Muscle memory

[don_budge]

Muscle Memories...and "The Way We Were"

I hit 200 plus balls out of the sand bunker today. It was going to be my day off...nearly exhausted. But I couldn't resist after studying this video by Nick Faldo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=_1hkM7WfG3c

It was a bit frustrating at first. But you have to stay calm and focus on the technique. It is all about technique in the sand. There is no real mystery. It's actually a straight forwards shot but the technique is a bit different because you don't actually make contact with the ball. In the end the balls were coming out of the sand like a warm knife slicing through butter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4w2kX2aVlI

Then there is this video with Ben Hogan..."The Most Important Part of the Swing". Hogan is fifty plus years old in this video I believe and it is amazing to study his backswing and how far back he actually gets the club. My first thought was what an effort it must be to get it that far back but then after studying it I realised that he must have such a loose, relaxed grip that the wrists hinge naturally from the weight of the clubhead. Then it was off to the range to experiment...voila. Quite correct sherlock_budge! Elementary my dear Stotty! Voila! Eureka!

It is the same idea with the service backswing...one must hold on to the racquet as if you are holding onto a live bird. That observation actually reputedly came from Sam Snead who is Hogan's partner in this video. Any tension in the grip is going to be reflected in tension in the forearms and this is going to restrict the fluidity in the motion that you are trying to accomplish.

Notice how the drive with his legs also further swings the club further into position just as the driving of the legs in the serve drops that racquet further down behind the server. The key operative word is swing which implies relaxed fluid motion. Sam Snead also has a beautiful swing...one of the best of all time. He is also well past his "prime" but manages to be supple and limber in his swing.

The Way We Were...Barbara Streisand (1973)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJNrKHv50X8

Memories light the corners of my mind
Misty water-colored memories of the way we were
Scattered pictures of the smiles we left behind
Smiles we gave to one another for the way we were
Can it be that it was all so simple then
Or has time rewritten every line
If we had the chance to do it all again
Tell me, would we?
Could we?

Memories may be beautiful and yet
What's too painful to remember
We simply choose to forget
So it's the laughter we will remember
Whenever we remember
The way we were
The way we were

Fascinating isn't it? What I once had...I lost. Shots I took for granted as a result of thirteen years of borderline obsessive practice that were grooved in my very soul became a distant memory from non use. The business of knifing the golf ball out of the sand at the end of my training session flawlessly...it was coming out high and soft. With different wedges...a sixty, a fifty-six and a fifty-two. Opening and closing the face of the wedge to get the desired result. Flawlessly. After watching Nick Faldo and Seve Ballesteros with their water like fluidity demonstrate on video...the image captured in my mind. The verbal cues no less important as well. The cure yesterday found after an hour of experimentation I remembered what Nick sort of offhandedly remarked...keep the hands in starting position even with the ball. That remark made the difference.

So today I am looking out at the rain on our freshly mowed fields...courtesy of a neighbour who cut them for food for some animals. I am wondering if I can duplicate yesterdays performance or how long will it take to practice until once more there is a groove on my soul where I can emerge from a deep sleep in the middle of the night...grab my wedge next to the nightstand and replicate a high and soft shot on to the green from a bunker with a five foot wall in front of me. There are doubts. Fear.

But one must not have any doubts that no amount of fear is not conquerable...with enough practice. So I will go back to work. But objectively I will tell you this I believe in what I have said a number of times here on the forum...the only thing this old world understands is hard work. No amount of wishing, technology, dreaming is going to get it done without the blood, sweat and tears that go with the inspiration. The illumination of great teaching. Now I am the student and I take my role seriously. One day I will be the teacher once again. I give you my solemn word. Give me strength...Father.

I will get back to the way I was and then I am going forwards from there. Or die trying.

[don_budge]

Fascinating isn't it? What I once had...I lost. Shots I took for granted as a result of thirteen years of borderline obsessive practice that were grooved in my very soul became a distant memory from non use. The business of knifing the golf ball out of the sand at the end of my training session flawlessly...it was coming out high and soft. With different wedges...a sixty, a fifty-six and a fifty-two.

Two days of badly needed rest. Over training every day. Back in the bunker. Another two hundred practice shots. No problem...no fear. Very, very happy. Now to over train on this technique and own it. Total practice time...four and a half hours.

Loading a truck load of wood that was dumped some twenty-five meters from the wood shed. First pile the whole shebang in stacks...rows of wood. Next to load it on a cart and take it to the wood shed. Now a wheelbarrow to the back of the shed. Handling the wood three times...good work for the wrists and forearms, legs and back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-ES9EBKG1k

Ran across the fascinating character on youtube. Paul Runyan...aka "Little Poisen" on account of his unparalleled short game. Second to none according to none other than Sam Snead. A little "unorthodox" or rather "unconventional" technique. Is he outdated? Not so sure.