Sam Snead's Left Hand

Not that long ago the talking heads were raving about how these modern players hit it.  It's definitely incredible to see the way some of these top players can overpower a golf course with the incredible distance they are able to achieve.  This may be attributable to a better ball, better equipment, better training, and better swing mechanics, or it may be because there are bigger, stronger athletes playing the game.

However, in the midst of all this gushing over the new kids, Johnny Miller spoke up and said he's still never seen anyone hit it better than Sam Snead.  I daresay there are many oldtimers in a position to know who would agree with Johnny.  I bet Jack Nicklaus would be one of them.  Jack marvelled at Sam's swing and said his rhythm always improved when he played with Sam, or watched his swing. 

Harvey Penick watched Sam hit a tee shot at the Houston Open and decided right then and there that he was not going to try his luck on the tour.  He figured he could never beat a guy who could hit it like the Slammer.  I've heard it said that Sam was probably the finest athlete ever to play the game.

Snead had to have had one of the best swings of all time.  It was powerful, graceful, fluid, and rhythmic.  His swing also stood the test of time, Sam actually winning a PGA tour event in his late fifties.  Sam felt his swing was worthy of imitation because of its simplicity.  I have been reading Sam's books and watching some videos and discovered that Sam was very much a "top hand golfer."  He felt that his swing was controlled by his left hand.

That is not to say that Sam played the game one-handed.  He poured on the power with the right hand.  But, like Bobby Jones, he was careful to ensure that the left hand was in control of his swing, never to be over-powered by his right hand.  He realized, like Bobby Jones, that a right hand that gets into play too soon can wreak havoc in a golf swing.

At the end of the day, what made the Slammer's swing so worthy of imitation was not it's mechanical perfection, or it's adherence to fundamentals,--it's said he aimed so far right he sometimes looked like he was aiming at his caddie--but rather his ability to apply the club to the ball in a way that produced great golf shots--shots that, as Harvey Penick wrote, sounded like a rifle shot coming off the face of the driver.  

How did he feel he did it?  Golf is, after all, all about feel.  He said he took the club straight back, low and slow, with his left hand.  On the downswing he began by pulling with the last two fingers of his left hand.  His weight shift was the natural consequence of using his top hand, everything flowing together, with nothing forced, or restrained.  It felt "oily" to him.  And he never tried to hit it hard, believing he achieved his best results swinging at 80 percent power. 

Sam might have been a top hand--or left-sided--player, but when he hit the ball, he got everything into the shot.  That's the thing with thinking about swing mechanics; a tip, or a swing thought, will work only until you begin to overdo it at the expense of something else.  As Bobby Jones said, "A spoonful of cough medicine might help you.  But the whole bottle will kill you."  

Miss 'Em Quick

Bobby Jones played fast.  When describing his pre-shot routine he talked about deciding on his shot, approaching the ball from behind, setting his club behind the ball aimed at his target, moving into his stance, taking one waggle and letting it go.  He was constantly in motion.  If you blinked, you'd probably miss his shot.

In fact, Bobby noted that if he found himself taking more than one waggle, he could expect trouble.  He was of the "miss 'em quick" school.  He told once of having taken lots of time to survey a particularly tricky shot, the tension building in the gallery, before he hit a real stinker.  He admitted to the crowd that he could have certainly missed the shot much quicker.

He was the same with putting.  He generally felt his first look at a putt was his best look and that taking extra time to look at it from every angle was not particularly helpful or enlightening.  He did admit that he learned to take a little more time to catch his breath in later years before he hit the putt. But he always felt his first look was his best read.

Bobby felt there was nothing more onerous than slow play.  I'm certain he would have to turn the television off rather than watch the deliberations and the fiddling around that we are subjected to these days when we watch the pros play.  In this respect they set a terrible example for the average player who is often tempted to imitate their pre-shot routines.  

The other day we got stuck behind a foursome playing their usual match.  They usually got to the green in relatively acceptable speed.  But once on the green the show began--balls marked, putts surveyed from every angle, two-footers marked, cleaned and aim-lined instead of being tapped in.  It was absolutely painful to endure.  And not one of those guys broke ninety.  

If we want to eliminate slow play, we need to stop imitating the pros, forget we ever heard about pre-shot routines, and just hit the bloody thing.  We all need to be like Bobby Jones.  We need to miss 'em quick.  I don't think I've ever heard of anyone being criticized for playing too fast.  Have you?

