Once again, I find myself at the golfing range. However, I also improved substantially this week.
Part of understanding golf, at least from my current viewpoint, rests less in power and more in technique. Last week, I literally swung the club like a monkey, trying to wield this highly nuanced device as if I were trying to hit a baseball. This week, things changed substantially just due to one simple little modification: the grip.
Gripping remains one of the most awkward things about golf. It requires you to handle the club in a way that is not at all natural to the way you usually handle such objects. To describe: using your less dominant hand, grip the bottom of the club with your thumb resting on the top. Then, in a strange and bizarre way, use your dominant hand to grip on top of (note that) the other hand so that they “interlock”. Think of your hands like a jigsaw puzzle – there’s only one true way to fit them together in a golf grip, and it’s really up to you to find what works here. Still, once you figure it out, your hands both turn into a solid mass that gives you far greater control than swinging the club wildly. Depending on your personal strength, a few fingers on your first gripping hand can also produce more power.
Golf also requires what most people call a “pre-swing ritual”. The point of such rituals derives from the nature of the human body to do things in the easiest way – in golf, the body’s natural tendencies can work against a good golf shot. So, that weird golf stance with the butt sticking out and the arms seemingly hanging? That isn’t just for show! You need to keep your legs shoulder width specifically to allow your torso and core to generate additional torque for the swing. The “lean” comes from your hips, not your back, so that when your arms are straight, they stay above the ground, rather than hitting the ground (and shocking your whole upper body, as I did repeatedly). Then, the swing follows your body line; it’s not a bat, after all. Swinging as hard as you can counts for little, since you’ll find yourself with no control over the ball. In a word: technique counts for everything in golf.
As such, with all this technique (and surely plenty more to come), I actually did decently! When the ball actually makes it off the tee (or ground, as it were), I call that a success for a second day! The fact that my arms aren’t aching is a good sign, as is the only (minor) injury to come out of golf this week comes from too strong a grip by my right hand. I can feel it as I type this, but surely I can rectify it!
Also, this is the weirdest sport I’ve ever played, and probably the most interesting from a design standpoint. Part of that comes from the necessity for particular styles of clubs, balls, and a million different accessories to “get the most out of your game”, as some advertisement somewhere probably put it. It appears as if people love playing golf, at least from what a cursory look at Dick’s Sporting Goods would tell me; there’s just a massive section FILLED with all manner of different golf related things. I’m curious why the sport seems so intimidating to beginners like myself, and that probably comes down to monetary costs as much as anything else. Thanks to the Internet, much of that initial awkward period can be eliminated, but it’s still bizarre to see a dozen different clubs with giant price tags and no real indication of why you would pick one over the other (I know why, due to far too many golf video games, but still!). I imagine most of us can get by without needing to invest hundreds of dollars, though; I bought a 3W for about 11.00 brand new, and I’m pretty fine with that!
So yeah, for now, I’ve learned a lot in a short amount of time. Now, how not to slice the ball repeatedly…
