PETER THOMSON, one of the game's most distinguished practitioners, was at Rathsallagh last October to become the club's first honorary life member and to turn the sod on the new clubhouse. Earlier this week, he returned for the official opening of the finished structure, which is in keeping with the quality of a truly stunning parkland course.
It is always a special treat to have an audience with the five-times British Open champion and, given the ever-changing nature of the game, this was no exception. Particularly intriguing were his thoughts on fellow Australian Greg Norman and the dramatic, last round collapse at Augusta National two months ago.
"Greg's record would suggest that he is the best player in the world, but he just doesn't have what it takes to realise his full potential," he said. "If you have a weakness, you know deep down it will find you out when you're under pressure. And Thomson believes he has identified Norman's Achilles heel.
He explained: "Players these days have a noticeable tendency to grip the club too tightly. It's like looking at a mailed fist. Where are the hand-players like Hogan, Cotton or your own Christy O'Connor? Christy was a wonderful example of the sort of hand-action you find at the highest level."
He went on: "I played a lot with Hogan and after studying him at close quarters, I concluded that he had a level of skill slightly higher than Nicklaus. Hogan was the best golfer I've ever seen and I can't recall anyone with a more relaxed grip on the club. He didn't wear a glove and the club slipped around in his hands like a greasy chop.
"I especially remember that at address, his left thumb would be on the right side of the grip - at two o'clock. But at the top of the backswing, it would have moved to a point directly along the shaft. And he was so relaxed that it wasn't unusual for the shaft to drop onto his right shoulder.
"He generated enormous speed with the driver which allowed him to hit the ball a long way. But everything else was controlled. None of the top players, not Hogan, Snead nor Nelson, ever hit an iron hard." With that, Thomson turned his thoughts back to Norman.
"Tension is the enemy of good golf and with Greg, the greater the pressure becomes, the tighter he grips the club," he said. "That was very evident at this year's Masters where you could see Faldo waggling the club to eliminate tension and maintain rhythm. Unless Norman lightens up his hand-action, his problems will persist."
Had Thomson told him so. "No," came the reply. Why? "Because he never asked me."
RECENTLY in this column, we emphasised the importance of limbering-up exercises prior to heading for the golf course. The process is taken a stage further by reigning British Open champion, John Daly, in his book The Killer Swing, recently published by Collins Willow at £9.99.
Daly tells us: "A couple of years ago, I read an article about Kevin Mitchell, the baseball batter on the Seattle Mariners team, who is annually at or near the top of the Major League home run list. In this article, Mitchell said he had adopted the habit of taking a hot shower before each game.
"He believed that a steady, 10-minute burst of warm water hitting his back and neck muscles really relaxed him, with the result that his baseball swing was noticeably looser and more flowing during the game. I'm in favour of anything that promotes smooth, rhythmic movements in the golf swing. So, do what I do: Follow Mitchell's advice and you'll find it very useful to the flow of your golf swing."
KNOWN, affectionately as the `Senior Squadron', they are the growing number of Senior PGA Tour players in the US who have decided that the only way to fly is by private plane. And the acknowledged squadron leader is Arnold Palmer, who has owned and flown his own aircraft since 1961.
"I started flying because I had been scared to death after taking a ride in someone else's plane," he explained. "Having decided on the idea, I also realised that the way for me to do it was to fly myself." So, Palmer ushered in the era of serious golf aviation, though earlier players, Jimmy Demaret and Johnny Bulla, were both pilots.
Palmer realised that his career meant much more than getting from tournament to tournament: he had to travel from promotion to promotion and from one business deal to another. "Over the last 35 years, I wouldn't have accomplished even half what I've done in golf and business, without my own airplane," he added.
When Arnie's Citation X pulls into a private airport, it is likely to be joined by the Gulfstream IV of Jack Nicklaus and similar aircraft with Lee Trevino, Tom Weiskopf, Jim Colbert, Raymond Floyd or Chi Chi Rodriguez on board. In fact Rodriguez, born into poverty in Puerto Rico, has had a succession of planes over the last 15 years and recently graduated to a Jetstar from the Sabreliner 80 which he sold to Trevino.
"Sometimes I'm in seven different beds in seven different cities on seven different nights," complained Chi Chi. "You couldn't do that flying commercial. On second thoughts, I guess you could - but you'd be a dead man." As to the convenience of flying home to Dorado in Puerto Rico he said: "The runway is only a good two iron from my home. Maybe a five iron for John Daly."
Perhaps the most famous of these golf planes is the so-called Air Bear, belonging to you-know-who. The current Nicklaus model cost $27 million, has a range of 4,200 nautical miles and can reach speeds of 600mph at 45,000 feet. As for the considerable cost of these craft, Floyd replied for his colleagues when he said: "What are you going to do with the money? Save it for your kids so they can buy an airplane?"
THERE ARE times when it's particularly painful to bend down and pick the ball out of the hole, particularly when you've just tapped home your fourth putt on the 18th green. Take heart: relief may be at hand. A certain Vojtech Ackerman, keenly aware of the grief that we golfers give our overworked backs, has invented the "reversibly elevatible golf cup." And it works.
With the help of a battery-powered antenna, the cup actually rises as much as 36 inches when a ball falls into the hole. And it retracts when the ball is removed. The idea came to him while looking at senior golfers on television. And having received US patent no. 5,480,142, he is already working on a modified product that will accommodate the flagstick.
IN BRIEF: In 1981, Philip Walton, Declan Rush and Martin Sludds were members of The Island team which captured the Aer Lingus Club Youths' Championship. Fourteen years on, the 36-hole Philip Walton Scratch Cup for players under-19 on January 1st, will be played at The Island on July 9th .... The Irish area final of the Daily Mail PGA Junior championship will be staged at Baltray on Monday next .... Declan Maguire of the ISPCC informs me of their Golf Clasic at Old Conna on August 22nd. Further information from (01) 679-4944 ....
FORM, the Friends of Ronnie Mayne, are staging a Golf Classic and sports memorabilia auction at Woodstock GC on August 29th and 30th. Further information from (061) 315072 .... As part of the Europe Against Skin Cancer Campaign, golfers are warned by Dr Michael Flynn of the Irish College of General Practitioners to keep their heads covered when playing under a hot sun .... Douwe Egberts are sponsoring the ILGU Senior Cup finals at Monkstown GC today and tomorrow when Royal Portrush will be defending the title .... The Mended Hearts Society, now 12 years old, will be staging their annual tournament at Forrest Little on August 26th. Further details from Peter O'Neill at (01) 868-0758 . . . . Michael J Burke of West Coast Links informs me of open days at Co Sligo next Saturday and at Murvagh on July 17th.
TEASER: A player, after a search of less than one minute, considers that his ball is lost in ground under repair, although there is not reasonable evidence to that effect. He drops a ball under Rule 25-1c (Abnormal Ground Conditions) and plays it. His original ball is then found beyond the ground under repair area. What is the ruling?
ANSWER: The ball dropped under Rule 25-1c was not substituted under an applicable rule; thus, it was a wrong ball. In matchplay, the player lost the hole (Rule 15-2). In strokeplay, the player incurred a penalty of two strokes and he must hole out with his original ball, which remained in play (Rule 15-3).
