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Harvey always said… play to your strength

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David F. Wright, Ph.D., PGA

Sandra Palmer... "Sandra who?" You might say, as do many of my students. No, not Arnold’s daughter of sister. Sandra Palmer has won 20 LPGA Tournaments including a US Open and The Dinah Shore. She made 25 straight cuts at the Dinah Shore and she won every LPGA Senior Tour event played in the mid 1990’s. Sandra was one of Harvey Penick’s students until he became ill in the early 1990s.

I began to work with Sandra in the mid 90’s and she has attended my Mind Under Par Golf Schools 5 or 6 times over the last few years. At the beginning of her first lesson I asked her what her goals were. She said she could no longer compete at a high level on the LPGA Tour because of her lack of distance off the tee. We spent the next several lessons using a portable clubhead speed indicator and working on relaxation of her neck and shoulders as part of her preswing routine to increase clubhead speed. (Nicklaus said anytime he wanted to hit it long, all he focused on from green to tee was getting as relaxed as he could.) Sandra increased her clubhead speed by 3 to 4 miles per hour and she was able to sustain the change.

There are many wonderful stories I could tell you about Sandra. There was the time I caddied for Sandra when she was paired with Sam Snead in a skins game at PGA West against Tommy Bolt and Susie Mcallister in 1995. What a great day to listen to the conversations, Sandra in particular. At least once a year I tell Sandra she should write a book. Listening to Sandra is like listening to the audio version of Harvey Penick’s Little Red Book.

For instance, it was 1999 and Sandra was living in the desert. We met at The PGA Tour’s Bob Hope Classic at Indian Wells Country Club to catch up and to follow Dennis Paulson and Esteban Toledo. Sandra and Dennis are old friends. I was talking with Dennis during a long wait on a par 3 when Sandra joined us. I noticed that one of Dennis’ amateur partners was getting perturbed with his absence from the group. Without a word the amateur stepped between Sandra and Dennis and asked Dennis to return to the group to discuss strategy... "If we can birdie this hole and the next par 5 we have a good chance of winning this thing!" Sandra didn’t miss a beat as she said: "You know, I wrote many acceptance speeches during my last round but I never made it to the podium to give them." --talk about simplistic brilliance--The amateur gave Sandra a puzzled look (he had no idea who she was) and returned to the tee to join his group as Dennis and I smiled knowingly at each other.

Last year Sandra attended another one of my Mind Under Par Golf Schools. After my morning introduction, one of the students asked if I could elaborate on how to prepare for a tournament. I asked Sandra if she would describe her tournament preparation…and the brilliance began.

"Harvey always told me to look at a golf course as my competitor, not the field. He always had me go out for a practice round to look first at how the golf course set up to my strengths. I would take my yardage book and establish a game plan for every hole."

"I would hit a tee shot on every hole but not keep score. As I walked off each tee I would keep looking from fairway to green and then back to the tee to find my best target in the fairway. I would mark my yardage book and note what club I was going to hit off the tee focusing on my strengths. I would then hit one or two approach shots considering possible weather conditions and different targets and then I would go to the green and hit chips and putts before going to the next tee. When I got to the next tee, I would do the same thing again, always focusing on my strengths. (Hogan would walk a course backwards to develop a course strategy.)"

"That night in my hotel room I would take my yardage book, start on hole number one and visualize every tee shot, approach shot and putt. I would birdie all the par 3’s and 4’s and eagle all of the par 5’s. When I woke up the next morning, I would begin to move very quietly - deliberately,"

"You mean slowly?" I said teasing her.

"NO! Harvey didn’t like the words slow or choke. He would always say grip-down on the club, never choke-down. I would keep up that deliberate movement while dressing, eating, driving, everything I did until I got to the first tee." I knew why but asked Sandra so she would elaborate and show the other students how "normal" champions are. "Because I am very high strung and I need to do that to get as present as possible and calm myself. You have to be present to play well, not ahead of yourself or behind and you have to play to your strengths."

