[Jeff]

Yoda - I cannot address your first question re: post #123 because I cannot locate that post. Post #123 was not your post.

I will offer my opinion regarding your second question.

You asked-: "Assume a tethered ball in orbit around an axis. Does the tether (and its tension) serve as the centripetal force of that action? If not, what does? If so, how does that differ from the concept of the clubhead tethered to its center (left shoulder) by the left arm and clubshaft?"

I do not think that the tether (and its tension) of the tethered ball in orbit represents as the centripetal force. I think the centripetal force is derived from the movement of the hand in a circular manner (when the hand moves from position A to position B in the following diagram), and the taut string only transmits the centripetal force to the orbiting ball. The string is continuously taut with no variation in its degree of tension - and therefore it is not a source of the centripetal force. It is only the conduit whereby the centripetal force (the force that keeps the orbiting ball traveling in a circle) is transmitted from the hand to the ball.



By analogy, the left arm/clubshaft combo does not create any centripetal force. It only serves as conduit whereby a centripetal force is transmitted to the clubhead. The source of the centripetal force is the movement of the left hand in a circular arc. The left hand moves in a circular arc secondary to a combination of two motions - the arc-like movement of the left shoulder socket in space, and the arc-like movement of the left arm which is suspended from the left shoulder socket, which acts as its fulcrum point.

Jeff.