JC's fine article this week captures both the prose and the poetry of the fly casting stroke. He pulls it all together in these words:

"I have gotten to know a few of the world champion fly casters and am always struck by the differences in their style. I would think that to make casts like they do, they would be rather similar. The only points they share are, 'it stops here and it stops there;' the rest is style I guess."

Now I want to pull it apart. Part A is the prose, the fundamental elements that every good stroke should have. Part B is the poetry, the way an individual executes to achieve the fundamentals. I think an Iron James would go a long way in helping me identify the fundamentals.

Who is Iron James? He is Iron Byron's brother. For a long time now the Golf World has has a robot, AKA Iron Byron, which closely mimicks Byron Nelson's legendary sweet stroke. It takes a lot of the mystery out of the stroke by defining what it should be. Of course few pros look like Iron Byron. As a boy, I followed Snead around for 18 holes. He had that sweet stroke. Palmer's broad stance and short quick stroke was not a model I would imitate. Forget about Trevino and Thorpe and the way they jab at the ball - too many bad habits. Woods's stroke is more classical. I think that the pros were successful to the extent that there swing resembled or was the same as Iron Byron's.

That is where Iron James (Castwell) comes in. For the sake of science and to get the pure image into our heads we need to have a robot who can perform the perfect fly stroke over and over again. Skeptics will say it cannot be done, just as they told Wilbur and Orville that man was not meant to fly.

Why hasn't Iron James been created yet? As we all know, fly casting is a skill several orders higher than striking a motionless golf ball. It involves a far more complex co-ordination of left and right hand mechanics. Our computer science is just getting to a point where this can be achieved.

If Wilson, Spaulding, MacGregor, and Nike can have their Iron Byron, it is only amatter of time before Orvis, Loomis, Sage, Fenwick, Cortland, and Elkhorn bring Iron James to birth. Till then I will hold that the sweet fly stroke is a product of perfect mechanics and unwavering motivation (body and soul). The best casters embody enough of that sweet stroke and that sweet attitude that they stand head and shoulders above me. I think videos like the once by Tom White and Joan Wolf are just what the doctor ordered.