March 7, 2020, I just realized that pulling my left side towards the ball (after the upswing), something I cannot do before, is now physically possible for me. This way, I was able to connect the "Stroke of Genius (SOG)" to the golf swing. There is a section devoted to it that one can read in order to understand the connection to this topic. Basically, using the SOG, I was able to hit the ball indirectly by just letting the weight of the turn to fling the clubhead to the ball.
The next day, I tried to implement it at the Tradition at Oak Lane Golf Course. It worked but not consistently. I still suffered the misfits and shanks.
The day after, March 10, 2020, here is what I wrote:
What is the cause? Simple but hard to digest. It is the shoulders over-rotating and go off alignment with the plane. This is hard to detect. Usually the misalignment is cured by over-cocking the club and that is why the resulting late hit cures the misaligned shoulders. However, when there is no cocking, the shoulders are late in correcting its alignment to the plane and the contact to the ball is met with an open clubface. Mis-hits or shanks occur.
The cure? Make sure the left wrist cock the club first along the plane and turn the shoulders along that plane. Easy to say and easy to make a mistake thinking one rotated along the plane but actually did not. One can check by not cocking the club purposely and hitting with the SOG. If the clubhead hits square, the the shoulders stayed along the plane. Try chipping too. I guess the best way to make me remember is the term "dukot". It is a very restrictive feeling. Also, the move is like flicking your cape around your shoulders with your left hand.
Watershed Moment
March 12, 2020, I played nine holes at the Tradition at Oak Lane.
1) I was able to confirm the golf swing is actually a pull motion.
2) Flicking the club like a cape is not that easy to do in real play after a while. It is easier to use and turn the left shoulder instead.
3) The cocking is a necessary part of the swing. It creates the centrifugally created flicking force that is essential to a perfect hit.
The Essence of SOG
What is really behind the Stroke of Genius (SOG)? What really makes it work? Is it muscle memory alone?
Yes it is muscle memory but there is something more than that to make it work. It is the fact that it is a PULLING FORCE, ALWAYS. SOG is the key to use the power of the ground, the power to project the gravity to anything, even the small golf ball! AND THE PULL POWER COMES FROM THE GROUND. Without the ground as a leverage, a pull cannot be executed at all.
So What is the Bottom Line
Now we know that SOG is essentially the pulling force or motion, then what is important in a golf swing is achieving a connection between the ground and the swing. And that means in the golf swing that it is essential to load up the swing, not the cocking or the shoulders, per se, but the point when the swing is connected to the ground. Of course, the left arm, the cocking and the shoulder motions facilitated the connection but those are not the purpose of the swing. They are just facilitators. As long as that connection is made, that is it takes and required. Nothing more, nothing less.
What to Work on Next
March 16, 2020. Develop a swing that will use the turning right hips to hit the ball with a pure swinger stoke (vs. any combination of a hitter stroke). Three things must be done to make this happen. The alive grip with left hand dominant, left shoulder turn to load up the right hip, then the right hip turn to make the hit. Repeat, the right hip imaginararily slaps the ball!
March 19, 3020. On the other hand, it may be better to leave the thinking out and just put the club behind the ball, use the left shoulder to bring the club up (no hand movement, strict one piece takeaway) and hit! No mental needed, leave everything to muscle memory.
March 22, 2020. In order to execute the preceding Mar. 19 entry, it may be better, if possible on the course, to mentally let the left shoulder (starting from extreme 90 degree alive grip) cock the club up along the plane with the right shoulder as a fulcrum. Note, in order to remember this, dip the right shoulder down (to see the plane) before the left shoulder turns.
WHAT IS MY SWING NOW AND WHY?
March 25, 2020. Last year, 2019-02-05, I wrote: DON'T FUCKING FORGET THIS. IT IS HOW THE COCK IN SABONG GETS POINTED.
1) AT ADDRESS, TRY FLICKING THE LEFT WRIST TO FIND THE PLANE.
2) 1218-12-14: KEEPING THE RIGHT SHOULDER LOWER AND THE GRIP WAY AHEAD OF THE BALL MAKES IT EASIER TO SEE THE PLANE AND HELPS LAUNCH THE CLUB HEAD BACKWARDS AND UPWARDS ALONG THE PLANE (VS STANDING UPRIGHT ON THE PLANE AND LAUNCH IS FROM LEFT TO RIGHT WHICH MAKES THE BACK SWING QUITE NOT RIGHT. )
3) ALSO IT IS LIKE RIDING THE CIRCULAR PLANE LIKE A BIKE AND COCKING IS A DOWN AND UP MOTION VS COCKING SIDE TO SIDE MOTION.
4) 2019-12-15: WHEN ADDRESSING THE BALL, IT MAY BE EASIER TO VISUALIZE THE BACK OF THE LEFT HAND PRONATING (WITH THE WRIST BREAKING EARLY) ALONG THE PLANE AT THE SAME TIME LAUNCHING THE CLUB HEAD UP.
5) 2019-02-06: Bringing the right shoulder down physically puts the right shoulder BELOW the plane and essentially makes the BACK SWING a southwest to northeast vertical move rather than a west to east horizontal move... which is MENTALLY impossible for me.
And here is the downswing, the method that imparts the most spin on the ball. Since the upswing now is being imagined as the plane as vertical - rather than horizontal - the downswing is a pull of the club by the waist towards the ball resulting in an automatic turning of the body to the finish position. That turn creates the "professional" back spin. Basically, the downswing is pushing the posterior towards the ball and the action of the turning of the body to the finish position creates a centrifugal right to left slashing motion of the clubhead to the ball.
