WE loved this recent rediscovery of some well-aged advice from golfing great Gene Sarazen on ‘What makes a good senior golfer?’
Back in 1965 the seven time major winner and then 63 year old penned a two page article for GOLF Magazine explaining how he managed to continue to play so well.
“I will let you in on a small secret,” Sarazen wrote. “I do have one swing recipe for keeping your swing young and healthy that has, I think, been responsible for much of the success I’ve had in recent years.”
What we liked about his little ‘secret’ was that it was simple, makes sense and would be easy to follow his example and do every.
“I swing a 22-ounce [quite heavy] driver when I’m not playing,” Sarazan revealed. “I find this keeps my hands and wrists strung and in-tune. I don’t play nearly as much as I used to, but keeping the hands and golfing muscles in shape helps immensely in maintaining timing and clubhead feel. Not a day goes by that I don’t swing my heavy driver.”
As the recent article by Luke Kerr-Dineen in GOLF Magazine on Sarazin explains, a a 22-ounce driver is heavy, even in the days of persimmon and steel.
“Most amateurs swing drivers nowadays that weigh-in at about 310 grams, the equivalent of just over 10 ounces. So a 22-ounce driver is the equivalent of swinging two modern-day drivers. Take a few swings and you’ll see it’s not easy, but Sarazen used to swing that weight around every day, well into his 60s,” Kerr-Dineen says.
Sarazen apparently used a training club and there are various heavy weighted modern equivalents around. “…but he says if you don’t have one of those, you can use a sand wedge. Something with “plenty of head weight” will do the job, he says.”
Reading the article I kept being reminded of seeing baseballers swinging two or three bats to help limber up before going into bat… and maybe hoping the practice doesn’t take off on golf tees.
Also, until recently I had a big, heavy old straw broom out in the backyard, with which I used to practice swinging. Not sure what it actually did for my golf swing; but it sure made great “swishing” sounds.
Gene Sarazan, circa 1922 vs. 1967 pic.twitter.com/dwy4Pc7jsn
— LKD (@LukeKerrDineen) February 9, 2021