07/11/2017
Saga of a Lost Love
Who among us has not wept at the twists and turns of a story of a lost love and what might have been? My tale is one of an equally great loss. A lost golf swing.
It was a hard-fought battle. The country club management changed golf pros every year and every year there were changes I could not master until I sought the aid of the legendary golf instructor in Hollywood, Florida Joe Gerlak.
After a few years of frequent lessons, much practice and pain, pleadings of my golf buddies to cease the lessons that had them constantly searching for my balls that were going long and wrong, I finally began to make some progress. Although I never achieved a single digit handicap I had fun. Happy to score in the 90’s and break it occasionally. Can boast three holes in one and golf partners scrambling to buy the latest Yonex driver to drive the ball as long as I could. This was more than I could ever hope for.
A move to St. Lucie county at the turn of the century ended all that. The golf course at the PGA community had a challenging 135 slope and my drives became shorter and shorter. The holes became longer and longer. My handicap grew higher and higher and became dangerously close to shutting me out of the weekly tournaments.
Joe Gerlak, although within reach at a Melbourne oceanside resort, could not offer more assistance than a few verbal telephoned swing reminders. His eyesight was failing and I assumed he knew he could not observe my swing problems. But hey! I was living at a golf course mecca with very capable instructors and sought their assistance.
A collection of VCR tapes and CD’s of lessons reveal analysis of my swing with every angle of my position, swing plane, follow through and suggestions for improvements but none of these corrected an obvious flying elbow and inadequate position at the top of my backswing. For more than 15 years I have struggled to find that game I had once enjoyed. Playing partners left the golf course rather than continue a round with me. Others walked away when I approached the starter. I was persona non grata and gave up my golf membership for a couple of years. Gone. Nothing. Nada.
Finally, while being still physically able to make the necessary movements I decided to give this one more try and booked a lesson with Chris. Within the first five minutes he found the key that no one else had ever observed. The wrist break at the beginning of my takeaway was missing. This correction immediately put my right elbow close to my body and prevented the flying elbow.
Practicing this correction later in the day had me whiffing and dribbling the first fifty or so balls until finally getting the balls to fly. This is a new beginning and I am hopeful now that I am on the right track to enjoying the game again.
Thank you, Chris. This is a tribute to your geniu
