Simple Enough: Insights and Lessons from a Pga Hall of Fame Member and Master Professional
150
Simple Enough: Insights and Lessons from a Pga Hall of Fame Member and Master Professional
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Overview
There is no question that golf is a challenging game that draws players of all ages and abilities to beautiful courses around the world. For any golfer, learning occurs at a deliberate pace, just like their swing. With that in mind, seasoned golf professional and teacher, John Gerring, shares a collection of lessons and insights into the game that teach a simple way to play and achieve results.
Gerringa PGA Hall of Fame member and master professional who has given thousands of lessons to beginners, advanced, and professional golfersemploys a unique style through personal reflections and anecdotes that lead golfers through his coaching experiences and game fundamentals while teaching straightforward methods to hit a golf ball, gracefully finish a swing, and accurately aim for a target. Through his lessons, golfers will also learn how to geometrically align their feet and shoulders, eliminate distractions, maintain the same style and swing for every shot, reduce the number of putts, fertilize strengths, and work toward goals in small, continuous bursts.
Simple Enough shares comprehensive golf lessons from a PGA professional that return to the basics and teach players of all levels that when it comes to the game of golf, one is never done learning.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781504964647 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | AuthorHouse |
| Publication date: | 02/05/2016 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 150 |
| File size: | 840 KB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Simple Enough
Insights and Lessons from a PGA Hall of Fame Member and Master Professional
By John Gerring
AuthorHouse
Copyright © 2016 John GerringAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-5049-6465-4
CHAPTER 1
THE BEGINNING
The revered cultures and traditions of all our lives seem to be shrinking and fading away. Where are all the good manners of yesteryear?
One refuge seems to be the golf course, and we must respect it. There is no need to spit. There is no need to use profanity. The game of golf is well beyond a spit and a curse.
When you see competitors doff their caps and shake hands after a closely fought match, you know golf is still alive and well.
Why not wish your opponent well and mean it? Because, really, how you play the game is the trophy you want to win ... and still be remembered.
A PERSONAL REFLECTION
When I reached the age of eight, my father took me to work with him. He was the pro at Blair Park Golf Club in High Point, North Carolina, and a member of the PGA for sixty years.
My father gave me a choice of work at the Club. One option was to caddie for Mr. O'Henry, a one-armed golfer who had a mechanical attachment on his left arm. Mr. O'Henry played only nine holes, but he played them frequently. He was not a skilled golfer, and I was a lousy caddie. So I soon agreed on option two.
For a quarter, I teed up golf balls while my father gave a lesson. I was not allowed to speak, but I listened to the conversation, and even today I recall many of my father's lessons. He was an excellent instructor. He simplified the game:
• "If a pilot does not understand 'horizontal,' then there's no point in teaching him anything else."
• "There is not enough room for you to straighten your right arm."
• "Turn your shoulders flat as a fritter."
• "Take a seat."
• "There are no draws or hooks opposite your left toe."
His remarks consistently addressed alignment procedures. He taught bad slicers how to draw the ball by having them just move the ball back in their stances. They achieved twenty additional yards of distance and more forgiveness.
You need a simple way to create force against the ball with a square clubface angle. You need a system to enable you to retrace the alignment procedures when you get out of position. This makes it easy to correct the swing when it malfunctions---and it will.
My brother, Jim, was the professional at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, for many years. So we had three golf pros in the family.
We all agree that "simple" is genuine. It is plainspoken and tasteful and fosters a sense of quality in the discussion. "Simple" gets results. I teach a simple way to hit a golf ball. And then one day, you finish your swing with no wrinkles in your right toe, a polished technique, and a graceful feeling.
Left handers are smarter. They can convert a right handed description of a golf swing into a left handed motion.
That's why left handers are not a bigger part of the population. They are smarter and, therefore, not as many.
SIMPLE AND COMPLEX
The purpose of this book is to make playing golf simple, but it is a complex game. The difficulty is the result of a side-on motion that is counterintuitive.
