When we last left our story, I was in contact with Tim S. at New Balance. After he and I had finished he directed me to an online form to fill out.
It, of course, had a lot of the stuff on it that Tim and I had already gone through.
I filled it out and submitted it.
A day later I got an email which asked me to send the shoes to an address in Missouri.
Ok, so I take an old box and put the shoes in it and off to the post office I go.
There is a long line to talk to a clerk, so I use the self service machine and it's going to cost me $14 to ship it. This is not the fast route either. But for $0.41 more, I can send it two day and get tracking!
Well, ok, I'll sign up, not for the tracking, but just to hurry the process along.
It's about 2:02 pm and there is a PO worker emptying all of the boxes, including the one I'm about to drop the shoes in. Of course it takes a lot of time to answer the security questions and enter the box dimensions. The box is empty and the guy has left the lobby.
I get it all done and get the stamp from the output port. "Make sure the bar code is to the left of the stamp!" Ok, I can do that. The stamp is not very big and there is square bar code and I make sure it's to the left of the stamp portion. Into the box the shoes go. It makes a nice hollow sound as they crash to the bottom of the recently emptied box.
I then need to buy some stamps as Barb has created a bunch of Easter cards and I'm going to stamp and get them into the system too. When the stamps are printed, I reach down to get them and lo and behold there is another printed item and it looks suspiciously like another bar code. Hmm, what to do, what to do?
Well, I'd better talk to someone and see what is up.
There is a service door with a door bell. I ring it. No answer. I ring it again. Still nothing, so I get to the back of the line to talk to a PO employee. This is not wasted time as I am busy with the stamps and Easter cards.
I get to the counter and explain what's happened to the nice lady (is that sexist?). She sadly shakes her head. "We don't have anyone to get your package back." "You might have to pay again and redo it!" Of course without getting the box back, it will be hard to repay...
"Will the box make it to its destination if it doesn't have the bar code on it?" I ask this twice and you'd think this would be easy to answer. But it was never answered.
They finally find a guy in the back room and he opens the bin and in about 15 seconds my package is on the counter. I slap on the bar code right next to the square bar code and off it goes.
"Can I give you these envelopes?" I stupidly ask. One of the tenets in cross examination is to never ask a question if you don't know what the answer is going to be. My question wasn't quite that, but it came close. She, the nice lady, picks up one of the cards and starts to frown.
Barb has made the cards with some level of sophisticated decoration. I ribbon binds it shut. What I'm hinting at is that there is some thickness in these.
The lady's frown gets worse. Off she goes and talks to another clerk. She comes back.
"Is there any powder in these?" "Nope, just inspired beauty and decoration."
That seems to satisfy her. But she starts tapping keys. "You need to add 11 cents to each envelope."
Why didn't I just toss them into a mail box I wonder to my self.
"Ok, give me 13 11 cent stamps."
She does. Visa gets another transaction. I spend some more time adding stamps to the envelopes.
Finally I'm done and now they go into a mail slot in the lobby.
I go home. I yell at Barb for making such thick cards. She denies it. "You should have asked her to measure them. This is meaningless without a good number. You could have measured them all and we'd have a mean and confidence intervals!" That's a good point. I'm not sure the Post Office knows much about data descriptions, but it might have been good to know.
So I'm bruised and my Visa cards is suffering rug burns and my shoes and Barb's cards are on the way.
I open my email. New Balance wants to know how my experience with product support has gone. "Tell us if it was good or bad! Just click on one of these links!"
I don't know if it was good or bad. Let's see what Missouri has to say. The links remain unclicked. Missouri is supposed to send me an email too. The shoes should be there. I could check the tracking number, but I'd be depressed if the shoes were in Arkansas or something. I shall wait.
Stay tuned for part III...
Friday, March 30, 2018
Saturday, March 24, 2018
Some Family History and Notes on Post Round Lunches
There is more to golf than having a short par putt on the tricky first or being at the right position on the long 13th.
One of the delights of local golf is that after a 5 mile walk there awaits the savory $1.50 hot dog at Costco! Yes, it's $1.64 with tax and, if you've played well or poorly, for the princely total sum of $3.11 you can get a frozen yogurt to go with the dog.
