[Yoda]

Originally Posted by Yoda

Can we add to the list of Great Instructor Characteristics the ability to help students enjoy their golf? This goes beyond 'hitting better shots' and 'shooting lower scores.' In fact, it is a much tougher proposition than is generally appreciated, for both low and high handicappers alike. For proof of the problem, look no further than the people you know -- some of whom play and practice golf to the point of obsession -- who not only fail to enjoy their game, but who actually succeed in making themselves miserable. The same phenomenon can be seen in the many public figures who have achieved both fame and fortune, but who are unable to enjoy their accomplishments and thus remain Losers in the Game of Life. I'll have more to say on this later. Meanwhile, how do you feel about this? Just what is the instructor's responsibility for the student's enjoyment of the game?

Yes, enjoyment should be a priority. What an excellent sentiment. Unfortunately, instuctors set a bad example because I feel they often care more about their place in the pecking order and what others think of them than care about the welfare of their students. A lot of " I know more than you do" syndrome. I wonder how many GSEDs and GSEMs would have truly put enjoyment of the game in the forefront of their teaching philosophy? Yoda, not to single you out, but I enjoy the teaching anecdotes you intersperse with your replies, often more than the replies. Gives the often technical and dry material that TGM can often be, a personal and less aloof touch.

Thanks for the kind words, DD. And since you like the personal anecdotes -- and since I love to supply them! -- let me post this little tidbit (even though this may not be the 'proper' forum for it).

About 10 a.m. last Saturday morning, I walked onto the practice tee at the Atlanta Country Club and, as usual, headed toward the far end of the tee. Even though it's a walk of only about 50 yards, the turf is always much better there simply because most people stop at the first available station. I set up at the end of the tee and started my routine as usual: Always with one of my four wedges and always with the Basic Motion Curriculum (12-5).

First, a few Basic Motion Strokes (12-5-1) without a ball: 'See' the Straight Plane Line. Set the Flying Wedges. Left Wrist Flat, Level and Vertical. Right Wrist Bent, Level and Vertical. The Hands now are basically done: They are merely Clamps that control Alignments -- not produce Power -- and those alignments have now been set. Check the Plane of the Right Forearm. This is the precise up-and-down direction my Stroke must take. Now take the Hands up that Plane to the Top. Load the #3 Lag Pressure Point and Drive it through to Both Arms Straight. Take a little turf. Continuous Motion. Two feet back. Two feet through. Back and Through. Take a little turf. Watch the Clubhead Blur. Trace the Plane Line. Feel the Lag Load at the Top. Drive the Lag through to Both Arms Straight. Take a little turf. Now with Ball. Same Motion. Load the Lag. Drive it through. Take turf. Now another Ball: See the Line; Set the Wedges; Load; Drive. Take turf.

Then the Acquired Motion. See The Line. Feel the Wedges. Left Wrist Flat. Right Wrist Bent. Right Forearm on Plane and pointing to the Line well in front of the Ball. Take the Hands Up the Plane of the Right Forearm to Hip-High (Right Forearm level to the ground). Two Accumulators only (#1 and #3). Load the Lag. Hit the Ball with the #3 Pressure Point as you Drive Downplane through the Ball. All the way down. No Steering. No Quitting. All the way Down Plane...through Both Arms Straight...to the Finish.

A few minutes into my routine, I heard a polite "Hello." Larry Nelson had just emerged from the trees at 'my' end of the tee -- directly on the line of his home off the 18th fairway at Atlanta Country Club -- with a half dozen clubs in his hand. Too much trouble to carry even the 'light' bag. He had just deposited $340,000 for his first place win at the Kinko's-FedEx Classic on the Champions Tour.

"Hi Larry," says I, "Congrats on last week!"

"Thanks," says he, almost embarrassed at the mention.

"What time is your talk Monday? 1:15?" I was scheduled to play early (7:45 a.m.!) in the first wave of a morning-afternoon Christian outing, and he was the keynote speaker.

"I'm not sure. Lunch is at 12:30, so that sounds about right."

He then got down to his work. He started with the Sand Wedge, gripping way down, his Right Forefinger almost touching the steel. His Right Wrist was Bent. His Left Wrist was Flat. The upper end of the Clubshaft pointed up his Left Forearm.

His first shot was Acquired Motion. Right Forearm level to the ground on the Backstroke. Right Forearm level to the ground at the Finish. He Drove Down and Through. Took a little turf. The Ball went no more than twenty yards. He hit another. Twenty yards. And another. Twenty yards. Twenty minutes and about fifty balls later, his Right Forefinger was still at the steel. His Motion was still Acquired. And the Ball still had yet to be hit more than thirty yards.

This was a man who had just finished at the top of Senior Golf. This was the third longest driver on the Champions Tour. This was -- and is -- arguably one of the greatest Ball Strikers who has ever played The Game. One of only three men to win three 'majors' in the decade of the '80s. A man who went undefeated in his first two Ryder Cups. A man Seve Ballesteros called "the most feared match play competitor in the world."

And he's been hitting balls for twenty minutes, and they aren't going beyond the first tier of the tee!

Flat Left Wrist. Bent Right Wrist.

Acquired Motion: Right Forearm level to the ground.

Up On Plane. Down On Plane.

Twenty yards.

Twenty minutes.

Any questions?