The swing has both the shapes of a merry-go-round and of a ferris wheel. It's a matter of a stick and a ball at your feet and your side simultaneously. That's similar to hitting a baseball at your feet. Trying to hit a ball at your feet and side with a club is not easy.
To be successful, stay simple. Simple is right but difficult to achieve. Simple requires determination and understanding of your purpose. It requires freedom from vanity. Start with a noncomplex approach, and be willing to step backward in time and in the learning process.
It's a matter of a few fundamentals. It is all about what to do, not how to do it. Golf always is a work in progress. Be enthusiastic and patient.
THE GREATEST GAME
Like many kids, I played all sports, whatever was in season. After a few years, I became convinced that golf is the greatest game.
I have been privileged to be a head golf professional for more than fifty years and to teach thousands of children and adults how to play the game. At the suggestion of many former students, I've put my lessons into print to help you improve your swing and thus your ball striking, lower your scores, and enhance your enjoyment of the game.
Henry Van Dyke wrote, "Use what talents you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there, except those that sang the best."
I offer encouragement and instruction. You must add patience and determination. The result will be success.
Success depends on pounding the rock. We all will learn; the tough part is to change habits.
This is not about developing the best swing. It's about swinging and enjoying the greatest game.
JUST THE FACTS, PLEASE
When I try to learn a skill, I need information. If I attend a dance class or a gourmet cooking school, I expect more than to be told to "feel" the music or to add a "dash" of salt here and there. I want to know where to place my feet or precisely how much salt to add.
On the practice tee, I hear comments such as:
• "My timing is off."
• "I am working on my rhythm."
• "It's my dreaded right hand."
• "I am working on relaxing my shoulders and having a light pressure on my grip."
• "Pro, how do you like my tempo?"
You may be sure any improvement in these areas will help, but let's face it: most of this is nothing more than "macaroni." This is not information. It is nothing more than subjective trivia.
While learning dancing, I want to be told or shown where to place my left foot and then my right foot. This is precise information. In cooking, what is a "dash" of salt? This is what I intend to do for your golf swing---geometric alignment procedures. As a reminder, if you are older than eighteen years, your ability to mimic is practically over or is certainly greatly diminished.
Some golfers remind me of politicians. They are looking for a crisis and finding it everywhere. Then they identify it incorrectly. Then they apply the wrong solutions. Finally, they blame it on someone else.
The golfer blames the golf coach or the stimpmeter reading or the length of the first cut rough.
While politicians won't change, golfers will. Facts and figures allow us to make it easy to identify problems so we can improve.
THE TRUTH
Keep doing what you have been doing and you will get exactly what you have been getting.
Sam Snead once said, "If golfers grip a knife and fork like they grip a golf club, they would starve to death."
Clubhead speed correctly applied produces the best results.
Many times when you concentrate on hitting a single, you will hit a homerun.
The broad view of life can be condensed into a game called golf.
• Be on time
• Have patience
• Have good manners
• Be honest
• Play by the rules
• Don't be greedy
• Take risks
• Listen well
• Dress properly
Twenty-yard rule penalty shots. If I allowed you, when faced with a penalty, to bring your ball back into the middle of the fairway with a twenty-yard distance penalty, you would shoot a much lower score.
The correct aiming procedure will hypnotize you. This will eliminate distractions. You cannot think positively and negatively at the same time.
PLAYING WITHIN YOURSELF
Less than five percent of golfers who take up the game ever break eighty. And with all the macaroni about equipment and technology, the average handicap has not gone down in close to twenty years. What does this say about high tech?
One hundred years have passed, and there are three mental points the great players have stuck with:
1. One shot at a time.
2. The next shot is the most important.
3. Yesterday is gone and it will not come back.
What is high tech about this?
It is wrong to push a golfer's swing into a method that has only shown declining results. Think for a moment about all the swing methods that have a title; there are at least twenty five.
