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Ted and Bill have been playing golf every Thursday morning without missing for
more than twenty years. On Monday Bill calls Ted apologizing profusely
saying his wife is quite ill and he may have to miss their round for the first
time ever. Ted says he understands and hopes everything works out. Ted
shows up at the course as usual figuring he'll play alone and is surprised to
see Bill on the first tee waiting for him. " I guess everything is fine
with your wife" says Ted. "Yeah it all worked out fine" says Bill.
They get to the seventh hole out by the road to the cemetary and are about to
tee off when Bill abruptly interrupts Ted's back swing telling him to take off
his hat and show a little respect to the funeral procession passing by. Ted
asks Bill what his problem is since many funerals have passed over the years
with no such concern from Bill. "Yeah but this is my wife's" replies Bill.
I saw that one in a magazine somewhere over a decade ago and have been waiting
for a slow week to fit it in here somehow.(Names have been changed to protect
the guilty).
Did you enjoy The President's Cup? Did you know it was going on? Do you
know what it is and why it's played? I mentioned before it's played because
the Ryder Cup played the US against the Europeans brings in a trainload of cash
and someone thought why not get the US to play the rest of the world on the
opposite years and bring in a bunch more. The players don't get paid for
this, although their gifts and clothing allowance would equal most of our
yearly salaries, but millions of dollars are being made. Sure a small
percentage is donated to charity and everyone pats each other on the back about
how good, upstanding, citizens they all are but then they take there tax receipt
and hop on their private jets and go back to their million dollar homes and ob
la dee ob la da life goes on.
The funny thing is most of these golfers who were supposed to be the US versus
the Internationals fly back home to be neighbors in Florida, or Arizona,
California or where ever else in the states they keep a home.
The thing seems so contrived I have a very difficult time taking it seriously.
Fun for the Canadian fans who were able to go to see the best players in
the world in the flesh for likely the last time on Canadian soil but Tiger has
said in the past no-one talks about your Ryder/President' s Cup record at the
end of your career. It's about victories and majors and money.
Summer Check Up (July/07)
This is the time of year where the excitement of the beginning of the golf season has worn off and the time available because of kids out of school and
vacation plans becomes scarce. Visits to the driving range often decline
and you can very often start to slide into some old bad habits. It doesn't
often happen overnight but your alignment slowly gets out of whack, your swing
starts to speed up and/or lengthen. The new grip you had a feel for in the
spring has slid unknowingly back to it's old position. The extra tension you
tried so hard to eliminate creeps back in as your success dwindles.
It is very hard to maintain all these aspects of your game when most of your
swinging is done on the golf course. When you are on the course most of the
focus is on the results and the process sometimes get forgotten.
If you have found some of your early season success has started to slip away here are a few thoughts on what to check if you get a chance to practice.
If you have changed your grip re-affirm it is still where you have changed it
to. Sometimes you start the set up with your hands in the right position but
as you waggle the club around to get comfortable your hands sneak back to an
old position of days gone by. While your at it check the tension in your
hands, and forearms, elbows, and shoulders. Just enough tension to lift the
club off the ground(about 4 out of a scale of 10) is good.
Alignment! Lay the shaft of a club on the ground pointed towards a specific
target and square your stance to it. If it feels weird to be pointing that
way your aim has likely been off. I have seen very accomplished players be
off on their alignment by 30 yards without noticing it. Tends to mess things
up a little.
Take some 3/4 power, 3/4 length swings. If you start to hit the ball more
solidly and consistently than you have recently your swing has likely sped up
and lengthened. This happens a lot with people who, consciously or not,
start trying to hit the ball further.
If things have been going well for the most part analyze your game to see if
there is one part of it that is holding you back some. The best way to do
this is to keep track of things like fairways and greens hit, up and downs
from beside the green and sand traps, and number of putts. Just write them
down on your scorecard as you go along. After five rounds or so you will see
a pattern forming of where the strokes are leaking away.
If after four weeks of summer vacation you have killed your children and are in federal custody, many of these suggestions above can be improvised to be
done in your cell or during recess. If these guys are imaginative enough to
smuggle in drugs and knives and stuff surely you can get a pitching wedge and a couple of Titlests in there. Good luck and be careful bending over to put your
tee in the ground. Peace.(John Piccolo is the golf instructor and a custom
club maker at Eagle Valley Golf Club in Niagara Falls. You can e-mail him at
picgolf@vaxxine.com)