Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
When I was young, I didn't pay close attention to my golf swing. I just went
out and played. When things went wrong I knew I could go back to my
teacher. At that point, I just wanted someone to tell me what to do. I was
clearly in the Shu stage of learning.
Repeating Specific Weaknesses
It was now the third week of the golf improvement project and I was
standing on the fairway at Traditions at the Glen in Johnson City, New
Yo r k ( m y h o m e g o l f c o u r s e ) , a n d t h i n g s w e re c o n t i n u i n g t o n o t g o w e l l o n
this golf improvement project. I recall thinking to myself, “Let's just try a
little experiment.”
“I'll pretend my old golf teacher Paul Kern is standing right here,” I thought
to myself. It was late in the evening that night and I was standing in the mid-
dle of the thirteenth fairway. There was no one else on the course. I dropped
six balls directly opposite the 150-yard marker.
I had been telling my son, Patrick, just a few weeks earlier how frustrated I
was with my short distances. I just couldn't figure out why. I hate to admit it,
but from 150 yards, I now needed to hit my five iron. I used to hit a five iron
175 to 180 yards. I'm accepting this loss of distance. I know I can't get back
everything I once had. I don't need to play like I used to play. I just want to
get a little better. I have at this point in my life accepted certain realities of
being fifty-nine years old.
I turn the first ball over a couple of times with the face of my five iron to get it
to sit up better on the grass. Then I hear my teacher's voice in my head. Pull
that left thumb around, square up that club-head, and get your shoulders and
feet turned around facing the target. I'm feeling very awkward out in that
fairway all alone. The clubface looks to me like it's closed
2
and the ball will go
dead left. My left hand feels like it's so strong I'm going to hit a big hook,
3
and
my shoulders feel like I'm lined up thirty yards to the right of the green.
Then I hear the voice again, only this time it seems to come from outside my
head, “Just hit it!” I give it a rip and the ball flies off my clubface and looks
like it's still going up as it passes over the top of the pin dead on line. I fly the
green by twenty yards. I'm now standing in the fairway holding onto my
2. A “closed” clubface means that the clubface is aligned to the left of the intended line of flight of the
golf ball.
3. A “hook” in golf refers to a golf shot where the ball curves from the right to the left for right-handed
golfers.
