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     By Jim Sowerwine, Bonita Bay
     Club, Bonita Springs, FL.
    








OVER THE COURSE OF THE NEXT EIGHT WEEKS I will share with you what I feel is the most simplistic and productive way to learn the game and correct swing flaws. Whether you’re a beginner, intermediate or advanced player, you will gain insight that will help you as long as you play. I will pass along to you shared information, knowledge, swing-thoughts, fundamentals and ways to practice that I have been fortunate enough to learn from such players and teachers as Jack Nicklaus, Gardner Dickenson, Davis Love II, Bob Toski, Jim Flick, Rick Smith and many others.

I have taken this information, along with my own personal experiences as a player and a teacher and molded them into my own personal way of communication.

My goal is to educate you on proper fundamentals and guide you to an efficient way of learning and practicing them. We will start by learning the game from the “ground up”, so to speak. It’s important to learn to walk before you run, especially when learning golf, so you don’t fall into bad habits that are difficult to change. For those of you who already have swing flaws that you would like to change, I will show you, what I feel, is the most efficient way to change existing habits.

Our first subject (next week) will begin with learning the fundamentals of the short game. I’ve learned from experience and working with thousands of students that understanding and grasping the concept of a complex motion like the golf swing is facilitated when broken down to its simplest form(s). The story I’m about to share with you will help you understand why learning the fundamentals and motions of the short game, before jumping into the full-swing, are so important. It is also an experience that has shaped my own understanding of how to make a change and has since helped positively impact many of my students (both touring professionals as well as amateurs).

Dating back about 25 years ago, I was at the driving range hitting balls with my good friend Gary Nicklaus and his dad, Jack Nicklaus. Jack Grout, Mr. Nicklaus’s life-long swing coach, was there and working with Mr. Nicklaus on a ‘backswing’ change. The next morning at about 7:00 a.m., Gary and I were heading out in the boat to go fishing. Mr. Nicklaus was already up and practicing his short game (in their back yard). When Gary and I returned late that evening, about 6:00 p.m., Mr. Nicklaus was still in the same place that I last saw him, hitting chips and pitches. I asked him if he had gone over to the range to practice what he and Mr. Grout had worked on the day before. He said, “No Jimmy, I’ve been here all day. I took about an hour for lunch but I haven’t left.” I questioned him, “Mr.


Nicklaus, you had a lesson yesterday on your full-swing. Why are you still here working on your short game? Don’t you want to go practice what Mr. Grout was trying to get you to do yesterday with your backswing?” He said, “I am! How can I expect to make the change in my full-swing if I can’t do it here (hitting chips and pitches)?” I said, “Well…are you getting it?” He said, “Almost! I think by tomorrow sometime I should be ready to take it to the range and try some longer swings.”

Wow! If that doesn’t hit home, I don’t know what will. Arguably the greatest player of all time understood and accepted how difficult it is to make a change. He explained to me that the most proficient way (for him) to make a swing change was to practice it with a length of swing and at a speed that allowed him to truly feel what he was trying to do. Once he felt the change and was able to consistently repeat it with success, he then gradually bumped up to longer and faster swings. It makes perfect sense. When you are making full swings, which usually is at a much faster swing speed than when you are chipping or pitching, how do you really know if you are accomplishing what you’ve set out to change?

A beginner taking up the game for the first time or a player who doesn’t seem to be able to improve needs to follow the same concept. The short game principles and fundamentals are really no different than the principles of the full swing; the swings are simply shorter and slower with less body motion. Over the next few weeks, as you become proficient with the foundation(s) of putting, chipping and pitching, we will move into longer and faster swings. And if you practice the drills and exercises that I will give you along the way, I promise you will have the foundation and knowledge to take this game as far as you want. From there, it’s just like anything in life — the more you put into it, the more you will get out of it.

I look forward to the next several weeks and helping you develop a game for a lifetime. We’ll keep it simple, and we’ll make it fun because after all, it is merely a game.

Week 2



   




Jim Sowerwine, Bonita Bay Club, Bonita Springs, FL. is the inventor of the Inside Approach to Better Golf Swing Trainer. Some of his students include Jim McGovern, Ryan Howison and Mark Lye.