Jan 20th, 2010
by John Rogers.
A Review of Jim Hardy’s The Plane Truth for Golfers
January 13, 2010
One of the many funny things about golfers is that we tend to bring religious conviction to our swing techniques. “Thou shalt not let thine elbow fly!” and a million other rules come down from the mountaintops of golf wisdom. We talk about swinging the club “the right way” or “correctly”, we seek the “secret move” like the Holy Grail itself, and I have found that it is a rare golf conversation that does not include the word “perfect” somewhere along the way.
True to form for us messianic mashers of golf balls, the titles of the three golf books I have recently read each include one of the following words: perfect, truth, and laws. These are great words when we are dealing with commandments and our eternal souls, but are they really appropriate when working on a reverse spine angle in this silly game we play?
Continue reading →
Posted in: Book Reviews.
Tagged: backswing · swing · swing plane
Nov 15th, 2009
by John Rogers.
The Often-Neglected Key to Good Golf
October 30, 2009
The putting stroke is the simplest of the swings we use in the game of golf, and it probably should be the starting point, the foundation on which a golfer builds his game. It is also true that the target in putting is a sassy, sometimes inaccessible hole in the ground which starts at 4 ¼ inches and seems to shrink as the ball gets closer, which means putting is difficult even if the stroke is relatively easy. On top of that, the putter will be the most used (and abused) stick in the bag, with the ability to determine on its own which way our scores go. So, why do we tend to neglect putting in lessons, and in our practice sessions? Continue reading →
Posted in: Instruction.
Tagged: practice · putting
Nov 8th, 2009
by John Rogers.
The Strange Nature of the Game
August 11, 2005
The truth is that this beguiling, bewitching game can also be befuddling. Golf is an endeavor of opposites and contradictions; it is counter-intuitive, counter-instinctive, and often counter-productive. But it seems to light up some uncharted corner of the human brain, like we vaguely recognize it as the game we play in the spirit world before birth and which we cling to through our mortal days, secretly hoping the Elysian Fields of the afterlife are really a links layout with open tee times for eternity. Continue reading →
Posted in: Local Stories.
Tagged: metaphor
Nov 8th, 2009
by John Rogers.
Create Beauty through Efficiency
June 26, 2005
Golfers often wonder how and why professional’s swings look so effortless. They wonder why their own swings look and feel so different. Instead of the fluid, quiet power of Ernie Els or Fred Couples, most amateurs have a swing that amounts to a patchwork of moving parts, compensations, and tension. So what makes the tour players’ swings so different? Continue reading →
Posted in: Instruction.
Tagged: Instruction · setup · swing · swing plane
Oct 31st, 2009
by John Rogers.
Virginia Hosts the World’s Best Golfers
September 22, 2005
The President’s Cup returns to the Robert Trent Jones Club in Northern Virginia this week. The most prestigious golf event held in Virginia, the President’s Cup is a showdown between a team of top U.S. players and an International team. The twelve-man teams spar for the Cup every two years, and even though this is only the sixth playing of the tournament, it has become a symbol of great competition, drama, and goodwill in the world of golf.
The Robert Trent Jones Club (which is called “RTJ” by those of us who will work a lifetime to make the kind of money that members drop for initiation) has hosted every stateside President’s Cup since the first one in 1994. This is an exclusive, classy setting at Lake Manassas in Gainesville, Virginia. They do not call it “Gainesville”, though– in a sharp marketing effort, all of the advertising and literature generated by the tournament lists the location of RTJ as “Prince William County”. The imagery seems appropriate for such a majestic place. Continue reading →
Posted in: Local Stories.
Tagged: pga · presidents cup · tournaments
Oct 31st, 2009
by John Rogers.
The Search for Power and Accuracy
December 18, 2005
Hitting a golf ball well, or hitting a golf ball consistently well, has to be one of the most difficult things in the world of sports; maybe the most difficult thing. Most athletic endeavors put a premium on either power or finesse, either strength or accuracy. Golf’s full swing requires all of that and more. The challenge is that we have to use those warped sticks we call golf clubs not just to hit the ball a long ways, but to hit it to relatively small targets. Doing this well, and often, is a physical achievement equivalent to the high-speed movie antics of Jackie Chan. Continue reading →
Posted in: Fitness, Instruction.
Tagged: distance · Fitness · flexibility · sequencing · speed · stability · strength · swing
Oct 29th, 2009
by John Rogers.
About Golf Swings and Causal Relationships
February 10, 2005
Golf, like life, has a lot to do with causal relationships. Say what? Causal relationships; like when you tell your boss that you are late to work because your alarm did not go off. Of course, the direct cause for being late was that you overslept. Oversleeping was caused by the alarm failing to go off (and because you stayed up too late watching the golf channel). The alarm did not work because you forgot to pay the electric bill, which caused the electric company to cut off power to your house. So, in a roundabout way, you were late for work because you forgot to pay the electric bill. Causal relationships. Continue reading →
Posted in: Instruction.
Tagged: Instruction · swing · swing plane
Oct 28th, 2009
by John Rogers.
The Teacher’s Turn to Struggle
January 29, 2006
I recently started fooling around with a keyboard. I say “fooling around” because it would not be accurate to say that I am playing music (at least by earthly standards) except when I deftly push the demo button and crank out selections from “Ave Maria” to “Camptown Races” with the greatest of ease. I started with the keyboard because I have this notion that it would be nice to play the piano someday. So far I have learned how far away someday is. Like the golfers I see daily, I am a beginner again, and it makes me remember how difficult it can be to learn a new skill. Continue reading →
Posted in: Local Stories.
Tagged: beginner
Oct 28th, 2009
by John Rogers.
Where Golfers Hope Against Hope
January 15, 2006
Golf in January, like everything else, is different in the Mid-Atlantic region. In this clump of misfit states stuck somewhere between New England and the Deep South, even the grass we grow on our golf courses is different. People who study such things call this a “transition zone”, which is a fancy way of saying that we have goofy weather and that only certain grasses prosper here—the kind of grasses nobody wants to play golf on. Go north of here and your spikes will tear up Bent grass. Go south and your ball gets buried in Bermuda. Continue reading →
Posted in: Local Stories.
Tagged: mid-atlantic · Shenandoah Valley · winter
Jun 17th, 2009
by John Rogers.
Even if You Seek Distance it Might Be True
June 16, 2009
There is a good chance that your golf clubs are too long. Over the past twenty years, golf club manufacturers have been making clubs stronger (meaning they have less loft on the face), and longer so that they can sell hopeful golfers the newest “hot” weapon that will knock the ball unimaginable distances. But when golfers arrive at the driving range with long clubs, what I see is a lot of people with poor posture, inefficient shaft angles, awkward or mismatched swing planes, off-center contact with the ball, unhelpful trajectory, little accuracy, and none of the distance the long clubs were supposed to provide. Continue reading →
Posted in: Equipment, Instruction.
Tagged: accuracy · consistency · distance · Equipment · posture · setup · shaft angle · spine angle · swing · swing plane
