Decoding One’s True Golf Swing DNA: Part Ten

In order to supplement the subject matter presently being discussed, this post specifically references a recently published patent application that you will have to track down and at least browse in order to follow the material in this entry.  Eventually I will probably add such documents to this site, but for now you may want to go to the United States Patent and Trademark Office at https://www.uspto.gov/ and find your way to search applications by publication number.  Enter the number 20090017429 to access the application.  There is a bit of reading to do if desired (the application’s material is quite different in places from what has been discussed within Waggle Weight Wisdom thus far), but you will get a treat in that there are actually drawings included to depict and help clarify certain items.  In order to view the drawings when clicking on the “images” button, TIFF image viewer software (downloadable for free) is required, and I ask you to please bear in mind that the application is also copyright registered and subject to applicable copyright laws.

Because I read through the application many times when developing it not too long ago, I cannot bear reading through and thoroughly explaining it again at this specific time and in this particular place.  Rather, I will relate just a few items, most notably by way of the application’s illustrations, that I may not have touched on yet in Waggle Weight Wisdom and/or are not materially disclosed in the application.  For starters, reference numbers 30 and 32 in Figure 1 show how without a secure melding together of the hands (a baseball style grip is shown) and without an actual (presumably straight) shaft extending through those hands, how different the axes through each hand can be.  This alone would preclude a precise replication of a swing being made under limb-only circumstances compared to a swing made with a real club in hand, not even taking into account how independently the hands would move once an actual swing starts under limb-only conditions.  Subsequently analyzing the completed overlapping grip of Figure 4 patently displays how the problem discovered in Figure 1 is efficiently solved.

The application proceeds to explain some natural, expected differences existing within a limb-only gripping and swinging process, such as the top-hand fingers being curled up into the palm of the hand to substitute for a golf grip instead of being wrapped around the circumference of a grip if one were actually there, and the bottom-hand middle fingers being wrapped around the top-hand thumb instead of an actual grip if one were present.  Such deviations are normal and even encouraged in order to most effectively transform between limb-only and real-club gripping and swinging states.  As one’s wrists might be considered to be the last “hinge point” within a golf swing, one’s “swing coordination” will not be affected by such fingering modifications occurring beyond the wrists as long as the overall hand positions are the same relative to each other and to the rest of one’s body under both limb-only and real-club swinging conditions.  Supported by the limb-only grip of Figure 4, one’s true swing (uninfluenced by external elements including [but not limited to] golf clubs) can be better analyzed, understood, and worked on as desired.

In Figures 6 through 23, yes, that is me and my swing, well at least pretty close to my swing.  The drawing sequences were not frames extracted from a video as might be the norm.  Rather, a simple still camera was used and I had to stop and try to hold my swing in mid motion to have photos taken of specific positions.  Thus, in Figures 8 and 20 as examples, my left elbow really started to bend because I could not hold those positions for more than a moment.  And on the downswings of Figures 9-10 and 21-22, certain things are not quite in the same positions (when stopping to pose) as they would be if comparable positions were extracted from an actual video of my swing.  I admit I do not look at my own swing much, but all things considered I would say it looks just fine.

Actually, I was expecting the artist to draw a basic form of a golfer in the positions I had photographed.  But what he did was literally draw me.  He did not quite portray my nose long and pointed enough in Figures 12 through 17, but he did adjust it some.  And if I had known in advance that he was going to draw me, perhaps I would have had the decency to tighten my belt a little more or find a longer sweater to wear.  Figures 11 and 14 show clear signs that I was practicing the belly-tease style of golf swing that day.  Satire aside, reality is often worse due to some ridiculous concepts adhered to by those who obviously believe a golf swing requires more talent than it really does.  This includes classifying golfers into “swingers” or “hitters,” which even if provocative has virtually zero impact on the proper application of swing and/or clubfitting theory and practice.  Fortunately, Waggle Weight Wisdom has no such delusions, can ask more unpretentious and relevant questions, and can better answer them, thus revealing the best golf fundamentals to date.

Moving on, when comparing the drawing sequences of Figures 6 through 11 to Figures 18 through 23, there is no trickery involved like simply erasing the club from my hands.  They are my actual swing positions under the two different conditions, disclosing one of the major features of the patent pending invention.  Comparing one’s limb-only swing of Figures 6 through 11 to one’s real-club swing of Figures 18 through 23 is the only true way to determine the fit of any golf club to one’s swing.  Ball travel result is fit in a subsequent operation while maintaining the swing integrity achieved when fitting clubs to one’s swing.  Decoding one’s true golf swing DNA will conclude with my next post.