[tongzilla]

DG,



When I worked with Tom, I had no TGM knowledge or experience. I took every word that he said as gospel. What I have come to learn over these many years is that Tom was actually finding his way through TGM and his thoughts were in a constant state of flux and evolution. I can tell you that in 1987, Tom had completely adopted a pivot controlled hands approach to his teaching. Page 223, sixth edition, last sentence 1st paragraph, he had me strike "Educated hands control the pivot" and replace it with "Pivot controls the hands". And on page 61, at the bottom of the page I have his note: "We are using pivot controlled hands!! Having the pivot "in charge" is easier." He was huge on learning the stick drill, and like I referenced earlier, I can still hear his mantra..."withdraw the right hip, fold the right arm, straighten the right arm, withdraw the left hip."
When he said straighten the right arm, it was more like STRAIGHTEN the right arm!!!!! RIGHT NOW!!! IMMEDIATELY!!!! ( All the while maintaining a bent right wrist all the way to the finish.) Incidentally, in 12-2-0, he changed the Shoulder turn component to "Rotating", the Hip Action to "Standard", the loading action to "Random Sweep, the Power Package Delivery Path to "Top Arc", and the Power Package Release to "Auto Snap".

The last time that I worked with Tom, probably around mid 1990 or so...he was into CIRCLE PATH DELIVERY for all shots. In looking back, I think that his association with Peter Croker was the explanation for this new approach. This is a couple of years before you worked with Tom, and perhaps by then he had develped a penchant for right arm swinging.

End of story...that's all I know.

EC

The lesson is this:

Follow, learn and understand the Basic Patterns of Hitting and Swinging in 12-1 and 12-2 before customising your own variations. That applies even if you think you know a lot about TGM. Only until you really know what you're doing and you really understand the jigsaw, then start customising. Even then, be very careful of what you're doing. Otherwise, you are much much better off following Homer's Pattern. Afterall, he's spent 28 years looking for it.