"If your swing has a title, you had better run" is good advice.
If you have an error in the starting position, your swing will slowly evaporate a little each day. A hole digger knows the solution is to stop digging. Golfers need to stop digging before the evaporation really causes damage beyond repair.
When you learn to play within yourself, you will feel comfortable. I once had a member who would always try to lay up to the fifty-yard marker if he could not reach the par fours in two shots. Not the thirty- or forty-yard marker, but the fifty!
He broke eighty, seven out of ten rounds. He was short in stature and his age was in the sixties. He knew how to play within himself. And he practiced from fifty yards all the time.
SIMPLE VERSUS HIGH TECH
Simple and High Tech are arguing over the better way to teach the motion to hit a golf ball. Finally, they decide to have a contest.
Both Simple and High Tech have their students in peak condition.
Each is prepared to produce a championship demonstration.
It was no contest. Simple won by a large margin.
High Tech was discouraged. He had used the latest video equipment and launch monitors. He had made twelve videos of swing paths of the best pros on tour. Never a quitter, High Tech hired the top five teachers in America and a consultant and called for a rematch.
Meanwhile, High Tech's consultant developed his strategies. He concluded that High Tech needed more cameras and equipment to get the proper feedback. The team needed to add the precise spin rate of the golf ball and the flex point of the shaft at the top of the backswing, mid-point of the forward swing, and at impact. The consultant also ordered a complete examination of the golfer's core muscles at impact.
Simple won again.
HighTech refused to accept defeat and scheduled another contest. He committed millions of dollars to victory, bought more cameras, reorganized the staff, and hired five more professionals. In addition, High Tech hired a team to help their students "think" correctly. They intensified their examination of the core muscles. They instituted a review system to chart performance. Finally, they retrained the employee picking up practice balls and bought a new ball picker. The contest arrived and sure enough, Simple won again, this time by a larger margin. It seems pounding on the same thoughts deepened and widened the learning curve.
High Tech went to work again. This time, he laid off the employee picking up practice balls and gave away the range picker. High Tech asked the consultant to reorganize the process and gave him a bonus. Then, he gave each of the ten professionals a bonus because they had created the need for more High Tech. After all, ten more systems and methods on hitting a golf ball were worth a lot of money.
Simple went to the golf course and shot a low score.
ARNOLD PALMER
I arrived on the campus of Wake Forest College (the old campus in the Town of Wake Forest sixteen miles north of Raleigh) in the fall of 1953. I was seventeen years old and still eligible to play junior golf. The next year Arnold Palmer returned to the campus after three years of service in the Coast Guard.
Freshmen were not allowed to play varsity sports, so my roommate, Red Sapp, and I were at the bottom of the pecking order.
I remember coming to Arnold one day when we were practicing. We had to shag our own balls. It was great practice since it was important to hit them all in one location for a tireless and speedy pickup. He glanced up and said, "I just hit twenty six perfect 6-iron shots in a row." I looked out into the edge of the first fairway, and there was a tight cluster of golf balls that you were able to scoop up only taking a few steps. Twenty six in a row!
After that, I always described Arnold's ball striking in this manner: If I had to select one person who had to hit a green one hundred seventy five yards away to save my life, I would choose Arnold Palmer. He was straight and long.
When I would visit home, I would talk about Arnold. I told my father how Arnold had a convex bump on his left wrist at the top of the backswing. I had a cup or slight concavity. He said I better leave that alone since my swing might not be strong enough to handle that position.
In the spring of 1954, Arnold invited me to accompany him to the RGA (Raleigh Golf Association) course. He was going to accept a challenge match to play the Raleigh City Amateur Champion and give him two strokes. I was Arnold's partner in a four-ball match against the City champ, Chuck Alexander and Melvin Deitch, who played for North Carolina State.
