Golf Swing & Love

I coached golf for several years in high school and I think I was able to teach my young players a thing or three about the game. In fact, from my many years of playing golf, I think I know more about the golf swing than most players and I would probably make a pretty good instructor.  Some good images of what the golf swing looks and feels like: it’s like dancing—rock back to the right leg and then rock to the left; the old baseball image—the batter stands at the plate with his weight on his back leg and as the pitch approaches he lifts the left leg and steps into the ball, transferring almost all his weight onto that lead leg; the bullwhip image—take the right hand back with the wrist lagging behind the arm, dragging the whip behind and then, when the arm starts forward, the wrist falls behind and then forward as fast as it can, and the tip of the whip simply explodes toward the target; the mechanical image—address the ball, then with arms extended, lift the club directly upward toward the face, using only the wrists to cock it upward, then, without changing the wrists in any way, raise the arms to a position behind the right ear—voila!—there it is, the position you want when you reach the peak of the backswing. If you’re a golfer, go to a practice area and try one or all of the above. You may begin to hit the ball better than ever.

Brief aside on the nature of love: From quite a few years ago, I remember when Joey on Friends was going to tell Rachel how he feels about her, and they’d been running and rerunning a preview of his saying to her, “I’m falling in love with you.”  That struck me as false.  Still does. How many levels can one come up with when telling someone you like them as more than a friend?  The honest way and most straightforward way is to say, “I love you.”  Then it starts tapering off: “I’m in love with you,” Joey’s “I’m falling in love with you,” “I’m beginning to fall in love with you,” “I think I’m beginning to fall in love with you.”  Each level is farther away from a commitment.  OMG, Joey, just tell Rachel you love her and be done with it!