Lessons from a Legend

Our final day at Jekyll Island included individual lessons for everyone with legendary Hall of Fame teacher Manuel de la Torre.
Manuel, though 87 years old gave lessons to each player, which included everything from swing mechanics, short game tips, putting help, and a talk about scoring and managing oneself on the golf course.
A hallmark of a lesson with Manuel is him asking the student many questions and it is always a great feeling when the answer is met with a response from Manuel of "yes, that's exactly correct!" Sometimes it feels like the questions he asks are trick questions as he is looking for a very specific response. For instance, one player was asked the question "What do you hit the golf ball with?" They responded "the clubface", "the proper spot on the clubface", "the front of the clubhead". With each response Manuel gently said "No, what do you hit the golf ball with?" until the response he was looking for was given..."the club". In Manuel's teaching the words he uses are specific and precise in their meaning and usage and in his concept of the golf swing, the whole club is always the emphasis, not the clubhead!
After 8 lessons and lunch Manuel told me this is the most talented group of Macalester golfers he's seen in the 9 years he's worked with Mac golfers. So now it's up to everyone to get back to work to figure out how to take those talents and translate them into top performances. Now the fun begins!

Martha