TGM 10-3 Elbow Positions

I won't go over all of the Elbow Positions in 'The Golfing Machine' since most of them are not really necessary to understand. But in this post I'll go over the 3 major elbow positions (punch, pitch, and bat).

MAJOR BASIC STROKES

10-3-A. PUNCH From a 'down-and-at-the-side' Elbow Position, whether the Elbow is touching the Body or not, a straight-line Right Hand Punch is delivered through Impact (6-E). (Per 6-2-C-A and 7-19) Except with 10-3-C (Push), the Right Forearm must have a 'Fanning' type of motion, not a 'Linear' Push Stroke type of motion (10-3-C). Trigger Delay (7-20) of the Right Elbow can be augmented only through Hip Slide or Hip Turn, per 10-14.

So the right Elbow has to be down and at the side of the golfer (right at the side of the right hip) and it may or may not be touching the side of the body. Furthermore, the right forearm must make a fanning type of motion, not a push stroke motion which will be discussed later on. I *think* Ernie Els here shows a good 'punch elbow.'

Notice how the right elbow is clearly 'down-and-at-the-side' as Homer Kelley describes. And Trigger delay can only be increased through hip slide or hip turn.

10-3-B. PITCH (or Slap) From a 'down-and-in-the-front' Elbow Position, whether the Elbow is touching the Body or not, a Right Forearm underhand Pitch is delivered at the Aiming Point with a stiff-wristed slapping motion.

The only real difference from 10-3-A is that the Right Elbow can lead the Hands into the Release much farther with the same amount of Hip travel (6-B-1-C) and is therefore conducive to greater Trigger Delay for Snap Releases.

So the right elbow is out in front of the right hip and may or may not be touching the body. Then the right forearm makes an underhand pitching motion with a stiff right wrist directed at the aiming point.

Furthermore, the difference between the pitch and the punch elbow is that the pitch elbow can really get that maximum Trigger Delay for Snap Releases.

I believe David Orr is showing and example of Pitch Elbow in the pic below.

10-3-K BAT The term 'bat' indicates that the Club is being accelerated by the Right Arm (1-F) but always with an Axe Handle procedure per 2-K. It is always a 'Hit' and when used with any Major Basic Stroke can produce Full Power.

For the 'basic' execution of this procedure, 'freeze' the Right Wrist in its Impact Fix Position --- Bent and Level. (Chapter 4) Then the Checkrein Action (6-B-1-0) bends the Right Elbow only until it cocks the Left Wrist (10-2-0 and 10-18-0). Straightening the Right Elbow (10-20-B) for Release Action (4-D-0) can be manipulated for any Release Type (10-24). The proper execution must comply with the Right Arm activity as discussed in 7-3.

It is a quite uncomplicated procedure --- The Club is an angled but rigid extension of the Right Forearm and the advisability of keeping both On Plane is the same as with the Left arm version but is much more obvious. The 'Bat' guarantees simultaneous Release Motions (4-D-0).

This is the 'axe handle' technique used by 'hitters.' I thought Jeff Mann did a really nice job of explaining the 'Bat' elbow position.




You can see the rest of Jeff's videos at http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=ImperfectGolfer&view=videos









3JACK