[bambam]

I would say it all flows from 1-L. So in 2-0 under essentials and imperatives you've got to keep the Machine concept and everything he talks about in 1-L in reference. The Essentials and Imperatives in 2-0 is really the segway - he's building the bridge- that is - he is referencing, reviewing, and summarizing the Machine Concept- what a precision stroke includes based on the 1-L The Machine Concept and then the first paragraph after the Basic Essentials and Basic Imperatives leads us from the Chapter 1-L Machine concept right into the science- and the geometrical relationships. So based on this Machine Concept- here are the scientific application and verification and elaboration of that Machine Concept- it's his logical progression.

So really the essentials and the imperatives covers all 21 items in 1-L- you could essentially check them all off the list with those six items. Now, looking at the essentials and imperatives in regards to or in relation to the Human- sure you could have a little head movement, not be perfectly balanced like the machine, maybe have a little variation in clubhead travel i.e. rhythm but as long as you have the imperatives you'll be Golden. So the Machine is perfect on all six items- Stationary Head, Balance, Rhythm, A "Flat" left wrist, a lag pressure point, straight plane line. But in the Human application- the essentials can be off a little as long as you are accomplishing the imperatives. But all six are the important characteristics of the Machine.

Good post, Mike. I want to chew on this a little more, but at first glance this makes perfect sense to me.

I think Homer eludes to the human essentials vs. machine imperatives distinction in 1-L when he talks about balance and force.

In every athletic activity, success seems to be unquestionably proportional to the player's sense of balance and force - whether innate or acquired. Off-balance force is notoriously erratic. The mechanical device has no balance problem but the human machine does, and mastery of the Pivot (Zone #1) is so essential for good Golf.

Given that premise, it makes clearer (to me) the reason why the impertives would be more important even though all 6 would be required for the perfect machine. If one bends thier left wrist, there's not much the human part of the machine can do to "save" or compensate, where-as if one isn't perfectly balanced or moves thier head (these are closely related IMO), they can make the necessary compensations. It's not perfect, but certainly managable until more precision can be built into one's machine. I realize this is essentially what you said in your post, but that human vs. machine distinction does help me get what Homer might have been thinking when defining those 6 items.