3Jack's Translation of TGM: Part 7D

6-C-2-B (Angular Acceleration)

Very important to note the scientific formula for Force, which is F = M * A

That is: FORCE = MASS * ACCELERATION

Generally that is something every serious golfer should understand, even if you're say Fred Couples. Because when you are looking for say a driver, you need to weigh in the factors of the mass of the club and how fast you can swing it. If the club has a lot of mass, then it's likely to going to cut down on your accleration of swinging that mass. Swinging the club faster may mean decreasing the mass. Thusly, you need to find an optimal club that will give you optimal mass and acceleration (and then hope you can hit the thing accurately).

(Credit: Anonymous Reader who pointed out that the formula is Force = Mass * Acceleration instead of Force = Mass * Velocity, which I posted originally. For more, please see the comments section)

Homer states that on the downswing if you extend the swing radius that can increase the mass of the club which decelerates the hands. Per the Endless Belt effect, the hand speed is supposed to stay constant from the top of the swing thru halfway of the follow thru. So when you decelerate the hands, the clubhead decelerates as well. If you 'extend the swing radius' on the downswing, you are basically having 'clubhead throwaway' (aka casting) and losing that primary lever assembly.

Remember, you want the 'mass' to mostly be up in or near the hands on the downswing. That's where that clubhead lag pressure is. Let's take a look at Lindsey Gahm's swing:




While golfers that have clubhead throwaway tend to have a very circular hand delivery path and start to lose their primary lever assembly in a SIMILAR fashion to Ms. Gahm, the big difference is she keeps those hands moving at a constant rate and has plenty of lag pressure in the hands. This results in achieving the #1 imperative and alignment in the golf swing, the flat left wrist at impact.


The hacker who has throwaway slows down those hands and loses that lag pressure in the hands. That causes the clubhead increase in mass and the hands keep slowing down. One major thing to note in the golf swing is that ONCE THAT LAG PRESSURE IS LOST, IT'S GONE, YOU CAN'T GET IT BACK IN THAT PARTICULAR SWING. Furthermore, ONCE YOUR HANDS SLOW DOWN IN THE DOWNSWING, YOU CAN'T SPEED THEM UP IN THAT PARTICULAR SWING.

So when the high handicapper loses that lag pressure and the hands slow down, the clubhead mass effectively increases and that causes the throwaway.

6-C-2-C (Impact Cushion)

Pretty self explanatory here. That shaft bend you see at impact with good players at impact:


That's caused by the 'prestressed clubshaft' which will resist the added weight of the ball during impact.

Lag pressure will normally stay constant regardless of how much velocity is produced. The #1 PP (life line of the right hand that touches the left thumb) and the #3 PP (base joint of the right index finger) are a product of PA #1 (folding and straightening of the right arm).

6-C-2-D (Lag Loss)

There's a small degree of clubhead lag permitted by the flex of the clubshaft. That's one big reason why it's so easy to lose lag and have throwaway. The stiffer the shaft, the less margin there is to lose lag.

I get asked about this quite a bit in regards to shaft flex and the golfer. Per Endless Belt Effect, the smaller the 'pulley' the slower the hand speed can be to create an effective, powerful swing. The bigger the 'pulley' the fast the hand speed. So I believe (at this moment anyway), a lot of it has to do with the golfer's hand speed and their 'pulley.' Take two golfers with similar hand speed, but one with a 'snap release' (Hogan) and the other with a full sweep release (Tom Watson), then I would say the snap release golfer needs stiffer flex shafts and probably heavier shafts as well. Watson would need less stiff shafts and lighter shafts. It's no coincidence that Hogan had very stiff, heavy clubshafts. Sergio also has a 'small pulley' and good hand speed, and it's no coincidence that he has very stiff shafts. Somebody like Anthony Kim who has a medium sized 'pulley', but incredible hand speed needs somewhere in between a stiff and super stiff shafts.

Homer talks about 'over-acceleration' and that is basically the clubhead moving too fast and moving faster than the hands. As he classically puts it: 'Over-acceleration is the menace that stalks all Lag and Drag.'

6-C-2-E (Grips and Lag)

Homer states:

Clubhead Lag Loading should be the first factor learned in Zone #2 applications of the Grips. It should be introduced with the simplest Single Barrel Stroke Types, and become habitual before any other specifics are approached, to avoid the miseries of Address Position Impact.

What this means that the golfer should learn and grasp clubhead lag right away as part of 'training' or 'educating' the hands.

Homer splits the golf swing into:

- Single Barrel (only one power accumulator in the swing is used)
- Double Barrel (two power accumulators in the swing are used)
- Triple Barrel (three power accumulators used)
- Four Barrel (all four power accumulators used - hitters only)

So a single barrel stroke is the simplest of strokes, something like a putt or a chip. So even in a chip shot motion, the golfer should be able to execute and grasp clubhead lag. Not only that, it should become a habit before the golfer goes into other specifics of the golf swing.

As Homer states that the clubhead lag should be habitual 'to avoid the miseries of Address Position Impact.'

What Homer means by that is that the alignments and positions at address are vastly different than the alignments and positions at impact. Here's a sample of such.




If your impact position is the same as your address position, that will indeed cause you misery, frustration and anger in your golf game.





3JACK