March 31: Paola, Jeff and my Granddaughter Ava Lyli and Ana Mica visited. More great gifts, books, and golf stuff. The visit and the books make my day and ends the month of March!
March 28: I turn 72. Lots of birthday wishes, but the best two gifts: Anya sent me a poster of Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus exchanging money in the 60's.... and delicious cookies by the Lenius kids! (I ate and shared on March 30th with them)
March 26: First News Maker of 2023!! Aaron Kauk makes a deuce (double eagle, albatross or whatever you want to name it) on #15... James Ainsworth comes in "second" with another deuce, an eagle on #9! Great day for golf!
March 25: Great sunrise and great day: we take the pictures for the remake of the Share the Passion with eight members' kids
March 24: Clubhouse is sure taking great form!
March 22: Dell Match Play Championship gets under way in Austin TX. Scotty Scheffler, defending Champion gets eliminated in the semifinals. Sam Burns wins it all. It was the last World Match Play Championship.
March 20: Smiles that I will never forget. Jan Michael Angela's tragic accident in 1980 will never be forgotten
March 19: My sister Chuchina who has been visiting since February 5th, goes back to El Paso. From the she will travel to Mexico City, then Cancun, then San Diego, then back to El Paso... or Elk City!
March 15: Bob Maine and I have lunch at Peter G's and meet veteran of three Vietnam tours, "Shereman". Great lunch, great conversation!
March 14: Shell around the new clubhouse almost compete
March 11: We announce the "remake" of the "Share the Passion" poster for the new clubhouse
March 12: IS IT BETTER TO PLAY BY FEEL OR BY "PERFECT MECHANICS"?
I have read hundreds of instruction articles in golf magazines, read a few dozen books, and heard golf teachers point out their "secrets" to a better swing, yet, even if your swing is better, you still have to PLAY GOLF, and the swing, no matter how good it is, is not, I repeat, IS NOT ALWAYS THE SOLUTION TO PLAY BETTER. For many years in my teens and early 20's, I remember how inconsistent I became, because ever month, I was trying a new "swing thought", every "tip of the month".
Think of it as "the swing" as being a tool, knowing how to use it is another thing, and in this case, your "feel" on how to use that tool becomes very important.
There are players who play "by feel" (Jordan Spieth, Seve Ballesteros, Lee Trevino, Arnold Palmer, Phil Mickelson, Tom Watson, John Daly), players who play by "mechanics" (Greg Norman, Billy Horschell, Brooks Keopka, Lee Westwood, Tom Weiskoft) and players who use both, feel and mechanics (Tiger Woods, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Sir Nick Faldo). This last group consistently try to start the swing from a perfect posture and alignment, and then swing natural, by "feel"). This is the best way to play: concentrate on your "PGA": Posture, Grip and Alignment, then just swing the way you swing.
Players who in the quest for perfection, try to change their own instincts, style, God given talent, struggle with their game. Even the best players in the world have that problem sometimes....
It happened to Seve Ballesteros, and for a while, he could not find the golf course, let alone the fairway.. And if this happens to the best player in the world at the time, It happens every day to all of us. We have a swing thought, and after two holes, we can't "feel" it any more, and the more we concentrate on mechanics, the more we will mess up.
Yesterday I was watching my favorite player now days, Jordan Spieth's third round at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, when he was heard saying, "I don't have (feel) it today" and he struggled to a two over par 74. However, if you have watched him the last 6-8 months, he has been "playing mechanics" on the course many times, making some sort of "mock" move to put the club in certain position in his backswing, and the results have not been great.
Jordan Spieth tried to change from being a true artist, to being more "mechanical" and it is not working as good as he would like to. Imagine Jordan at 16 years old, as a high school player, being invited to play in the AT&T Byron Nelson PGA Tour tournament, when he contended until the last four holes on the back nine! Sixteen years old, and he placed 20th in a full field PGA Tour event! He is now struggling to find that "old feel", and if he does, watch out, 2015 will be repeated many times over.
Tiger Woods, for instance, won the Masters in 1997 with a record of 270. He had already won three or four times on the regular tour since turning pro only seven months earlier. Then, he began changing his winning swing, but he never lost his "feel". It may have taken him longer to being consistent, but once he combined the new swing into his "natural feel", he began winning again. He and Jack Nciklaus are the exception of changing winning swings for other winning swings. Ben Hogan as well.
One example was in 1972, when Jack, a natural fader of the golf ball, didn't "have it" during the 1972 Open Championship, so, he manufactured a swing that felt good for the last round, playing a draw, and almost caught Lee Trevino, losing by only one shot.
Another example is one of Ben Hogan's practice rounds when he allowed a sports editor to follow him with a camera. They got to this hole, and Hogan had about 160 yards, over a bunker to a tight front hole position. Hogan was known as a "mechanical" golfers, one who would repeat the same swing time after time. So, Hogan hit a 6-iron to about 15 feet. The sports writer was amazed at the effortless swing and result, so he asked, "Mr. Hogan, beautiful shot. What club did you use?" Hogan, said, "6-Iron, let me show you something", so he took his 5-iron and hit the same shot, then the 4-iron, then a 7-iron. All balls inside 20 feet on this uphill approach. Do you think he was mechanical or a feel player?
Probably the round that messed up Jordan Spieth, was the final round of the 2015 PGA Championship, where he was paired with Jason Day, who won by two over Jordan, and constantly outdrove him by 30-50 yards. That day, Jordan began changing his swing to get more distance. He listened too much to the "expert commentators" who said that he did not have the distance to become a "dominant player". Really?
A swing that won him the Masters, the U.S. Open, a near miss at the Open Championship that year, where he was one shot short of the playoff, but not due to swing mechanics, but due to several three-putt greens during the tournament. And a swing that also got second in that year's PGA Championship.
In the real world of hackers, I play golf with several seniors on a regular basis. Three in particular, have completely different swings, but they all play pretty good golf. But, is you asked any one of them their swing thoughts, they could not verbalize any thoughts because they all pay by feel. If they ever tried to dissect their swing to get better, they. like me and many others, would get disastrous results. In our lingo, it is called, "Paralysis by Analysis".
If you are not a player who practices 8 hours a day, do not try to change your natural instincts. Maybe change your fundamentals, like grip or stance, but never your mechanics. Arnold Palmer said it better in an early 2000's commercial for Dick Sporting Goods, "Swing your Swing" with Arnold Palmer, one of the best "feel" players of all time. GO JORDAN!!! Get that feel back!
March 9: Happy Birthday to my brother Armando!
March 8: We adopt "Mulligan", a white Chinese Goose (on March 28, he was relocated to the lake by the Elk City Park
March 6-7: Top Dressed and aerified the greens
March 3: The shell of the new clubhouse is up and the roof is beginning to be installed.
February 29: Asher Brewer brings me a reminder of a "dead golf ball"...
February 15: Announcement of the Titleist Loyalty Program. Four dozen for the price of three!
January 25: Annual Stockholders meeting. Joe Wynn left his seat open after 15 years on the board. Josh Moran won that seat 24-22 over Ricky Nagle. Aaron Kauk and
January 17: Doctor David Bank, a long time member at the club and Rick Muncrief, brother of member Rob Muncrief, are inducted in the Elk City Leadership Hall of Fame
January 1st: First members out on the New Year: Andy Blankenship and son Oakley!
December 31st, 2022: Last Member Group of 2022: David Dyson, Jack Coody, Danny DeLeon, Brad Spitzer
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