ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, July 18, 1996 TAG: 9607180022
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Off the Clock
SOURCE: CHRIS HENSON
If you want to have fun playing golf, I've got the secret.
Look at your right heel.
It's probably the secret of life, too. I don't know. But, I've tried to play golf on several occasions and humiliated myself in front of friends who own several pairs of golf shoes. That's changing for two very important reasons: 1) I don't hang out with them any more; 2) I'm looking at my right heel.
Ruby Shinault has never been to the Drive-A-Way golf-driving range before. But, now she's sitting on a bench watching her 8-year-old grandson Daniel swing a tiny driver at a bucket of golf balls.
"Did you see that?" asks Daniel excitedly.
"Wow, that one went a long way," she says
Daniel leans back on his right foot, a determined look in his eye. A slight breeze cocks his cowlick. And he brings the club around with a grunt popping the ball up into the rafters where it ricochets and plops a few feet behind him.
"Did you see THAT?"
"Yes," says his grandmother. "Now, you be careful."
The Drive-A-Way Golf Center on Apperson Drive in Salem has been in business for around 50 years, according to its owner, Kathy Hull. The driving range is where golfers go to get better at golfing. Pro or amateur, the idea is to perfect one element of your game.
"Anyone will tell you that the most crucial aspect of golf is developing one swing that you can use with all 14 clubs," Hull says. That's what people do here. Young and old they stand on the Astroturf tee areas, at the crest of a hill, and smack anywhere between 40 and 140 golf balls out into the grass below. Each swipe, she says, gets them closer to that perfect swing.
Bill and Susan Hill, never golf much. But they've got a cousin, Eric Chitester, 13, visiting from Buffalo. Eric is a golfer. You can see it in the way he concentrates before each swing. "There it is," he says each time he connects just right. "That's the one."
The Hills' two sons, Michael, 12, and Paul, 9, are hacking away a few tees down. "I can hit farther than you," says Michael.
"Huh uh," says Paul. "Hey Mom, watch what I can do." A fluorescent yellow golf ball rolls a few feet in front of Paul's colorful shoes.
"They both play a lot of soccer and baseball and basketball," says dad apologetically. "They've never played golf before. ... We're trying to balance the sports thing."
On a recent vacation, my father-in-law, Charlie, took me to Dorsey Meade's Golf School and Par Three Golf Course on Military Highway in Chesapeake. "If you don't let someone teach you a little about golf," Charlie said, "you'll never enjoy it."
This sentiment was echoed by Dorsey Meade, an 82-year-old Class "A" golf pro, as he started my lesson. Meade gave me a few demonstration swings. "Don't grip tight with your right hand," he said. "Just let the club fall and pinch the ground right behind the ball."
He handed me the club and told me to take a shot at an old golf ball. I raised my head as I was swinging so I could see where the ball went. That made the club hit the top of the ball sending a grounder just a few feet in front of me.
"Here's what I want you to do," he said. "Keep your eye on the ball. And after you swing don't look up. Instead I want you to look at your right heel." He said this as if he were using magic words. "Now try again."
I brought the club around and as soon as I finished lightly swatting the ball I looked back at my right heel. After a moment Meade said, "Now look where your ball went." I had hit the ball straight about a hundred yards. Something I'd never done before.
This was fun.
"You see," he said. "Golf is just like religion. You've got to have faith to keep your head down and look at your heel and know that the ball is going where you want it to go. You can't see God, but you know he's there. And you can't watch your ball after you hit it. You have to have faith."
In 25 minutes, Meade had given me a decent swing, for a beginner. Later, when Charlie and I played a round, I managed to par two holes and birdie another. That's golf talk for pretty durned good.
Now I'm going to the driving range maybe once a week. I'm practicing with my driver and my nine iron.
"I can hit one that far," says Daniel Shinault. The 8-year-old is standing behind me and watching with his arms folded across his Atlanta Braves shirt.
I concentrate more on the next ball ... head down ... the club is loose in my right hand ... drop the club so it pinches the turf right behind the ball ball has gone almost 200 yards. "Daniel," I say. "Can you hit one that far?"
"No, but my dad can."
The Drive-A-Way is open every day of the week from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Forty balls are $4. 140 are $9. You can rent a club for a quarter, or bring your own.
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