[Steve_ Shaffer]

Interesting article from a golfer who took it easy with an injured back. A lesson for us all or... to use an old golfing adage, it's not how you drive, it's how you arrive...


http://everythinggolf.blogs.heraldtribune.com/11806/playing-%e2%80%9cold-man-golf%e2%80%9d-and-loving-it/

This is where he played:

http://www.linksatgreenfieldplantation.com/

[Ronald Montesano]

Stevie boy, you are right! I had my revelation last week with hickories in one of our golf domes. I focused so much on hitting that smaller head with those wooden shafts that I found a swing I hadn't remembered from my youth. Technology demands that I bash it (or I perceive it that way.) Old man golf with hickories was awesome...now I need a pot of golf so I can buy some of them!!

[Terry Lavin]

I'm a practitioner of "old man golf with young man's weapons.". I hit it short but straight off the tee, missing few fairways while hitting few fairway bunkers. My game got a lot more relaxed AND better after my neck was fused following a car wreck. I was reluctant to really go after the ball, so my balance improved and so did my accuracy. I dropped three shots off my 13 handicap.

[Jim Franklin]

I'm a practitioner of "old man golf with young man's weapons.". I hit it short but straight off the tee, missing few fairways while hitting few fairway bunkers. My game got a lot more relaxed AND better after my neck was fused following a car wreck. I was reluctant to really go after the ball, so my balance improved and so did my accuracy. I dropped three shots off my 13 handicap.

"Old man golf"? Your little one won't let that happen. Mine doesn't!! It is amazing how a little child will keep you feeling young.

[Peter Pallotta]

I've mentioned this before: a while back I bought a used set of Hogan blades, even though I have no business (skill wise) trying to hit old blades.  Besides the romance of it and how pretty they look, I bought them specifically as my game improvement irons -- i.e. as  an attempt to force me (and my body/muscles) to develop a more proper swing, one that came more from the inside and that had a good even tempo.  And even though I don't play much at all (and practice just about never), I found that the experiment has been working!  Over the course of two seasons (maybe 20 rounds), I found that I was staying centred over the ball and swinging within myself and making a full shoulder and hip turn, and swinging in a very controlled pace/tempo -- and was making good contact and getting good distance and consistently drawing the ball just a touch.  But the unexpected bonus came just at the end of this past season, when, almost accidentally, that iron/blade swing got transferred to my driver/3 wood, off the tee.  I found myself consciously (and repeatedly) swinging at no more than 70-80% of maximum effort/speed -- and almost overnight, literally, I started hitting it straighter....and longer!  All I can conclude is that there is what I think I'm doing with my body/swing and then what I'm actually doing, and it must be that while I think I'm swinging like an old man, my club head speed has actually increased, and/or become more efficient.  It has been very satisfying.

[BCrosby]

"All I can conclude is that there is what I think I'm doing with my body/swing and then what I'm actually doing, and it must be that while I think I'm swinging like an old man, my club head speed has actually increased, and/or become more efficient.  It has been very satisfying."

The first time I saw my swing on video, I didn't recognize it was me. It was a shock. I had a completely different mental image of my swing.

Reminds me of the joke about behaviorist psychologists at their annual convention. One walks up to another and says, "You look to be doing well. How am I doing?"

Bob

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Peter,

Many years ago, I went to a Shivas Irons Society event at Ridgewood in NJ and Fred Shoemaker, golfing guru extraordinaire, gave a mini clinic and emphasized the 70% swing. It has taken me more than 10 years for this to sink in. It works. Now all I need is a great short game.

He also had us putting with our eyes closed and throwing a club down the range after swinging it to produce a good release. He's quite a teacher.

http://extraordinarygolf.com/

[Bob_Huntley]

Steve,

Fred lives  a couple of miles away from me and I have attended many of his clinics at MPCC. He makes the game look simple and has an almost Zen attitude about the  cause and effect of the swing. At 145 lbs don't have too many bets on how far you can out drive him.

Bob

[Joe Leenheer]

Less is more when it comes to the golf swing.  However, I'm more of a 90% guy than 70%.

Luke Donald is a great testament to this.  I've spent too many years using el Tigre as an example in lessons purely because I liked his form & positions.  It is refreshing to have someone in the spotlight swinging at a "smoother" pace.  He is a great example for all the young golfers out their who are trying to bash the ball.

IMO, this subject can translate directly to GCA.  Less is more.

 

[Peter Pallotta]

Steve - thanks for the interesting link.  I envy Fred his rare combination of practical experience/know how and, let's call it, ethereal vision/philosophy.  It's amazing how long the simplest things take to sink it.  But now, like you, I have to have some stuff "sink in" re the short game.

Peter

[Colin Macqueen]

Peter,
In honour of perpetual striving and persistence I give you this corrupted version dreamt up with a dram in hand in the last ten minutes (it shows!). I am a great admirer of Fred Shoemaker and his "throwing" the club approach (so was Tommy Bolt mind you!)

Ol' man golfer
This ol' man golfer
He jus' keeps thumpin
And dont know nuthin'
He jes' keeps bashin
He keeps on bashin' along.

He don't flush drivers
He don't crush iron
An' when he strikes 'em
it's soon forgotten
But ol' man golfer
He jes' keeps bashin' along.

Eyes gets bleary
An sick of drivin'
Ah'm tired of duffin'
An' skeered of puttin'
But this ol' golfer
He jes' keeps bashin' along.

Cheers Colin

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