Entries Tagged as 'practice'

The Body vs. The Club

Reading through the typical golf blogs today, I ran across a comment in the Editor’s Blog from Golf Digest, written by a golf instructor named Ed LeBeau from Heartland Golf Schools in St. Louis. Mr. LeBeau makes an interesting observation about the two general groups of golf instruction:
“There are two approaches to golf instruction, one that focuses on the movement of the body and the other that focuses on the movement of the club . . . Teachers like Ernest Jones, Manuel de la Torre, Eddie Merrins and dozens of club professionals are proponents of club-focused instruction. This approach to instruction is highly effective”
I am currently reading Manuel de la Torre’s classic instructional book, “Understanding the Golf Swing.” Mr. de la Torre is the head pro at Milwaukee Country Club (THE elite club in Milwaukee and a place that never deemed to allow me on it’s grounds). His way is a great way to think about the golf swing. Basically, take the clubhead back with your hands above your right shoulder, then swing the club with your upper arms completely to a full finish.
That’s it.
No “keep your head still,” or “keep your left arm straight,” or “get behind the ball” or “load the right side,” ad nauseum. Take it up, swing it through. That is the club movement approach noted above, rather than all those body-related instructions we are flooded with.
He feels if you take a true swing and avoid interfering with the arms’ swing of the club (by trying to “hit the ball” with your hands, for example), you can have a consistent, powerful swing.
I’m sick of thinking of 16 different things when I try to swing. I’ve often thought that I just need to shut my brain off – as have many others for different reasons. With the help of Mr. de la Torre, I’m going to try it his way for the forseeable future. Because all the other junk hasn’t been working, that is for sure.


Tags: Psychology, Swing analysis, learning, practice by
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The Good Old Days at the Range

The old driving range. I love driving ranges at night. That’s a picture of Knight’s Play’s driving range here in Apex, NC tonight. And that is my son, Alex, in motion to the right. If you can’t tell, that is indeed the mighty Badger on his shirt and the Wisconsin fighting W on his hat. And GO BADGERS, BEAT THE WEENY WOLVERINES!

We went out to hit a bucket of balls at the range tonight. It isn’t something we do very often since we have a great place to practice during the daylight. But it sure brought back the memories.

My dad was a “golf-o-holic” and he passed his disease on to me at a young age. He used to take me to Storm’s Driving Range out on National Avenue in New Berlin, Wisconsin to teach me how to swing. Those were some great memories. I don’t know how old I was, but I still remember my dad standing behind me with the range guy (the “pro”) while my dad told him how great my puny little swing was. Looking back, I’m sure the guy was rolling his eyes – I would have – because my swing was only great in the eyes of a father. But I still remember, so it had a big influence on me.

I obviously passed the gene on to my kids as well. Erik, my oldest son, played some junior golf and was a very good high school player. In fact, he just took 6th in the City of Wilmington Men’s Amateur after not having played in tournaments in a while. Alex, pictured above, first started swinging a club when he was about 15 months. While I was sprawled on the couch watching the PGA, he would watch a swing, then imitate it with his plastic club. He would go to his older brother’s soccer games and spend the whole hour whacking a plastic practice ball around the field with his weapon. And now, he is a sophmore in high school and a very good junior golfer. Both of them are way, way, way better than me.

Funny how one night in one place in North Carolina can bring back so many great memories of fathers and sons in places thousands of miles and many years away.

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Have I Ever Played This Game Before?

I hit some balls yesterday, then played a few holes. Amazing! And not in a good way.

I’m trying to learn a new swing and, after a couple of weeks, finally have felt like I got the hang of it. Hitting 6 irons with a nice little draw, right at or consistently just to the right of the flag. Pretty happy – on the range.

On the course – not so, amigo! Have you ever gotten a weird sensation that some activity you’ve done your whole life – chewing a hamburger or unlocking the door, for example – has become this brand new activity your mind cannot quite grasp? I felt that for 7 holes. I wondered what type of neurological disorder, such as a conscious stroke or temporary insanity, had taken over my mind and prevented me from hitting the ball in any valuable way. I not only didn’t have a clue, but I wasn’t within radar range of one! The only good thing was that no one was taping it so I won’t ever have to see those swings again. I’m shaking just thinking about it now!

Golf is stupid.

By the way, check out Jess’ contributions to naming the blog. I laughed out loud.

Tags: frustration, learning, practice by
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