Your game need help? There’s a Natural solution

You may remember him for stopping shots, but you’ll love him for saving them.

Steven Sullivan, one-time Spokane Jet and long-time Cranbrook Royals hockey goalkeeper, teaches a new approach to the game of golf that is rapidly gaining favor from all corners of the sport.

It’s called “Natural Golf.”

“I played professional hockey and I played golf my whole life,” Sullivan explained. “I always struggled a little bit – I got two to four penalty strokes per round and I never got better. I stayed in the 5- to 10-handicap range. I got bored and I quit golf for about six or seven years.”

And then he discovered a new approach to the game.

“I booked a lesson on Natural Golf and two minutes into it, I knew I had to teach it,” he said.

You may have seen the Natural Golf infomercial on The Golf Channel. You might have read about it in a golfing magazine or heard about the company when it went public on the American Stock Exchange earlier this year. Or you may have seen Craig Bowden on the PGA Tour – a longtime Natural Golf proponent the company began sponsoring this year.

If you’ve missed it so far, the chances of you seeing something about the program in the future increases beginning this month.

The Golf Channel will debut a new series June 21. Titled “Golf Makeover,” the eight-week program takes five amateur golfers, from a range of abilities, and helps them remake their game. The makeover uses Natural Golf.

“These five individuals were chosen from more than 5,000 entrants, and The Golf Channel estimates there will be between 12 and 14 million viewers watching it,” Sullivan said. “The exposure from that ought to be incredible.”

And there’s more.

“We’re also working on a deal with Callaway,” he said. “We sent them 700 of our grips and right now they’re doing research and development on a new golf club. It will probably be 2005 before we see the Callaway/Natural Golf club.

“But you don’t see a marriage like that between two companies unless there’s faith on both sides.”

The Natural Golf approach to the game was inspired by autistic Canadian Golf Hall of Fame professional Moe Norman, called “the best striker of the golf ball in the game” by golf legends Sam Snead and Lee Trevino.

Ken Venture dubbed Norman “Pipeline Moe” for his ability to play the ball down the center of the fairway. In one 7-hour exhibition, Norman hit 1,540 drives. Each measured no less than 225 yards and each landed inside a 30-yard-wide zone.

Natural Golf takes Norman’s approach and teaches players to develop a powerful, repeatable and accurate swing.

The approach begins with the grip. Instead of gripping the club with the fingers, Natural Golfers are taught to hold the club in the palms, with their dominant hand gripping the club the way they would with a hammer.

“You grip a hammer in a way to generate optimum power,” Sullivan said.

“Why do you hold a hammer that way? It squares the hammer face up to the nail. You hold it in line with your wrist which allows you to hit the nail harder. No matter where you move your arm, the hammer stays in line with your arm.

“We do the same thing with a golf club. It’s much easier to square the club face to the ball at impact, and that’s what gives you accuracy.”

Once gripped, Natural Golf teaches a single-plane set up that keeps the arms in the same plane as the golf club; a wider stance than conventional golfers use to generate lower-body balance and stability and reduce hip rotation; and a swing that faces the ball at impact – a radical departure from convention, which requires a rotation of legs, trunk and hips.

Think of it this way. When manufacturers test golf equipment, they use a machine called “Iron Byron,” The machine’s swing does not include a hip rotation, interlocking grip or shoulder turn. The golf club stays on a single plane from take-away through impact.

“The results I see are unbelievably positive,” Sullivan said.

“Especially with a higher-handicapper that I work with, I hear them say they’ve never hit the ball so straight.

“One of the knocks we hear about Natural Golf is that you don’t hit the ball very far because you don’t have that big turn, but that’s definitely not true. You still hit the ball out there. And you hit it straight.”

Sullivan says his success rate with students is phenomenal.

“Whether I teach individually or in a group of five, the understandability is right there,” Sullivan said. “The success rate is staggering and there’s a sense of enjoyment and enthusiasm that is right there.

“I see people take a 5- or 6-hour lesson and they run right out and play 18 holes right away because they didn’t want to wait for the next day to try it all out. You end up playing golf instead of playing golf mechanics.”

And there’s a bonus.

“When I used to play golf the conventional way, I’d play 18 holes and then (spend) two or three days recovering.” he said. “Now I go out and hit balls all day long with no discomfort whatsoever. This is a much more natural way for the body to play the game.”