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Getting over an old friend
Posted: Thursday June 08, 2000 04:32 PM
Sports Illustrated senior writer John Garrity was a 42-year-old 8-handicapper when he suddenly lost his swing. Since December 1989 he has been looking for it -- a modern-day Odysseus adrift on the troubled waters of swing theory. As Garrity travels the world reporting on golf, he visits as many driving ranges as he can, avoiding the dreaded "mats only" ranges that prevent him from teeing it up. Monday, June 5 ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- I found my swing last night. My old swing, that is. I was strolling down the tee line at the Puerto del Sol Municipal Golf Course when it jumped out at me: the high hands, the firm wrists, the powerful pulling action with the left side. It was like running into an old girlfriend and finding that she had married someone richer, better looking and more talented. Not that that is possible. The new owner of my old swing is a slender, athletic-looking young man with blonde hair and glasses. If I had to guess, I'd say he's a graduate student at the University of New Mexico finishing his dissertation while teaching three sections of molecular biology and living in a garage apartment near Old Town. (This is pure surmise on my part, but my guesses must be worth something; newspapermen and talk-show hosts keep asking me who will win major championships.) Between shots, which rocketed left and right into the floodlit sky, he gave pointers to the dark-haired young woman behind him, a beginning golfer. I watched for 10 or 15 minutes, fascinated by his swing. These days, my hands at the top of the backswing don't get much higher than my sparsely haired scalp, but I used to set them a good foot above my head. That's what this fellow was doing. The arc you get with that kind of extension produces incredible swing speed. He was powering the ball way out to the dimmer recesses of the range with a fairway wood. Of course -- and I remember this about my old swing -- he had no clue where the ball was going. I walked away without saying a word. The truth is, I don't want my old swing back. It's a young man's swing, a touch-the-top-of-the-backboard slash that no longer suits either my body or my stage of life. What I want now is for my new swing and I to get comfortable with each other, in the manner of a successful second marriage. The Puerto del Sol driving range, by the way, is a superb practice facility. Three large teeing areas (blue, red and yellow) allow the operators to adjust for varying combinations of wind and sun, and there is a pleasing irregularity to the terrain. There are no mats at all, just dense, green grass. I went back this morning and beat balls for an hour, stopping from time to time to enjoy the splendid view of downtown Albuquerque and the surrounding mountains. I didn't think about my old swing at all. In golf, as in life, we move on.
Watch this space for another installment of Mats Only. To send John Garrity advice, share your experiences or suggest a driving range, click here.
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