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Do you know what the everyday ‘Mechanical Socket Set’ is … a tidy tin box containing a ratchet handle, length or reach extenders and the actual series of sockets? The ‘Ratchet Handle’ has a Left Right Button that enables our applying torque or turning pressure one way or the other … tightening or loosening!

Carrying this to our golf application, the ‘Ratchet’ is the ‘Lower Body Machine’. (The Spinal Core or Engine) The ‘Length Extenders’ are our ‘Lever Assemblies’ (Wrists, Arms and golf shafts). The ‘Sockets’ are our ‘Clubheads’ that vary in ‘Loft & Lie’. As you can see, the Clubheads, Shafts and Grips are the ‘Socket Set’ without the ‘Ratchet Handle’.

If there is need of changing the ‘Socket’ from 3/8” to 1/2” (to turn a different nut), pop off the one and exchange for the other!

No this is not about a P&J sandwich!

This is about ‘Skulling Your Wedge’ … striking the golf ball’s equator with your ‘Leading Edge’ and rocketing the ball across the green at ankle to knee height is never a good reality! We all fear the words “You are still away!” Being close (in the fringe or first cut) and ending up 30 yards past the green really sucks! Bunkers on the far side of the green are popular destinations!

When you are on ‘Hard Pan’ (dirt and no grass), ‘Bounce’ is not your friend! This situation invites hitting behind and bouncing into the ball … a dose of the ‘Skippies’!

In general, the ‘Lower Body Machine’ (LBM), our ‘Spinal Pivot Engine’, load-coils in the Back & Up Swing. This ‘Accumulation Of Potential Energy’ occurs ‘From The Top Down and From the Outside-In’. (see ‘The Balsa Airplane Concept’) The ‘Down & Out Swing’ is opposite. This occurs via the reverse component sequence … ‘From The Ground Up and From The Inside-Out’. You have heard the term ‘Hips Leading and Hands Lagging’. This is critical sequencing!

Taking the lead from our ‘Brace Middle Finger, First Digit Pad’ (This pad gently pressures and sweeps the ‘Putter Head and Sole’ away from the golf ball in the ‘Back Swing’) This is true for the Putter all the way through your bag to the Driver. The first 8 to 12 inches of both ‘Take-Aways’ are very similar! I can see the raised eyebrows! This is scientifically true!

Your ‘Brace Shoulder Turn’ is a critical element of a successful golf back swing (Full or Less Than Full). This simple ‘Shoulder Turn’ (one of the ‘Primary Articulating Joints - PAJ’) can be thought about as making a swing “Back & Up”.

Break the Human Body into just two distinct ‘Big Segments’ so we can avoid drowning in mind-numbing minutia! We must ‘Solve Complexity With Simplicity’! What if we undertake this ‘Golf Swing Process’ by ‘Working Smart’? Here are your ‘Two Big Segments’! 1) ‘The Lower Body Machine or Core’. (LBM including Soles of feet to top of head) and 2) ‘The Upper Body Machine’ or ‘Lever Assemblies’ (UBM include Shoulder Sockets, Upper Arms, Elbows, Forearms, Wrists and Hands plus the actual golf club, which is a ‘Lever’ that fundamentally operates from the Shoulder Socket Axis or Fulcrum to the Bottom Of Swing Arc or BOSA).

Let’s start by ‘Zeroing Out’ one of the ‘Two Big Segments’. “Poof” … the UBM is gone for now! We have just ‘DucTaped’ the ‘Lever Assemblies’ to our Chest and Abdomen … Brace Palm on the Chest … Target Palm over and resting on the Brace Biceps. Tidy picture? Stand up and feel it! Let us examine the ‘LBM or Core’ in a little more understandable detail? We now have the ‘Golf Body Machine’ morphing into some reality! From this ‘Arms Across The Chest’ condition, we can ‘Load & Unload the LBM’. A teacher must paint clear pictures!

This is a regular question from our ‘Global Followers’ but it is easier to respond freshly than to guide you to our expansive ‘Archive’. You know that there are over ‘1250 Proven Professional Pages’ in the ‘Locker Room Premium Membership’ area. It is a wonderful resource written for you over the years!

