POWER IN MOTION
“When you snatch this pebble from my hand it will be time for you to leave.“ I love that line from the television series Kung Fu where the young kung fu disciple attempts to snatch the pebble from his master’s hand and does not succeed. The disciple goes through many years of rigorous training until he does, in fact, acquire the skills to snatch the pebble
out of his master’s hand and at that time he realises that he, too, has become a master.

The essence of what the kung fu exponent had gone through was moving from an inexperienced use of his power and motion to an experienced use of power and motion to succeed.

Martial arts is a very good medium for comparison with what Gibbo will discuss later in this article.

In martial arts it is all about speed and weight distribution creating the force. Thus a little guy like the famous Bruce Lee, who was just over 170cm tall and weighed only 59 kilos could deliver a more powerful blow than a big man. Bruce would swing
swiftly and crisply whereas the big man was
swinging a punch slowly with a lot of weight
behind it.

The coil/uncoil method in golf, which creates the power source, is much the same as the coil/uncoil method used to deliver a blow in martial arts. The body is coiled and loaded to one side in the
backswing and then the body is uncoiled as weight transfers to the opposite side when swinging to strike the ball. It is a coil/uncoil motion.

The more fluent and purposefully focused the swing, the better the use of the power source for maximum use of motion. Let’s think about baseball or softball. Use of arms alone would hardly bring about a home run – it is the true coiling and uncoiling of the upper body coupled with the action of the arms that creates the power source and the use of motion at its best.

APPLYING THE COIL/ UNCOIL PROCESS
You don’t have to have a perfect swing like Adam Scott. Lee Trevino’s swing will be fine or, even better, your own unique swing as you harness the coil/uncoil motion smoothly. This is just as much a mental
exercise to perform as a physical one. Think about it. Loading/unloading – smoothly in a flowing motion.

For more on finding your power within purchase the December Issue of Golf Australia

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