A golfer usually believes that the front arm has to be
straight, the other elbow has to be pinned close to the body and, by all means, the head has to be very still and pointed down in order to make a good swing.
Joe Laurentino says it's all negotiable.
That is the crux of the lessons he gives in his job as head pro at Indian Hills Country Club in Northport and it is the theme of his new book,"The Negotiable Golf Swing," which was five years in the making. It is his way of saying, "Nobody's perfect, especially when they're swinging the golf club, so let's take it from there."
"I'm kind of liberating golfers, in a sense, and allowing them to find their own way," said the man who got his start in the business as the kid who showed up for work at 4:30 a.m. at Spring Lake Golf Club, preparing the carts and doing other odd jobs.
"The idea is that we're not all built like Tiger Woods and we don't have the strength, the flexibility. Yet much of the approach that golfers use is that they're trying to make perfect golf swings. And it just doesn't work," he said in the Indian Hills clubhouse the other day. "The average handicap hasn't gone down in 20 years, while we've had all these improvements in turf and clubs and balls."
His method is to help a golfer learn from his or her own shots. If a ball flies in a way that doesn't look so hot, there has to be something to make it move the right way. That little something is different for everyone.
Laurentino said a purist could take exception to elements of the swings of Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan and Arnold Palmer.
That is to say, it's negotiable. "The only things non-negotiable are the laws of physics: speed, centeredness of contact, club path, angle of the clubface and that if you hit it solid it goes farther than if you don't hit it solid," he said.
Getting square with the laws of physics requires a trained eye, and trial and error. Laurentino tells a story about trying to help a golfer swing on a more inside-to-outside path (the classic anti-slice path). The golfer suggested a trigger mechanism with the left knee. Laurentino said it would never work.
"So I went through five ideas of what I thought would work and none of them worked. The guy goes, 'What about the left knee?' I said 'OK, try' because I wanted him to see he wasn't right. Guess what. It worked. It was an 'A-ha!' moment for me," he said.
Not that his is the only magic formula. Every golf teacher has a way of helping someone take a better swing. What makes Laurentino's story different is that he felt driven to put his ideas in writing. He would get to the club at 4 a.m. and pound out a chapter or even just a paragraph before work. He hired an illustrator, an agent, a publicist. He set up a Web site, www.negotiablegolf.com. He might have to sell more than a few books to break even.
But he does believe in it. So he will go all over Long Island, hoping to sell and sign copies. "There's a lot of me in this book. I'm a golfer first, so a lot of experiences in there are experiences I've had," he said. "There's nothing better than seeing yourself hit one you really like. The whole thing is, how do you replicate that? What I'm trying to do is help people figure it out."
Today's tip
"Most errors in the golf swing begin with the start of the backswing. Golfers incorrectly begin with their hands and arms, rather than a body turn. Try this exercise: Stand with your arms folded across your chest and emphasize bending over from your waist. Turn your body back, then through, while keeping your head still. This motion will help you feel that the backswing and downswing begin with your big muscles, not your hands and arms."
Don Beatty
PGA head professional
Garden City Country Club
Aces
Al Garbarino, Smithtown Landing Country Club, second hole, 163 yards, 5-wood.
Donna Lauro, Holbrook Country Club, eighth hole, 148 yards, driver.
