A quick walk down memory lane...

Posted Apr 19 2012, 10:26 PM by Cathy Erickson
​This last weekend I did some spring cleaning and came across a pile of old golf magazines...Golf, Golf Digest, Golf for Women (RIP), and a few others.  I looked at the cover and ditched most of them but I came across one that had Fred Couples on the cover from 2000...the headline was (something like) Fred Couples Simple Rules for Golf (and Life).  How do I not keep this one??  See, golf IS like life, Freddie says so!!

The next one I kept was Butch Harmon on the cover of Golf Digest from 2001 with the headline "Butch's Basics, The Secrets I Taught Tiger (that he already knew).  Want to know them?  1.  Right Elbow Down  2. Know the Pressure Points (they are the last 3 fingers on the left hand)  3. Flex the right knee   4.  Straighten the Left Leg for Power   5.  Right Heel Leads Right Toe   6.  Show Two Pockets at Im  pact   7.  Shake hands with the Target (this works for curling, too!)  8. Break the Window Pane (meaning don't finish too high with your head between your arms)
 
 Then there was the Golf Magazine from 2002 with Greg Norman on the cover, the main article was, appropriately I guess, "Why We All Choke, and What To Do About It".  Needless to say I'm keeping it for the Greg cover.
 
 The final one I kept was 2001 and it was Tiger on the cover with 5 Major trophies with the headline "How He Did It".  I guess I kept this one to remember where Tiger came from, because honestly, I'm still a little baffled by where he is today.  The Tiger article was a preview of a Tim Rosaforte book coming out about Tiger's 2000 season.  But what was more interesting was that at the end of the magazine, and not even mentioned on the cover was an interview with Phil Mickelson...a really interesting read.  He was 30 and hadn't yet won a Major.
 
 I'm looking forward to reading through these magazines, but as I did my first breeze through, I found out that many of the lessons shared more than 10 years ago are the same ones we're talking about today, just new teachers in different shirts.  But what has changed is equipment.  The evolution of drivers especially is pretty interesting.
 
I guess flashback golf time is over...but how interesting to look back in time and see how things are perceived.
 
 We may not be timeless, but some of the best golf instruction probably is.  If you've got some classic magazines sitting around somewhere collecting dust, I encourage you to take them out and give them a read, you never know what treasures you might find.  I plan to read through these again in the next few weeks as I wait for my back to heal and I can finally get out and play golf!