37-C GOLF RANGE CLINIC HOSTS IT’S FIRST GOLF CLINIC

Approximately 20 golfers of different ages and skill levels attended the free Golf Clinic offered by the 37-C Golf Range on July 28, 2011. Participants walked away with some kernels of wisdom from Golf Pro Wahoo Jacobs, and perhaps a better golf swing—or at least a better idea on how to swing a golf club. Mr. Jacobs, a golf professional who owns a golf management company in Venice Florida, held the attention of the group by explaining some of the “myths” of the golf swing and providing some basic guidelines on how to hit a golf ball farther and straighter. Jacobs told the group that the key to playing better golf is to stay “relaxed” and “balanced” during the swing. He compared the act of swinging a club to the amateur carpenter who tries to push or force a circular saw through a piece of wood instead of letting the saw do the work.

“If you try to push the saw through the wood it will take a lot longer and end up with a mess,” said Jacobs. “If you let the saw do the work, the job gets done a lot faster and with a better result. That’s the same with swinging a golf club—you need to let the club do the work and in order to do that, you need to stay relaxed.”

Jacobs talked with the group about the basic myths and misconceptions of the golf swing—the worst advice is: “keep your head down and left arm straight”; people think the game is all about “power”; and many think there is only one way to hit a golf ball, but that’s not true, Jacobs said, because no two people are alike—everyone has different body shapes and athletic abilities.

Mr. Jacobs spent the rest of the clinic working one-on-one with the group of golfers and finished by imparting more words of wisdom about the game of golf and the elusive golf swing. Dale White one of the 37-C Golf Range owners, said that the biggest thing he took from the clinic was how important the “mental aspect” of the game is.

“What Wahoo said about it being the ‘six inches between your ears’ that’s the most important part of your game” is the real key said White. “You have to tune out all of those ‘swing thoughts’ that you’ve heard all your life (left arm straight, head down, cock your wrists, rotate your arms) during your swing in order to be able to hit a good shot”.

Wahoo’s words made an impact on the people at the clinic, especially since he has played competitive golf; and also because he has helped physically challenged and sight impaired golfers learn to play the game.

Comments and feedback from the participants were all positive and Aimee Benedict truly enjoyed herself, as well as Charlene Thomas and Kathy Mitchell. Some came to participate, some came to watch and some came to visit. We were lucky to have such a beautiful evening to conduct this clinic. The owners of the Golf Range, Steve & Jeannine Lazore and Dale and Marilyn White would like to say thank you to all who came and helped them make this event a success.

The 37-C Golf Driving Range is located on Route 37-C in Rooseveltown, next to the Cedar View Golf Course and is open daily and has a variety of buckets of balls for practice, as well as drinks, snacks and ice cream and small golf accessories. When the range is closed small practice bags of balls are available for purchase at Cedar View Golf Course. For more information on the 37-C Golf Range, call Jeannine Lazore at 613-575-2980 or Marilyn White at 315-705-5691.