Mike

Right on. I plan to remove my clubheads from the my clubs and go out to play golf without any balls and visualize the shot and go to the spot where I thought I hit and play a round like that. Given my course management is good and I can withstand the pressure I think I could shoot about 78 on 113 slope course. The biggest problem I would have would be club selection.

Dave

You need to get a rubber stamp with your name and web site and a green ink pad for those dowels.

Here ya go.

http://www.lynnblakegolf.com/forum/s...se#pos t17171

Yoda's post:

I got the idea of using dowels from Homer Kelley. In his work, he used dowels as a proxy for the Golf Club until very late in the training. I use them for this purpose as well, but I also use them in my own way to demonstrate the various Principles, Procedures and Alignments of The Golfing Machine®.

Homer provided Authorized Instructors with two Curriculums of study. The first was a six-session Short Course Curriculum for use with students. The second was a twelve session Normal Course to be used in the training of Authorized Instructors. Actually, the Normal Course involved 24 sessions: the 12 sessions were done first using the Hitting Basic Stroke Pattern (12-1-0) as Section A and then repeated using the Swinging Basic Stroke Pattern (12-2-0) as Section B.

The Short Course Curriculum featured the use of a Clubshaft only for demonstration purposes for the first four sessions. Session Five introduced the Putter and Ball and finally short Strokes with a Club. Only in the final Session Six was the student required to demonstrate accuracy, consistency and alignment execution with the longer Strokes.

The Normal Course featured both short and long doweling. Short dowels were used for the first six sessions and then long dowels through Session Nine. An actual Club was introduced in Session Ten and a Ball in Session Eleven. The final Session Twelve involved demonstrating long shots on the range.

Beyond these two Curriculums provided separately, Homer also offered two Curriculums in the book itself. First, the original Stroke Pattern concept of Chapter 12, including an abbreviated version using Components 2, 3, 6, 10, 11, 18 and 19 from either the Hitting or Swinging Basic Patterns (12-0). Second, he introduced the Three-Stage Basic Motion Curriculum that could be used as a stand alone course but that was mandated for use in all other G.O.L.F. Curriculums. As with the Stroke Patterns, he asterisked items for use in a short course (12-5-1/2/3). No doubt Homer would have endorsed the idea of Clubshafts and Dowels in this training as well. The reason is quite simple...

Without a Clubhead to flip past the Hands or a Ball to hit 'at,' alignments and motions can be quickly learned and integrated into the student's Basic Pattern.
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Yoda

My point Davel is that alignments trump steering. Focus on the clubhead leads to steering. This is why a practice swing 'appears' to be so good. No steering required- just a motion.

Lynnardus Magnus . . . Since we're on the subject of dowel practice. Do you vary the speed at which you swing/hit with the dowels? Slo-mo and full speed?

I heard there was once a dude that got RUN off a website for pointing out these facts.

More Dowel 'Magic Moments'
 

My students never swing the dowels. They only (a) use them for Plane Line, Stance Line and Target Line identification; (b) pose with them in the desired alignments; and (c) move very slowly with them through the Twelve Sections of the Stroke (Chapter 8 ). All in compliance with the Mechanical Checklist For All Strokes (12-3).

In addition, I will sometimes use the dowels for a drill I make up on the fly based on the student's need. Or to illustrate an important concept in a new and different way. Or to execute an established drill, i.e., the low bench drill (2-G). Finallly, we even 'double them up' to hammer home Inclined Plane Concepts. There seems to be no end to the way dowels can be used to facilitate learning.

There is one exception to the 'no swinging' policy, and that is where the student executes the motion I demonstrate in my 'Roll On Line' video (see The Gallery) filmed by 6BMike.That drill features the Left Arm and Club (the Flail) moving from Release to the end of the Finish Swivel. After the posing and slow motion work, this drill is done at speed...continuously back and through. At first emphasing only Arm and Hand Action and later adding the Pivot.

It is the 'heart and soul' of the Swinging Golf Stroke.

Thank you sir . . . in essence if we focus on the longitudinal center of gravity the golf club is a dowel. Love dowels. I had a wedge that I stuck a bicycle flag stick into the grip cap that was good . . . but the wedge ate it.

Yoda

Yes I remember well the finish swivel dowel drill. It was not too difficult to do with the dowels left handed only. But yes once you plut that clubhead in your hands and you try to square off a clubface inproperly things can go astray. Great information for who may be was the first to you use the dowel drills and that is homer. Second there practical use to understand concepts and specific alignments. And Yes I knew the clubhead and clubface and ball were removed from the equation as it was easier to see these alignments. My post to me about playing golf without a ball was just basically a joke. Finally the student eventually will have to get the real clubhead and ball and it is hard to maintain the quality of the drills when that happens. Slow motion and dynamic fast motion are very different.

Great infromation from everyone.


Dave

The thing is that focus should be on feeling lag pressure (feeling the sweet spot with PP #3). Then tracing your chosen plane line with PP#3. Doing so means a laser would be on plane. But with feeling the sweet spot you have total focus where it needs to be. A focus that you can have when ACTUALLY PLAYING. As you can't have a laser when playing. And the dowels do a have sweet spot that can be felt in the hands.

If you want to make sure your not off in your tracing I guess a laser would be OK in a limited fashion. But the bottom line is most people would start to focus on the laser and not on clubhead feel (you may be unique). Worst case scenerio, people think that if they trace enough with a laser, they will eventually always be on plane (even with a golf club). And that is just silly as there is no muscle memory - each shot is a test - the clubhead must be felt and directed each shot.