Getting a great start
Rob Anderson, B.C. pro of the year, teaches the basics to Joni Krats
Visual demo: Anderson illustrated each of the new concepts with a demonstration. — photo by Kris Lindblad
There are more photos in the my first lesson photo gallery.
After writing about golf for several months and interviewing golfers about their passion for the game, I decided it was time for me to try it out. Having interviewed Rob Anderson, manager of golf at Shadow Mountain in Cranbrook, I knew the right instructor was near by. Rob Anderson was awarded the 2008 Teacher of the Year Award and receives enthusiastic accolades from other respected instructors like Edd Boudreau, director of instruction at GBC Golf Academy at Arbutus Ridge on Vancouver Island.
I prepared by reading Feeling Naked on the First Tee by Ann Kelly, which is a guide for new women golfers, and by buying a snappy pair of Lija capris at Golf Etc. Even still, I felt a little intimidated since I have little experience with ball sports. Also, I was wearing Adidas sneakers instead of proper golf shoes. Aside from that, I was enthusiastic and confident that Anderson was the best qualified person to help me understand some of the basics.
We set up on the dewy fairway at 8 a.m. Anderson directed me through a five-minute series of warm-ups with the club to loosen the wrists, shoulders and torso. Then we used the club like a cane and did a series of kicks to loosen the hips. “Do you dance?” I asked when the kicks got a bit balletic. Anderson laughed.
“You’re going to be sore,” Anderson warned. Yeah, right, I thought.
We started by learning how to grip the club, which involved a specific demonstration of the exact angle that the grip should lay across my left palm. I realized, already, that the game of golf was about minutely controlling infinite factors. Introducing the right hand to the grip brought in more factors. I settled on a baseball grip, got my thumbs aligned to 11 and one, ensured that the shaft was an extension of my left forearm and adjusted the strength of my grip. I had to keep from clenching my left hand and needed to remind myself several times throughout the lesson. Anderson said that he does not teach the interlocking grip because he feels that it tends to create tension in the hands.
Anderson got me settled into an athletic stance with flexed knees and feet shoulder-width apart. I had to focus on keeping my weight evenly distributed as I attempted my first few backswings. Anderson spoke about forward momentum in terms of pitching a baseball in order to demonstrate the importance of not unweighting my back heel. Between that description, watching his demonstration and having him physically position me into the correct stance, I finally started to feel the right way.
My backswing was evocative of a softball player with a bat. We went along like that for a while as I continued to adjust my stance. Once the stance was more solidified, Anderson started to adjust my backswing. He explained the concept of a catapult as a lever and demonstrated by bending and releasing his club, which flung forward. He then introduced the concept of a hinge and alluded to Inuit spear throwers. The ideas were vivid—but to explain that to my arms? Anderson had me continue to look toward the ground where the ball would be and moved my arms into a better position. I started to feel what right felt like, and it felt kind of wrong. My left shoulder and neck started to clench, and I realized that my left hand was white-knuckling around the grip. Oh, the infinite factors!
A few practice swings and adjustments later, it began to feel more natural. On each swing, I methodically repeated the same process: positioning the club, taking the correct grip, flexing the knees and getting into an athletic posture. On the backswing, Anderson introduced me to torso rotation with the concept of angular momentum to increase club head speed.
When I finally hit my first ball, the club connected with a satisfying pop and the ball landed in the middle of the fairway. A few bad and two awesome hits later, I was hooked on golf.
Anderson described at length that the key to golf success is to focus on the process. He said that golfers at the Masters are so focused on their method that they remain quite calm and reserved, even in moments of great success. Anderson said to succeed in golf, the player must release goal-oriented thoughts and remain immersed in their process.
It is easy to see why Rob Anderson is recognized for his teaching ability. Through his multi-layered approach, I began to understand some of the fundamentals of the swing, and have been introduced to the infinite factors that just might obsess me for the rest of my life.