In simplicity, take hold of your golf club handle in your ‘Target Hand’ (The Swing Hand) leaving at least half to a full inch of grip sticking out behind your ‘Heel Pad’. It is a very common problem that golfers grip ‘Too Long’. (no grip sticking out) This causes the ‘Helper Fingers’ (middle, ring and little) to under-perform. A perfect grip is truly useful!

Does your Target Hand Glove have a black wear mark on the ‘Heel Pad’ or, worse still a hole worn in it? Living proof or evidence of there being a problem! “Oh well, it is just another $15.00 plus tax!”

As you already know we have a free ‘Glossary Of Terms and of No No Terms’ (almost 80 pages of carefully created dictionary) on the ‘Home Page’ of our terrific resource website. Pay it a visit.

Where did the stimulation to accomplish this substantial literary feat come from? In the medical and complex flight realm, we have a lot of terms to embrace in order to be professional and efficient. Our language must be succinct and clear! Go look and enjoy! www.555golf.com

Your ‘555 Team’ uses a lot of ‘Acronyms’ but we always present these with the ‘Long Form’ in accompaniment! We have a very big global family who is not afraid to speak their minds. When we just used the acronym, we got complaints. We had used the ‘Long Form’ many times in our writings, but that does not mean YOU have seen and remember! Please allow me to give you a very important example herein. www.555golf.com (see ‘The Tab Bar’ - Glossary Of Terms’)

an abused falsehood

‘Clubhead Lag’ is about specific ‘Wrist Actions’, right?

The ‘Wrist Hinge’ functions on three axes ... 1) Vertical Action about a ‘Horizontal Hinge’ (Cock, Level & Un-Cocked), 2) Horizontal Action about a ‘Vertical Hinge’ (Bend, Flat & Bowed) and 3) Rotational Action about or around a ‘Forearm Longitudinal Axis’ (Turn, Vertical & Roll - Radius & Ulna) Nine very different and complimentary conditions and positions! No more!

I read recently in a medical journal that 80% of golfers suffer from ‘Soft Tissue and Boney Aspect’ injury to varying degrees. (see ‘STI’ … Soft Tissue Injury) That is 4 out of 5 golfers! Epidemic and worthy of very serious consideration? The industry and societal response must be a resounding “YES!”

Without a lot of medical details, let your ‘555 Team’ express a carefully considered position in this matter of importance. No local or national social body can sustain losses (attrition) or negative outcomes in excess of 80% and survive! With tongue-in-cheek. (just a little) what would be the result of 80% of car drivers having accidents? “Playing through the pain of golf” is nonsensical!

Question for you. Have you ever been injured or uncomfortable due to ‘GOLF’? Think cause and effect?

unathletic advice
Glossary of No No Terms

What considerable, offensive athletic skill demands or is benefitted by ‘Keeping Your Head Down’? There is a difference when considering ‘Defensive Posture’ such as in boxing when you have to cover a ‘Glass Chin’! Golf is more gentlemanly?

With your ‘Head and Neck Down’ your ‘Spinal Engine’ is seriously, rotationally compromised! (see ‘Kyphosis’) Accomplishing a ‘Stable Repeatable Orbital Swing Plane’ and ‘Delivery Path’ with your head down and unsteady is worse than difficult! In golf, ‘A Measured Distance’ is important! (see ‘BOSA & Ball Location’ and ‘Lever Extension’) If your head moves, that is like a gremlin moving your ‘Ball Location’. You would object?

It is what it is called … ‘A Rapid Fire Drill’. Its purpose is to create five (5) full or fairly full strikes without any delay in between each one. (see ‘Tick Tocks’) We must also get into an organized (Pre-Shot Routine - PSR) and keep this very consistent through the five-ball sequence.

It is very useful to ‘Tee-Up’ these five (5) balls about 3/8 to 1/2 an inch so your focus is primarily on ‘Making Impact’ and not a perfect strike. Your ‘Ocular Acuity’ (seeing the ball well) is a critical component! This is a ‘Daylight Exercise’ for a reason! Also, exercise DDDB as this is athletic! ‘Deep Deliberate Diaphragmatic Breathing’ is not an option! Do you remember that a little ‘Inside-Out Clubhead Path’ is useful? Our ‘Full-Swing is a ‘Push Basic Stroke’!

We also do not stop swinging and hitting during the sequence. We must learn where to step into the ball with our ‘Target Foot’ … Tallish Chin and Chest. (see ‘Ball Location & Posture’)