Now one of my golf buddies, let's call him Rich, because that's his name. And to avoid confusion, he's known as Rich II, or just R2 or R II. Why I am Rich 1, is a long story and there really isn't too much of interest in it.
R2 often joins me in my lunch at Cafe $1.64. He is a man of much discipline and has a frozen yogurt only once per week.
Now we have to journey back in time. My father has said in my presence, "Watching you kids, I feel I'm cheating the government out of 10% entertainment taxes!" One of the scenes whch would prompt this exclamation was watching us kids devour our post dinner ice cream. We'd gobble the fudge ripple until the ice cream headache froze us in place. A moment or two of pain, then the spoon was again put back to diligent service. I'm told we were all synced up and looked like puppets in a ell rehearsed routine.
Over the years I have had a lot of cold drinks and ice cream. I might proclaim without too much fear of contradiction that eating cold stuff is one of my unusual talents. I can do it well and I do it often. My dream is to die with ice cream on my breath with a hint of licorice in the background.
The key to avoiding the headache is to keep the cold stuff off of the roof of the mouth. Let it play amongst the molars and tickle along the gums as you savor it. But keep the roof warm.
R2 does not have this talent. Oh, I've passed on the lesson, but it has not been taken to heart. So he hurts. Usually multiple times for each yogurt he eats. "I love the flavor! But it hurts!" He's said in my presence.
I must confess that it's a bit amusing to watch as he gobbles away. I see where my father was amused too.
I don't see this situation changing. Poor fellow.
Ok, on a serious side note, I've come across folk wisdom that suggests that an ice cream headache is the opposite of a migraine. And if you have a migraine, inducing an ice cream headache will "instantly cure it," and "better than drugs!" I am seeking data on this point. The one time I had the migraine, I stopped for a Slurpy and was not able to induce the headache. If anyone out there tries this please let me know the results.
One of the delights of local golf is that after a 5 mile walk there awaits the savory $1.50 hot dog at Costco! Yes, it's $1.64 with tax and, if you've played well or poorly, for the princely total sum of $3.11 you can get a frozen yogurt to go with the dog.
Now one of my golf buddies, let's call him Rich, because that's his name. And to avoid confusion, he's known as Rich II, or just R2 or R II. Why I am Rich 1, is a long story and there really isn't too much of interest in it.
R2 often joins me in my lunch at Cafe $1.64. He is a man of much discipline and has a frozen yogurt only once per week.
Now we have to journey back in time. My father has said in my presence, "Watching you kids, I feel I'm cheating the government out of 10% entertainment taxes!" One of the scenes whch would prompt this exclamation was watching us kids devour our post dinner ice cream. We'd gobble the fudge ripple until the ice cream headache froze us in place. A moment or two of pain, then the spoon was again put back to diligent service. I'm told we were all synced up and looked like puppets in a ell rehearsed routine.
Over the years I have had a lot of cold drinks and ice cream. I might proclaim without too much fear of contradiction that eating cold stuff is one of my unusual talents. I can do it well and I do it often. My dream is to die with ice cream on my breath with a hint of licorice in the background.
The key to avoiding the headache is to keep the cold stuff off of the roof of the mouth. Let it play amongst the molars and tickle along the gums as you savor it. But keep the roof warm.
R2 does not have this talent. Oh, I've passed on the lesson, but it has not been taken to heart. So he hurts. Usually multiple times for each yogurt he eats. "I love the flavor! But it hurts!" He's said in my presence.
I must confess that it's a bit amusing to watch as he gobbles away. I see where my father was amused too.
I don't see this situation changing. Poor fellow.
Ok, on a serious side note, I've come across folk wisdom that suggests that an ice cream headache is the opposite of a migraine. And if you have a migraine, inducing an ice cream headache will "instantly cure it," and "better than drugs!" I am seeking data on this point. The one time I had the migraine, I stopped for a Slurpy and was not able to induce the headache. If anyone out there tries this please let me know the results.
Thursday, March 22, 2018
New Balance and Some Customer Service
I may have written earlier about some New Balance golf shoes I bought about October 1 of last year. New Balance has been my shoe of choice for a while as they provide them in my size. Well, pretty much my size. Try looking for a 14 narrow at some point. They are also comfortable and wear pretty well.
These shoes have a two year water proof warranty!
It's been very wet recently and the shoes started to leak. Then leak badly. Then my toes were getting cold and then wrinkled.
So I shot off a message to NB for help.
I heard back from Tim S., who was quite astounded that I was having problems and was very eager to make this right.
He asked some questions. He wanted to know how often I played and if I had cleaned the shoes and with what.
I dutifully answered and told the truth. It seems that I've put about 60 rounds on them in the 5.5 months I've had them. That does work out to about 300 miles when it's all added up.
Tim wanted a receipt and I found an entry on my Amazon account with all the details. I took a screen shot and sent it in.
Tim then pointed me to an online form to fill in. A lot of the same stuff I had gone over already. Might have made more sense to start with that, but I really can't tell. Hopefully Tim has not led me astray and may provide some internal NB grease to move the issue through.
On the form one has to provide a receipt and it can't be hand written and it can't just be a credit card payment line. I wonder why that is? Tim has seen what I have and has sent no objection my way.
In any case if what I've entered is valid, they will want the shoes back and will provide a voucher to allow me to purchase on their web site.
In the mean time I want to play tomorrow and it's wet out. Very wet and if you stood on the greens on Wednesday you could have seen water welling by your feet. And since Wednesday it's rained an additional 24 hours or so.
I hope the old shoes are dry, I've had then on a furnace vent for a couple of days, and I put them on and get wet tomorrow.
I went into the old job this morning, and there was golf to watch on the TV, but it was still a long day without enough physical effort. I may have needed some down time. I went out metal detecting for an hour on Tuesday for the first time in a long time and my thighs have been on fire ever since. All that up and down and digging was a shock to the well honed golfing machine the body has become.
Ok, we'll see what NB has to say. I've ordered another pair in the mean time. If I get the replacement pair from NB, I'll try and rotate them to keep them happy. And, and, I'll tuck the receipts into a nice save place.
These shoes have a two year water proof warranty!
It's been very wet recently and the shoes started to leak. Then leak badly. Then my toes were getting cold and then wrinkled.
So I shot off a message to NB for help.
I heard back from Tim S., who was quite astounded that I was having problems and was very eager to make this right.
He asked some questions. He wanted to know how often I played and if I had cleaned the shoes and with what.
I dutifully answered and told the truth. It seems that I've put about 60 rounds on them in the 5.5 months I've had them. That does work out to about 300 miles when it's all added up.
Tim wanted a receipt and I found an entry on my Amazon account with all the details. I took a screen shot and sent it in.
Tim then pointed me to an online form to fill in. A lot of the same stuff I had gone over already. Might have made more sense to start with that, but I really can't tell. Hopefully Tim has not led me astray and may provide some internal NB grease to move the issue through.
On the form one has to provide a receipt and it can't be hand written and it can't just be a credit card payment line. I wonder why that is? Tim has seen what I have and has sent no objection my way.
In any case if what I've entered is valid, they will want the shoes back and will provide a voucher to allow me to purchase on their web site.
In the mean time I want to play tomorrow and it's wet out. Very wet and if you stood on the greens on Wednesday you could have seen water welling by your feet. And since Wednesday it's rained an additional 24 hours or so.
I hope the old shoes are dry, I've had then on a furnace vent for a couple of days, and I put them on and get wet tomorrow.
I went into the old job this morning, and there was golf to watch on the TV, but it was still a long day without enough physical effort. I may have needed some down time. I went out metal detecting for an hour on Tuesday for the first time in a long time and my thighs have been on fire ever since. All that up and down and digging was a shock to the well honed golfing machine the body has become.
Ok, we'll see what NB has to say. I've ordered another pair in the mean time. If I get the replacement pair from NB, I'll try and rotate them to keep them happy. And, and, I'll tuck the receipts into a nice save place.
Saturday, March 17, 2018
Not Much Happening
Fans, the weather has turned cold and wet. I deal with either one OK, but put them together and I'd rather pass on playing.
Got out on Monday and Tuesday. Got wet on Tuesday and have not played since and it's Saturday.
I've been to the range a couple of times and the golf shop once. But generally just some chipping and pitching and then the sky clouds up and the sprinkles start and I'd rather be inside.
I was at the golf shop since my putter cover has lost its form. There are seams that look like they've never been finished and the closure magnets got loose and when I replaced and glued them, don't seem to want to work.
