The Golfing Machine and Bobby's Dynamics

I'm in my 9th year of researching the golf swing. This is chicken feed in comparison to the work some, even more obsessive, people have done in trying to distill the crucial elements of the golf swing.

Homer Kelley published the (allegedly unreadable) tome 'The Golfing Machine' more than forty years ago, and spent half a lifetime working on an analysis of the golf swing. The work he did was to describe a set of principles relating to the golf swing, rather than say how one should play golf, however, his work has led some golf teachers to refine some of their thinking on how the game should be played.

One of these teachers, Bobby Clampett, actually a student of one of Homer's 'disciples', Ben Doyle, fairly recently published the book 'The Impact Zone', which outlines his ideas on the crucial elements of the successful golf swing. I read his book several years ago and liked it at the time, but I didn't fully appreciated how important it is and continued to listen with rabbits ears (a term used on the tour to refer to pros who listen to too many tips and theories) to many more ideas about how to hit a golf ball.

Clampett, and others, including the great teacher from many decades ago, Percy Boomer, refer to many of these tips and theories as 'style' rather than what could be called substance, or what Clampett calls the 'Dynamics' of the golf swing.

When I read Bobby's book first, I already know that the hands have to stay ahead of the club head when chipping, but I didn't fully understand how to think about this, and I certainly didn't understand how to create and maintain lag, even though I could see it was important.

Anyway, upon a second reading, I am now much wiser and more sure that the dynamics Clampett discusses are the key elements that go a long way to good golf - both in the short game and the full swing. The following is my rough summary of these dynamics, with apologies to anyone who has read 'The Impact Zone' - I'm not trying to exactly reproduce Clampett's words, just express his ideas in my language:

Dynamics (as against style, i.e.. grip, length of swing, elbow position, knee bend, etc, etc.)

1. Flat front wrist at impact. Speaks for itself - critical in chipping in particular, but applies to all golf shots. Achieving this indicates that the crucial lag of the club head has been retained.

2. Divot low point after the ball. Good golfers hit the ball first (compress it) then take a divot. The poorer the golfer, the further back the divot will fall. 'Aim-point' theory is a key element here.

3. Load the lag. This is about cocking the wrists, athletic posture, positioning the club, etc., but not in a highly technical (stylish) way. It is preparation for the next job.

4. Lag the load. Retaining or regaining the flat front wrist is the task, together with retaining the bent back wrist, into impact is the challenging job at hand. The hands should stay in a cocked position (with conscious effort), but release of their own accord, with the club face squaring at impact.

5. Target plane (or words to that effect). This is about swinging to the target and is not a difficult concept though, in my view, there are aim-point issues, which anyone interested can research.

I'm not claiming a full understanding of 'The Impact Zone' or the concepts therein, but I think much of what Clampett says about the golf swing and how to go about developing a sound golf swing makes a lot of sense. I intend to research these dynamics on the golf range and course. It should be fun.