See the ball, be the ball

Short Takes

John Lucas

I would like to continue about visualization.

The first picture I would suggest a player to see and feel is a triangle. Picture a line across your shoulders and down both the arms to your hands. This triangle should be seen staying in front of your body throughout your swing.

That triangle stays in front of your body because it is not moving during the swing. It is being transported by body rotation. It starts and stays in front when the arms do not move independently but react and respond to rotation and the laws of force and motion.

Notice a whip is not moving. Most of the skate line at an ice show is not moving. A dog's tail is not moving. All are being moved. The handle moves the whip, the inside skater moves the skate line and the dog's body moves the tail. These outside segments also are being influenced by centrifugal force moving out from the center of these systems.

I suggest that you have your inside move the outside - to have the arms, hands and the club being transported up, then down to impact, by the body's trunk (back, shoulders and pelvic area). To have the big bones and muscles located near the body's center moving the smaller ones in the hands and arms.

When big links move smaller links, the swing becomes more effective.

Research has shown that when a sound swing is transporting the club head at 100 mph, the hands are moving only l5 mph and the body just 3-5 mph. When the inside moves just inches, the outside moves a few feet. When the inside moves slowly, the outside moves fast.

Rules teaser:

A player plays a ball from a bunker and it comes to rest against the flagstick. A fellow player or an opponent moves the flagstick, causing the ball to move from the hole. Ruling?

Answer to last teaser:

A player plays a ball from a bunker and it lands on an adjacent teeing ground where a player was taking a practice swing. While his ball was still rolling, the player on the teeing ground hit the ball into a water hazard. Ruling? He is determined to be in the water hazard.

John Lucas is the professional at SkyRidge Golf Course and can be reached at john98382@olypen.com.