SCIENCE ON THE LESSON TEE
'That's not possible!' the science teacher said to me. He was a professor at (name with held) University. His specialty was, I believe, quantum physics, but don't hold me to it. I do know he was a little nervous when he first approached me because he started making jokes about subatomic particles and black holes.
What was 'not possible' was what I told him, after watching him hit a couple balls. I simply said, 'You don't bend, cock, break or hinge your wrists during the backswing in the Peak Performance Golf Swing.'
'But everybody, EVERYBODY says you …' he sputtered. I held up my hand, more or less suggesting he calm down.
There's just something about the game of golf that, after all these years, I have yet to figure out. So often, when golfers first come to me, they are convinced that the laws of science, of physics and physiology, do not apply to this game. They obviously think that golf falls into something called 'the suspension of disbelief.' In movies and television shows, like Star Wars or Star Trek, or, my favorite, Alf, your mind says, 'O.K., I'll believe what I know is not possible is possible.' I really enjoyed Alf.
Somehow the golf swing and 'beam me up, Scottie,' have reached parity.
So here's this quantum physics guy, who has been told by, well, just about everybody, from instructors to golf magazines to everyone in his foursome, you've got to cock your wrist. And I'm saying, 'Nope.'
I feel he's about ready to walk off the tee in disgust. So I ask him, 'Clubhead speed is generated through the law of centrifugal force, right?'
'Yeah, I guess so,' he replies and stops. He's thoughtful, so I know I've got him.
'Your first science teacher tied a string around a rock and spun the rock in his or her fingers. The string formed the radius of a circle and the teacher showed you the radius had to remain constant to maintain the rock's orbit, right?' I said. He was listening. I was on a roll.
'Make the clubhead your 'rock,' the shaft and your left arm the 'string.' To achieve maximum centrifugal force, which equals clubhead speed, you must keep the shaft, left arm and wrists STRAIGHT. Yes, you can allow the pull of the club to stretch and flex the muscles of the arm at the joints, but DON'T bend the elbow and wrist,' I said.
'Yes,' he mumbled. He was looking at his 'string,' his club and left arm.
O.K., Mr. Black Hole Expert, here's the clincher. 'If you bend, break, cock, hinge or set your wrist at top of backswing, you'll come under the 'Number One Domino Effect.' You know what that is, right?'
'Of course. It's a chain reaction that occurs when a small change causes a similar change nearby, which then will cause another similar change, and so on in linear sequence,' he said, like he wrote the book. Maybe he did.
'Very good,' I replied. Do you know the Number One Domino Principle?'
He shook his head 'no.'
On a roll, I continued. 'The only good wrist cock in NO wrist cock. If the left wrist breaks, the entire swing begins to break down. You MUST do everything possible to keep the left wrist flat and relatively straight throughout the swing. This keeps the clubhead in a wide and constant arc which will return it squarely to the ball. You'll feel like you have shortened your backswing. That's good. At the top of your backswing your thumbs will be perpendicular, 90-degrees, to the ground, and you'll only be doing a three-quarter turn. Follow that 'three-quarter, thumbs-up rule' and you'll achieve maximum clubhead speed, consistency in your ball striking, and accuracy.'
'That makes so much sense! I never considered applying physics to the golf swing,' my flabbergasted professor admitted. 'Have you ever considered M.I.T?' he asked.
I said, 'No, that's the next lesson. In the MITT and up the tree.'
With the PPGS, we deal in fact, not fiction. However, I still like Alf.
The Surge!
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