This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf. Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist. This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write. I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf. The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie. And it is where you want to be on a golf course.
If you watched the Masters Golf Tournament last week, as I did, you could not help but be impressed by the now two-time champion, Scottie Scheffler.
As he thought about his wife at home awaiting the birth of their first child, Scheffler dispatched all other players in the 88th Masters, winning by four shots.
In the process, he verified his rank as the best player in the world.
But, anyone who watched Scheffler swing, should not try to duplicate the “one and only swing.”
The Wall Street Journal came to the same conclusion in a story by Andrew Beaton that appeared under this headline:
“The world No. 1 just clinched his second major in three years. He did it thanks to a technique that violates the basic fundamentals of how you’re supposed to swing a golf club.”
Here is how the article started:
“Scottie Scheffler smashes his drives off the tee and pounds his iron shots off the fairway with astonishing accuracy. It’s why he spent Sunday evening slipping on a green jacket as a Masters champion for the second time in three years.
“He’s so extraordinarily skilled that anyone who has ever picked up a club wishes they could hit a golf ball like him. But the funny thing is that no one should actually try to hit a golf ball like him.
“Scheffler has risen to the top of the game despite footwork that would make golf purists choke on their pimento cheese sandwiches.
“There’s no questioning its effectiveness. The 27-year-old American is the No. 1 ranked player in the world and just ran away with another Masters, winning by four strokes at 11-under par.
“There’s also no questioning the fact his odd technique flagrantly violates some of the basic fundamentals of golf. When he drives the ball, Scheffler moves his feet more than any golfer since Happy Gilmore.”
Typically, the article continues, golfers generate power during their swing by transferring their weight forward, releasing pressure from the back foot and shifting it toward the front foot with their toes pointed in the general direction of the fairway.
But as Scheffler swings, especially on his drives, his back foot completely abandons its position, sliding right behind his body and toward his front foot.
More from the Wall Street Journal:
“Coaches who have worked with him say the Scheffler Shuffle isn’t a flaw in his swing. It’s actually a strength. They would never teach anyone else to slide their feet like Scheffler, but then again, they would never change something that works so undeniably well.
“’I feel like we’re like that doctor that takes the Hippocratic oath,’ says John Fields, who coached Scheffler at the University of Texas. ‘The number one thing you’re supposed to do is do no harm.’”
It has been fun to watch Scheffler over the last couple years. And, I first remember him when his team, the University of Texas, played the University of Oregon in the NCAA finals which were held in Eugene at Eugene Country Club.
In the final match, Scheffler took on Aaron Wise, who was Oregon’s #1 player. Scheffler dispatched him 3 and 2, even though, overall, Oregon won the NCAA crown at the home course of Oregon’s coach, Casey Martin.
I was there and I watched the Scheffler-Wise match, assuming Wise would win. He didn’t.
Scheffler had a crowd with him that day, a crowd that included members of his family.
Now, he has a bigger crowd following his exploits on the golf course, footwork and all.
Perspective from the 19th Hole 