NHS England this week announced a £4.5 billion scheme they describe as ‘social prescribing’ whereby GPs will refer patients with anxiety, depression, diabetes and dementia to activities, including golf, which will get them physically active and engaged in the community. It will treat the causes of conditions such as social isolation and will hopefully lead to GPs prescribing less medication.
A pilot scheme in Newham, East London, which has the highest proportion of physically inactive adults in the country was implemented by West Ham United football club. As part of it, NHS England commissioned West Ham United’s Foundation to provide a walking football programme for the over-50s, and say so far 400 people have successfully completed the 24-week programme, with the average participant’s weekly exercise time growing from 83 to 326 minutes. Golf England have repeatedly promoted the health benefits of golf, let’s hope that it is prescribed to women as well as men.
Yesterday saw the World Hall of Fame induction ceremony for 2019. The inductees are – double US Open champion, South African Retief Goosen who joins the Champions Tour next week after turning 50 on Sunday, top Australian LPGA professional Jan Stephenson, former Masters Chairman Billy Payne and the man in the wheelchair is Dennis Walters. Dennis is a wheelchair trick artist. He was playing professionally on the Sunshine Tour when he was seriously injured in a golf cart accident. He is pictured with his dog Mr Bucky who appears in his shows. This film, introduced by Arnold Palmer, shows what he can do.
See this golf course in Las Vegas, which a DJ plays non stop Kiss music and hosts trivia events about the band. We need a Freddie Mercury course here in the UK, see the next post.
Sam Snead’s swing is still the gold standard – technically as near perfect as you can get, and yet it is the beauty of his swing that makes it so outstanding. The fluid rhythm and tempo combined with the huge power that it generated.
He still holds the record for most wins on the PGA Tour – 82, two more than Tiger -which included seven majors. Here’s a picture of them together, Sam signing an autograph for young Tiger. 162 PGA Tour titles between them
Sam Snead had great longevity winning tournaments in six different decades including a 3rd place in the 1974 PGA Championship when he was 62 years old. That is some champion.
But looking at his swing, just for pleasure, I noticed something interesting. Sam Snead’s key move during the downswing is the transfer of power through his feet.
Now I’m not just a golfer, I learned to figure skate at the same young age that I began to play golf and learning the two sports side by side helped with balance and learning how the feet generate power.
So freeze framing Sam Snead’s swing as the club approaches the ball I saw how his knees were widely spread apart with the weight completely equal between the feet as he hits the ball before the knees come more together in the follow through. It’s a position you will see again and again with skaters. So next time you see Torvill and Dean on television, take a look at Jayne Torvill’s deep knee bend which enables her to move her feet so effectively. That’s the same position that Sam Snead got in his golf swing at impact.
The most intriguing golfer in the professional ranks won again on Sunday at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic. Bryson Dechambeau won by seven shots, birdies at holes 1-3 to go out in 32, an eagle at 10, birdie at 11, bogey at 12 and birdies at 13, 14 and 17 for a final round 64 and a 7 stroke win. A lot of us don’t quite know what exactly he’s talking to his caddie about when they discuss the air pressure and firmness speeds or miles per hour on the speed, but whatever it is they’re talking about it’s working. This is Bryson’s first international win and his 4th victory in 9 starts, all the other starts had a top 20 finish.
There was some negativity earlier on in the week. “I’m not hitting it anywhere near my best” and by Saturday “I’m not 100% with my game”. But after the win “I was happy with my game I executed a lot of great shots. It was a lot of fun to finally hoist an international trophy”.
Although Dechambeau hasn’t yet had a top 10 finish in a major he looks set to contend this year. That is if he doesn’t lose ground by getting penalised for slow play. All this scientific over analysis of every shot is taking much too long, typically between 1minute 20 and 1 minute 45, way too long.
Take a leaf out of my book Bryson, as one who plays speedily. And like me “don’t fink” so much, it saves so much time on every shot.
golfweloveit 