My Golf Swing - You Can Have It...

Funny thing, golf is. For avid golfers like myself golf can be pretty much summed up with the line: It's Never Enough. You can never get out and play enough. You can never play enough holes before darkness sets in. You can never make enough pars (or birdies). You can never hit if far enough or straight enough. You can never get that final stroke or two off your handicap. You can never quite play that perfect round. You're always wanting that extra little centimeter of perfection in some way.

Golf is maddening this way. It truly is a labor of love. For all the times you are frustrated to the point of throwing your clubs in the lake, there are those days, those rounds, those moments where it is pure, unadulterated bliss:

A perfectly struck 7-iron that nestles within gimme range.

A tee shot that rockets off the club and takes the perfect shape you had envisioned before landing in the short grass.

A putt that holds its line all the way to the cup before falling over the edge.

These are all reasons guys like me spend countless hours either on the course beating it around, talking about it with our friends or just thinking about it.

What does all of this mean? In my case, my current "never enough" is my golf swing.

People tell me I have a good golf swing. I disagree. As a 7 handicap, I guess I am fortunate to be better than most weekend hackers like myself. However, that doesn't take away from the fact that my golf swing is actually a wreck.

I have never received a formal lesson so, to some extent, I'm proud of the fact that I have made myself a decent golfer. But unless you watch and analyze golf like I do, you can't appreciate all the flaws that I struggle with. It makes me want to puke when I step back and look at my swing frame-by-frame against a swing that is fundamentally sound. Therefore, let me walk you through all the ways in which my swing is wrong.

I have matched my swing up against one of the best swings in the game...that of Hunter Mahan.

The takeback...

In case you were wondering, that's me on the left. You can see the proper position that Hunter demonstrates. The club is taken straight back with the clubhead in line with the hands. On the other hand, you have me. My club is taken back way inside. The clubhead is behind my hands. As well, notice the flex in Hunter's right knee. Mine on the other hand is stiff as a board. We're not off to a good start.

The top of the swing...

Hunter shows the perfect position at the top of the swing. You can pretty much draw a straight line from the head of his club all the way down his shaft and arm and down to the ball. My club is wrapped around my head. "Across the line" as they say in the business. Major correction is needed from this point for me to get back into the proper position as I make my downswing. Hunter's hips are square. My hips are opened up. This is a recipe for inconsistancies and errant shots as there are too many moving parts necessary to get back proper form.

The downswing...

If there is any part of the swing that is comparable it would be here. However, you can see that the transition from the top of the swing to this point was very easy for Mahan. My transition from the top required a big correction that, as noted above, tends to be inconsistant and tough to repeat over the course of 18 holes...or an entire summer. Mahan's hands are set behind his right shoulder. My hands are in front of my right shoulder thus making for a steeper approach to the ball - this is a precursor to the way in which our shots will take shape after impact.

Contact...

Our leg action is similar with our right knee firing toward the target. Mahan's heal is off the ground where mine is flat and simply rolling toward the target - six in one half dozen in the other. The biggest difference here is the hips. Mahan has done a better job (go figure) of rotating his hips toward the target. You can see both of his butt cheeks. I am late on the transition to open up toward the target. This will lead to shots that head right. My arms are a little more extended but I am hitting a 3-wood in this pic while Mahan is hitting a mid iron. Both of our heads are down and right behind the ball - almost like twins I guess you could say.

The follow-through...

The first thing you notice is the different angle at which are clubs come through the hitting zone. Mahan's club is pointing at 10:00 while mine is more upright, say 11:45. His right hand is rolled over on top of his left - a sign he has appropriately fired through the hitting zone toward his target. My right hand is on top but is not rolled over on top of the left hand - a sign I have held off through the zone and depended more on swing speed than proper mechanics to generate distance. The end result will be a right to left ball flight (draw) for Mahan while mine will be the opposite - left to right (fade).

I guess I could have matched my swing against Jim Furyk and felt a little better about myself but that's not the point. I need this kind of feedback. I have to be honest with myself if ever I'm going to be a 1 - 3 handicapper. I am making strides in correcting these flaws now that I have done this demonstation and seen the areas where I'm amiss. I'm obsessed with having a beautiful swing like Mahan. I will get it right someday. Now, if only I could putt.

Memorial Day

This Memorial Day I did something I will endeavor to do for every Memorial Day for the rest of my life. For the first time that I can remember since a field trip back in grade school, I visited Zachary Taylor Veterans cemetery. I now realize, this visit was long overdue. To say the experience was powerful is a vast understatement.

