I just wanted to share something that I am finding extremely helpful with my version of the Blake swing: namely, when viewed from the target, at address, get your upper torso behind the upper part of your lead arm. When you come through impact, you should then still be behind the upper part of your lead arm.

This works both for long shots and chips. In Golf: The Technique Barrier the address position to which I refer is very well illustrated in Figures 10 and (for chips) 23. The position through impact for chips is shown in Figure 28.

The approach I describe appears to work so well because it provides the means by which the body can drive the lead arm whilst the muscles of that arm stay relaxed.

The driving of a relaxed lead arm is surely something that cannot be achieved in a conventional swing in which the shoulders are square to the target line at address. From such a position, the torso may turn towards the target but the arms tend to be left behind !!

Please try out my suggestion and let me know how you get on. The fact that it can be applied to chipping should make experimentation relatively easy.

Regards, Chris Walker

Chris,
Interesting idea. I think I sent you a copy of Blake's article published in the May, 1981 issue of "Golf Monthly." It was titled "Anchoring the Swing Fulcrum." In it he emphasized the importance of keeping the head (swing fulcrum) still during the swing.

The gist of the article was: "If the right hip has moved forward, on the downswing, to the point where it is forward of the player's head, or of his swing fulcrum, before the power is applied, the head will stay still. But, if the power is applied BEFORE the right hip has passed the fulcrum of the swing, then the body is pushed up with the shot." A few paragraphs later, "When I say 'right hip' I do not mean 'right buttock' though there are some great golfers who get the whole of the right buttock forward of the fulcrum before impact. Johnny Miller has been one. By 'right hip' I mean the centre of the ball joint of the right hip, the exact point at which the leg pushes the trunk in the downswing. It is when this point in the hip joint is forward of the player's neck and/or head before impact, that he gets the feeling of being behind the ball through impact."

There is a picture of Miller in his distinctive reverse-C finish position and his head is behind his right buttock. Frankly, I never made much of the article, but since it was published just a few months before Blake's death, at the very end of his golfing career and life, I sometimes thought there might be some wisdom there which I'm missing. Do you see any relationship between your idea of getting behind the lead arm and Mindy's idea stated above?

Intriguingly, he wrote in the article, "A push with the right leg is the main source of power in the downswing and in that, I think, there is general agreement." General agreement!?

Regards, Jim

Jim, did I misunderstand your text, but is JM really dead?

Ingvar

Snakedoc means that the article was published shortly

before Blake's death.



A push with the right leg as main power source?

Hogan said something similar about pushing off his

right foot. I have not been able to get a feel for

this as a power source. My right knee just wants to

"pull" forward and there is no discernible push for me.

"Getting behind the lead arm" is an intriguing concept
and one that seems to fit with Blake's pressure ideas.
It sounds like Chris may be getting the mass of his
entire body into the impact area. It also seems to
encourage facing the target through impact and a very
open shouldered action. I would like to see video posted.

In my comment re the Mindy Blake magazine article from 1981, "Anchoring the Swing Fulcrum," I wrote that the article pictured Johnny Miller in his distinctive reverse-C finish. The photo was actually of Miller in a reverse-C body position post impact but before finish. Miller must have had great flexibility in those days. Jim