At the fifteenth hole, a par five, Arnold hit a tremendous tee shot. The ball had rolled into the rough into a patch of high grass. I felt a No. 5 or No. 6 iron in front of the green would allow him to make a birdie. I looked, and Arnold had a driver (No. 1 wood) going for the green. Unbelievable. Out of bounds to the right, right against the green and bunkers on the left. Arnold hit the ball right into the middle of the green. No one else was close in two shots.
The bet was for $100.00. Alexander shot 69. Arnold shot 68. We won the 4-ball match.
Afterwards in the locker room, several of Alexander's friends were praising him. Suddenly, Arnold stood up and said, "I'll be back next Saturday — same bet for $1,000.00."
Courage and confidence.
Jim Weaver, the Athletic Director at Wake Forest and later the Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner, used to say that Arnold had "more guts than a burglar."
Arnold always said, "If I putt past the hole, I will always make it coming back."
Arnold Palmer is a gigantic figure in the game of golf. He represents himself, Wake Forest, and the game of golf with class and dignity.
Arnold shakes your hand and removes his cap with a smile on his face.
Hats off to you, Arnold.
LARRY NELSON
I met Larry Nelson when I was the pro at the Atlanta Golf Club.
Larry was an accomplished player on the PGA Tour at that time. But he started his career late, after military service. He studied Ben Hogan's swing, and with his adaptations, Larry turned himself into a champion. I was his coach. We played golf on Mondays. I reminded him of his three simple swing fundamentals.
1. Left thumb on top of the grip. A very weak position. He wanted a grip reminder built into his grips and turned into a slice position.
2. Point his toe line way to the left of his target line. So if anyone looked at his toe line, they could not determine where he was aiming.
3. Swing the club deep to the inside on the backswing.
Larry's shaft would cross the target line on the backswing. This was not a mistake and made him sneaky long with all his shots.
His forward swing had the uniqueness of the knuckles on the left hand turning downward. Just like Ben Hogan, Lee Trevino, Sergio Garcia, and Arnold Palmer.
Larry is class. He was unfailingly polite and made every person he met feel as if he or she was the most important person in the world. Even after winning the US Open and the PGA Championship.
Larry also has bulldog tenacity. He loved the struggle and approached it in a quiet manner.
The Atlanta Classic, a PGA Tour Event, was held at Atlanta Country Club for many years. One year, Larry was leading after 54 holes. When he was warming up for the final round, his caddy came to me and said Larry wanted to see me on the practice tee. Upon arrival, I noticed how well he was hitting his Ben Hogan Driver. His swing looked great. I left and then proceeded to the No. 1 tee to watch him start the final round. As he was addressing the ball, I noticed he was using a MacGregor driver. I was stunned. A great tee shot and he was on the way. Alvin "Pap" Sutton, our caddie master, was caddying for him. Larry won the tournament. Later I inquired about the driver exchange, and in particular, not hitting any shots beforehand. Larry said, "When I went to my locker for the final time, I noticed the MacGregor driver. It was like seeing an old friend. I decided to stick with my friend."
The best advice I have ever been given or heard of about aiming, I received from Larry. Pick a spot as close to you on the way to the target. The closer the better. Once you do this, do not look at the target again. You will find this has a hypnotic effect. You then find you are more readily holding your attention to the task at hand. A very positive effect for better ball striking!
When Larry won the PGA Championship at Palm Beach National, he stopped by the golf shop at Atlanta Country Club. He said, "We have a problem. I am crossing the line on my backswing." A major champion worrying about technique. My comment was, "Larry, you are the PGA Champion. You have no problem."
Larry Nelson. Three major championships. A person who illustrates "still water runs deep."
BETSY KING
I was a partner and the pro at Holly Tree Country Club in Greenville, South Carolina, when I met Betsy King in the early 1970s. Her father, Dr. Wier King, called one day and asked if I would work with Betsy. At the time, Betsy was on the golf team at Furman. I became her coach for the next eight years or so, and she became a remarkable professional player and humanitarian.