I've got some neoprene and I'm ready to make my own.
My game feels ok. I'm playing with a change to my chipping that seems to work very well. I saw a training aid at the golf shop and there was a diagram on the back relating how one put it to use, which would promote the proper pitching body motion. I can do that! And it worked.
I borrowed the second edition of Gallwey's Inner Game of Golf. I was expecting to just skim this and then return it, but the little bit I read intrigued me enough to purchase the book. I'll pass on thoughts when I've put more time into reading it.
Golf is scheduled for Monday. It looks like the cold will not be lifting and the course might be muddy. It has that propensity as it serves as the town's overflow flood plane.
The car was stinking and it was my rain jacket. Washed everything and put one of the cute air fresheners on an air vent. Scent was "Fresh Linen," so we'll see how that goes. Found it at the dollar store.
How about that Tiger? It's nice to see him playing well. Makes the tv shows interesting. When he was absent I barely watched anything but the majors.
Happy St. Pat's day to one and all.
Got out on Monday and Tuesday. Got wet on Tuesday and have not played since and it's Saturday.
I've been to the range a couple of times and the golf shop once. But generally just some chipping and pitching and then the sky clouds up and the sprinkles start and I'd rather be inside.
I was at the golf shop since my putter cover has lost its form. There are seams that look like they've never been finished and the closure magnets got loose and when I replaced and glued them, don't seem to want to work.
I've got some neoprene and I'm ready to make my own.
My game feels ok. I'm playing with a change to my chipping that seems to work very well. I saw a training aid at the golf shop and there was a diagram on the back relating how one put it to use, which would promote the proper pitching body motion. I can do that! And it worked.
I borrowed the second edition of Gallwey's Inner Game of Golf. I was expecting to just skim this and then return it, but the little bit I read intrigued me enough to purchase the book. I'll pass on thoughts when I've put more time into reading it.
Golf is scheduled for Monday. It looks like the cold will not be lifting and the course might be muddy. It has that propensity as it serves as the town's overflow flood plane.
The car was stinking and it was my rain jacket. Washed everything and put one of the cute air fresheners on an air vent. Scent was "Fresh Linen," so we'll see how that goes. Found it at the dollar store.
How about that Tiger? It's nice to see him playing well. Makes the tv shows interesting. When he was absent I barely watched anything but the majors.
Happy St. Pat's day to one and all.
Thursday, March 8, 2018
New Direction Details
Mother found the last post interesting, and "well presented!" So there is that. She also wanted some follow up as to how well it all worked.
For the last few rounds I've just been just playing and not trying to alter my technique. That plays into the theory that your mind knows what to do; just get out of your way and let it happen.
I must report that for the most part this is working quite well. My driver has been much better. My iron play has not diminished -- it was already very good. My putting is good and I'm happy with it. More on that below.
The only thing that has gotten worse has been my chipping. And because of the odd bladed pitch, I'm seeing many more double bogeys that I am used to.
To wit, on Wednesday I had three birdies and only managed a 79. There were 3 doubles that just gutted the scoring.
Why the short game has become a problem is interesting. The practice swings where I design my task are quite good. Nice and fluid with no fear at all, at all. But there there is some excess body movement in the actual swing that's causing all of the problems. I'm going to pay a bit more attention and be more trusting. Mostly the bad chips are due to not being able to let it happen and then I don't swing as freely nor as fast and it all comes apart. Why is it, o God of golf, that we fear the long hit and are willing to foozle to avoid it?
Putting... Let's take a step back and discuss what task we want to identify. It is as simple as "clip the tee below the ball" or do we want to be very trusting and complex and think "I want the ball to start left, then climb and fall off to the right." Gallwey would suggest that a very complex task is doable.
I would love to believe that. I've done that with a couple of drives and made it happen...
But then let's turn to putting. Not a lot of difficulty here. We have a very simple club to ball interaction. We want no curves nor any hit to left or right. We simply want to putt the ball on some line with a specific pace.
Granted one might have to look at a few details before deciding on those items, but once decided we can, and probably should, create a task of "hit to spot x with pace y." Then get over the ball, blank the mind and just execute.
