Lynn, what's your handicap?

Originally Posted by birdie_man What kind of numbers do you post with that sweet swing of yours?

Handicap? All-time low handicap? All-time low round?

birdie,

My lowest-ever handicap was 1, and my lowest-ever round was 68 (not in competition). My only claims to competitive fame are that I was runner-up medalist (71) in the 1967 Idaho Amateur -- I blew that one with a triple-bogey eight on the Par Five 16th when I hit into a pile of leaves -- and that I represented Mtn. Home AFB (ID) and, also, Shaw AFB (SC) on the Tactical Air Command Championship team. Oh, and I won a set of MaxFli irons in the 1965 Georgia State Open with a final round 70 that beat everybody in the field except the professional winner. I've played twice this year, and my current handicap is 3. Not terribly impressive, I'll admit, and I plan on playing more -- and better -- this season. But then again, I said that last year.

Now for my excuses :


I will say that when I do play, I play a true championship Course with no parallel fairways, undulating greens, and plenty of trees and water. Further, I play the Ball down, I putt everything out (well, almost everything out) and I count every stroke. There are handicaps...and there are handicaps.

Once I decided to commit my time to my financial career (in the mid-'80s) I thought very little about golf and played even less. Since my 'comeback' in January of last year, I've obviously been totally engrossed in making this 'new day' happen. What personal time I've had -- and there hasn't been much -- has been spent largely on the Practice Tee, pursuing the 'Golf Nut's' approach to TGM. It's fun knowing you can produce the Master's Application: Maintain the essential Geometry using any Hinge Action on any of the nine different Plane Line-Stance Line Combinations, from any Ball Location, with or without the #2 or #3 Accumulators, with any Release Type or Delivery Path, any Loading Action and Pressure Point Combination, with a Right Forearm Takeaway and a Frozen Right Wrist, Hitting and Swinging. In addition to enjoying the challenge, I've made terrific progress and am a far better striker than I've ever been.

Frankly, I'd really like to put all the work I've done in the past year to the test. With a few rounds in a row, I sincerely think I might surprise myself! If I come up with anything notable, you can be sure you'll read about it in the Hole-ies and Pole-ies Forum.

Stay tuned.

Originally Posted by birdie_man Master's Application? Never heard of that before. Can you put it on a resume?

It's in the book, birdie (3-F-6). But your point is well taken: no big deal.

The Practice Ground is a wondrous place. Somewhere between the fences separating the 9th green (on the left) from the housing development fronting the 18th (on the right) lies Nirvana. If you don't find it on one shot, well...

There's always the next.

With any Hinge Action.

On any Plane.

Hitting...

Or Swinging.

Teachers Teach and Performers Perform, but only the few can make the Longest Walk in Golf: From the Practice Tee to the First Tee...and vice versa.

The Twin Constraints are Talent and Time.

Like I said...

Stay tuned.

But reality dictates that there are efforts, and there are results. And the strength of the effort is the measure of the result. Know that The Teacher in me is enjoying this effort immensely. But also, that The Performer is paying the price.

I can handle that.

Originally Posted by tongzilla Yoda...

You're not one of those with natural talent, not one of those who shoot in the 70's within their first year of playing. You're like the rest of us! And THAT makes the difference, because I know I can do what you do too, with proper application of the laws of geometry and physics!

Tong,

I don't want to mislead. Though hindsight proves I never had a TOUR talent, I did begin in my teens and am reasonably well-coordinated. With the gift of time and my own desire, I was a single-digit player after the first few years in the Game. The Saving Grace was that, consciously or unconsciously, I was able to (1) swing through the Ball and (2) keep my Left Wrist (reasonably) Flat.

The problem was that I was worse ten years later...after a tremendous effort based on the then conventional instruction (Reverse 'C', drive the Legs, Left Thumb on Top, Curl Under, Elbows together and tucked in, various Magic Moves, etc.).

It is this fate I would spare all who visit this site and who read me. Golf should be considered as the journey it is, but -- irrespecitve of athleticism -- with an underlying structure and defined benchmarks along the way.

