[airair]

http://www.lynnblakegolf.com/forum/thread6046.html

Originally Posted by EdStraker

Yoda, Should the golfer be looking at the aiming point, or the inside-aft quadrant of the ball when they swing?

Good question.

In The Golfing Machine, the Three Stations are the Address (8-01/2/3), the Top (8-6) and the Finish (8-12) The goal is to be as prepared as possible before Start-Up, as precise as possible through the Top and as smooth and complete as possible through Impact to the proper position at the Finish.

Note that Impact (8-10) does not enjoy the rank of a Station. It simply "gets in the way" of your Delivered Clubhead. And you use the Three Zones (Chapter 9) to train your Machine to operate without interference from either Club or Ball. In Zone #1 (Body / 9-1), for example, you learn your Pivot motion without the Arms and Club to avoid awkward "hitches." In Zones #2 (Arms / 9-2) and #3 (Hands / 9-3) you learn to make their Motions without a Ball to avoid Throwaway (4-D-1) and Steering(3-F-7-A). So, once you've established your Impact Fix alignments(2-J-1) -- this is where you nail that inside-aft quadrant! -- the Ball becomes irrelevant. It could be there. Or not be there. Practice Stroke (3-F-5-1) or for real (12-5-3).

Once you've determined your Fix alignments, the Aiming Point (6-E-2) replaces the Ball. You now direct the Lag Loading (7-19) of the #3 Pressure Point at the Aiming Point as if it were the Ball. This Aiming Point can only be determined by experience (Practice!) only. And you will need to learn how to direct your Thrust precisely at that point once you've learned where it is.

The way to do that is explained in 6-E-2-1. At the Top, you mentally construct a line from the first joint of your Right Forefinger (#3 Pressure Point /6-C-1-3) to the Aiming Point. This becomes your Delivery Path (10-23-A or10-23-C). Practicing in slow motion -- first without a Club; then with a Club but no Ball -- you let a careful Downstroke Pivot (On-Plane Right Shoulder /10-13-D) deliver the Lag Pressure Loading (7-19) strongly down the Straight Line Delivery Path (of the Hands). In real time, the Club is driven strongly downward, smashing through the Ball, through the Aiming Point to the Low Point to the Both Arms Straight Position (Follow-Through / 8-11) from which you Swivel into your Finish.

The big idea -- if you haven't noticed! -- is "Down." Straight Down through the Aiming Point. Straight Down to the Low Point of the Stroke. Only then, per 1-L 13/14/15, does the Club begin the Upward portion of its Orbit, and even then the Thrust continues Down Plane until the end of the Follow-Through (8-11).

Homer told me one time that very few golfers actually go all the way down. Almost all reach the Ball and begin their upward Motion before the Low Point is reached. "Even Tour players," he said.

"They almost all come up, and I'm really kind of surprised when I see them still take a divot."

I asked him for the name of a player who did go all the way down.

"Trevino", he said with a lowered voice and a growl.

"I like that guy. He hits a wedge, and you've got to help him get the club out of the ground!"