Forgive me, father, it’s been thirty days since my last golf lesson. I’ve been trying hard to correct my faults, but I keep straying from the correct swing path. I know my knees are moving too much. When I swing righteously, my shots are heavenly, true, straight, and long. OK, I’ll stop the allusion there. But I learnt this morning how much easier it is to see your own faults in others than in yourself.
I turned up at Chippenham Golf Club driving range. The only free bay was next to one where Ben LLoyd was giving a lesson. The student was younger than me, perhaps mid forties. He had a good swing, and when he hit the ball well, he could clearly be a low single figure handicap golfer. Ben was trying to get him into a good top of backswing position, and then let him hit the ball hard from there. Ben had him rehearsing the backswing, checking the correct position, over and over. He’d have several practice swings which all conformed with Ben’s instructions. Then he’d address the ball and forget everything he’d just been taught. Fast and furious takeaway, massive over-swing, and horrid result. That’s me! That’s what I do!
So I got my bucket of balls determined to learn from this free lesson. I got my address position, as I’d been taught by Alex (Ben and Alex are both Chippenham Golf Club Pros). I had a few practice swings. Then addressed the ball. Slow take away, pause, set wrists, maintain spine angle, go! I had a few bad shots, but overall, I hit the ball really well and consistently. Ben and Alex have some fantastic video equipment in the teaching bay which allows you to see in slow motion and freeze frame all aspects of your swing. Data on ball speed, angle of attack, flightpath, all inform the truth of your faults and strengths. But today I found it so much easier to correct my own faults by seeing them in someone else.
Literature is entertaining escapism. We want to be entertained, educated, and perhaps learn something of ourselves. We want our characters to change, discover the errors of their ways, marry the right girl, man, catch the killer, etc. Reading a book is far easier than peering into our own “soul”, but it is a way of understanding our own flaws. Here endeth today’s “Golf” lesson.