July 21, 2025 What’s This?

A Sporting Device/Aid

 Have you any idea what this is? Do you see a handle? a ball? a stick? They're there. What does it do, or how does one use it?

I purchased it as one more concept/implement to improve my swing. The handle is designed to assist the user developing a strong left and right hand grip. The ball rests in the left arm crease where it meets the chest during a back swing. The stick is bent to about 75 degrees. I know you know what it is: another golf training aid.

Here's another look. You can see the grip aspects where one's fingers go, and when it is in your hands, the ball--when the wrists are cocked--is gently positioned in the V formed by the inside of the arm where it meets the left chest. Now, imagine you are beginning the backswing turn (turn is the key word) that moves your shoulders, hands and arms into the correct position to begin and finish the down and follow-through swing into a high finish.

Today is July 21 and all of this will be practiced without this device in sight. I'll record the results later.

12 hours later I'm home with a score of 91. Golf can be a strange game in that one day the long game seems to be working, but the short game: chipping and putting is off; or it's vice-versa. This was a day where I scored 3 putts on each of 6 different holes, with a total of 18 putts on the front nine and 22 putts on the back nine for a grand total of 40 putts for the 18 holes. Let's do the math: if my day had those six holes with 2 putts for each of 6 my total score would have been 85. That score would have been my best of the year.

For the record I'm very hopeful that this training aid pictured above will be a keeper. I propose to warm up with this baby every day but never take it to the club, because all the guys will say what the hell have you got there?

The above video breaks down the perfect swing in to four stops and then wammo: 

1. Posture 

2. Takeaway 

3. Wrist Bow 

4. Backswing and Throughswing

[This I will do in my warm up on Monday July 27]

On August 5, 2025 I was at BGC for a game at 10:36 with two new members Jack Herr and Anthony Cecchin who turned out to be spectacular golfers who hit it a mile, always found their ball and had exhibited a very good pitch, chip and putt game as well.

Let me hasten to say these two young men were perfect gentlemen well dressed in golf attire who greeted me with a warm smile and a friendly hello on our first tee. They played our longest course from the Black Tees at 6,900 yards and I from our penultimate Green Tees about 1,000 fewer yards.

At the final hole I mentioned that if I parred the hole I would score my age for the first in my life. and then we teed off right down the middle with their shots settling about 175 yards closer to the green than mine. I hit first and nailed a 3 medal to within 120 yards of the hole and their second shots were on the green. My third shot a 6 iron was miraculous rolling to 8 feet short of the hole, which gave me a putt to score a par four and a total of 84. On the green with putters in hand these wonderful young men asked me if I wanted to have it as a gimme, which means pick it up and take your 4 on our 18th hole a magnificent dogleg-left over a massive tree and out-of-bounds overgrown fescue-laden growth all along the left side of the remaining 200 yards to the green. I said thank you but, I must putt it out.

With steely eyes and determination I stroked that putt with perfect speed in what looked like the ideal direction, except at the last possible moment gravity or the golf gods pushed my ball a quarter inch left and lipped out, not in.

Jack and Anthony met me at the Rose Garden only a few yards from my lip-out and ordered a drink of choice that Jack and Anthony wished to sign for, but I insisted that I wanted the honour and had the pleasure of their company on the golf course for the last four hours and five minutes. During our time to drain those ice cold beers we learned quite a lot about each other and probably more about me that I would ever have shared with others on a first meeting.

Just a final thought on August 24, 2025 Canada's premier lady golfer Brooke Henderson won the Canadian Ladies Open Championship at the Mississauga Golf Club with 18 under par to win over MinJee Lee of Australia by a single shot. This is the second time Brooke has won this event after winning it in 2018 at the tender age of 21years. She has won more Professional Tour events than any other Canadian golfer, male or female, since these records have been recorded. This is Brooke Henderson at work: