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Reflecting on a good swing Posted: Monday February 03, 2003 3:21 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. Sunday, Jan. 26 SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- The last time I encountered a singing tree was at Gus Novotny's Rocky Gorge Golf Fairway in Laurel, Md. (Novotny, the patron saint of range rats, waited until unsuspecting children were putting on the eighth hole of his miniature-golf course before pushing a button that sent an animatronic pine tree into a hip-swiveling, jaw-flapping version of Wabash Cannonball.) This time it was a singing cactus -- or so I thought, until closer inspection revealed that the boisterous rock 'n' roll was coming from a faux boulder planted in the flowerbed. Yes, my latest range ramble took me to Scottsdale's Grayhawk Golf Club, the upscale daily-fee operation that Phil Mickelson used to play out of. Grayhawk is about as cool and hip as a course can be, which is why young Australian stars like Aaron Baddeley, Geoff Ogilvy and Matthew Goggin live nearby, and why not-so-young celebs Peter Kostis and Gary McCord operate a golf school on the premises. Grayhawk has two practice ranges, one for its Talon course and one for its Raptor course. The Talon range, where I practiced this morning, is a double-ended beauty with great turf and a nice selection of target greens. The range balls were freshly scrubbed and presented in miniature golf bags at each station. Every time I leaned a club against my bag, a young range attendant sprinted over with a wet towel. (The towel was for the clubface. I was reasonably clean, having showered before breakfast.) Once I had warmed up, I hit the ball reasonably well with my irons and my 5-wood. My driver, though, was in one of its snap-hook moods. I checked my grip, because I sometimes get hooky when my left thumb slips down out of its "short-thumb" position. (To test for this problem, grip the club and then give a little extra squeeze with your left hand. If the clubface rotates left into a closed position, you've got a problem.) My grip was fine. I then checked my shoulders, because if my shoulders are too level at address I often hit a diving hook. Lowering my right shoulder slightly, I hit a couple of long, high, push-fades. This told me that my address position was probably the source of the hook. Keeping my right shoulder low, I hit a few more balls while consciously applying hook spin. The results were splendid: nice, long draws with a penetrating flight. Unfortunately, I have been down this path before. The next time I hit balls I almost certainly will exaggerate this low-shoulder setup and start hitting popups and wild slices. If only there were some simple way to check your setup and alignment .... But there is! Back in Kansas City, hanging on the wall of my garage, is the Player's Image mirror that teaching pro Terry Carpenter sent me a few weeks ago. When I get home, I'll give it a try. Sunday, Feb. 2 KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- I live in a house with a lot of mirrors, but until today none of them were on the floor. That's all the Player's Image is, basically -- a mirrored panel 32-inches long and a foot wide. The mirrored side has a couple of parallel white lines: One is labeled "Shoulder Alignment"; the other provides a marker for "Shaft Parallel at 9." There are also markings for foot positions, ball positions, and two little boxes for aligning your head -- "Head at Address According to Shirt Size" and "Head & Shoulder in Swing." I put the mirror on the rug in our TV room and popped the Player's Image video into the VCR. Carpenter lost no time in confirming that I was right to be concerned about my shoulders. "In fact," he said on the tape, "the shoulders are the most important element of alignment. Your shoulders dictate the path of the shaft, and thus your swing plane. Just a small discrepancy in your shoulder alignment will result in a loss of distance and cause your shot to land far wide of your target." Carpenter, who was wearing a "hat cam," then demonstrated how to address the ball with the Player's Image. I had no trouble aligning my shoulders to the parallel lines on the mirror. My head, however, wanted to wander to the back of its assigned box. (I tilt my head away from the ball -- a reflection, no doubt, of my somewhat skeptical approach to ballstriking.) Otherwise, everything looked good. Carpenter didn't hang around for long. The bulk of the Player's Image tape was devoted to a teaching segment with swing guru Rick Smith, who also wore a hat cam. Smith pointed out that a ground mirror's virtues go far beyond ensuring a good setup. The mirror can be used to monitor most aspects of the swing, including the all-important variables of swing plane and weight transfer. He showed what "laying off the club" looks like in the mirror, and he demonstrated the "across the line" position of the club at the top of the backswing (the most common cause of slices and pulls). I particularly liked the "Head & Shoulders in Swing" box, which encouraged a proper shoulder turn. To my surprise, my swing positions conformed pretty closely to those modeled by Smith in the video. The only real point of divergence was ball position. Smith and Carpenter, like many top teachers, subscribe to the moving-ball-position theory, which calls for the ball to be moved back toward the middle of the stance for shorter shots. My swing swami, Rob Stanger, argues the opposite -- that all normal shots should be played from the same position, with the ball just inside the left instep. (See his current Lesson Tee column.) Personally, I subscribe to the "random allocation" theory of ball position, which holds that anywhere between the toes is workable as long as you jerk the clubface into a square position at the moment of impact. I didn't hit any balls in my TV room -- this was strictly a peruse-and-pose session -- but I came away with a good feeling about my swing. That is, until I realized that those good drives I hit at Grayhawk, the ones with the lowered right shoulder and the hook spin, were probably produced with a flawed setup. Still, the Player's Image struck me as a really useful, ungimmicky swing aid. If you're interested, you can get more information by calling (866) 549-4900 or by clicking on www.playersimage.com. As for me, I'm going back to the TV room to see if I can get my head on straight. 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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