My objective was to begin the process of teaching my kids about the sacrifices others make on our behalf. At ages six, four and five months the effect for them was most likely very limited. Considering this was merely introductory in nature I wasn't looking to give them any more than a memory and establish a few general talking points. However, I walked away having a newfound perspective of my own. I was taken aback by my emotions as we strolled through the cemetery. Seeing the uniform landscape of the headstones of thousands of veterans literally brought me to tears. Standing there and seeing these headstones for as far as you can see was overwhelming. The visual and the thought that those buried in this cemetery paid the ultimate price for our freedom ran right through me. Although not all died during combat, they all put their life on the line and are there for a reason that can never be fully appreciated by those of us that haven't done the same.

As we turned in the cemetery I was, for some reason, surprised that many others had the same idea as I did on this national holiday. I'm not sure why I thought I was going to be the only one with the idea to visit a Veterans cemetery on Memorial Day but the fact that there were several dozens of others there doing the same thing was heart-warming. Seeing Veterans in fully uniform tailgating together spending the day with their bretheren, both living and deceased, illustrated the joy, friendship, camaraderie, respect and solidarity that they maintain for one another, and their country. Again, another visual that cut straight to the bone.

There are several things I respect about our armed service men and women but when I think about the fact that there are basically those that volunteer and those that were drafted, I marvel at the mindset of the two. You're either a person that is so patriotic that you are willing to sign your life over to the United States of America or you are drafted and, despited the fear and reluctance, you plow ahead anyway and serve because it was what your country needed of you. Both scenarios warrant an indebtedness that can never be repaid by the casual civilian. To some extent it makes me feel guilty that I haven't served my country in the same way.

I recently saw an armed serviceman at McDonald's and made it a point to shake his hand and thank him for his service. It made my day to know that although I could never repay him, I could, at a bare minimum, acknowledge his own sacrifice on my behalf. He simply smiled, nodded and said "thank you." I wonder how many times other civilians extend their gratitude directly to our troops. I hope I wasn't the first to tell him thank you. I hope many like me realize how lucky they are to have men and women of the armed forces make the sacrifices they make because our freedom isn't free. It comes at a price that most of us aren't willing to put on the line.

I hope one day my kids look back on their experience, whether this year or during future trips to Zachary Taylor, and truly grasp and appreciate the meaning and importance of our visit. I hope they can pass along their respect to both active and veteran service people. Because as I found out, honoring the patriotism and sacrifices of our veterans instills its own pride and patriotism.

Tiger Image Repair 101

I'm not exactly sure what I expect Tiger Woods to do to begin to repair his image but I sure don't feel like his first attempt is the right start. In case you've had your head buried in the sand, Tiger is holding a "press conference" on Friday to address the "media" and address his highly publicized fall from grace.

By "press conference" I mean reading a prepared statement while not taking questions.

By "media" I mean a throng of THREE guys hand selected by Team Tiger.

What a joke.

If you're going to face the music, then face the music. Continuing to hide, denying the brutal truth and not addressing the 800-pound elephant in the room hasn't done much good for Pete Rose the past 20 years. Mark McGuire has recently been suffocated by his own silence as well.

Trying to avoid reality or control the situation is simply not the way to heal and move forward. As much as he may not like it, if he plans to attempt to regain a respectable identity and return to a shadow of his old self, he has to let the media, his fans and his sponsors see his soul. Until then, they will simply write him off as a fraud - and rightfully so.

I suspect most are want to see an over-dose of humility. Full contrition. Ownership of the utter stupidity and cavelier attitude in which he handled himself and represented himself. Outward emotion would seemingly go hand-in-hand with showing the toll these choices have had on him, but especially others. However, tears aren't going to win him back many fans by themselves. Nor is continuing to read prepared statements. At some point, he has to expose himself to the tough, unscripted questions and be vulnerable for it. Only then will people begin to feel as though he has paid the appropriate price for playing us as the fool for the past 13 years.

He doesn't "owe" this to me...or anyone for that matter. He could choose to never play golf again and go about his merry business elsewhere. Or he could simply deny to address it in the same manner Peter Rose did and hope that all those that follow the sport eventually move on.

As a guy that never bought into the whole Tiger persona, an honest attempt to fight back from this could gain him more traction with me. It will certainly take a while but who doesn't like a genuine comeback story? However, it will take time. He will have to soften the edges, chill out on the temper tantrums, become more accessible, sign some autographs, become a fan of the fans and take a more light-hearted approach to rebuilding his character. Continuing to be calculated and guarded will not do much in my mind.

I guess we'll soon see how this begins to play out. I'm not losing sleep if continues to dig himself a deeper hole but it would be refreshing to see a reformation worthy of support.