Golf In A Parallel Universe

by Jimmy Bloodworth

  Then he went to the black duffel bag that he brought in this morning and unzipped it. He dug around in the bottom and finally pulled out something. He brought out a stick with some string on it. He was unwinding as he was walking towards me. “Here," he said. He handed me this flat wooden stick which was finished and polished about 18 inches long. It had a white string on it which looked like some type of heavy fishing line. And at the end of that string was a shiny heavy stainless steel ball, about the size of a large marble. “Take this” he said. “Hold it out in front of you. Gently rock it back and forth and get the ball moving, he told me. So I did. I rocked it back and forth and had a nice little pendulum going on. “Concentrate on the Pendulum” he said intently. “Notice how smooth it goes back, then changes direction. Notice at the bottom how smooth it transitions from going down to up. Back and forth, back and forth," he told me calmly. I felt the smoothness of it rocking back and forth. If it slows down just rock a little more and let if flow. You feel that?," he asked “Yeah” I replied. “Pay attention!” he said. Notice how the gravity works. It goes down, bottoms out and smoothly goes up, back and forth. “Yeah, I see," I said in whatever attitude. “This is a golf swing” he said. “The more you can emulate a pendulum, the better your swing will be. Do this for 10 minutes." he said. “Concentrate on the movement of this pendulum and try to have an open mind and let you mind go. Appreciate what you are seeing. Ten minutes, without stop, I will be back," he said. And he walked away. I felt like a fool standing on the range doing this. Then I remember what Jerry told me to keep an open mind and do what he says. So I continued. After a couple of minutes I starting relaxing. I let my mind go and watched the silver ball as it rocked back and forth. It was interesting to see how it just went back and forth. And the ball was at the mercy of the string and the stick. But gravity just let it go back and forth. I have never really thought about a golf swing as a pendulum, but here it is. I was in a trance.

  Finally he came back. It seemed like only a minute but ten minutes had passed. “Ok!” he barked out. “Like I said, the golf swing is a pendulum. I can tell you that a million times but you will never realize it until you can feel what a pendulum is. What I want you to do, is to take this with you. I want you to do this for at least an hour a day. Ten minutes here, ten minutes there. When you are home watching TV, pick it up. When you doing nothing, pick it up. If you do this your brain will start to understand. Also for the next few days, during your warm up at the beginning of practice, do this before you start hitting balls.” “Ok," he said. You did your ten minutes just now, time to call it a day. Tonight, you got 50 more minutes of this drill. See you tomorrow at 8:00am. And he walked off.

  “Ok this is weird as usual," I told myself as I gathered up my gear and got in the car. As I was driving home, I am starting to wonder if this is some type of joke that Jerry Churchill is playing on me. However, I make up my mind that I will force myself to do what he says. “So what day is this?," I ponder as I am driving along. Wednesday! I remember. “Maybe I should contact Emily tonight," I tell myself. As I am driving home, I start to think about her again. I so much want to see her again. And she is right here Florida. “But how do I do this?," I ask myself. I start feeling nervous, like I am in high school getting ready to make that phone call. So I devise a plan. When I get home, I will just text her! Thank goodness for modern technology. I don’t have to make that nervous phone call. I will just ask her is she has time to talk. So it will not be a cold call when I call.

  I finally got home took in my gear. I put that silly stick and ball on the table and grabbed a beer. I relaxed for a few minutes and I was thinking about the last two days with Gus. Then I started to think about Emily. “OK game time. Time to text Emily," I tell myself. So I get my cell phone out and pulled up her name. “So what do I say?," I ask myself. So I started texting. I have all kinds of trouble texting trying to figure out what I want to say. Texting is such a pain sometimes. Finally I get my text together and review “Hey Emily, this is Jim Galloway the Golfer in Orlando. Hope you you had a good trip to your parents house. I told you that I would contact you this week. Let me know if you have a minute to talk or get back with me when you can. Take care, Jim." Then I Send it. “See that was not so bad," I tell myself. So cool, I did not put my butt out on the line making a fool of myself trying to make that nervous phone call like a teenager. The ball is now in her court. I put my phone on the table. One more beer sounds good. It has been a crazy day.