It Ain't How Far It's How Many

My son tells me he is finally giving up rugby to finally turn his attention to golf.  His knee that now requires surgery and his wonky shoulder have contributed to that decision; not to mention the fact that he is getting older and tends to take a longer time to recover from the bumps and bruises that are a big part of the game.  I am glad that he has made the decision--making it about the same time in his life that I did, when I  gave up hockey for a slightly more gentlemanly pursuit.  

From now on, hopefully it will be golf in the summer and squash in the winter for my boy.  Those are pursuits much less hazardous to your health and fitting for a young army officer, even if the rugby pitch will likely always call out to him.

He's strong like bull.  He can hit a pitching wedge 170 yards, generally over the back of whatever green he's aiming at.  He drives it long and crooked as well.  But he's a pretty decent chipper and putter, which suggests to me that he could actually become a fair player.  The key will be whether he can forget his driver and develop his touch.

We spoke the other night and came up with a plan.  Matt will begin the season using only a seven iron, a wedge, and a putter.  He will work on getting the ball in play off the tee and honing his skills around the green.  My wife learned to play this way and very quickly learned to get it around the course--although she'd still sooner walk the course with a camera and a ball retriever photographing the wild life and hawking previously enjoyed Titleists.

I really hope Matt can learn to love the game.  So far, his experiences on the links have pretty much left him cold.  Golf is no fun when you're spending all day looking for your tee shot in the woods somewhere in the next county.  It also isn't all that fun for your playing companions unless they play the same sort of game.  One soon tires of searching for someone else's ball.  He's also not very fond of having his old man beat him all the time, since he's a competitive character.

As Bob Toski and Harvey Penick taught, golf is best learned from the green back to the tee.  Someone who can chip and putt--and get the ball in play off the tee--can play with anyone.  Besides, according to Harvey, the golf swing is really nothing more than a long chip shot.  It's all about controlling distance and direction that counts and that comes from the strike.

The challenge for Matt will be resisting the urge to hit the driver.  It won't be difficult, however, if he just leaves it at home.  It also won't be hard to forget the driver if he learns what all good players must eventually learn; it ain't how far, it's how many.  If he starts seeing his scores dropping, he won't miss that driver at all.

The "Anyway Shot"

There are some days when the game is almost easy.  Not very often, but sometimes.  I played Roundel Glen the other day with Spiros.  I had his number the last time out, so we agreed that I'd give him five a side.  

It was one of those days for me--and it was one of those days for Spiros.  I won the first four holes and said to Spiros, "You're digging a big hole for yourself, buddy."

He agreed and said, "Two more and you can bury me."

Sure enough, I won the next two as well and we were looking to find a priest.  I then hit my first poor shot of the day.  It was a little forty yard pitch.  I stood over it and I couldn't picture a shot.  I didn't know whether to take it in low with a little spin, or pitch it high and soft.  Even though I wasn't really ready, I hit it anyway--a dreaded "anyway shot."  I thinned it across the green into a hole and promptly made a double.  Spiros was back to five down and felt energized.

Unfortunately for Spiros, I recovered, won three of the next four and he was finished 8 and 7.  It was just one of those days where the ball just seemed to go where I was looking.  All day, I hit only three bad shots.  Every one of them was an "anyway shot,"  where I wasn't feeling confident with the shot or the club.  Three bad shots for me is pretty good, but it was enough for me to lose three shots to Old Man Par.  That's the thing about Old Man Par-- he doesn't play until he's ready.  He never hits "anyway shots."  He just hits fairways and greens.  And he generally manages to beat me.  He's solid as a rock.

So, I'm doing well so far this year not tinkering with my swing.  My next goal is to eliminate those anyway shots. If I can, I might just start looking like a golfer.  As for Spiros--he's getting six a side today.  Hopefully it will come down to the last few holes to decide who has bragging rights.  Matches are no fun when they are over too soon.

A Club and a Tire

My buddy, Jeff, broke his right leg playing hockey this winter.  He zigged when he should have zagged and went full tilt into the boards feet first.  Twenty some pins and four metal plates later, he's just now starting to rehab it.  His biggest concern, of course, is how soon he can be back golfing, and how the injury will affect his game.  It got me to thinking.

What are the most important muscles for golf?  I suppose today's experts would say the core muscles and the legs--though I can't say for certain, not being an expert in such things.  I would argue, with support from some of the best golfers to ever play the game, that the most important muscles are in the hands, wrists, and forearms--especially the hands.  

There are golfers who have lost the use of their legs, but can still play decent golf out of a chair using their hands and arms.  I had a friend who played decent golf despite having lost one leg up to the knee and several toes on his remaining foot.  I had another friend when I played at Pine Ridge who played a respectable game despite having only one hand.  One famous old English teacher, Ernest Jones, lost a leg during the war and developed his teaching system called "swing the clubhead" based upon what he learned in terms of using his hands and arms to still play good golf despite his handicap.  

