Easy 80 Golf

I’m Bob Vennard. These days, I golf in the 80’s nearly every time. I’m over 65 years old, yet I still drive nearly 300 yards when I need to. But it wasn’t always that way.

Here’s my story… Click here to listen.

I started playing golf at the age of 51. The first nine holes I played, I scored a 69. I was embarrassed. But by the end of the season – four months later - I played the same nine holes in the low 40’s (high 30’s when I happened to make some putts). I was out-driving most of my competition and hitting longer and straighter than most with my irons.

But, I wanted to get better. One day at a local driving range in Midland, Michigan, the local golf “pro” approached me. He asked me what club I was hitting. When I told him I was using an 8 iron, he said “Wow.” But then came the bad part. He told me I wasn’t shifting my weight properly and was losing potential yardage on my shots. (Losing potential yardage? I had been hitting an 8 iron about 160-170 yards! But I definitely wanted more. Sound familiar?)

So, I took some lessons from him – three in all. At the end of these lessons, I began hitting severe “duck hooks” - I had lost yardage – and worst of all - my mind had become overwhelmed with swing thoughts.

In essence, my golf game now was a mess - in just three easy lessons.

So, I decided to take more lessons, but from other instructors. I even went to a week-long “golf instruction camp” the next spring. By then, I just wanted to get back what I had lost. But, I didn’t. In fact, by the end of the camp, I was so confused and frustrated that I seriously thought about quitting the game forever.

Late that same summer, my golf league handicap had ballooned from an 11 to a 21. I was frustrated. We were on the last two holes of the most disastrous round I had played that year. As I stood on the tee thinking of what I needed to do just to save something of the day, I don’t know why, but I said out loud, “I just don’t care anymore!” Actually, it was a lie – I DID CARE - I actually felt like crying.

Without thinking, I picked up my driver, practice-swung a couple of times, and then hit the ball for all I was worth. I didn’t think about the shot – I was beyond thinking – I didn’t even care where the ball went. (Really, I did care but was just too upset to think about it.)

The ball ended up about 315 yards from the tee box – in the right center of the fairway!

I WAS BACK – at least for this hole - but what had happened My swing had felt great, natural, effortless – but why?The next hole was nearly a repeat of the seventeenth. Even though I was utterly exhausted, both mentally and physically, I shot a birdie and a par.

That night I couldn’t sleep. I kept thinking about what could have changed on those last two holes. My mind kept going back to my first year of golf. What had changed since then? What could I do to get back what I had lost? What had I been missing?

Then it hit me! I was practicing the way the golf pros were telling me - and getting worse. But I wasn’t practicing the way I did when I started, when I could outdrive golfers half my age.

Before taking lessons, I didn’t think about my grip, my swing plane, shifting my weight, my stance, etc. I just did what felt natural – but now I didn’t even know what “natural” was anymore.

So I tried to go back to what I used to do. I started practicing like I used to practice. When I could, I had a golf club in my hands – in my back yard. I did things that were so simple a child would laugh. I swung at blades of grass, picked dandelions with my 3-wood, etc. In essence, I looked like an idiot. But, over time, I got most of my game back and that was what I cared about.

Now, when I went to the driving range I would out-drive nearly everyone there. I was hitting practice greens 4 of 5 tries. (One range banned me from using my driver. Their range ended at 275 yards and they were tired of picking my balls out of the woods. I was now approaching 60 years old, so I was flattered.)

Sometimes, when asked, I would help other golfers. And that’s when it hit me.

In just a few minutes, I was adding at least 20 yards to the drives of golfers who had played for years. Their ball was landing in the fairway and their slice was gone! Yet, I never talked about grip, swing plane, posture, ball position, or anything else that I had been taught by golf professionals..

Golfers kept telling me, “I can’t believe I hit it that far;” “I’ve never hit a ball that far before;” and my favorite: “It’s so simple.” The one the golfers like the best was: “Hey Bob - I beat my buddy last week. He thinks I’ve been taking lessons” Finally, the one that always means the most to me: “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”

I had somehow formulated six of the easiest golf drills that could be imagined, and they worked – not once – but over and over. The best part, most could be practiced in any small outside area. I even used to do a couple of the drills indoors, just for fun. They were simple – so simple that they could be learned in just a few minutes. Yet THEY KEPT WORKING – OVER AND OVER!

So I wrote them down… diagrammed them…. tested them… made videos of them… And the result was the simplest, yet the best golf instruction available for beginning and amateur golfers today. Try it for yourself.

Great Golfing,

Bob Vennard