"I prepared like that for every tournament I won. I can honestly say I didn’t do it every tournament for various reasons... like I thought I already knew the course or I used a Pro Am to prepare when I had other commitments and didn’t always have time for my practice round. Pro Ams are not good for tournament preparation. There are too many distractions."

Then the obvious question came from one of the golf school students, one I regrettably hadn’t asked. "Sandra, you have repeatedly referred to playing to your strength. What is your strength?"

"Well, I was never very long, but I was always very accurate, I hit many fairways." And then the crowning blow: "In fact, all of my wins were on long narrow courses. Harvey always said the woods are filled with long hitters."

At our first break I thanked Sandra for still another brilliant summation and to once again urge her to write a book. And, as always she responded, "But what would I write?" and I as always would say, "Just turn on a recorder and begin talking!"

And then I pointed out the fact that we had spent her first lessons years ago working against her strength, short but accurate. And that strength was a major reason she had won. We had a brief moment to discuss the obvious and then we went back to the school.

Many great players have made the fatal error of practicing away from their strengths. It is usually driven by a belief that they can be better if only... Bob Tway, Sandy Lyle, David Frost, Greg Norman, Laurie Rinker, are only a few of many who have pursued changes in their golf swing only to slide from the top. All of them were convinced by a coach, a peer, or their perceived performance that they needed to make a change to compete at a higher level. Some of them made it back from their changes. Some have faded away.

Bob Tway won the 1986 PGA Championship and decided he could do better. He began to work on his mechanics and slid from the top of the money list. After five winless years he won the PGA Tour’s1995 MCI Classic at Hilton Head. Following his win, he reflected on his struggle: "In pursuit of getting better, I monkeyed with my swing and got worse... Only since last year, as I got back to my natural swing as opposed to connecting the dots have I done better. No more mechanical thoughts. Just relax and be natural I’m more of a feel player than I ever thought I was."

Similarly, Greg Norman described his pursuit of improvement: "I lost the feel of what I was doing. That’s because I was trying to be too mechanical instead of being basic and natural. ...at the end of 1990 I decided to try to get better and improve my golf swing. I should have left my golf swing alone, had a break and started all over working with what I’ve got which had been successful for 15 or 16 years. I tried a different method and that destroyed me. That destroyed my natural instincts and feel for the game."

John Daly won the 1992 PGA Championship at Crooked Stick GC. It is a little known fact that Kenny Knox was in the last group on Sunday with John Daly. Kenny Knox was known as wizard with a wedge from 100 yards in. He had to be playing well to be in the last group on Sunday at the PGA Championship. He won $423,000 in 1992 and finished 32nd on the PGA Tour money list. After being paired with Daly he decided he needed to hit the ball longer if he was going to win Major Championships. He began working on his mechanics, practiced away from his strength, his short game, and eventually lost his tour card.

Tom Kite pursued an instructor to work on his putting. The instructor correctly advised him that he didn’t need to work on his putting but instead his wedge play. He got up and down from 75 yards some 80% of the time the following year and won the PGA Tour’s Vardon Trophy for scoring as well as the US Open at Pebble Beach.

My comments are in no way meant to suggest you should not work to improve your game. Just be careful that your beliefs about what you need to change don’t compromise your strength. Tiger Woods is a great example of a player who has made changes and continued to build his strengths.

Know your strength. If you perceive you don’t have one particular strength, make it your short game. Set performance goals and practice to those goals. Make focused concentration part of your practice goals. Lay up to your strength and watch your scores drop.

And if you ever have the good fortune of meeting Sandra Palmer, listen to the brilliance as she speaks and you will hear the Harvey Penicks, the Byron Nelsons, the Sam Sneads, the Mickey Wrights, the Kathy Whitworths, etc. Sandra has so many lessons to give. All she has to do is speak and you will learn. There is simplistic brilliance in everything she says. It was Harvey’s style as well. As Harvey advised Sandra: "Play the course, not your competitor. Look at how the course sets up to your strength. Then, play to your strength."

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