Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
When I was new to golf the head professionals where I played, including Rives McBee, introduced me to the game, helped me get better and taught me their passion for playing. Before anyone had shot 63 in a major, McBee had a share of the record for lowest round in a major, a 64 that he shot in the 1966 U.S. Open at Olympic. He traveled with Lee Trevino early in their careers and he knew the game inside and out. Still does.
As I see it, head pros are always holed up in their office!
As a head pro, McBee, along with Jerry Andrews and Lanny Turentine, wasn’t in their office all day. They were on the putting green, the driving range or the golf course, showing people how to play, explaining this part of the grip or that part of the stance. If he wasn’t in one of those places, he could be found at the 19th hole, talking about the history of this game, its traditions and past greats. For McBee and Andrews and Turentine, these weren’t just characters out of books, they were people they knew personally.
These men weren’t trying to generate rounds, they were trying to generate interest. They weren’t trying to grow the game, they were trying to preserve the game.
Is working with weights harmful to your game – some think so!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
In recent years, there has been a lot of talk on the type of workouts some of the PGA Tour players are going through in the gym.
With Tiger Woods being beset with so many injuries, some say that working with weights is detrimental to the body, especially when relating to a good golf swing’s smooth, fluid motion. In recent weeks Brandel Chamblee, who is known for his outspoken manner, sometimes to his detriment, has criticized Rory McIlroy for his workouts. There now seems to be a minor war between the two, with Rory tweeting some workout pictures to Brandel. Personally, I feel that if Brandel had worked out a little more in the gym, he might have done better as a professional golfer. Thanks to Sam Weinman of Golf Digest for this article. I’m sure we have not heard the last of this!
Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee gets credit for raising an interesting question — Is there’s such a thing as too muchstrength training for golfers? Specifically, he asked if Rory McIlroy’s intense fitness routines might have damaging effects, especially when you consider Tiger Woods also put in countless hours working out and has since been beset by a series of injuries.
“It does give me a little concern when I see the extensive weightlifting that Rory is doing in the gym,” Chamblee told reporters in a conference call.
The comments provided some amusing fodder for McIlroy, who replied to Chamblee by tweeting a video of him doing squats. But the question remained: Is the four-time major champion doing more harm than good?
Hitting a knockdown shot with help from Brandel Chamblee!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
Brandel Chamblee and PGA Teacher of the year Bill Forest combine to teach you the proper technique for hitting the knockdown shot.
This is a shot you can use when you are in the trees and need a low one to get out, a shot into the wind or a shot where you are trying to get the ball to roll up onto the green. Thanks to PGA.com!
Brandel Chamblee opens the segment making one point on hitting the knockdown shot to back plateau pins or under the wind. He makes sure that the ball is back in stance and to not release the club. PGA Teacher of the Year Bill Forest instructs to swing with resistance in your motion and have an abbreviated finish, to set up with ball back in stance and to treat knockdown as a partial shot for control and accuracy.
Great Golfers Americans Don’t Know #3 Dave Thomas!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
Recently, I posted a story about a Tour Player from South Africa that not many golf fans of today know. South African Bobby Locke had an amazing career, and I realized other highly successful players from the past need to be remembered.
Welshman Dave Thomas 1924 – 2013.
Dave Thomas, Welshman, was one of Britain’s great golfers during the 1950s and ’60s. Thomas won more than a dozen tournaments in Britain and around Europe, including the French Open and the Dutch Open. He lost the British Open in a playoff with Peter Thompson in 1958 at Royal Lytham and finished runner-up at the 1966 Open, 1 stroke behind Jack Nicklaus. Pretty awesome!
Thomas also represented Great Britain in the Ryder cup in 1959, 1963, 1965, and 1967 with excellent results.
He also represented Wales in the World Cup 11 times.
Thomas didn’t have the same success when he tried competing in the USA, but he was admired for his long, straight drives. He finished second in the St. Paul Open and won a qualifying tournament for the U.S. Open in 1964.
What amazed me was that he set up a golf course design business after he retired from playing with health problems. Thomas designed over 100 courses, including PGA National courses at Ryder Cup venue The Belfry.
Many of my family and friends don’t know if I had a picture of Dave Thomas on my bedroom wall while I was still an amateur. I didn’t know a lot about him, but the picture of his powerful swing inspired me to be a better golfer!
A young Brandel Chamblee with Paul Thomas, son of legendary Welsh golfer Dave Thomas (left)
