During the 3M Championship, I had just finished playing in a pro-am for women golfers and was invited to a reception at the 3M tent.
It had been a great day so far, but it would soon get better. As I was watching Mark O'Meara sink a putt on the 17th green, who should walk into the tent but Lee Trevino. Along with him were Don January, Gene Littler, Billy Casper and Al Geiberger, who are all legends of golf.
It didn't take long to become engaged in conversation with Trevino. He was outgoing and energetic and was happy to discuss the swing.
Question: "How did you hit it so straight for all those years?" I asked this, knowing that he had garnered a reputation for taking $20 from anyone who would challenge him to an accuracy contest at any range. And he usually took their money.
Answer: "I blocked it. The back of the left hand and the face of the club were here at impact." He gestured with his hand, showing me the impact position with a strong, straight left arm and a solid back of the left hand, which was ahead of the ball. Of course, he had the perfect pivot position, too. And while showing me this in the middle of the tent, a small crowd gathered around us.
"You know, Tiger does this with his hands [gesturing again a small rotation of the left forearms] but he doesn't hit his driver straight," he said laughing. "I never hit it far because I didn't release. But I hit it straight."
Knowing that what he did at the peak of his career was more difficult to do with an aging body, I asked him how he does it today.
He laughed and said "I can't do that anymore." He then showed his hands and arms doing what Woods does.
In other words, he knew that his legs and his pivot were not as strong as they once were, so he had to make a small change.
When you're on tour and you're young, your turn is effortless and the same every time.
With age, we lack flexibility and need to adapt, sometimes with more rotation in the arms prior to impact.
I am certain he would have kept talking if he hadn't been swept away for more photos with guests. He was in his element and loved talking about golf.
From Trevino, I went to Gene Littler, a steady player on the tour when I was competing as junior and college golfer. I asked him who influenced his game.
"Well, I grew up in San Diego. I watched Paul Runion. You remember him, don't you? What I learned by watching him was tempo. So all I ever worked on was a solid head and tempo," he said.
A quiet man, he was pleased to discuss his swing thoughts rather than working the crowd with cocktail conversation.
As we talked, another legend arrived. Standing next to me was Al Geiberger, a tall easygoing man who was the first professional to score 59 in a serious U.S. competition at Colonial Country Club in the late 1970s. I introduced myself to him and said, "I still have that issue of Golf World magazine, which has your photograph on the front cover with 29-30+ 59!"
He smiled with appreciation. I am sure that many of the golfers in this tent had no idea of his accomplishment. And my comment allowed us to, once again, talk about the swing as only professionals can do, with simplicity and yet, a deeper understanding of how the swing works and how different approaches to that swing can connect with a player.
"I grew up in Sacramento," he said, "but I really didn't take lessons as a young player. My pro didn't want to change me. Later, I listened to a few guys, and you know, I love the idea of turning around one axis and making that small pivot where your left knee points inward of the ball. That's pretty much all I did in my swing."
The common theme among these men was that they had confidence in their own swings, even though they had formed them on their own. Granted, they were and still are good athletes. But they found a key in their swing that worked and they stayed with it.
When I asked Littler when he owned his own swing he thought about it for a moment and said, " I guessed I owned it before I was on Tour."
That's a far cry from what happens to a lot of touring pros who don't understand their swings until they rise to the Tour, then fall prey to changing it while they are competing.
These are men of a different era, when they did not have an entourage of teaching pros around them propping them up for the next tournament. They were confident in their own decisions and their swings, swings more unique from one another than modern Tour swings today.
Ingrid Gallo is an LPGA teaching professional and is director of instruction at Begin Oaks Golf Course in Plymouth. Her e-mail is ingridgallogolf@aol.com.
