Minnesota Golfer - Fall 2019 - 4

EDITOR'S
LE T T ER
Secrets of the Swing
Golf legend or duffer, we're all captivated by
the game that keeps us on the fairway.
B
" No risk, no
reward-it may
not be the
secret, but it
helps explain
what it is about
this game that
keeps us so
transfixed. "
en Hogan once quipped that the
secret to the golf swing was in the
dirt, meaning one had to beat a
lot of practice balls to figure it out. Known
as " The Hawk " for his steely competitive
demeanor, Hogan famously fought a hook
early in his career and taught himself how to
reliably play a fade, becoming one of the best
ball-strikers of all time.
Who knows what Hogan would make of
today's touring professionals who routinely
blast the ball more than 300 yards, and who
habitually consult yardage books and green
reading materials before they fly a six-iron
200 yards over a penalty area (water) to their
target. At the recent BMW Championship,
Adam Scott bemoaned the impact of driver
technology on course management and scoring,
saying, " Long means nothing to us...
[but], if you require us to shape tee shots to
get [the ball] in play, we're going to struggle. "
Great driving is a lost skill, he explains.
Notorious for not practicing, Brooks
Koepka eschews range work except for the
majors, of which he owns two U.S. Opens
and two PGA Championships. I wonder
what the Wee Ice Mon-another Hogan
moniker-would make of that.
For those of us who arrive at the first tee
out of breath and laces askew, aka, the " trunk
slammer, " our standards for great driving are
less lofty than the standards of Scott, Hogan
and company. We are more likely to search
for the secret to the golf swing in the literary
adventures of more relatable seekers.
Take Tom Coyne, who wrote the golf
travel book, " A Course Called Ireland, "
recording his exploits playing Ireland's links
courses while walking the circumference of
the Emerald Isle. A decade later, he followed
that act by playing the links of Scotland and
authoring another golf travel book-you
guessed it, " A Course Called Scotland. "
Coyne played 111 links courses during
a 57-day road-trip in search of answers,
apparently while in the throes of a mid-life
crisis. His goal: to play all of the Open rota
courses, discover the secret of the game, and
ostensibly, to enter the 2015 British Open
through local qualifying at Bruntsfield Golf
Club, near Edinburgh and the last stop on
his journey.
Coyne's peregrinations through dunes and
gorse over some of the most dramatic linksland
found anywhere-with poetic names
like Askernish, Macrihanish and Shiskine-
take him well beyond the beaten path of
most " bucket list " itineraries. The destinations
themselves are revelations to the links
golfer, as Coyne aptly relates. The journey
and his companions leave their mark on the
author, and the experience affords several
timeless truths he distills: keep trying, never
quit, and be present.
Solid, but not quite the Hogan-dug-itout-of-the-dirt-level
revelations. I will not
spill the beans, but Coyne ends his quest at
the Bruntsfield Links pitch and putt, and in
the book's epilogue, he surprises us with a
new spin on this gem: no risk, no reward-
especially if one is partial to Azaleas in April
(wink-wink). It may not be the secret, but it
helps explain what it is about this game that
keeps us so transfixed.
See you on the tee.
W.P. Ryan, Editor-in-Chief
4
MINNESOTAGOLFER Fall 2019
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Minnesota Golfer - Fall 2019

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