  I start to get some things together for dinner. So after about 10 minutes I am drinking my beer and cooking some food and my phone chirps. I look over and sure enough it is a text from Emily. I pick up my phone and read it. “Hi Jim, good to hear from you. If you want to talk, I am free anytime the next few minutes." “Cool!” I said out loud. I replied, “Ok, calling now." So then I pushed the little phone icon and I calling away. I am not even nervous since it happened so fast. She picked up “Hi Jim! How are you doing?," she asked. I responded and said I was doing fine. I asked her how her trip was and if she is enjoying being with her family.

  After the initial chit chat we just started talking. It was so amazing. After we started talking it just seemed like she was so easy to talk to. It seemed like we have known each other for ever. No nervous chit chat from either one of us. She seemed comfortable and happy to talk to me as I was to her. She told me that she followed me on the TPC last week and how she was pulling for me. I told her that I played well but was disappointed that I did not do better. But I was overall happy with the outcome because my game seems to be improving. I told that I do have these two weeks off. But I am working hard with a Swing Coach and it is keeping me busy during the day. I asked about her job and how's that going. She said it has been the same old thing. She said she was happy to be with her parents for a few days. She has not seen them much the last few years. She did not really care to talk much about her job.

  As we wound down. “Well hey, will you be around the next few days? If so, we can get together if you like," I told her. “Sure!," she responded. At that point I felt a big relief. I got that question out of the way. So you live in Orlando, right?," she asked. “Yep” I responded. “Well my parents live on the east side Tampa. How about we meet somewhere about halfway?," she asked. “That sounds great” I responded. I told her my days are crazy and I do not know if I will be finished early or late, but usually I am done by about 5:00pm. “How about if we meet somewhere about 7:00 pm Friday night” she responded. “That sounds great” I replied. That will give me time to get home and cleaned up from my practice all day. As far as a place to meet. We decided to meet at a restaurant in Lakeland which is a few miles east of Tampa.

  We talked a few more minutes and see seemed excited to make plans to get together. Finally we both said goodbye and we hung up. “Wow! I got a date on Friday night!," I said to myself. I was so happy. I looked at my phone and it showed that we had talked for 40 minutes! I cannot believe that. It seemed like we only talked for 5 minutes. I can never remember being so comfortable talking with a woman like that on the phone. Oh well time to eat. I ate dinner and then relaxed. Then I saw the pendulum stickball on the table. “Oh God," I said to myself. He told me I have to do this 50 more minutes today. I do not know if I can do this. I did it for 10 minutes. Then 10 more minutes later. Then 15 minutes here and there. The more I did it, the easier it got. It was relaxing for some reason. I would watch the little ball go back and forth and try to picture a golf swing. So finally with bits and pieces of time doing this, I got my 50 minutes in. Starting tomorrow, 10 minutes before and after my sessions, so then I will only have 40 minutes to make up the rest of the day. It all seemed silly, but I will do what he Gus says. Finally I got to bed. I was tired. I closed my eyes, and I would see that stupid little ball going back and forth. “My Gosh” I told myself and I turned over.

  Then I started thinking about Emily. Nice to think about something besides golf. Finally I went to sleep. And I had those recurring dreams again
. I dreamed of living in a small town, with a family. I also was playing golf on some small golf course. I seemed to be an amateur because I could not hit the ball very well. But it was a peaceful dream. Just living in a small town, playing golf and enjoying life with my family.

