WHAT’S UP • SONOMA COUNTY UPBEAT TIMES, INC. • August 2020 • Pg 17 The


Golf Coach 101 Less Is More


Sonoma County, CA. ~ Life has gotten very strange lately on this planet. I don’t be- lieve too many of us saw this coming but here we are. Sort of like a bad tee shot that goes straight into the hazard, we knew it could happen but we sure didn’t plan it that way. Some would say truth is in fact stranger than fiction and I might be the first to agree. Sometimes the quickest way out from our trou- bles is to find the path that is less, not more. The same can be said


about a good golf grip. Why should less really be more? Less pres- sure on certain specific fingers actually allows the club-head to travel more freely and with more speed through the impact zone and down the target line. A white-knuckled grip usually ends badly. One needs to feel the force


rather than force the feel; I try to share this notion with my students all the time. What is the force? Gravity is the force and unless we make it our friend it will be our enemy. Make it our friend and we can ac- tually begin


to crack the code. I think we are all crea-


tures of habit. That be- ing said I have noticed that a lot of my stu- dents have bad habits that they would like to change. I applaud them for wanting to change. So much of what goes


on in a golf swing can be traced to a proper or improper grip. Position of the hands and fingers is vital for achieving the best results, but hav- ing the proper amount of grip pressure is an art in itself. Golf is both technique and feel, like where


meet s west . Without


by James Fish • james524@gmail.com


an intuitive or instinc- tual connection to this feel side of the game it is easy to get lost. Good mechanics alone will not save us from our demons and so we must find other ways to shore up our deficiencies. Hard to believe but it


is true; sometimes less is really more. Less grip pressure equals more distance and less stress in the forearms will help to get us there. Tempo is a thing that is unique to each individual and it is hard to teach. Having a smooth tempo has a


lot to do with feel and if we can all learn to slow down just a bit, we can begin to understand that spirit of change. When a smoother and calmer tempo leads us to greater balance and precision of craft, it will feel like an arrival.


Life is no different. Today is nothing like yesterday and who knows who will even be around tomorrow. One thing is for sure; as the pressure gets greater, it is never a bad idea to seek less rather than more.


Punitentiary


The girl quit her job at the doughnut factory because she was fed up with the hole business.


Butchers link sausage to make ends meat.


When I opened the first snow-pea pod, one fell out and rolled under the fridge. One might say it was an escapea.


My best friend and I attended culinary school together and then opened our own restaurant. I guess we are taste buds.


I went to a buffet dinner with my neighbor, who is a taxidermist. After such a big meal, I was stuffed.


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“I don’t think it’s healthy to take yourself too seriously.” ~ Payne Stewart UPBEAT TIMES, INC. • August 2020 • Pg 17


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