[Delaware Golf]

DG

I have now spent a lot of time trying out TT's "right arm throw" action.

I agree with you on one critical point - that it must start with an arm action and not a lower body action. TT's throw action is to throw the clubshaft "down-and-out" on the plane and to get the clubshaft moving down-and-out towards the ball before the body moves. I agree that the body must move secondarily/reactively to the throw. I can also understand how the body musn't move before the throw because that will predispose to throwing the club out in an OTT manner.

There is one major technical flaw in TT's description. He talks of uncocking both wrists in the throw action - activated by the right forearm. However, the right wrist never cocks in the backswing, it only bends backwards (dorsiflexes) - because the right arm flying wedge is always at a right angle to the left arm flying wedge at the top of the backswing. Therefore, when TT states that one throws the club from the top, the right wrist cannot uncock because it was never cocked up at any time point during the backswing. TT demonstrates a right arm throw action - using only his right arm - and it looks like he is uncocking his right wrist in an ulnar direction. However, that is not technically possible in a full golf swing - because if the flat left wrist is uncocking "on plane" and the right arm flying wedge is right-angled opposed to the uncocking left arm flying wedge, then the right wrist must perform an action that is 90 degrees opposed to the "on plane" uncocking motion of the left arm flying wedge. That obviously cannot be a right wrist uncocking motion. So, TT is wrong on two technical accounts - i) the right wrist never cocks upwards during the backswing and ii) any right wrist action must be at right angles to the down-and-out planar movement of the uncocking left arm flying wedge (uncocking left wrist). That right wrist action (if it occurred) would therefore have to be a palmar flexion action, and I suspect that even you wouldn't recommend that the right wrist should actively palmar flex in a swinger's action. Or would you?

Jeff.

Jeff,

Trust me Tommy doesn't cock the right wrist on the backswing. Nor does he try to uncock the right and left wrist at the beginning of the downswing (he karate chops with the right forearm...re-read the last paragraph of 7-3, with that karate chopping action he won't uncock that right wrist, it will stay bent and level because Tommy has trained himself to execute the Magic of the Right Forearm properly.). However, the right and left wrist go to an uncocked position post impact. Ya got to put his instruction into context...which you failed to do. At this point, I recommend you re-watch the whole Chapter series then watch the whole Letter series....you're getting close to figuring it out. I wouldn't stop. You'll start to see how good Tommy is at getting a golfer to use his right arm for swinging and hitting without generating a throw-away condition.

DG