The Quick Fix is Everywhere

+ Parziale and Stimets chase a spot in PGA Tour event

Author

Sean Melia
November 08, 2024

The 8th hole at Winchester CC

Hey Everyone,

I played Whaling City GC in New Bedford on Thursday and also teed it up last Friday at Winchester CC. Incredible weather, stick season is here but we’re still in shorts and short sleeves.

If you missed it, I posted a Results Round-Up on Tuesday, hence the brevity of the News and Notes section. College events are wrapped for the year and some professionals are playing some important golf in these coming weeks.

News and Notes:

Devil’s Elbow Invitation (yep, that’s the name): Ricky Stimets (71) and Matt Parziale (72) are competing in the Dominican Republic. They’re both in the top five after the first round. They play together today in the second round. Live scoring.

If you are interested in a golf trip, I have partnered with The Golf Trip Guys, who are running a Hilton Head golf trip in April. It’s called the Spring Training Classic. Co-founder Sean Toland joined me on this week’s podcast (watch on YouTube).The trip is a great opportunity to shake off the rust before next year’s season and meet some new people. Grab a friend and book this fun trip. Details.

The Quick Fix

I haven’t been able to go for a run since late July. I tweaked my right knee trying to avoid some tourists who were aimlessly wandering on the Longfellow Bridge.

It sucks.

Running has been a staple of my life since college. It allows me to get outside, clear my mind, and enjoy the Charles River.

In my attempt to self-diagnose my ailment, my algorithm has shifted. I am now fed tons of quick-fix Instagram and YouTube videos: bands, scrapers, and programs. It might be worse than the quick-fix golf content that promises more fairways, more putts, and lower scores, mainly because it’s trying to convince me an injury can be quickly erased and I’ll be back on the road again within minutes of using some device or contorting my body in some specific way.

I know all the promises are poppycock. Right now, running is the only thing I can’t do. I can lift weights, I can walk, I can jump, I can ride the Peloton… I can (thankfully) golf. However, my handicap has gone up 2 shots since the injury, and the knee might be the reason I battled the hosel rockets for a spell.

Enough about my golf game; let’s talk about the third-best player in the world…

When Rory McIlroy emerged from golfing hibernation this week and shared some insight about how he’s been working on his swing the last month or so, it got me thinking about the process of improving and how we are sold, one Google search at a time, the quick fix.

Luke Kerr Dineen broke down McIlroy’s work nicely…

Rory McIlroy had one of the most vexing seasons of his career. A close call at the U.S. Open, a near miss at the Olympics, a heartbreaker in his home country in the Irish Open, and a playoff loss to Billy Horschel in the BMW made McIlroy 2024’s Bridesmaid.

It’s become a running joke in the golf world (and with Bay State Golf podcast guest Paul Burke) that McIlroy can’t seem to land on a process for anything, especially his process for preparing for majors. Hitting balls into a blank screen seems to be a new way to separate himself from the results of a swing change. Maybe it’s a swing “tweak” more than a change.

In some respects, this highlights that all golfers are the same. How many times have you discussed a “swing change” with someone on the first tee or at a cocktail party? The hope that exists within that change is intoxicating until the first shot goes skittering off in the wrong direction, then the search for the next swing change begins.

In his press conference this week, McIlroy said, “I think those three weeks were important. I hadn’t had time to sort of do that over the past 18 months. So I thought it was important to get in there and do that.”

Let’s jump to another sport. Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics won the NBA Finals on June 17. He “played” in the Olympics and then started the new NBA season on October 22.

That’s 127 days.

That’s 34% of the year where Tatum can practice, rest, and recover. He has been outstanding these first two weeks of the season. He has worked on his body and eliminated a hitch in his jump shot.

LeBron James, Michael Jordan, and Larry Bird all arrived following each off-season with a new skill. Bird famously spent an entire summer only using his left hand.

One thing that made Tiger Woods so incredible was his willingness to suck in tournaments as he worked through swing changes. He did this multiple times, and it is overlooked. He was talented enough to compete while reengineering his swing.

McIlroy had 21 days to work on his swing, and this week at the Abu Dhabi Championship, he’ll have a chance to see how his semi-quick fix works out.

It's a work-in-progress. For me, it's something just to make my golf swing more efficient, and then if it is more efficient, then it means it's not going to break down as much under pressure. If I look at my year, the one thing that I would criticise myself on is the fact that I've had these chances to win.

But then when I've had these chances to win, okay, some may have been because of the putter but others have been because of my ball-striking letting me down as a crucial point. I think just trying to clean all that up so that whenever I do get under that pressure, you know, I can have a hundred per cent trust in my swing and know what's going to happen.

Rory McIlroy

McIlroy calls it a “work in progress” because he knows the majors are the way to add to his career legacy. The Masters is 155 days away. That’s really the date he’s aiming for, that is his off-season. “This week will be a good indication to see where I’m at.”

It’s a good reminder that there are no true quick-fixes in golf or in most parts of our lives. We need to find the equivalent of a blank screen and a little bit of time to stay away from the results and focus on the process.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to applying KT Tape to my knee…

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When I’m not golfing…

I’m reading…

I’m listening to…

I’m drinking…

  • Pepsi from a fountain…

  • Notch Left of the Dial

I’m eating…

  • Very easy Turkey Chili from NYTimes Cooking. It takes less than an hour and could feed an army.

I’m watching…

  • I’ve been deep into some Titleist Performance Institute videos over the last couple of weeks. This Iona Stephen one is the best. A bunch of great nuggets about early extension, mobility, and strength. It also provides some actual exercises to try.

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