Plane Shifts

[BerntR]

These same people, when on the Golf Course can't hit the green more than 50% of the time from 150 yards, and that's a stationary target 20 times the size of the tractor.

Agreed. It's on the course you will know whether you have a reliable stroke or not. Short term muscle memory plays far too big role on the driving range.

I know exactly the Path of the Hands. The Hands Path controls the shoulder turn direction and amount on any given length of shot.

I think "control" is a too strong word here. Your hands will not fix your pivot if it goes south. The best thing you can hope for is that the hands senses the CONSEQUENCES of a pivot malfunction early enough to trigger a reasonable successful compensation. Even Tiger Woods is struggling with his pivot and he probably has the best educated hands in the game ever.

Implying that the hands can control the pivot via som physical chain reaction (a right forearm pickup that later on pulls the shoulder turn) is like implying that the tail can wag the dog. I'm not sure whether that's your position, but several TGM followers seem to equate hands control with a right hand startup.

I also find the "hands" emphasis to be far to reductionistic. The golf stroke is a highly complex motion that is mentally handled by a hierarki of routines and (sub concious) sub routines that reaches throughout your body.

I see no reason to simply monitor the hands when we are capable of visualising the whole motion. As I write this, I can think a golf stroke, and while I do it I can basically visit every body part involved and have a closer look at what it does. The hands are important because they are the closest we get to the club face. But the pivot is also important because it's a big, strong beast that can't be physically controlled by anything but itself and with huge influence on the outcome.

I don't know if OB Left has chosen his frasing " Hands to pivot" with care, but I find that more precise than "Hands controlled pivot".

I have the pleasure of knowing that 99.99% of my poor shots result from poor execution and not incompatible component selection due to poor decision making.

Well, you've certainly come farther in the noble art of ball striking than I have.

The thing I've got going for me is that I basically know whether I will execute a good stroke before I start the takeaway. The stroke pattern works as long as I manage bring it out. My visual responds to my setup and when I do something wrong at address I don't get the right visual. I often get a visual that tells me of the concequences of the misalignment. I don't see the misalignment. But it is always due to a pivot related error.

Hmm... maybe I can turn this around if I visualise the stroke before I start rehersing it?