BOOM

There was a clip on the Sexyloops June 17 FB of James performing a 170 with what looks like a schedule 40 PVC pipe conduit. I was impressed by his explosiveness going backward and forward. I’ve been playing with low energy casts for quite awhile so James’ cast, and this meme broom-stick cast he referred to, got me thinking (dangerous). I remember an interview with Arnold Palmer - the beloved, well endowed (per DJT) golfing scion of the proletariat. He described learning golf as a kid, always trying to hit the ball as hard as he could. I wondered if booming  a blasted cast would enforce a SLP AND acceleration to the stroke-end-point. Rather than experimenting with minimum-energy, I’d work with maximum effort for a bit. Why do I imagine that maximum power might smooth and straighten things out? Just cuz. I was thinking that  it takes force to knock things off a straight-line path and movement from dead stop to full speed over a compressed time span would probably enforce continuous acceleration. Running across a log-bridge is easier than crossing it slowly. Maybe. It worked for Arnie. 

But how? I decided to work the triangle drill with maximum force. When working with a short length of line and banging it hard, rod inertia created deep rod bends and long lasting oscillations. The latter dampened when I got about 30’ of line out of the tip.  Per traditional triangle drill instructions I concentrated on stopping the rod at the stroke end points, using external references to find them - variously using endpoint  targets on the ground, treetops, fenceposts, and treelimbs - as I rotated my casting plane from horizontal to vertical. This Saturday morning I took the HT6 out with the same line and worked the same drills. Eventually I backed off and dialed back the applied power by articulating out loud a percentage of full-power, then executing. I suppose I should be careful but I feel that I learned something real here, and that my imaginings have some merit. James opined that banging it aggravated his tennis elbow so I guess I will try to apply this in small doses. I’m struggling with injuries as it is. 

BTW I feel like my heavy club work in the past week contributed to my ability to recruit power. I realize a week isn’t much of a test but It might be that everybody MUST do this practice. I may be Benjamin Buttoning - ankles, knees, and hips feel great. However, I went to PT for my elbow and the therapist told me to “slow my roll.”  I’ve asked the surgeon for permission to work with weight but I don’t expect his answer until after the holiday, so I’ll keep my powder dry and won’t render a verdict on the clubs till August.

Our semiquincentennial seems a little sad. The President has taken over the celebration with a shadow foundation soaking up all the attention he can attract while half-assing the “Great American State Fair” and the reflecting pool renovation. Even the weather is conspiring to kill the joy. Jackie’s in town. We’ll go sample a new local smash-burger vendor and go looking for free fireworks a little later. 

Happy 4th,
David Siskind