I don’t know much about golf. What I do know I learned from Gary Player. When I was a nipper my mom bought me packets of Gary Player disposable hankies. They were to stop me wiping my snoddy dose on my arm but ended up actually teaching me some golfing gems, which were printed on the back, sometimes with pictures. He showed how to grip an iron properly, how to stand if you are chipping up a slope and to be really good at putting you should practice aiming at a single tee. If you can hit a tee from other side the green, a hole will look like the Grand Canyon. One quote he loved, he got from Bobby Locke, thirty something years his senior. “You drive for show but you putt for the dough.” I remember watching TV when Player was interviewed and explained what it meant. Now don’t get hung up on details here, I already said I don’t follow golf. You drive once on a hole. It looks impressive and everyone nods their heads and talks about things like “head speed” of the club etc. You will then do one to two approach shots, possibly out of a bunker. And you putt up to two to three times on a hole and until that ball is in the cup, you haven’t finished. Note then, you can actually putt three times more than you drive. He argued that you should then practice putting three times more than you practice driving. Now, when I cruise around, as you do, you see these things called “Golf Ranges”. And on these ranges I see grown men, shoulder to shoulder, spending hours viciously slamming little white balls as far off into the horizon as possible. I look at the practice putting green and it is vacant. I look at the sand trap around the practice green. There is some bored wife sunbathing on it. Now none of those guys are Gary Player. None of those guys will likely be another Gary Player. But, the advice of one of the country’s most famous golfers, quoted by one of the world’s best golfers, ever, seems to be have forgotten, and left on the back of men’s disposable hankies sold in the 1970’s. What do I take from this? (And mind you I’m not picking on golfers here, neither am I pretending to be any sort of authority on the game) Gary Player went pro in 1953. Between him, Locke and a couple others, they wrote the book on golfing. In fact Gary has written 36 books on Golfing. Why then, don’t people follow his most basic advice? What it appears to me, registered at Augusta as “Please do not let this person anywhere near a lob wedge”, is that really some regular golfers, just like regular people, are just in it for the show. I will never place myself on the same level as a Guru such as the esteemed Mr Player, but I find myself in the same predicament. He’s been preaching the same stuff for sixty years. A lot of people ignore it (quite aware of who and what he is) and wonder why their game doesn’t improve. I have been preaching the same things for over a decade now. Its basic stuff like please don’t leave your laptop in your car where every passing cretin can see it. I’d like to think my advice has made it past the pack of hankies stage but still, day after day the same crimes come in. Like golfers who jump up and down and blame their clubs, the fairway, the weather, the tide the Club Chairman’s secretary, people wander in like lost souls, fighting back tears and telling their tale of woe and that they only left their handbag in the car for five minutes. Gary Player was world champ several times and was voted in Golf Digest’s top ten golfers EVER. Do you think he gives a rat’s ass if you follow his advice and shave 2 strokes off your game or not? I’m past sympathy but I’m not past helping where I can. The issue is I cannot stand behind every one of you and correct your grip, back swing and address every stroke of every hole you ever play. Sometime along the line you actually have to put the effort in yourself and apply what you have been told. Or take up bowls or Monopoly or something. But not golf. The advice is free. Use it or not, but don’t blame the giver of the advice when you can’t be bothered to take responsibility for your own game. Its your life. Take it seriously. Sgt SD Clark SAPS Westville
Posted on: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 13:19:12 +0000
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