  Thursday Morning I wake up. I felt good. I vividly remembered my dreams. I had a wife and kids, but never really could see the faces. But it just seemed all so natural. Then I think about Emily. I can’t wait to see her tomorrow. I get up and I feel good. I feel like I have a little bounce in my step after talking to her last night. I drink coffee and eat some breakfast. I see that Pendulum stick and ball and pick it up. “Let's knock out 10 minutes now” I say to myself chuckling. The more I can do here and there the quicker I finish my hour’s worth of homework each day.

  I arrive at the course about 7:45 AM. I go to the back room where Gus is working. “I will be out at the range," I yelled out. He looks up. “You are starting to catch on," he barked out in his grumpy mood. However, I think I may have detected a bit of a smile. I hit some balls to get loose. Then I took out my pendulum and went through the drill for 10 minutes. Gus walked up just as I was finishing with the pendulum. “You're learning I see," he said in a matter of a fact tone. “Yeah, and I am becoming a zombie doing this," I joked. “Zombies are good golfers he replied” with no smile. I cannot ever tell if he is serious or actually has a sense of humor.

  "Hit some balls," he barked out. Short irons first. He looked at my stance and made some adjustments. Same thing for mid and long irons. “Ok” he said. “You are fighting your swing. You have a different swing for each club. Some clubs you swing smooth. Others, in particularly your long irons you swing too hard. In order for you to have a consistent swing you need to have virtually the same swing with all your clubs.” He paused. “But believe me," he said. “It is hard to do. that's where physics comes in," he said. “How good are you in math?," he asked. “I have some long mathematical problems for you to calculate." I almost started to panic because I am terrible at math, and he sees that. “Just kidding," he said smiling. “But we are going to go over the second important part of the golf swing. And that is called “centripetal force.” Ever heard of that?," he asked. “Sure” I replied. He explained that if I can master the concept of the pendulum and centripetal force then I will master the golf swing. “In a Nutshell” he said. He explained that any motion in a curved path represents accelerated motion and requires a force directed toward the center of curvature of the path. This force is called the centripetal force. “There will be a test afterwards” he said smiling. I notice he seems to enjoy talking about physics. I am thinking I wish I would have paid more attention in science class when I was in school.

  He went over to his black duffel bag and pulled out a Softball. “You ever play fast-pitch softball? he asked. “No” I replied. “Just a little baseball and slow-pitch softball, but never fast pitch. He tossed the ball to me underhanded. “Well you are going to learn now," he said. I looked at the ball in my hand and i was confused. “What does this have to do with golf," I am asking myself. He pulled out about 15 Softballs out of the bag. “Over this way," he motioned. He took me out to the side of the range. There was a big piece of plywood leaning next to an old out building about 6 feet long and five feet high with a red circle. “OK, here is how you hold the ball. Face the target. You rock your arm forward a couple of times then swing your arms around and release the ball at the target which is the circle on that piece of plywood. That would be the catcher's mitt," he said smiling. He demonstrated and hit the circle with a big hollow thud of the ball hitting the plywood. “That's the idea. Now you do it," he said and he tossed me a ball. “Besides," he said sarcastically. “This is a girls game. If the girls at the local Junior High can do it, you should be able to," he said smiling. “Piece of cake” I said confidently. I made a couple of throws and they went towards the target, but did not hit it. “No No No” he barked out. “You are slinging side armed. Your muscles are tense and your arm is fighting your body. You have to make a circle and let gravity sling your arm," he explained. “Look," he said. Just drop the ball for a second. Now just relax your arm and swirl your arm around and round in a big circle a few times, letting gravity pull your arms.” So I did that and could feel the tug on my hand from the swinging.

  “That's centripetal force," he told me in an enthusiastic tone. Now take the ball, same relaxed motion and release the ball at the target. So I did that and started slinging the ball to the target. Some went way high, some went way low. “Don't grip the ball too tight, it will come out automatically towards the target. I relaxed my grip and sure enough it went pretty straight. Finally I hit the board, and it made the hollow boom. Then again boom. “Ok now you are cooking," he said. Went for a while and finally I hit the circle, “Boom." I was happy and did a fist pump. I looked at him and he actually had a big smile on his face. First time I have seen that from him. “Your arm will be sore tomorrow, but keep going. So I was getting pretty good at it. “Feel that centripetal force” he asked. “Yeah," I replied. “Alright," he said. “You are basically just using your arms and shoulder. “Now when release the ball, step into it, and use your legs," he told me.

