[Yoda]

Once Barry was able to walk straight ahead while swinging his arms side-to-side in perfect timing, the job was to translate that natural action into a 'golf-like' motion. I asked him to assume a golfer's stance -- no more walking -- and to duplicate the continuous and "parallel" free arm swing with natural leg action (loading and unloading foot and knee action). Alas, now that we were making something more akin to a golf swing, his old habits instantly took over. His upper torso swayed and twisted in the backstroke, pulling his head out of position and his now not-so-free arm swing far inside.

After showing him what was happening (and why), I then defined new 'on plane' alignments and demonstrated how to maintain them. I also explained how this radically different motion related to our coordinated 'walking and arm swinging' drill. After only a few minutes, Barry's action was centered and his "pivot controlled hands" had all but disappeared. His motion now had the unmistakeable look of a first class, "natural" golf swing, i.e., "hands controlled pivot".

By now, the sun was setting, the temperature had dropped and the wind was picking up. Time to go. It had been only a half hour or so, but without a club and without hitting the first ball, we had made real progress. We had focused only on the motion, and when the motion changes, the result changes.

I was tickled to read Barry's post and of the results achieved when he took his new motion to the course. Yessir, 'ol Yoda was mighty pleased . . .

But not surprised.