Could we just look at the putt and "feel" the slope and speed and do it? Gallwey would probably suggest yes. He doesn't care about your grip or stance, just your willingness to trust your subconscious mind to perform reasonably. We've all putted a few thousand times and why not trust that database and draw the answer from it? Would it help you adjust if the greens are off speed due to moisture or length of grass? Maybe, and again, maybe a trust issue.
Looking at the last few rounds, where I was trying to be less mechanical and more trusting, I felt very confident over a lot of putts. I have missed a couple of short ones, but not many. I suspect that the number of three putts have dropped a little. The greens I play on are not large so I rarely hit putts from long distances. I don't feel there are enough data to draw any conclusions here. Certainly there is nothing monstrous in play, either good or bad.
I would suggest to all of you ardent golfers out there to give this a try. If you can pull it off, it's very mentally relaxing. Makes the game more of a fun time than a lot of work.
Next post is on temperature and distance. I ran across an interesting video on YouTube and I'll pass along some thoughts on that.
For the last few rounds I've just been just playing and not trying to alter my technique. That plays into the theory that your mind knows what to do; just get out of your way and let it happen.
I must report that for the most part this is working quite well. My driver has been much better. My iron play has not diminished -- it was already very good. My putting is good and I'm happy with it. More on that below.
The only thing that has gotten worse has been my chipping. And because of the odd bladed pitch, I'm seeing many more double bogeys that I am used to.
To wit, on Wednesday I had three birdies and only managed a 79. There were 3 doubles that just gutted the scoring.
Why the short game has become a problem is interesting. The practice swings where I design my task are quite good. Nice and fluid with no fear at all, at all. But there there is some excess body movement in the actual swing that's causing all of the problems. I'm going to pay a bit more attention and be more trusting. Mostly the bad chips are due to not being able to let it happen and then I don't swing as freely nor as fast and it all comes apart. Why is it, o God of golf, that we fear the long hit and are willing to foozle to avoid it?
Putting... Let's take a step back and discuss what task we want to identify. It is as simple as "clip the tee below the ball" or do we want to be very trusting and complex and think "I want the ball to start left, then climb and fall off to the right." Gallwey would suggest that a very complex task is doable.
I would love to believe that. I've done that with a couple of drives and made it happen...
But then let's turn to putting. Not a lot of difficulty here. We have a very simple club to ball interaction. We want no curves nor any hit to left or right. We simply want to putt the ball on some line with a specific pace.
Granted one might have to look at a few details before deciding on those items, but once decided we can, and probably should, create a task of "hit to spot x with pace y." Then get over the ball, blank the mind and just execute.
Could we just look at the putt and "feel" the slope and speed and do it? Gallwey would probably suggest yes. He doesn't care about your grip or stance, just your willingness to trust your subconscious mind to perform reasonably. We've all putted a few thousand times and why not trust that database and draw the answer from it? Would it help you adjust if the greens are off speed due to moisture or length of grass? Maybe, and again, maybe a trust issue.
Looking at the last few rounds, where I was trying to be less mechanical and more trusting, I felt very confident over a lot of putts. I have missed a couple of short ones, but not many. I suspect that the number of three putts have dropped a little. The greens I play on are not large so I rarely hit putts from long distances. I don't feel there are enough data to draw any conclusions here. Certainly there is nothing monstrous in play, either good or bad.
I would suggest to all of you ardent golfers out there to give this a try. If you can pull it off, it's very mentally relaxing. Makes the game more of a fun time than a lot of work.
Next post is on temperature and distance. I ran across an interesting video on YouTube and I'll pass along some thoughts on that.
Sunday, March 4, 2018
New Directions
Back before we talked of "settled science," there was the "fact" that we used 8% of our mental capacity and a teacher from middle school also chipped in that Einstein might have used 12%. But all that was wrong and what is currently "fact" is that this vast portion of mental structure is used to provide humans and probably all critters, with the ability to smoothly move hands and arms and body and store sequences of movements to be called upon when needed.
My recent time with Mavrick, a 6 week old, showed me that all of this smooth and useful movement has to be learned. Mavrick was pretty good about hitting himself in the forehead with his hand. But he couldn't do too much else with it. Every repetition needs to be written and remembered and discovered. Lots to learn and of course we don't remember all the struggles along the way.
I think I mentioned in a previous post about The Inner Game of Golf by Jim Gallwey. The book had a couple of useful things in it and because of recent information, I wanted to return to it.
