Page 56 - South Mississippi Living - January, 2019

SPORTS & OUTDOORS coast golf update
TEE-OFF
with Tommy
A RESOLUTION THAT TEES OFF EVERY DAY story by Tommy Snell
Oprah Winfrey once said, “Cheers to a New Year and another chance for us to get it right.” She had to be talking about golf. Okay, so probably not. However, this New Year serves up another chance to get the golf swing right. Let us focus on one flaw and work on losing that fault in golf’s Penalty Area.
During a recent convention, Claude Harmon, III quoted his famous dad Butch as saying, “Find the flaw and figure out ten ways of telling the player how to fix it.” Sound advice indeed. In fact, this unpretentious instruction illustrates the elements of a healthy resolution that every golfer can preserve long past the normal 30-day lifespan of a typical declaration.
Let’s face it, most resolutions don’t last past 10 percent of the year, and a ProV in Fescue might be
easier to find than most
unrealistic goals golfers set for themselves.
“I’m going to reduce my handicap by five strokes.” Yeah, and I’m going to fly a Stealth Bomber to my next golf tournament, or maybe
I should just pilot the
Queen Mary to the Old Course. Goals and resolutions need to be
realistic, and fixing one “tragic flaw” in a golf swing is as pragmatic as fitting a linkster for a set of clubs,
a topic I’ll discuss further in an upcoming issue. Enough of this cynicism.
The most intimate relationship in golf is the one between the golfer and his swing. The golf course just provides the boudoir for the sensual adventures that keep bringing
golfers back to the scorecard, and those few perfect shots certify marital bliss between the golfer and the stroke. Bob Hope was once asked what he liked better, golf or sex. He quipped, “Sex, of course, unless I’m hitting the ball REAL good.” Don’t let one imperfection keep you from intimacy and the emotional bond of a faultless shot.
This year, groove a healthy resolution into your golf game. Work on one flaw, and if you need
help finding that one deficiency, see a PGA professional. Ben Franklin once said, “Be at war with your vices [one flaw], at peace with your neighbors [fellow competitors], and let every New Year find you a better man [golfer].”
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