  I did and now the ball came out with more authority. “Putting your legs and body into the pitch will increase the speed or velocity. Basically you are using your body to sling the centripetal force. A good softball picture can pitch the ball 85 miles per hour," he explained. “Wow!” I replied. “Ok," he said. Just barely hold the ball in your hand with your palms open and make the turn." I did, and the ball came out the same place. “Ok," he explained. “The release point of the ball is called the “centrifugal force.” This is not to be confused with “centripetal force.” This is actually the release point where it leaves the centripetal force. If you were in a vacuum in space that ball would go in a straight line for ever. The centrifugal force is where the release of the power is. So we will not get these words confused we will just call it the release point for now own," he said.

  “Now” he said in a serious tone. “Do not face the target. Get a golf stance like you would hit a golf shot towards the target. Without the ball in your hand, make that same motion like you are going to fast pitch to the batter. Of course now are a different angle and will be sideways to the target, but you get the idea," he said. So I did that. “It is of like a golf swing with my right arm correct?", I asked. “Yep” he replied. “OK hold the ball very lightly and complete the rotation and see where the ball comes out," he told me. I did that and the ball came out right where I would normally hit the golf ball. I was confused. I did it again. The ball released at same place. I did it a couple of more times. I started to realize that If I was a pendulum it would release just be past bottoming out and going up. In a golf shot that would be where you would hit a golf ball. “I looked up, and he had his arms folding with his hand on his chin in a thinking position. “Looks like the wheels are turning in your head, what are you thinking?" he asked. “Explain to me in physics what just happened?", he asked me in an inquisitive voice. “Well” I said. “Let me see. It seems that the release point of the centripetal force is the same place I would strike a golf ball. “Yeah that's it, he replied. “And where is he most energy in this equation” he asked. “The release point” I replied. And at that moment, it was like a lightbulb just went off in my head. He then goes on. “So, as you are starting to realize. The softball pitch and the golf swing is a natural motion of centripetal force. Your golf swing works as a pendulum with centripetal force. And at the absolute highest part of the kinetic energy is the release point just past the bottom of the pendulum as it is going up. That is right where you strike the golf ball just on the upwards side of the pendulum in your golf swing. So why would you want to strike the golf ball anywhere else in your swing?," he asked. “It is starting to make sense” I replied in a thinking type of tone.

  “Ok” he barked out in a positive voice. “Since you understand the concept. We need to
make sure you have a smooth pendulum swing which creates centripetal force. Then strike the golf ball at the release point of the centripetal force which is where the power is. “Let's go to work," he said in a positive tone.

  We went to the range and started working like we have the last few days. He had made some gradual changes to my swing which I hardly noticed. He explained his plan. “The goal is set you body and to allow you to get that nice pendulum to start that powerful centripetal force with a exploding release at the impact of the ball. “That's what a golf swing is!," he barked out excitedly.

  He told me that he has already made some corrections the last few days that I probably did not notice. He explained that my setup was killing me. I had an open stance, so my feet and my hips were aiming left. My shoulders were closed and aiming to the right. My club head was good, and was aiming at the target. But because my feet, legs and hips were in one direction and my shoulders in another direction. My body could never produce a good smooth and powerful pendulum swing. “Your body was fighting to swing the ball," he explained. “Proper alignment lets you swing freely and produce that smooth swing. You have been getting away with it for years because you are a talented athletic golfer. But you have had bad fundamentals. Most likely you had good alignment and good fundamentals in your early years. But we tend to forget those sometimes and bad habits creep in," he explained.