I also mentioned that I found the process of acquiring new physical skills to be of intense interest to me and the recent info also plays into that.
The info was about internal versus external learning. There is a story about how Tom Kite and Ben Crenshaw went to their coach, Harvey Penick and asked him how to hit the ball higher. He gave them a bucket of balls and sent them down by a tree. "Come back when you can hit the balls over the tree." He told them that they could figure it out without his help, i.e., internal learning.
I've also heard the line, "you can teach yourself something a lot better than someone can teach it to you."
Which leads us to elite golfers. Two of them are frequently mentioned. They being Jim Furyk and Bubba Watson. Characteristics in the common were that they learned at a young age and figured it out themselves and were willing to swing very hard at the ball. In contrast to that is to go to a pro who will adjust grip, stance, backswing and downswing and then with your head full of positional and static position information, you will try to deliver the club with some kind of speed to the ball.
Bubba and Jim have unusual swings. But they've learned them. We can judge that they might not be the most efficient, but certainly workable to provide both of them with employment in the entertainment industry.
One more story that my dad used to tell: Harpo Marx became successful and decided to get some harp lessons. He could play, but thought that maybe he could get better. As my father describes it, Harpo could do things that the professional harpist couldn't. "Show me that again!" I'm not sure this is true, but I hope it is.
Another theme is that the human mind is very good at completing tasks. For example take this ax and chop some wood or use this knife to sharpen a stick. When we take on that task, we don't worry about how far back we take it or our hand positions at impact, we just do it. And if we were to continue to do it, we would gain muscles, callouses and efficiency.
Shaun Clement has applied this to golf. Take an iron and imagine that just below the ball is a dandelion stem. Our task is to clip the stem just below the ball. Note that we are not trying to hit the ball or have anything to do with it. Just nip the stem.
How easy is that to do? Pretty easy probably. Would we come over the top to do this? No, it's an easy swing from the inside and we let the club slide past the ball/ dandelion as part of this effort.
I'm stealing from one of Shaun's videos on Youtube, but imagine that we want to hit a low shot. We can do this without much thought and the hands will lead the shaft a bit more and the club face will be less lofted. A simple task and within the grasp of most golfers. But try and think about it and you'll have more problems. Just do it.
Bunker play? Just a different task, but nothing unusual, the stem is a bit lower. Driver? Hit up on the bottom of the dandelion head.
A friend mentioned in one of her art classes that they were to copy a drawing, then paint it. "Can't draw?" asked the teacher. "Well, this curve is the letter E, and then there are some vertical lines from the letter. You've all written the letter e, so this is nothing difficult." And it wasn't.
So I go to the range today. The sky was clear today and no rain unlike yesterday. I start off by doing some chipping to loosen up. I gave myself tasks to perform, rather than hitting the ball to the hole. "Nip the stem" and "we want the ball to land on that spot." Seemed to be doable. Club to stem contact was pretty good, ball was along for the ride.
Off to hit some irons.
Nip the stem! Nip the stem! This seems to be doable. I'm not thinking about backswing or arm positions or much else. The ball is going ok. I seem to be able to hit it about as hard as I want. My balance is good and I'm not getting into bad positions where I can't deliver the club.
I work through the bag and I am happy. I'm not thinking about much. This is like the last few rounds I've played, where I just swung and enjoyed the walk.
I have hope for the future.
Rounds are scheduled for next week. Stay tuned!
Now, as for those tasks... How complex can we make them? Is "nipping the stem" the proper task or should it be "Make the ball fly out to the right and curve back to that spot on the green?" Do we need to verbalize? Can I just look at a chip or iron shot and visualize where I want the ball to go? Can I just look at a chip, noting elevation changes and things to go over and then just do it?
The Inner Game of Golf proposed that kind of task. "Hit the ball below that tree, then curve left to the fairway." Gallwey thought that your brain could figure it all out and complex tasks were ok.
I shall seek to find the answers.
My recent time with Mavrick, a 6 week old, showed me that all of this smooth and useful movement has to be learned. Mavrick was pretty good about hitting himself in the forehead with his hand. But he couldn't do too much else with it. Every repetition needs to be written and remembered and discovered. Lots to learn and of course we don't remember all the struggles along the way.
