From: dbd@cbnews.cb.att.com (david.b.delorme)
Subject: Re: greenhorn (not) learning to swing
Organization: AT&T
Distribution: na
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1992 20:11:49 GMT

In article <92Jul28.203218edt.133@smoke.cs.toronto.edu> enenkel@cs.toronto.edu (Robert Frederick Enenkel) writes:
>I am somewhat exasperated.  Think back to when you picked up a golf
>club for the first time in your life.  How long did it take you before
>you could hit the ball reliably, say half the time.  I don't mean hit
>it far, or hit it straight, or (heaven forbid!) with some particular
>spin.  Just a solid, clean hit.  If you say it took you five years,
>then I'll just pack it in right now and save myself a lot of grief.
>
>I came into possession of a #3 wood about a month ago.  I got myself
>Tom Watson's book "Getting Back to Basics".  I followed the nice
>pictures of how to hold the club, and started to practice hitting
>whiffle balls off a tee.  I tried almost every evening.  I still can't

 ...

>can I go to a driving range when I can't even get the club on the ball?
>How shameful.  I have a friend who golfs, and when I told him my problem
>he offered to sell me a "nice persimmon driver" for $200!  I can't imagine
>that is my problem though.  I'm sure Arnold Palmer wouldn't have any
>trouble hitting whiffle balls with my humble #3 wood, old and disheveled 
>as it is.  Any words of wisdom?
>
>Robert Enenkel

Well, I'll tell you what I did.

I took up the great game of golf about a year and a half ago.
My father, who took up the game about three or four years ago,
gave me his old set of golf clubs when he bought a new set.

At first, I hit the ball okay, I guess, fifty percent of the 
time.  Then I bought an instructional video and a book to learn 
how I should be swinging.  It seemd that the more I tried to do 
what the book and video said, the worse my swing got.  I even 
started completely missing the ball, which rarely happened before.

For a while there I thought it was hopeless.  Then, when I was at the 
point of giving up, I decided to take a lesson from the pro at
the local driving range.  It cost $35 for an hour.  The best $35
dollars I've ever spent.  I was absolutly amazed.  The pro 
identified almost immediately the flaws in my stance and my
swing.  We worked on my stance and swing for the hour.  For
the next week, I practiced several exercises in my backyard
(without a ball) for fifteen minutes a day.  Then I went 
back to the driving range.  It made an incredible difference.
I hit 95% of the balls very well and the other 5% okay.  And
since then, I have never completely missed the ball.  After
that, the game of golf became fun.

Afterwards I thought, why didn't I pick out those problems 
in my swing from the video and the book?  I realized that the
book and video only describes the good swing (with a few comments
on hooks and slices).  A book cannot describe the thousands
of little bad habits that can unconciously creep into your swing.

I won't go into the things the pro told me to work on.  The same pro
would probably tell you something completely different, based on your
own needs.  My suggestion is that you find a reputable pro in you 
area and get a lesson.

David DeLorme
AT&T Bell Laboratories
Columbus, Ohio
Newsgroups: rec.sport.golf