[coophitter]

Hi Coophitter,

Welcome to the forum!

I'm really interested in your experience with Tom Tomasello. I'm not sure if you have seen them, but there are a bunch of videos of Tom on this site in the Gallery section, which have certainly been helpful to me, and I'm sure to others here.

I'd be keen to hear details on the procedure Tom taught you. If you don't mind, a couple of questions I haven't really figured out from watching the videos mentioned above.

(1) In some of his videos (The 'Australian' series) Tom talks about the left hip pulling behind and the pivot not stopping through the shot. But in others (The 'Myrtle Beach' series)he seems to suggest a much more quiet body - more as if the hips get somewhat open and then are pulled to the finish (facing the target) by the momentum of the arms. Which of these (if either) were you taught?

(2) Did Tom teach you a longitudinal pull of the clubshaft from the top/end. Again, I think this is explicit in the 'Australian' series, but less so in the 'Myrtle Beach' series?

Any help you could offer, or any other insights, would be much appreciated!

Kind regards,
Chris

Hi, Chris. Tomasello told me about longitudinal acceleration but he taught me an immediate radial and vertical uncocking of the right arm to begin the downswing and told me to do absolutely as little as possible with my body except to follow the flight of the ball immediately after impact with my eyes. He said I would instinctively and quickly plant pressure under both feet (the sit) to facilitate the throw and not to worry about it. He also told me extensor action would keep the right arm from straightening out too early as long as I only allowed my left wrist to uncock in line with the left arm and didn,t let the right wrist flex forward. Then he taught me about the various hinge actions. A horizontal hinge action would definitely pull my whole body onto my left foot post impact yet angled and vertical wouldn't as much. Even though video would show that my left knee separated from my right to put pressure under my left foot to set up the throw, Tomasello admonished me to throw that club straight into the ground prior to altering the pose of my body and to stay on that right side until the throw pulled me onto my left foot. He did say to really let the body be pulled though. That's all I still do and if you read Harry Vardon's The Gist of Golf, that is what he tells you to do to start the downswing. I hope this clears things up. No body muscling before the the throw. Only a slight brace will occur under both feet to set it up as all energy comes first from the earth, Hope this explains things somewhat for you.