I think I mentioned in a previous post about The Inner Game of Golf by Jim Gallwey. The book had a couple of useful things in it and because of recent information, I wanted to return to it.
I also mentioned that I found the process of acquiring new physical skills to be of intense interest to me and the recent info also plays into that.
The info was about internal versus external learning. There is a story about how Tom Kite and Ben Crenshaw went to their coach, Harvey Penick and asked him how to hit the ball higher. He gave them a bucket of balls and sent them down by a tree. "Come back when you can hit the balls over the tree." He told them that they could figure it out without his help, i.e., internal learning.
I've also heard the line, "you can teach yourself something a lot better than someone can teach it to you."
Which leads us to elite golfers. Two of them are frequently mentioned. They being Jim Furyk and Bubba Watson. Characteristics in the common were that they learned at a young age and figured it out themselves and were willing to swing very hard at the ball. In contrast to that is to go to a pro who will adjust grip, stance, backswing and downswing and then with your head full of positional and static position information, you will try to deliver the club with some kind of speed to the ball.
Bubba and Jim have unusual swings. But they've learned them. We can judge that they might not be the most efficient, but certainly workable to provide both of them with employment in the entertainment industry.
One more story that my dad used to tell: Harpo Marx became successful and decided to get some harp lessons. He could play, but thought that maybe he could get better. As my father describes it, Harpo could do things that the professional harpist couldn't. "Show me that again!" I'm not sure this is true, but I hope it is.
Another theme is that the human mind is very good at completing tasks. For example take this ax and chop some wood or use this knife to sharpen a stick. When we take on that task, we don't worry about how far back we take it or our hand positions at impact, we just do it. And if we were to continue to do it, we would gain muscles, callouses and efficiency.
Shaun Clement has applied this to golf. Take an iron and imagine that just below the ball is a dandelion stem. Our task is to clip the stem just below the ball. Note that we are not trying to hit the ball or have anything to do with it. Just nip the stem.
How easy is that to do? Pretty easy probably. Would we come over the top to do this? No, it's an easy swing from the inside and we let the club slide past the ball/ dandelion as part of this effort.
I'm stealing from one of Shaun's videos on Youtube, but imagine that we want to hit a low shot. We can do this without much thought and the hands will lead the shaft a bit more and the club face will be less lofted. A simple task and within the grasp of most golfers. But try and think about it and you'll have more problems. Just do it.
Bunker play? Just a different task, but nothing unusual, the stem is a bit lower. Driver? Hit up on the bottom of the dandelion head.
A friend mentioned in one of her art classes that they were to copy a drawing, then paint it. "Can't draw?" asked the teacher. "Well, this curve is the letter E, and then there are some vertical lines from the letter. You've all written the letter e, so this is nothing difficult." And it wasn't.
So I go to the range today. The sky was clear today and no rain unlike yesterday. I start off by doing some chipping to loosen up. I gave myself tasks to perform, rather than hitting the ball to the hole. "Nip the stem" and "we want the ball to land on that spot." Seemed to be doable. Club to stem contact was pretty good, ball was along for the ride.
Off to hit some irons.
Nip the stem! Nip the stem! This seems to be doable. I'm not thinking about backswing or arm positions or much else. The ball is going ok. I seem to be able to hit it about as hard as I want. My balance is good and I'm not getting into bad positions where I can't deliver the club.
I work through the bag and I am happy. I'm not thinking about much. This is like the last few rounds I've played, where I just swung and enjoyed the walk.
I have hope for the future.
Rounds are scheduled for next week. Stay tuned!
Now, as for those tasks... How complex can we make them? Is "nipping the stem" the proper task or should it be "Make the ball fly out to the right and curve back to that spot on the green?" Do we need to verbalize? Can I just look at a chip or iron shot and visualize where I want the ball to go? Can I just look at a chip, noting elevation changes and things to go over and then just do it?
The Inner Game of Golf proposed that kind of task. "Hit the ball below that tree, then curve left to the fairway." Gallwey thought that your brain could figure it all out and complex tasks were ok.
I shall seek to find the answers.
Friday, March 2, 2018
Becoming Relaxed
Back to golf...
I played 4 times this week. The weather has been a bit rainy and a bit cool, but there have been magical days and the sun has shown and even if the southern hills are dusted with snow, it's all been wonderful on the links.
