I began this game in 1960 with a set of my father's hand me down clubs, tossed to me after his enormous ego took repeated beatings from this former boxer's bouts with this daunting game. It's not a game for a big ego'd person. It brings you too close to the mirror, where, you know, you get so close that everything gets too blurry to even know what's real. I could have used a little more of his ego, but that's another story. I found right off that my ego was such that I could handle the vicicissitudes of the game. The ups and downs. The agonies and the ecstasies. I got pretty good at it as a teen. Was second man on my high school team, but not nearly as good as the top kid who was close to scratch.
Then life interjected after high school and college, and I lost some golf skills due to lack of playing time. You gotta keep up with this game because it's too damn easy to lose skills if you don't play or practice. But later in life, I had more time so started playing more and again, got pretty good. Broke 80 a number of times and had a seven handicap, at least on the course I mostly played on. But things change, don't they? Oh, don't they!
In September of 2017, I was diagnosed with stage four cancer, went through chemo, lost about 20 pounds along with all the hair on my body, got peripheral neuropathy in my feet (which, let me tell you, doesn't help a golf swing), got heart failure also from the chemo, but, ultimately, I survived it, and here I am, thank God, about two years into recovery. After chemo, I couldn't even think about hitting balls at the range. Then gradually, I could hit about 10 before becoming exhausted. And now, a whole bucket, with a swing that generates much less power. Before the illness, my 7-iron went about 140. Now, about 120. Before my drives were about 210. Now, about 180. I developed the shanks at one point, it seems due to the neuropathy in my feet, thought seriously about giving up the game, but as a last ditch effort went to see a local pro named Jack Young, whose approach was anything but the usual cookie cutter approach. He changed my set up, weight shift, swing plane, swing speed, and lo and behold, Jack cured my shank and got my game back on track.
So if any of you are still awake after hearing all my travails, I'll explain some of the changes and adjustments I made to reclaim my swing, leading to more fun with golf than I've had in several years.
First, since I was striking the ball on or near the hosel of my irons, producing a kind of half shank to the right, Jack had me move farther away from the ball at address--quite a bit farther away, to the point where I was downright uncomfortable. Of course there are a number of positions in golf that are at first uncomfortable, like the awkward grip, the straight left arm, the steady head, the turn of the hips and torso, etc. etc. And along with starting farther from the ball, he had me line the ball up with the toe of the club instead of the customary sweet spot. Somehow my peripheral neuropathy was causing me to reach for the ball at impact causing the club to strike it too near the hosel or heel of the iron. Woods were not as bad but still too near the heel causing a weak hit that lacked that solidness I so enjoyed with a golf hit. He instructed me to bow my wrists, causing my left arm and club shaft to form a relatively straight line at address, a one-plane position that emulates the ideal position at impact (this is similar to Bryson's current set up). For woods the weight is evenly distributed, but for irons, Jack advised I keep my weight primarily on my left foot/leg, and keep it there throughout the swing.
This was something else that was quite uncomfortable and hard to get used to. The reason: The numbness in my feet was blocking the normal shifting of weight that an iron requires in order to strike the ball down and through thus causing it to rise up the grooved clubface, attaining the height and backspin needed to both reach and hold the green. In the worst of my golfing doldrums I had been thinning and fatting shots routinely. However, I've modified this instruction some by starting with my weight evenly distributed, but then shifting about 60% to my left foot and 40% to the right. It's more comfortable, and I find the results are still quite effective.
Left arm stays straight with a natural cocking of the wrists coming back, with, again, the weight remaining on the left foot. Head stays steady in place. Now the transition: With the hands head high, begin the downswing, continuing to keep the head in place, with the pace about the same as the backswing. The pace of the downswing should not be so fast that you can't strike the sweet spot most of the time (ideally, as Hogan wished, all of the time!). That is key, for the ideal efficiency of a golf club can only be obtained when the sweet spot, which is pretty small, is struck. Jack cautioned me a number of times to slow it down until I began to feel that solid contact--via feel in the hands, sound in the ear, and sight of the ball soaring down the fairway--consistently. I'm mostly conscious of my arms starting the downswing, with my body pretty much knowing what to do on its own since I've been playing this game since I was 14. My other swing thought is to keep my head steady as I come into the impact zone, finishing up letting the arms come as high into the follow-through as they can at my advanced age.
Turned out, my drives were much easier to apply all these changes to--the reasons being that weight shift was not as critical as with irons, the ball is already airborne given it's teed up, the lie is flat and perfect, the club is the longest but also the lightest in the bag, and the target is well defined. With irons, there are lots more potentially troublesome variables.
So right now, my driving is great, but my irons are still a work in progress--although progress in being made the more I play. My short game too is improving the more I play and my scores are representative of this progress (shot an 85 today!) But I'm on Jack's waiting list for another lesson to have him check my positions with the irons, increasing my distances some, and working on my technique on those intimidating long chips and pitches.
I'll keep you posted.
A note of caution: The above instructions were custom designed by Jack Young for me, given my particular medical and physical condition. I hope there are elements you can use, but you'll need to take into consideration your own condition and needs.
Pars and birdies to you all!
Making Progress and Describing my Process
Hi Stephen, I am a friend of Mike B and came back to golf late. I have written two books with golf as an underlying motif. At present I shoot my age! Contact me if you're interested in hearing more. Best Richard
Nice post about your progress. And nice pic of the iconic 18th at pebble. When were you there?