The fact is you don't have to be rooted to the ground to effectively strike a golf ball.  Look at some of these trick shot artists if you have any doubts.  Bobby Jones felt, quite rightly, that anyone with a good set of hands can play respectable golf.  He may not hit it as far as the young and physically fit players, but he can play golf well enough to thoroughly enjoy the game if he learns to use his hands properly.

In fact, one of the attributes that we often give to great players is that they possess a great set of hands.  Often this refers to their touch, but it also involves their ability to deliver a real wallop to the ball using their hands. Arnold Palmer had enormously powerful hands and forearms, and he used them to great effect.  Sam Snead did as well.  Jackie Burke, when talking about Snead's advice to grip the club like a baby bird, apparently suggested that, in Snead's case, the baby bird was definitely an eagle.  Snead may have gripped the club softly for him, but you can bet that when he delivered the strike that club head wasn't about to twist in those powerful hands for anything.

Now we will likely never be endowed with the kind of strength in our hands and forearms that Palmer or Snead possessed, but we can certainly get stronger.  One of England's finest players and teachers, Henry Cotton, discovered the value of a simple car tire to not only build strong hands, wrists, and forearms, but also to learn to deliver a solid, square strike.  He had his students out there striking a tire with the left hand only, the right hand only, and both hands; getting the feel of how both hands work to deliver the club head to the ball and make a solid strike.  They also discovered the importance of the top hand (the left hand for right-handed golfers) in delivering the club square to the ball.

The results he saw were almost instantaneous with many students who, caught up in swing mechanics, had forgotten that golf, in the final analysis, was about striking the ball with the head of the club; not making a pretty swing.  I have my tire in the back garden and, now that the weather's good, intend to regularly go out and whack the daylights out of it.  It might just accomplish two things--strengthen my golf muscles and eliminate any stress I might be feeling.  Actually, it might accomplish three things.  It might also annoy my neighbours, who will have to listen to their crazy neighbour whacking a car tire.  I better make certain I don't decide to do it at midnight.

As for Jeff; he's going to start beating a tire as well.

Trillium Wood

I played with Spiros at Trillium Wood, near Belleville, Ontario, today.  We were paired up with Randy and Mark on this sunny, cool and breezy day.  The course was designed by Steve Ward, who designed our new nine at Picton as well as Timber Ridge, near Brighton. 

Trillium is a real gem of a course with a variety of interesting holes, both short and long.  Steve has a real knack of making a course interesting and challenging while making it playable for all level of golfers.  He is particularly adept at making short holes that look easy on the card, but present a real challenge to any player.  

Randy and Mark were great to play with, and Randy pitched and chipped like a demon all day using his trusty pitching wedge.  Time and again he laid the ball virtually stone dead from a variety of distances and lies.  Good chipping certainly covers a multitude of sins in this game.  It was there first time out this year and they both acquitted themselves very well.

As for Spiros and I; we played a match with Spiros getting four a side.  Spiros played a decent front nine, including a nice birdie at two, but found himself two down.  On the back he had a couple of disasters and lost four and three.  I hit the ball nicely but putted poorly, including a three- putt par on the ninth--nothing worse than a three-putt par.  I also three-putted for bogey on the last hole for 75.  Not bad for an old, fat guy.  

The big positive for me is that I've now played three rounds without tinkering with my swing.  I think this has to be a personal best.  If I can manage to keep swinging "my swing,"  and make a few putts, Old Man Par will soon have to watch out.  Spiros birdied his last hole as well and can't wait to get back out there.

If you haven't played Trillium Wood, make sure you keep it in mind when you're in this neck of the woods.  You won't be disappointed.  Friendly staff and Rickard's red on tap.

Roundel Glen

Spiros might have been wearing his game face yesterday at Roundel Glen, but it wasn't enough to prevent me from beating the boys three and two.  Despite the second loss in a row, Spiros indicates that they will not be asking for strokes.

It was a fun day on a very good course that was unfortunately also very wet, forcing us to walk for the second day in a row.  If we keep this up, we'll soon be fit as fiddles.

This early in the year the usually-quick greens were pretty slow and still quite bumpy from being aerated at the end of last season.  But Roundel Glen, formerly the Canadian Forces Base Trenton course, is a great old design with lots of mature trees, sharp doglegs, and some beastly long par fours--at least for old fat guys like us.  It's definitely worth a visit if you're in the area.