiorty if you're a Hitter!


2) Clubhead Lag (6-C-2)
There are actually three types of Lag: Pivot Lag (Body Poit for Swingers and Launching Pad for Hitters), Accumulator Lag (6-B-1/2/3/4) and Clubhead Lag (6-C-2). So that angle between the Clubshaft and Left Arm everyone in the Golf World talks about is merely Accumulator #2 Lag. Contrary to popular belief, you can be using a Sweep Release and still have lots of Clubhead Lag.

Clubhead lag is that heaviness you feel through Pressure Point #3 as Club changes direction. The Longitundinal Center of Gravity of the Club (i.e. the Sweetspot), resists that change due to its inertia (i.e. mass). The Sweetspot doesn't want to move, but it has to. This stresses the Clubshaft and produces that heavy feeling which you try to maintain all the way down, never even thinking about releasing this heaviness. This feel may be cultivated by dragging a wet mop from Release to Follow-Through.

Tongzilla - excellent post!!! Really good stuff! Very thorough and explained extremely well!!!!

Now 2-C-0 (Linear Force) does elude to '..perfectly centered action -- or a compensating manipulation', however it discusses that the Physical Center not be the center of the ball or gravitational center, just the point of compression. "In other words, the original contact points of the Clubface and ball must remain in contact throughout the entire Impact Interval. This is possible only if the motion--or arc--is uniform..."

So I guess what I am saying I don't track with your logic regarding Horizontal Hinging. In fact what would you say in regards to Vertical Hinging?

And I am a bit concerned that it appears that Hinging is the Key to Sustaining the Line of Compression, I thought there were some other elements that were of equal if not more importance.

Martee...

Angled hinging has an uncentered linear motion. Tong is simply saying that in horizontal hinging, the clubhead and clubface are rotating around the same center - and therefore, the arc is uniform...as opposed to angled hinging.

Clubhead lag is that heaviness you feel through Pressure Point #3 as Club changes direction.

Another way to explain the heaviness Tong speaks of is to simply say feeling the clubhead's weight. Just a thought.

Lag is described but the only mention of HOW it is obtained is a single sentence about dragging a wet mop through impact. The problem is that a wet mop can be drug through impact incorrectly and in such a way that when switching from a wet mop to a golf club, lag won't happen. Someone who doesn't have lag and having read the above posts, still won't.

So the "jig" isn't up.

MJ...

I think the more pertinent point is, if you drag a wet mop through impact, you will be feeling the mop's head (is that grammatically correct) weight through impact...and will not throw it. Sure...anyone can throw it...but realistically - will they????? So...try to duplicate a similiar feeling with a club. Either slow it down or shorten the stroke until you can feel the clubhead (lag)...

Whatcha think???


FUN, FUN THREAD EVERYONE! Good stuff!!! Very informative and thought provoking from everyone. At least it is for me!

-Patrick