Post by imperfectgolfer on Aug 24, 2011 21:26:58 GMT -5
Consider this 3jack thread.
richie3jack.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=2673
There seems to be very little sympathy for the swing fundamental of having a parallel-left stance among forum members. I personally regard it as a major alignment element in pro-golfer's swings, and I think that most pro-golfers go to a lot of trouble to aim correctly with a parallel-left stance. One can see it frequently happening in DTL views on TV broadcasts of PGA tour events.
Unfortunately, many golfers and golf instructors don't really understand what parallel-left alignment aiming really means.
John Graham wrote-:
"I'm not a big fan of parallel.
Everyone tries to make it a certain way and that way is always wrong.
I once had a student that was a surveyor that always had his stance line point directly at the target. I asked him why he did that and he said, "Parallel is parallel." "If I hit a perfectly straight shot, I'll be just a couple feet away from the stick."
Parallel does not look parallel. It looks converging. Many forget that."
I think that John is totally wrong. Parallel is only converging when viewed from behind the ball and if one looks at the far distant target, and that induces golfers to wrongly aim their shoulders at the target - as demonstrated in the following diagram from Lupo's book.
The author of the book (Lupo) recommends that a golfer should place a club on the ground at the "projected" stance line so that the club points at the target (as seen from behind) - see image 1. This is based on the converging railway line track concept. He then states that a golfer should place his feet on the "established" stance line, which means that the shoulders/feet are facing the target at address - image 2. I think that this maneuver is a major mistake! If the feet and shoulders are facing the target at address, then the "true" alignment will likely be in the direction of the red arrow in image 3 - about 10-20 degrees right of the target. I highly recommend that golfers adopt my alignment recommendations as demonstrated in image 4. First establish the ball-target line by standing directly behind the ball. Second, locate an object (eg. tuft of grass or divot mark) about 6 feet away on the ball-target line - red dot, labelled "X". Third, stand alongside the ball, and place the clubhead behind the ball so that the clubface (short blue line) faces point "X". Fourth, make sure that your foot stance line is perpendicular to the clubface, which means that the stance line is parallel to the ball-target line - yellow line. Fifth, make sure that an extension of the stance line (yellow line) points well left of the target (double-headed red arrow) - as viewed when glancing out of the corner of the left eye at the left shoulder. As a rough approximation, the width of the double-headed red arrow at the target should be about 7 feet for every 100 yards of distance.
Jeff.
richie3jack.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=2673
There seems to be very little sympathy for the swing fundamental of having a parallel-left stance among forum members. I personally regard it as a major alignment element in pro-golfer's swings, and I think that most pro-golfers go to a lot of trouble to aim correctly with a parallel-left stance. One can see it frequently happening in DTL views on TV broadcasts of PGA tour events.
Unfortunately, many golfers and golf instructors don't really understand what parallel-left alignment aiming really means.
John Graham wrote-:
"I'm not a big fan of parallel.
Everyone tries to make it a certain way and that way is always wrong.
I once had a student that was a surveyor that always had his stance line point directly at the target. I asked him why he did that and he said, "Parallel is parallel." "If I hit a perfectly straight shot, I'll be just a couple feet away from the stick."
Parallel does not look parallel. It looks converging. Many forget that."
I think that John is totally wrong. Parallel is only converging when viewed from behind the ball and if one looks at the far distant target, and that induces golfers to wrongly aim their shoulders at the target - as demonstrated in the following diagram from Lupo's book.
The author of the book (Lupo) recommends that a golfer should place a club on the ground at the "projected" stance line so that the club points at the target (as seen from behind) - see image 1. This is based on the converging railway line track concept. He then states that a golfer should place his feet on the "established" stance line, which means that the shoulders/feet are facing the target at address - image 2. I think that this maneuver is a major mistake! If the feet and shoulders are facing the target at address, then the "true" alignment will likely be in the direction of the red arrow in image 3 - about 10-20 degrees right of the target. I highly recommend that golfers adopt my alignment recommendations as demonstrated in image 4. First establish the ball-target line by standing directly behind the ball. Second, locate an object (eg. tuft of grass or divot mark) about 6 feet away on the ball-target line - red dot, labelled "X". Third, stand alongside the ball, and place the clubhead behind the ball so that the clubface (short blue line) faces point "X". Fourth, make sure that your foot stance line is perpendicular to the clubface, which means that the stance line is parallel to the ball-target line - yellow line. Fifth, make sure that an extension of the stance line (yellow line) points well left of the target (double-headed red arrow) - as viewed when glancing out of the corner of the left eye at the left shoulder. As a rough approximation, the width of the double-headed red arrow at the target should be about 7 feet for every 100 yards of distance.
Jeff.