I had the privilege of playing golf today “The Goat Patch” in Oceanside CA with Peter Beames who besides being a many time tour winner, was also Gary Player’s swing coach for many years. We had a great time talking about the golf swing, equipment and golf course architecture. Peter like myself is a persimmon player, and it was great to see him still compressing the golf ball at 65, and nearly shooting his age today. Impressive stuff.
The title of the book he wrote would find a nice home here for the module #3 students and especially the ones working on the left side torso crunch. I haven’t had a chance to read the book yet, but from our conversation today around the course and hitting shots in between the light rain coming off the Pacific Ocean, I am sure it will be filled with lots of familiar nuggets of knowledge. Slotting it deep, saving shoulder and torso rotation, the grip, acceleration through the shot with the body, and using the big muscles so one doesn’t end up “flipping” the club through impact. Peter played with all the greats and shared many stories with me today about the likes of Bobby Locke, Peter Thomson, George Knudson, Ben Hogan, Gary of course, Chi Chi, and many others.
For those on the ABS putting module, Peter loved the chip roller and said it was very similar to the approach used by Locke himself. That was nice to hear.
I’ll try to get him on here for another ABS interview soon which I am sure we will all enjoy.
Looks like you had a great time Lag. Did you have a chance to talk about any slotting specifics? Did he or Gary think much about it? Any comments from him about your active slotting innovations?
Yes, we did talk about slotting it. I didn’t really talk about my thoughts on it as I was more interested in his thoughts on it.
He cups the left wrist at the top, similar to how I do, and he likes the right elbow tucking back in to trigger the slotting. We talked about Henry Cotton and forearm rotation which he is big on… as I am also.
I think we had the same thoughts on it… mine might be a bit more extreme, just different ways of working toward the same objective.
Peter and John Ashworth are both extreme persimmon purists. You won’t find one metal wood anywhere around the studio there at Linksoul. It was such a treat to be around that kind of energy and commitment to what we know to be right. No compromising, just pure golf essence in it’s great tradition. I could hang out, talk shop and play golf with those guys every day of the year. Just very inspiring and motivating to see that kind of integrity.
Beautiful stuff. All really classic looking, especially if your playing persimmon What a nice fit. Might have to have an ABS line at some point. That would be fun. Mike Weir arrived at the same time I did, and we chatted a bit. I hadn’t spoken with him since we were playing on the Canadian Tour years ago. So it looks like he’ll be sporting some Linksoul duds this next year. He said he was going to be playing a full schedule… I hope he learned his lesson and starts transferring some weight in his swing again.
sounds like an awesome round of golf. Lag, you said Mr. Beames almost shot his age this day. quite impressive. Did you let a 65 year old man beat you ? or are you just being humble and not telling us about your performance? would like to hear about that. Very interesting about the comment about your putting he made. I hear that Bobby Locke was pretty good quite the compliment i would say.
I just felt a mutual respect for one another. He didn’t particularly believe in the value of flat lie angles as much as I do, but that is ok. I explained it to him at the studio… about how this moves the left vector of possibilities more toward the target by demonstrating the two extremes of standing close with a vertical shaft and then hitting from your knees very flat.
If the clubhead were soled correctly from a knee shot, you would not be able to pull the ball left very much. Because the OTT move is always a temptation, even for good players, so I do all I can to minimize this because OTT, especially for good players tends to ALSO shut down the loft of the clubface, or decrease the loft… so those two actions combined sends the golf ball long and left of the target which leaves a golfer with either a more difficult chip than one would have from short right… or a downhill breaking putt from the back left side of the green (in most cases, and especially on classic courses). So I think after Peter saw me play, (I only missed one green with a 3 iron by about 5 feet) he understood what I was saying or at least the logic behind it. But I don’t dispute one can play great golf with upright gear. I just think it is MUCH easier to play off flatter gear because it puts the club more behind your body in a very natural way.
What a nice fit. Might have to have an ABS line at some point. That would be fun. Mike Weir arrived at the same time I did, and we chatted a bit. I hadn’t spoken with him since we were playing on the Canadian Tour years ago. So it looks like he’ll be sporting some Linksoul duds this next year. He said he was going to be playing a full schedule… I hope he learned his lesson and starts transferring some weight in his swing again.
? or are you just being humble and not telling us about your performance? would like to hear about that. Very interesting about the comment about your putting he made. I hear that Bobby Locke was pretty good 
quite the compliment i would say.