And not as the enigma is was to me.

Originally Posted by birdie_man

Originally Posted by Yoda

Originally Posted by birdie_man Master's Application? Never heard of that before. Can you put it on a resume?

It's in the book, birdie (3-F-6). But your point is well taken: no big deal.

I hope that by saying "Can you put that on a resume?" you don't think I was saying "no big deal." I was just joking kinda. Ok bad joke...hehe.

Maybe I should have put a ( ) after "resume."

No problem, birdie. My post was a personal Encounter Session with the tyrant Time: "Nobody has enough...but everybody has all there is."

Our course in life is determined by how we allocate this most precious resource. We are rewarded for the time we are able -- and willing -- to give. And our fruit -- however sweet or bitter -- is the consequence of choice. Ideally, our choices will reflect our conscious purpose.

Expecting something for nothing is called 'wishing.' Or, in its more degenerative form, 'whining.'

All in all, a most unproductive state of affairs.

Back to this Master's Application stuff and 'Ball Striking for its own reward'...

Today I met with Billy McDonald, Chairman of Henry-Griffitts, the custom club company www.henry-griffitts.com , and a wonderful player in his own right. We spent the whole afternoon fiddling with various Shafts, Lie Angles, and Clubheads, looking for my optimum combination. I dutifully worked through the many options, hitting shot-after-shot. And not just the normal 'lie board' stuff. But off the turf with every conceivable combination of high and low, fade and draw, hit or swing.

The Clubs performed in line with what was expected.

And so did I.

Yes, I could have been playing.

But having the Ball act like a performing seal was a delight and every bit as much fun for me.

Originally Posted by PChandler Try this link

http://www.henry-griffitts.com/

PChandler

Correction made. Thanks, PChandler!

For the sake of continuity, I've reprinted below my post today from the Hole-ies And Pole-ies Forum. Call it braggadacio, an earned sense of self-satisfaction or simply the quiet pleasure of a job well done. Whatever...The journey enjoys its achievement at road's end, yes, but even more the lessons learned along the way.

More than anything, I wanted to demonstrate that a guy pushing sixty -- who had basically been crippled by conventional 'Reverse C' instruction at 40 -- could play pain-free at a very high level twenty years later. All without drugs or surgery or sacrificing family and friend in the process.

And teach others to do the same.

Anyway...

That's what it meant to me.



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Over the past seventeen months, I have had the privilege of spending a terrific proportion of my waking life teaching and demonstrating the Principles of G.O.L.F. to students -- both amateur and professional -- from all over the world. I've also worked hard on my own Game, hitting many thousands of Chips and Pitches in the Short Game area and thousands more long shots on the Practice Tee. Not to mention all the Impact Bag and Mirror activity in my workout room. What I haven't done is play Golf, and that needed to happen.

So, this past Saturday morning at 8:50 a.m., for the first time since January 5th, I stepped onto the first tee at Atlanta Country Club, site of the inaugural Tournament Players Championship and for thirty years (1966-1996) host of the PGA TOUR's Atlanta Golf Classic. From the Blue Tees, the USGA Course Rating is 72.6 with a Slope of 139.

My card:

5-4-3-4-4-2-4-5-3 / 34

3-5-5-3-4-4-3-4-5 / 36

34-36 / 70







I hit 9 Fairways and 14 Greens.

-- Flat Left Wrist
-- Clubhead Lag Pressure Point
-- Right Forearm Plane Line Tracing

This stuff works.

P.S. And so did that brand new set of Henry-Griffitts Irons. Thanks, Billy!

Originally Posted by Jabinjax Yoda,

Congratulations on your round! Can anything rival that feeling a golfer gets after shooting a really good round? All the hours of practice, reading, searching, thinking, mental toughening, coming together can be really sweeet! Someone who posts regularly on this forum likes to use the phrase "You either do or you don't". You did. I know this round is particulary meaningful to you so enjoy it. Wait'll next time!!!

Thanks, John. Glad to see your move to Plano has been successful!