I've just worn out my third Impact Bag in the past year -- I'm learning to 'rev down' a bit in my practice sessions! -- and I'm waiting on my new one to be delivered. Meanwhile, I was experiencing severe IBWS -- Impact Bag Withdrawal Symptoms. What to do?
I went into the basement and started scrounging around for any reasonable substitute and came up with this: An old carpet fragment about 2 1/2 feet wide and about 6 feet long. I rolled it up; put some stuff behind it for stability; got my Dowel and gripped down so that the shaft ran under my Left Forearm; and started in.
Stroke after Stroke, I looked, LOOKED LOOKED into the mirrored wall in front of me. The Left Wrist was staying beautifully Flat and the Right Wrist was staying beautifully Bent as I buried the Dowel into the face of the carpet roll and continued to Follow-Through to Both Arms Straight. Delicious!
I've used the impact bag for many years with my students. It is great for establishing the proper impact alignments. But I have found that it produces more of a sense of forward thrust rather than downward thrust. So once the alignments are established we go right to hitting the ground.
Obliterating The Plane Line!
Just a warning.
Hunter
Thanks, Hunter. Welcome aboard and "Thanks!" for your post.
Hunter makes a great point, folks: You mustn't let the training in one area disrupt the alignments in another (except when done deliberately per the Crash Translation learning procedure in 3-C). And those would most certainly include the fountainhead of all alignments, the geometry of Three-Dimensional Impact, i.e., Downward, Outward and Forward.
I handle the problem this way:
1. Bag located prior to Low Point. I position the Clubhead (or Dowel Tip) at Impact Fix well off the floor or ground, about half-way up the Bag. That gives me plenty of room to continue the Downward Motion without getting to the Ground. In other words, at Fix I establish a Low Point that will be well above the ground. This enables me to make a truly Three-Dimensional Downstroke while only Impacting the Bag (and not the floor or ground). Such an Impact demands that when the Bag is located well behind Low Point, e.g., when practicing Chip or Pitch Shot Impacts, the Clubshaft or Dowel will actually make contact with the upper edge of the Impact Bag (and not be laid flush against the side).
2. Bag located at Low Point or beyond. As above, I position the Clubhead or Dowel Tip well off the Floor or Ground in an Impact Fix. Once again, this assures that I can make a geometrically-correct Downstroke without fear of going into the floor or ground. However, with the Bag in this location, it now is geometrically correct for the Clubhead or Dowel to begin to rise after Impact.
In both instances, my primary focus is always on the Hands leading the Forward-Leaning Clubshaft or Dowel into the Impact Bag. If you do that while keeping your Head Stationary and your Left Wrist Flat and Right Wrist Bent, you will -- in fact, you must -- go all the way Down through Impact to the Low Point.
And that, as we in TGM know, is the geometrical name-of-the-game.
If one does not use an impact bag, I assume that hitting the ground or carpet with a club is not recommended, to prevent hacking. Swing freely without interruption by trying to hit a spot on the ground.
No Impact Bag?
No Rolled Carpet or Duffel Bag substitute?
Bring on the furniture!
Use the dowel against a big, soft chair or sofa. Preferably against a very soft spot that is not in full view. And preferably not when The Boss is on the bridge. Out of respect for both the furniture and you-know-who, you may want to drape a towel or two over the target area. Or put some pillows up.
But when push comes to shove -- ya gotta do what ya gotta do!
Hybrid Mode
