So as through a glass, and darkly
The age long strife I see
Where I fought in many guises,
Many names, but always me.
George S. Patton, Jr. / Through a
Glass, Darkly
Through the travail of the ages I
have walked many golf courses, in many places with many results and I have
appeared in many guises. I have been the confident golfer and the struggling
golfer. I have been the teacher and the historian. I have been the golf buddy
who made the starting time. I have been the son who picked up his father to take
him to the course. I have been the single paired the 20 something threesome of
college buddies. And, I often have been alone yet never lonely.
Oh I've been from Jerusalem to Rome
Now I'm floating through these rooms tonight alone
And looking back on everything
All I ever wanted was a home
Marc Cohn / Olana
Oh I have been from Torrey Pines to Desert Willow
Now I'm floating above those fairways alone
In looking back & looking forward
All I ever wanted was to strike the ball pure
Paul Cervantes
For some golf is like a
fraternity. For some it's an office without doors. For some it's the oddest
kind of pastime; a game misunderstood yet still enjoyed.
For me, golf is the state of
feeling close to something yet so far away. It's the quest for a destination
that's uncharted It's like being in a dark and unfamiliar room looking for a
lightswitch.
It has been ever thus, but...
But now time feels so fleeting.
Get busy living, or get busy dying. That's Goddam right...
Red / The Shawshank Redemption
Figure this out, or take up an easier game.
Paul Cervantes
Figuring it out doesn't mean
shooting a certain score. It certainly doesn't mean beating anyone or making
money at golf. For me it means finding a haven of effectiveness. It means
finding or creating a method of moving the golf club that brings the center of
the club face into the ball.
What could be more simple? Still,
as I am prone to say, simple is seldom easy.
After last year's 6 month failed
effort I came into this year with a searching state of mind. I kept asking
myself, what should I do?
Here's how I saw the options:
1) Reengage with self-discovery.
Hogan dug it out of the Earth and so can I.
2) Look for help. Just because the
last pro I worked with wasn't able to help doesn't mean you won't succeed with
another pro.
Self discovery is very cool.
Others have done it, no doubt about it. But I think it's a very tricky thing
for one big reason.
In golf, feelings lie.
Also, in trying to do one thing
you can end up do another and that other can really hurt you.
For example: If I try to turn my
lower body through impact my shoulders spin, carrying the club head over the
top. The resulting pull-draw can be played but there's something unsatisfying
about it.
Does this result from my own
fundamental lack of flexibility, the same one identified by my Titleist TPI
evaluation from years back?
Maybe.
But, more essentially, it points
out that an effort to do one thing can cause another thing that in turn causes
a problem. Bummer.
As I was bouncing between the
polar opposite perspectives of figure this out yourself or for God's sake, get
some help I happened upon a video at 4GEA.com, one of the older and crustier
golf gear enthusiast websites.
The video was 1:13 long and showed
a single swing in very slow motion.
My reply: I feel like 1:13 of my
life was just stolen.
Later, I watched the video with
the sound turned on.
Great idea; it was a big help to hear what
this guy is actually saying before calling BS on him.
There's a chance one (yeah, I know
that's a pretty small chance) of you knows that I edited a book by Tony Manzoni
called, The Lost Fundamental. Manzoni opines that the golf swing ought have a
single axis or pivot and that point is on the right handed player's left side.
Now this idea compelled me but I
was working on the book so I didn't want to try it on my game while my head was
into helping Manzoni write the book.
Still, long after the book was
finished I tried it (especially with driver) and got some very encouraging
results. Odd, though, I couldn't find a way to incorporate the technique into
shorter clubs.
I know, this seems like a
digression but it's not.
The Jim Venetos swing is the Tony
Manzoni swing on steroids with a shot of spiced rum with a twist of lime.
A left sided swing promises a lot
for me (and a lot of other players, too). It promises a quieter lower body. It
promises a shorter back swing. Most of all, though, it promises more
consistent, and more solid contact.
Ding!
I've now enjoyed three lessons
with Jim Venetos. He says that after 8 lessons I'll be on the Champions Tour
(Sorry, Jim...couldn't resist the hyperbole) but even if it takes 10 or 15 I'll
be overjoyed. We're also having an informal contest to see who can talk
more in the course of 90 minutes and so far we're in a dead heat. At any given
minute he may be saying, Yeah, man, I
could see you fighting for stillness there...So, good contact but shoulders
were a little open...That was a little fat so what did that tell you?
I can usually heard to be
muttering a series of expletives and groans punctuated by the (very) occasional
exultation of, I can do this!
The I can do this sound comes
after I have actually achieved a small dose of stillness and an attendant sense
of my weight staying left throughout the swing. It's is so far a fleeting
feeling that comes and goes. When it comes it feels solid, inevitable and
obvious and the strike is heavy and solid.
When the feeling is missing I
usually find myself cheating stillness by starting with my weight left but
allowing it (and the rest of me) to drift right as the club moves back.
Horrors.
There will come a point where you realize you could have kept your
weight still right away, in the first lesson.
Jim Venetos
No, I am not there yet.
Still, the promise of all this is
a swing I can take with me into the rest of my 50s, into my 60s and beyond. All
promises rely on faith and golf is a game that often seems designed to test our
faith.
In Reaching my golf potential with
Jim Venetos: Book Two I'll talk more about my quest and how Jim is doing as my
sherpa. What I am starting to feel is a confidence in the method that is very
settling. The question remains whether I can (can, as in have the ability) to
fully mesh the method with my brain and body.
Without jumping ahead to answer
that question in the affirmative, I will say that I intend to continue to
strive toward stillness. I hope you'll follow my journey.
