As a fifteen year old I was selected for coaching down the road at Gullane under the auspices of their characterful pro Jimmy Hume.
I remember distinctly what he said to me when he first saw me swing a golf club and it was this, ‘don’t think about taking it back son, just take it back’.
Now while I adhered to this non-thinking maxim in life I didn’t with respect to my golf swing. And it is forty four years later that I’m actually starting to heed it. Now forty four years is an awfully long time. And some might say too long to be perplexing about the dynamics of the golf backswing.
I have to admit that recently I’ve been very close to throwing it all in on the goff front. Not surprising given the frustration and pain that all my failed attempts to find the holy grail of the golf swing have caused me, admittedly not aided by an innate stubbornness and so enduring countless, fruitless lessons, trying out all sorts of different tips and swing thoughts and of course now being bombarded by the myriad of general golf teaching blarney from all the social media platforms.
It’s enough to turn you to drink or take up trigpointing.
So after forty four years I don’t know how I got back to thinking about that long-ago coaching session with Jimmy Hume one fine morning on Gullane Hill? Possibly it was a combination of the utter despair arising from my awful golf at Ladybank yesterday and then watching the end of the Ryder Cup. And particularly watching a Mr Bryson Dechambeau swing a golf club. Because I’ll bet my bottom dollar that Bryson is not thinking too heavily about anything when attacking that golf ball. And that’s a tonic for us all.
So, time will tell if my new ‘Bryson method’ is going to work.
But please watch this space!
Because time and my balls are running out.