Toe up on the backswing

[Blackjack Don]

49 minutes ago, iacas said:

Then you determine who is actually right.

My mantra is "I don't know." I always leave a bit of room for doubt. I've found that I have been right without being wrong first, but that was luck. I'm not about luck. I'm interested in results. If something works, keep it. If it doesn't work, let it go. I actually have a mindfulness practice devoted to this, in all facets of my life, not just golf. I listen very closely, and test what others are saying. Mostly they are right by sound, not by fact.

I like your list. You're basically saying to find what is possible based upon this ideal form. I can go with that. I'd like to think that while I acknowlege the limitations of age, I think it's not as far off the ideal as people believe. Maybe I don't have the swing speed, or the ability to turn as far and as fast, but if I work at it, I can get a high percentage. I've yet to find out what that percentage is. It's a work in progress which requires:

Listening.

56 minutes ago, iacas said:

Sometimes I learn nothing new about the golf swing.

Student: Why can't I feel that, do that, I'm trying to do this.

Teacher sees the connection between what the student thinks he's doing and what he thinks he should be doing, something the teacher hasn't dealt with before. It's a new concept and the teacher has gained. 

Scenario 2:

Student: I'm doing what you ask.

Teacher: No, you're not. You're doing this.

Student: I can't do this.

Teacher (emotionally, to himself): Of course you can't. I'm a good teacher and you're not listening.

Poor examples, perhaps, but I hope the two dynamics are coming through. I believe you are the former teacher, sir, not the latter. I believe you want to get better. That's why you put up with irritants like me. You start making better arguments in your own mind.

I have a way of learning that works for me. Only me. I've been practicing learning something every day for almost ten years. Every day. I know how I learn. It's not auditory, or visually. It's different, and I can't explain to anybody. But I know it works. Or I wouldn't do it.

(It's Buddhist.)

If toe up is the correct way to take away the club, not closed, then I need to know it. Then, I'll find out why I can't hit it as straight with an open face. I watch you swing. You roll your arms and open the face? Do other teachers do it differently from you?

The way I learn is to figure out all the parts and put them all together, then forget about it once I have it down. I'm much farther ahead than I was a year ago--holy cow, I mean, wow--but I'm still missing a couple of elements. Once I get a swing I can repeat, which has taken a LOT of time, then I can do what I really do best. Forget about it and focus on other things. This is just the way I best learn.

PS: I really have no use for any teacher who stands there and tells me he's been doing it for umpty years and has a world ranking, if he can't even answer some really basic questions from a student dying to learn. This is what one looks like. Most teachers are blind to the unusual. I'm a hard case, I guess.

 

[iacas]

You can come up with all the scenarios you want. They aren’t all inclusive. Sometimes I learn nothing new about the golf swing in a single specific lesson.