Many times we discussed the golf swing and the process it would take to be a great player. Betsy brought so much athletic talent to her game that I had to be careful not to mess it up.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Simple Enough by John Gerring. Copyright © 2016 John Gerring. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
Preface, xiii,Here's to Wake Forest, xv,
The Beginning, 1,
A Personal Reflection, 1,
Simple and Complex, 3,
The Greatest Game, 4,
Just the Facts, Please, 5,
The Truth, 6,
Playing Within Yourself, 7,
Simple Versus High Tech, 8,
Arnold Palmer, 9,
Larry Nelson, 11,
Betsy King, 13,
Brooks Dendy, 14,
A Bit of Clarity, 16,
Brain Memory, 17,
Fertilize Your Strengths, 18,
Illustration: Vertical Lines are Important, 19,
Illustration: Starting Position, 20,
Fundamentals, 21,
Three Favorite Golf Swings, 22,
Build a Slingshot!, 23,
Reality, 24,
Shrink the Graph, 25,
Illustration: The Swing, 26,
The Set-Up, 27,
The Right Picture, 28,
"Shrink to Grow", 29,
What's My Worst Mistake?, 30,
The Grip, 31,
Illustration: The Grip, 36,
A Good Grip, 37,
The Stance, 37,
Shape of Your Swing, 38,
A Late Wrist Cock, 39,
The Two Tree Trunks, 40,
Flat, 41,
Illustration: Flat, 42,
Illustration: Spine Angle, 43,
Forward Swing, 44,
Full Swing, 45,
Full Swing – Simplify!, 50,
Illustration: Full Swing, 52,
A Superior Move, 53,
Mistakes to Avoid on the Full Swing, 54,
Impact Position, 55,
Illustration: PERFECT IMPACT, 56,
Illustration: Aiming, 57,
Three Balls and a Hidden Target, 58,
Making a Swing Change, 60,
Clubhead Speed, 62,
Stability Means Repeatability, 63,
Pulling or Throwing?, 64,
Right Knee Post, 65,
A Big Help, 66,
One Constant, 67,
A Symphony of Alignment, 67,
It's Posture, 68,
Posture Again, 69,
Distance, 70,
A Bad Grip Position, 71,
You and Your Coach, 71,
Repetition, 72,
Always the Same, 73,
Simple Slice Cures, 73,
The Straight Left Arm, 74,
Illustration: The Finish, 76,
Short Game, 77,
Bunker Play, 79,
Illustration: Bunker Play – Greenside, 82,
Special Shots, 84,
Putting, 84,
A Discussion About Putting, 89,
Producing a Score, 90,
Your Game Plan, 94,
Motion, 98,
Illustration: Start, 99,
Illustration: Forward Swing, 99,
Distance Control, 100,
From the Neck Up (And Between the Ears), 101,
My Pet Peeve, 102,
Better - Really?, 102,
When Everything Goes Right!, 103,
Scorecard, 104,
How Do We Learn?, 105,
How You Should Learn, 106,
How to Learn, 107,
More About Learning, 107,
Compound Learning, 108,
Failure, 109,
I Like This, 109,
Quitting, 110,
Stick to the Routine, 110,
Change, 111,
The Draw Hook is King, 112,
Changes are Difficult, 113,
How to Handle Pressure, 114,
Aging, 114,
Alvin "Pap" Sutton, 115,
Be True to Yourself, 116,
Be Well Connected, 117,
Boxing and Golf, 118,
Competitiveness, 119,
The Personality of a Winner, 120,
A Consistent Routine, 120,
Golf – It's Always In Season, 121,
Artificial Help, 122,
Short Thoughts, 123,
Julius Boros, 123,
Madman Hill is Crowded, 124,
Nibbling, 125,
Practicing, Where is My Target?, 126,
What Golf Ball, 127,
In Summary, 127,
Final Reminders, 129,
Simple Enough, 130,