I admit. My track record for New Year’s resolutions is woeful. I can only think of two that have made it to the finish line at year’s end:
- In 2014, one of my resolutions was: “Drink better vodka.”
- The following year, I went with: “Drink a little less better vodka.”
Other than those two, all my other resolutions, whether they be life or golf related, were either forgotten or broken by Spring.
I think I have figured out my problem: resolutions are too much like vows. They are meant to be taken seriously and once broken, I come up with a great big rationalization such as: “I need to come up with realistic – more attainable – resolutions,” and “My game plan was all wrong.”
Here’s my 2025 New Year’s resolution: No more resolutions for me! Instead, from now on, I am going with: MIGHT-AS-WELLS – as in “I might as well give this a try.”
I am still working on my LIFE MIGHT-AS-WELLS – i.e. I will be a better listener and I will spend more time with my grandchildren. However, my GOLF MIGHT-AS-WELLS are ready to go. To come up with those, I decided to go to my list of The 10 Greatest Golfers of All-Time and take one tip/reminder/swing thought from each one of them with the hope that a few of them might work for me in 2025. If a tip doesn’t seem to work, I will simply chuck it without any guilt feelings:
- Jack Nicklaus (18 Majors): “Chipping has never come easy to me, but I’ve found over the years that the SLOWER my tempo on these little recover shots the better I play them.”
- Bobby Jones (13 Majors, including the Grand Slam in 1930. At that time, the four Majors were: British Amateur, British Open, U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur: “Start your downswing in a leisurely fashion, in no hurry coming down, with the acceleration smooth and natural.”
- Tiger Woods (15 Majors): “I’ve seen amateurs get lazy and not read a chip like a putt and then seem surprised when it doesn’t snuggle up next to the pin. Be attentive. Once you’ve picked a specific landing spot, focus on contact.”
- Walter Hagen (11 Majors): “My tip to the average golfer in trouble is not to grip so tightly, not to take it so much as a life-and-death matter and get more play in the wrists.”
- Harry Vardon ( Winner of 6 Open Championships and the 1900 U.S. Open): “Always use the club that takes the least out of you. Play with an iron instead of forcing your shot with a mashie. Never say, ‘Oh, I think I can reach it with such and such a club.’ There ought never to be any question of your reaching it, so use the next more powerful club in order that you will have a little in hand. It will be easier, and the result will be much better, or at least it ought to be.”
- Ben Hogan (9 Majors): “When looking for added power, the hips can’t go too fast.”
- Sam Snead (7 Majors): “A pause at the top of the backswing will check the desire to kill the ball.” – From his book, Sam Snead’s How To Play Golf .
T8. Arnold Palmer (7 Majors): “Don’t baby the comeback putt. If you overshoot the hole on your first putt, fight the tendency to be timid on the return putt. If you've seen the line in the first putt, you have a good idea of how the second one will break. Armed with this knowledge, give the comeback putt a firm, smooth, accelerating stroke. There should be no hesitation or jerkiness about it.”
T8. Tom Watson (8 Majors): “A question I get a lot is: What do you look at when you’re the golf ball? The answer is that I pick a dimple at the back-center of the ball to focus on, and I square the clubhead to that point.”
- Gary Player (9 Majors): “On most pitches, you want the ball to check. To do that, you must keep the blade open. If you want a wedge shot to Maybe, just maybe, a couple of my might-as-wells will actually stick around throughout 2025 and help my game.
Happy New Year To One And All,
Allan Stark
Photo credits:
Me: Taken by a friend.
Bobby Jones: Public Domain: [File:Bobby Jones c1921.jpg
Tom Watson: ProShooter, DepositPhotos.
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