Golf Straight Talk

With John Piccolo

     I went to Ryerson School of Journalism a few years after graduating high school. I went there thinking I could change the world with my pen. After about 18 months I realized the world didn’t want to be changed and my pen didn’t have the heart to fight the moral but futile battle. I did finish my degree, however, and many years later it has come in handy in quite an unexpected capacity. Although there are those who feel this battle is much more futile than the one I abandoned 10 years ago, this time I shall perservere.

     Over the next 20 weeks I will write about the grip, the stance, alignment, the slice, hook , push, pull, tips for women, juniors, beginners, course strategy, consumer advice and much more.

     I will not be able to cure your woes with the stroke of a pen. What I hope to do is help you understand the root cause of the problems and put you on course for correction.

     What qualifies me to pontificate on such curious and mysterious things? I’ve grown up with the game. It is a part of my earliest childhood memories. I remember playing in the backyard on Vansickle road at the age of three. Hacking away with a hacked off club. I remember forcing my father to drag me around the St. Catharines Golf Club(where he has been Greenskeeper for 35 years) with him at every opportunity. Longing to be allowed to play, even just hit some balls but usually relegated to pushing a mower(builds character) or bugging Doug Favell for his autograph. But that was okay. Just being around my dad and the game I was about as happy as a kid could be.

     My playing, however, was limited to the back yard. Early summer mornings till well past dark on some nights. Chris Wilcox and I, From our shed to their back porch; out to the garden hole, then the blind shot over the woodpile stopping just in front of Brinkman’s fence. The short chip to the putting green(greenskeeper father had its advantages) and putting around until the balls had worn a track from one hole to another.

     The game has always had a supernatural pull on me. I didn’t play at all during high school( golf wasn’t very cool at West Park) but I was still working on the course and learning the subleties of the game. I saw thousands of swings. Many bad, some good, a few beautiful. Thousands of bounces. Half of them bad, half of them good.

     I worked at the Banff Springs Golf Club for a few years during university and the majic of playing the game returned. Playing in the mountains with the elk and the bears, the eagle and the fox brings absolute perspective to the game. Mark Twain once said "Golf is a good walk spoiled." I prefer to think of it as a good walk prolonged.

     Three years back my wife Lissa and I were living in England in the midst of what was to be an odyssey to the four corners of the globe. Then the two most powerful words in a couples life, "I’m pregnant". Plans changed and again I found myself working in the golf industry(maintenance at Oaklands In the Falls) It was time to do the obvious and make a career out of the part of the game I really loved, playing. I ventured into the custom club business. Talking to customers and offering guidance to golfers on the driving range led to requests for lessons. I thought very hard about it and decided it was something I really wanted to do; And here I am.

     By osmosis. By being around every aspect of the game for my entire life. By playing courses in the mountains and the courses by the sea in the land of the game’s birthplace. By studying the teachings of some of the greatest players in the game. I have picked up some knowledge that seems to be of benefit to people.

     For that I feel very priviledged and it will be an honour to pass this knowledge, about all aspects of the game, on to you over the next 20 weeks.