I motored around the course today. Playing shots with very good directional accuracy and reasonable distance control. I'd like to blame the weather on the lack of distance. I'm not sure that is valid.
When I'm talking directional accuracy, I'm talking a small number of degrees off line. It's become very usual that I pick the line and the ball follows it. Even from the driver!
The golf then, becomes a languid march around the course. Yes, there are puzzles to figure out, but being in the middle of fairway or on the proper side to come into a green sure makes it easy.
I am also swinging more than hitting and my effort level in hitting the ball is decreasing. There is no physical effort to speak of. My back is happier, the ball is straighter, and I'm working less.
Of course, then it comes down to putting! If I play from the proper tees, id est, the short ones, then I can play a bit like the pros. All the greens are easily reachable in regulation. I don't miss them much. The putting and occasional chip drives the scoring.
I guess I like this. I enjoy placing my shots as I go along. I like the lack of back pain (though to be honest, if I spin the shoulders properly my neck can get unhappy, sigh...) and effort. Golf becomes more a delightful walk along with my golf buddies.
Conversation, enjoying the weather, the sun when it shines, the odd animal that wanders the course with us; it's all good.
What a delightful way to spend 4 hours. Then off to Costco for a delicious and inexpensive lunch.
I played 4 times this week. The weather has been a bit rainy and a bit cool, but there have been magical days and the sun has shown and even if the southern hills are dusted with snow, it's all been wonderful on the links.
I motored around the course today. Playing shots with very good directional accuracy and reasonable distance control. I'd like to blame the weather on the lack of distance. I'm not sure that is valid.
When I'm talking directional accuracy, I'm talking a small number of degrees off line. It's become very usual that I pick the line and the ball follows it. Even from the driver!
The golf then, becomes a languid march around the course. Yes, there are puzzles to figure out, but being in the middle of fairway or on the proper side to come into a green sure makes it easy.
I am also swinging more than hitting and my effort level in hitting the ball is decreasing. There is no physical effort to speak of. My back is happier, the ball is straighter, and I'm working less.
Of course, then it comes down to putting! If I play from the proper tees, id est, the short ones, then I can play a bit like the pros. All the greens are easily reachable in regulation. I don't miss them much. The putting and occasional chip drives the scoring.
I guess I like this. I enjoy placing my shots as I go along. I like the lack of back pain (though to be honest, if I spin the shoulders properly my neck can get unhappy, sigh...) and effort. Golf becomes more a delightful walk along with my golf buddies.
Conversation, enjoying the weather, the sun when it shines, the odd animal that wanders the course with us; it's all good.
What a delightful way to spend 4 hours. Then off to Costco for a delicious and inexpensive lunch.
Quickie about Youtube Play Failures
I've mentioned a couple of times that I like to look at youtube videos for golf and other items.
It is quite a resource and worth investigating if you want to fix the wash machine or etch some metal.
However, I've been able to play just a video or two and then it locks up and I get messages about restarting my device.
What I realized is that my use of bluetooth headphones was the problem. And it was not the phones, it was the laptop using the bluetooth that was blocking things.
If I disabled BT, then it started playing the video immediately. I could switch it off, the play back would start and then reenable the BT and all was well.
Just thought I'd pass that along. Google doesn't seem to know about this.
My laptop is a Dell running windows 10. Windows 10 seems to be a pretty crappy O/S in my estimation. Or at least as it's working on this laptop. Frequently the LT will not wake up and requires a reboot. Sheesh. The old version was better.
Linux may be next.
It is quite a resource and worth investigating if you want to fix the wash machine or etch some metal.
However, I've been able to play just a video or two and then it locks up and I get messages about restarting my device.
What I realized is that my use of bluetooth headphones was the problem. And it was not the phones, it was the laptop using the bluetooth that was blocking things.
If I disabled BT, then it started playing the video immediately. I could switch it off, the play back would start and then reenable the BT and all was well.
Just thought I'd pass that along. Google doesn't seem to know about this.
My laptop is a Dell running windows 10. Windows 10 seems to be a pretty crappy O/S in my estimation. Or at least as it's working on this laptop. Frequently the LT will not wake up and requires a reboot. Sheesh. The old version was better.
Linux may be next.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)