You know, I can't believe this, but I have just discovered that if you click on one of our floating banner items, you go directly to my post explaining the event.
For example, Jay Williamson's win last year at Ft. Smith . . .
Jay Williamson / Champion / 2007 Fort Smith Classic / Nationwide Tour
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05-06-2007
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In 279 PGA TOUR events over the past 12 years, Jay Williamson made 137 cuts and $3,677,453. He had finished 3rd, but never 1st. In 59 Nationwide Tour events, he had made 31 cuts and $189,837. He had finished 2nd, but again, never 1st. Knee surgery caused an abbreviated 2005 season, and when his Major Medical Extension status on the PGA TOUR expired in 2006, things were looking bleak.
Late last summer, referred by John Riegger and Brian Gay, Jay called. He told me he would be playing the Nationwide Tour and was looking for answers, particularly about the Release. We talked a bit more, and he scheduled a half-day visit to The Swamp.
During the four-hour session, Jay really didn't hit a lot of balls...it was more of a 'skull' session than a scrimmage. Mostly, I explained our approach to the Golf Stroke and how it differed from many of the things he had been advised to do (and that were now resident in his swing). More than once he said, "I've been to everybody, and I've never seen anything that comes close to this. I've wasted ten years." The next week, Jay tied for 8th in the Albertsons Boise Open, and his 12-under-par 272 included a tournament low of 64 on Saturday.
Three weeks ago (April 16), we got together again, this time in a no-holds-barred encounter at TPC Sugarloaf in Atlanta. We took his swing apart and reassembled it piece-by-piece. We worked for five hours in each of the Three Zones -- Body, Arms and Hands -- and added the precision alignments of The Golfing Machine. Over the next two days, we reinforced those concepts at Jennings Mill, the site of that week's Nationwide event, the Athens Regional Foundation Classic. Jay played well, going into Sunday T5 and eventually finishing T29 after disappointing bogies on the last three holes.
The following Friday morning at the Henrico County Open at The Dominion Club in Richmond, Virginia, I stood by his bag and watched him warm up for the day's round. He struck the ball beautifully, but when one drive got away left, I said simply, "Punish yourself." He immediately did several Start Down Waggles, using his pivot to pull his hands and club directly at the plane line, and the next soared long and true. His work done, he returned to the bag, handed the driver to his caddy and stripped off his glove. We looked each other square in the eye and talked:
Jay: The game's supposed to get easier, not harder, when you're 40, isn't it?
Yoda: The years don't make it any harder, Jay. You just become more aware.
Jay: Yeah, that's right. More aware.
Yoda: But you're looking good now. Really good. Your pivot is centered, and your grip and flying wedges are perfect. You're on plane during the start down, and you're tracing well through impact. You are releasing the club as you should, and you have a beautiful hinge action.
Jay: I guess what you're saying is that I don't have any excuses, right?
Yoda: Just do it.
Jay finished the week with a solid 8-under par 280 and a T18. Then it was down the road to Arkansas and the Nationwide's Fort Smith Classic. Yoda headed for Las Vegas and his LBG Academy at Paiute Golf Resort. At week's end on Sunday, May 6, I had just finished lunch with our Academy class and had the opportunity to check my voice mail. Two messages awaited, and each bore the same news:
I stepped out of the Paiute clubhouse and into the desert sunshine. My Academy students were awaiting their final session, and life was good: Jay had won, and the principles and procedures that had worked so well for him were working just as well for them. I was every bit as proud of their accomplishments that week as I was of his.
Put it all together and on that particular Sunday afternoon, one thing was for sure:
'Ol Yoda was a plenty happy guy.
Wow!
Okay, guys and gals, there are plenty more stories where this came from, so start clicking on that banner and get inspired. And remember: Wherever you meet the challenge, it can happen!
My cell phone rang at 7:40 this Sunday morning -- . Who in the world could be calling at such an hour? I wiped the sleepy tears from my eyes and stared at the Caller ID to find out.
It was Rajiv Bal, father of Meghna Bal, calling from India.
"Hello Rajiv!" I answered cheerily...or at least as cheerily as it gets that early Sunday.
Said he, with a chuckle in his voice that spanned the globe: "Am I speaking with the coach of the ladies national champion of India?"
She had done it.
At the tender age of 17, Megs had just won the 90th All India Ladies Amateur Championship, India's most important ladies amateur title!
Playing in difficult conditions at the Delhi Golf Club in New Delhi, India, Meghna was seeded 3rd of 16 players after the 36-hole stroke play qualifier. In the ensuing four-day match play event, she batttled back from slow starts to win her first three 18-hole matches, going to the 17th or 18th hole in each. She then won the 36-hole final (3 and 2) and with it, the national championship of India.
This is a story I had hoped to break, but alas, another had that privilege. Sorms rolled through the Quad Cities area late yesterday afternoon and knocked out my hotel's Internet access. Hence this delayed post.
Jeff Hull called when I was on the practice tee with Brian Gay at the PGA TOUR's John Deere Classic in Moline, Illinois. The Blessed Event had just occurred: A 66 in the final round with an ace -- -- at the last to win the Georgia PGA's Griffin Classic. Jeff was some kind of fired up! I let out a war whoop when he told me the news and then put him on speaker phone so Brian and his caddie, Kip Henley, could hear the play-by-play. They had met Jeff when we were in Orlando for our LBG Academy at Foxfire and were just as excited as I was to hear all about it.
Congratulations, Jeff. This is really great stuff. Nobody has worked harder to learn the truths of The Golfing Machine and to build his game around them. Hats off to a great Champion!
. Who in the world could be calling at such an hour? I wiped the sleepy tears from my eyes and stared at the Caller ID to find out.
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