Brian Noble
Gratefully in Recovery
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2004
My 14yo son and I are currently on a Boys' Week Away---just the two of us. This is our high school's spring break week, and normally all four of us would travel together. But, this week the school orchestra is traveling to LA, recording at the Walt Disney Studios, and spending a day at Disneyland, among other things. My lovely wife is chaperoning the event, leaving us to our own devices.
So, we grabbed a 1BR at Old Key West, and are having a ball despite it being Easter week and horribly crowded. We saw Lights Motors Action for the first time in years. We Changed the World through the Gift of Music and Dance (because my wife hates Captain EO, but she is not with us.) We sampled several scents at Givenchy in the France pavilion and bought some Play Sport for each of us.
But, the highlight of the trip so far was our golf lesson.
I'm not a golfer, but I've spent time around golf courses. I caddied as a kid, worked my way up to the bag room in the club across town, and later worked in the pro shop as a starter at a course while in college. Despite that, I might have played 24 holes in my entire life. The last time I went out, maybe eight years ago, I gave up after nine and just drove the cart/drank beer while my FIL, BIL and cousin finished the round.
My son has never held a golf club before in his life, but he's an athlete. (Luckily, he takes after his mother.)
So, in the spirit of Boys' Week Away, I thought it might be fun for us to both take a lesson. We'd duff around, laugh at each other and ourselves, and nurse our wounds at breakfast afterwards. You know, sort of a bonding, trial-by-fire, father/son moment.
Disney Golf instruction happens at the Palm/Magnolia/Oak Trail courses, just next to Shades of Green in the MK area. We were told to arrive by 7:30 for an 8AM lesson. That turned out to be overkill, but that was okay, as we had time to walk the SoG grounds, including watching a small alligator skulk around the edge of the pond in back of the resort. The course staff were courteous and efficient from start to finish. Both of us were a little nervous, but were made to feel right at home the entire time, and were well taken care of. A (generous) 45-minute private lesson is $90. Lesson club/cart rentals are $10 per adult, kids under 18 are free.
The teaching pro at Disney is a guy by the name of Mike Schlager. When we met Mike, I gave him our background so that he knew he was in for a hard morning. His response? "No problem, this is my first lesson." He first just let us hit a few to see where we were. We both felt horrible at the outcome (we are competitive and hate being bad at things), but he stopped us and said: "You aren't going to believe this, but each of you have much better swings than you think you do."
He walked us through some very simple steps to improve grip, stance, and swing to the point where we were each surprising ourselves with some good shots. His approach is a very keep-it-simple one; he's trying to help you find the point at which you naturally swing through the ball without doing any work, and it was surprisingly effective. At this point, I already considered this money well-spent and felt good about it.
And, this is when he blew me away. He had us do a drill where we took shots from just our forward leg, with the other up in the air. The thinking here is obvious once it is explained to you---when you only have one leg to stand on, you have to find your natural center point, or you'll fall over. So, rather than compensating for a bad stance and hitting it poorly, you have no choice but to stand correctly. My very first one-legged shot was the best one I'd hit all day to that point. My only reaction: "Well, I'll be damned."
We then switched back to two legs, and while we each still duffed a few, were starting to hit the ball with much more consistency. We each still have a lot to work on, but I can imagine going out and enjoying a round---not something I thought I'd say a week ago.
The whole experience was fantastic. Highly recommended.
So, we grabbed a 1BR at Old Key West, and are having a ball despite it being Easter week and horribly crowded. We saw Lights Motors Action for the first time in years. We Changed the World through the Gift of Music and Dance (because my wife hates Captain EO, but she is not with us.) We sampled several scents at Givenchy in the France pavilion and bought some Play Sport for each of us.
But, the highlight of the trip so far was our golf lesson.
I'm not a golfer, but I've spent time around golf courses. I caddied as a kid, worked my way up to the bag room in the club across town, and later worked in the pro shop as a starter at a course while in college. Despite that, I might have played 24 holes in my entire life. The last time I went out, maybe eight years ago, I gave up after nine and just drove the cart/drank beer while my FIL, BIL and cousin finished the round.
My son has never held a golf club before in his life, but he's an athlete. (Luckily, he takes after his mother.)
So, in the spirit of Boys' Week Away, I thought it might be fun for us to both take a lesson. We'd duff around, laugh at each other and ourselves, and nurse our wounds at breakfast afterwards. You know, sort of a bonding, trial-by-fire, father/son moment.
Disney Golf instruction happens at the Palm/Magnolia/Oak Trail courses, just next to Shades of Green in the MK area. We were told to arrive by 7:30 for an 8AM lesson. That turned out to be overkill, but that was okay, as we had time to walk the SoG grounds, including watching a small alligator skulk around the edge of the pond in back of the resort. The course staff were courteous and efficient from start to finish. Both of us were a little nervous, but were made to feel right at home the entire time, and were well taken care of. A (generous) 45-minute private lesson is $90. Lesson club/cart rentals are $10 per adult, kids under 18 are free.
The teaching pro at Disney is a guy by the name of Mike Schlager. When we met Mike, I gave him our background so that he knew he was in for a hard morning. His response? "No problem, this is my first lesson." He first just let us hit a few to see where we were. We both felt horrible at the outcome (we are competitive and hate being bad at things), but he stopped us and said: "You aren't going to believe this, but each of you have much better swings than you think you do."
He walked us through some very simple steps to improve grip, stance, and swing to the point where we were each surprising ourselves with some good shots. His approach is a very keep-it-simple one; he's trying to help you find the point at which you naturally swing through the ball without doing any work, and it was surprisingly effective. At this point, I already considered this money well-spent and felt good about it.
And, this is when he blew me away. He had us do a drill where we took shots from just our forward leg, with the other up in the air. The thinking here is obvious once it is explained to you---when you only have one leg to stand on, you have to find your natural center point, or you'll fall over. So, rather than compensating for a bad stance and hitting it poorly, you have no choice but to stand correctly. My very first one-legged shot was the best one I'd hit all day to that point. My only reaction: "Well, I'll be damned."
We then switched back to two legs, and while we each still duffed a few, were starting to hit the ball with much more consistency. We each still have a lot to work on, but I can imagine going out and enjoying a round---not something I thought I'd say a week ago.
The whole experience was fantastic. Highly recommended.
