The Mystical Swing

When I’m teaching the taster class at a driving range, I have only one minute to explain what my students will learn during the next sixty minutes of the session. It is like a one-minute elevator pitch. I use the left-hand analogy in the following way: • thumb (Point A) • index finger (Open up) • middle finger (Make up) • ring finger (Show up) • little finger (Leap up) • whole hand (Point B) The thumb represents the player’s personality, which will always be a part of the player’s unique swing signature. The three phalanges of each finger—distal, middle, and proximal—represent a swing technique to be learned, like a four-by-three matrix of twelve techniques. The whole hand represents the unity of the knowledge from all fingers to be played as one! The palm of the left hand represents the vision game and the swing game. The mounts of the palm below each finger, which in palmistry are called Jupiter, Saturn, Apollo, and Mercury, represent a vision game at the start of each phase. The four main lines of the palm—life, heart, head, and faith—represent a swing game at the end of each phase. The cherry on top of the cake will be the final gathering at the clubhouse restaurant. In a golf clubhouse, the restaurant is famously known as the nineteenth hole! Since a standard round of golf has only eighteen holes, golfers will say they are at the nineteenth hole while they are enjoying a drink after the game. When I was living in Merida, Mexico, I had the opportunity to fly to Jacksonville, Florida, the home of the PGA Tour. The TPC Sawgrass course in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, is perhaps the world’s most famous golf course. The notorious par-three, seventeenth hole features an island green that makes or breaks a PGA Tour pro’s round. As a golf enthusiast, I recommend a visit. The players mainly use the driving range, but a visitor may practice on it. At the clubhouse, there were always senior retirees volunteering at the main hall to welcome and give tours of the clubhouse. They would show us the signature holes of the course. The clubhouse is open to the public, and docents help every guest explore the club’s wide array of PGA Tour memorabilia. The tour is a very pleasing experience. We were able to see Jack Nicklaus’s wooden club and understand the importance of the founders of the club. In developing the sport of golf, Deane Beman attracted the attention of television viewers by using the concept of stadium golf courses. I traveled to Jacksonville to join a workshop and be a judge in the Team Excellence competition of the American Society of Quality. The venue was at the CSX headquarters in the center of Jacksonville. The host of the workshop was also a golf enthusiast. He showed me a scene from Caddyshack. Chevy Chase was great in that movie! I believe it is worthwhile to share his advice: “There is a force in the universe that makes things happen. All you have to do is … get in touch with it. Stop thinking … let things happen and … be the ball.”