Gear Train
 

Wonderful post, O.B. I enjoyed every word.

Regarding Mr. Snead . . .

What pulled the Arm?

:)

To be blunt, Homer was theoretically diverse to the extreme. He would never say something was wrong. Incompatible with certain other components maybe but not wrong by itself. I recall an example when during a Masters Class a student asked him if it would be wrong for a swinger to use the Angle of Approach procedure. His reply was something like:

"Well.........no.........but he's got a lot of work to do, a lot of compensations to make".

Its my opinion that the best students who learned directly from Homer embraced, lived , taught this attitude. TGM is not a method as written.

There is a guy I know of who teaches a pattern, a good pattern, his pattern. A pattern in stark contrast to his teachers pattern. He makes a lot of hay criticizing TGM for not including some of his x procedures, for being a closed loop. Its music to the ears of those that think the book is overly obtuse................"stick with me Ill show you the shortcut through the dark forest".

If it gets you where you want to go then great, its a good fit for you. They would be surprised to find that Homer would not be averse to it in any way. But Homer would also recognize any tendencies , compensations which may be inherent. (Perhaps an incompatibility too ) And that is where method teaching gives way to more diverse, informed discussion and approaches artistry.

So we have choices, lots of them. And Homer was all about options. A mind boggling array of options. On that, we should all be able to agree.

By the way, my cross handed friend ended up winning the local Champions of Champions event. Beating some 30 odd club champions, most of whom where half his age. Amazing.

Slammin Sam
 

I think you need to watch Sam Snead again (I have watched it numerous times, it's not the left arm)!!! According to Tomasello it's a 10-20-E startdown (Snead's Startdown is documented in a number of books, one that I have is "Sam Snead Teaches You His Simple "Key" Approach to Golf", per Hand Key 6: Starting Down , Pull with your left hand fingers", Snead defined it as pulling down with the last two fingers of the left hand, this approach concurs with the Ernest Jones "Swing the Clubhead Approach", I believe the 12-2-0 Swing Stroke Pattern represents most closely to the Snead approach, not Ben Hogan)...yes, there may be a ton of different stroke pattern combinations, but there are less than 10 trigger types...single or in combination.

Next, you'll have to question whether or not Hogan really started the club down with the hips?

It's not that I'm a big fan of Tom Tomasello's instruction, I'm really a big fan of the truth...in anything that I study...I believe Tommy is one of a few who spoke the truth about the golfing machine...time spent with Homer, in person, and the amount of audio recordings that Tommy had at hand to fully understand TGM. I don't know of any TGM instructor who taught TGM like Tommy...going through the whole book with his students....his three part teaching approach....a Swinging School, a Hitting School and an Advanced School (shot making with swinging and hitting). It was a complete picture with Mr. Tomasello.

DG

Play it again, Tom!
 

DG,

I am little lost. How did Tomasello say the downswing was initiated? The pulling action of the forearms, or the accelertion of the right shoulder? I probably should know given that this path is well worn, but occured to me that I was a bit vague. Do the arms move the shoulder, or does the right shoulder move the arms? Or do the hips actually move first because the intent was to move the right shoulder down plane? I have posted before that in my own stroke pattern my conscious thought is to hurtle my right shoulder down plane, but the eye of the camera suggest that regardless of my intent the hips slide tilting my axis. Thinking about hip slide is the kiss of death for me. As for pulling of the forearms that tends to disconnect my power package from its engine, the pivot.

I find it interesting that you regard TT as a TGM savant extrodinaire. I agree with OB in that Homer would not be nailed down to one pattern etc. To me any teacher that over emphasizes one pattern, or component variation for that matter, to the exclusion of all others misses the point! Either, they do not have a full understanding of all the workable patterns, or they cannot resist the temptation to have a pet pattern. TGM then becomes a method, and no longer a catalogue of workability. We are still then just looking for a magic bullet (which I have found by the way!:laughing9 ) I like what TT says. To tout his expertise as without peer is admirable from a loyalty point of view, but I think it ultimately marginalizes Tom Tomasello in the eyes of many in light of our benefactor's (Yoda) vast knowledge. Lynn certainly does not have to defend his prowess, it literally speaks for itself. A true TGM savant is not married to a methodology, ultimately honoring Homer's intent. For TT it may have been a hit and miss kind of thing. I think he had an aversion to hitting, which I think has some real advantages. It is tough to be objective, most everybody picks favorites. I found Homer's reluctance to speak adamantly about what he preferred to be quite irritating! Now I appreciate why. Like 10-20-E? Then utilize 10-20-E!

DG I must admit I was going from memory on the Snead Shells WW of Golf demonstration. I tried to find it on line but couldnt. Please put it up if you have a link. I'd love to see it again.

In terms of Hogans sequence, its well documented to my mind, by Hogan himself and others..........ground up. Here is Moe Norman's take on it.............."We're the only two guys in golf that get into a sitting position ......as we take the club back".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLZTY... 317BB&index=4

Nice clip of Moe. If I'm not mistaken, that is the voice of the guy from the Big Break who was a Moe fan (and swung a lot like him). I'm blanking on his name, but I saw him a year or so ago give a clinic in Fairfax, VA. As close to Moe as I've seen in terms of pattern (although not as straight I suspect).

the key part of that clip is the focus on the 'sit down', and the leading of the left knee.

that left knee move is very much worth paying attention to IMO.

Hogan, Moe and Knudson all had it. As does Faldo, and to a less obvious degree, Trevino.

As far as a swinger's start down, a focus on the left knee or right shoulder is a good place to 'start'. :golf:

I guess I got that song wrong!
 

Right shoulder is connected to...the...left knee.

Curious as to why the left knee Edz?

EDZ, do you mean Kelly Murray ?

Yep.

Okie - yes, that link is a powerful one. Try holding the top of your backswing and imagine a line tied from the left knee to the right shoulder. Without moving anything else, start the left knee directly left and you'll get the feel for how that pulls the right shoulder and gets the pivot into the "Snead Squat" position. A very powerful position.

LOL

That won't fit very well in the connected song, but what a great thought for G.O.L.F. Thanks for another great nugget Ed! :salut:

Kevin