Posted by: tom.guerry (tom.guerry@kp.org) on Sat Feb 7 10:17:08 2004

Nice points coach C.

Ultimately feel is very unique and difficult to communicate.It happens with far
greater "resolution" than can be studies visually or even electrically (as in
muscle contractio/EMG traces).

As Nyman points out,motor learning and skill acquisition are a trial and error
process that will result from your abilities,your goal(conscious or not) and the
environment you act in(and have the opportunity to partly structure).The
question is how to guide/accelerate/compress learning by "guardrails" or
other boundaries that will successfully shape and guide the learning process.

Nyman describes the "flow" in terms of load-unload (same for throwing as in
the recent video presentation at best of setpro forum).

Aaron desribed loading in hitting as coiling without taking much of a
backswing.

From the load/unload perspective,you have as consistent a swing as possible
and adjust primarily by varying posture and degree of load.Everyone's
perception is different as far as where they feel things and what is consciously
felt as opposed to what is automatic/subconscious.However,there are still
guardrails that are recognized as boundaries that must be adhered to.Certian
sequences and positions and relative timing of parts,etc that are a necessary
part of learning/preparing for skill execution that are derived from analysing
what the greats have in common.


Jones and Hogan emphasize different aspects.If you read the summary of the
xfactor stretch article,you need position AND flow at the top/on the way
down.Jones was more about flow.Hogan more about position.

Also browse through the manuel de la Torre golf book if you get a chance.

He has very interesting ways of communicating feel and reconciling it with
video/motion(still inaccurately as he overly minimizes weight shift,yet shows
the center of the backswing being behind the center of the forward swing).He
has a very club trajectory centric view of the flow/swing feel which I think you
might agree with.Feel-wise he describes it as the hands leading the
backswing and the arms leading the downswing(and he describes what he
means by leading in an interesting way).

In summary,it is ultimately about trial and error and a unique individual's feel/
solution for the given task/goal.But there are a lot of observable boundaries
that can help get and keep you in the envelope.