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Yet another charming British range Plus a dip into the mailbag
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. Saturday, Aug. 3 SUNNINGDALE, England -- Before I open the mailbag, here's a quick update on my search for a British driving range with charm. On Monday I drove from Liverpool to London with a layover at the Waterstock Driving Range, which is right on the M40 -- or should I say, right off the M40. (You don't hit balls down the motorway.) Except for its convenient location, I wasn't overly impressed. I paid £4.50 for 100 balls of uncertain ancestry, and the mats were as thin as the plot of Jurassic Park III. Furthermore, a wasp took a swim in my can of Orange Crush. No charm. Tuesday afternoon I drove up the road to Maidenhead and hit a bucket at Braywick Golf Park, which turned out to be just that -- a park. Yes, there were a few faded, shredded mats sunk in the earth, and there was a nice lady in a shed who sold me a wire bucket of recycled balls. Otherwise, Braywick Park was a collection of little tables with umbrellas, a rectangular field dotted with big oak trees, and a healthy sward of ... grass! Yes, actual grass. Tightly mowed grass, no less. There were no flagsticks to aim at and no yardage signs, but the trees made beautiful targets and the spaces between the trees looked like fairways. It was a sunny afternoon with a hint of a cool breeze. There were only three other men hitting balls (off those awful mats, believe it or not), so I pretty much had the place to myself. Verdict: charm. Finally, I went out yesterday evening with Sports Illustrated photographer Bob Martin to the Silvermere Golf Club, a daily-fee course near his house in Surrey. I took an immediate liking to Silvermere's covered range when I saw that the biggest target was a giant Nick Faldo. (I felt right at home; we golf writers are always taking shots at Faldo.) I don't know if charming is the right word for Silvermere -- too many Mizuno signs? -- but the mats were exceptionally good, and it was great fun trying to hit the big bell target hanging at about 140 yards. From an infrastructure standpoint, Silvermere takes top honors for my trip. With that taken care of, let's see what the Mats Only mavens have to say. "Very interesting columns about the correlation between tempo and technique," writes Josh Bobeck of Chevy Chase, Md. "Even if you find your swing, I hope you keep this column going for all of us hoping to find our swings." In a similar vein, Jay Morran of Los Angeles writes, "Tempo is important. Not because it's cool to look like Mr. 59, but because without it one never has a full swing." Kris from Houston writes, "I was interested to read of your tempo change. I gave it a try a few days ago and was surprised at the amount of effort it required to hit the ball after years of a long, slow, fluid swing. I'm wondering if I have the muscles to increase my tempo by nearly twice. Did you experience the same soreness after making the change?" I experienced no soreness, Kris, but swinging with the tempo of a tour pro does require an athletic move. Steve Elkington, whose smooth swing has long been admired by tour players, says he clenches his abdominal muscles when he swings. I now get that sensation with my faster backswing -- although it could be gas. Eric Barbour of Atlanta wants more details. "Help me understand exactly what you did to improve your tempo. Did you get the $5,000 treatment or did you use the XLR8R training aid to improve? It looks like you are using the XLR8R in the 'after' swing." I got three hours worth of the $5,000 treatment, Eric, which probably comes to $1,472.38. As I disclosed in an earlier column, I paid nothing to be Novoseled. That's because I didn't know that a minute of John Novosel's time is worth more than a share of AOL Time Warner stock. As for the XLR8R, I'm using it in the "after" video because Novosel thinks his students find the right tempo more easily if they aren't distracted by ball flight, shouts of "You da man!" etc. If your swing mechanics are reasonably sound, you don't need the XLR8R. (That's my opinion, not John's.) If your swing mechanics suck, the XLR8R can help you learn how to square the clubface at impact. It also doubles as a handy weapon when hummingbirds fly into your kitchen. Here's a letter from the short stack: "Until I read your columns, I thought Dan Jenkins was the funniest golf writer. I love your stuff!" That's from Bob Sberna of Cleveland, who recently lost his job writing critical blurbs for Sony Pictures. Equally enthusiastic is Patrick Philbin of Naples, Fla., who writes, "The driving-range movie treatments were hilarious. How about buying yourself some extra practice time by printing some of the better ones in their entirety?" Sorry, Patrick, but the critical and commercial failure of Swordfish, which had Halle Berry hitting range balls off an oil rig with a swing borrowed from Charo, has soured me on Hollywood. Now I'm looking for country songs with a driving-range theme -- e.g., I Went to the Mat for You. And this from Brian Dusek of College Station, Texas, one of the contributors to the treatment contest: "I really think I deserve that sleeve of balls, seeing as how that story cost 3M two day's wages for me to draft and re-draft." I'll meet you halfway, Brian. I'm sending the sleeve of balls to 3M. More mail next time, but here's a final missive that is on point: "I am most upset by your scathing attack on the driving ranges of England," writes Andrew Rowlands of Tampa Bay, Fla. "As a former resident of that Sceptr'd Isle, I take offence and am sure that you will be barraged with lists of great driving ranges in my birthplace." Rowlands adds: "Please publish them. I am going back in a couple of months, and after 30 years there I was buggered if I could find a decent one."
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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