CARL LOHREN

 

 

   "Carl Lohren was a college classmate and long-standing friend, but that was not the reason I accepted his system. I had enough knowledge to recognize that what Carl was telling me was right. He gave me a road map, a structure, a framework for the golf swing. In the future it would prevent me from going up the blind alleys we all travel in searching for the secret to an effective, repeating golf swing. That was the significance of the system which Carl outlined for me, and it is the significance of One Move to Better Golf.

 

   Most people who learn golf do so in a disjointed, piecemeal manner. Too seldom has the golfer been made to realize that everything he does in the golf swing must fit into a structure which helps him build an effective swing. One Move to Better Golf relates to your primary goal of striking a golf shot in the most effective manner, and it tells you how to accomplish it. It will appeal to an intelligent, organized mind because it provides something you can believe in.When you have something to believe in, a couple of things happen. First, that belief will in itself lower your anxiety level and help you perform better. Secondly, it will enable you to know what you have to do to produce the kind of shot you need so that you can focus your mind on that. This breeds a great deal of confidence because you know where you are going and how you are going to get there.The human mind is a goal-seeking mechanism. It will respond to an objective, but if it tries to deal with unrelated parts that conflict with each other, it can’t properly and consistently seek that goal. Lohren’s system provides a clear, identifiable way to achieve specific goals in your golf swing. His concept becomes simple and logical because it is properly structured. The mind can handle it. It is built around basic precepts that are easily recalled. A golf swing that is built on total muscle memory—as I had tried to build mine—is subject to the ups and downs of your emotional makeup and the problems of the hour. That kind of swing depends on your ability to block out interference and leave the mind blank so that your muscle memory can work. Try not to think about what you are not supposed to think about. That’s very difficult for the mind to deal with. It can easily be directed toward a specific thought or goal, a triggering action, but it cannot deal so readily with fending off bad thoughts. On the other hand, a well-reasoned, simple system that you can call on in times of stress makes your swing stronger under pressure. One Move to Better Golf is not telling you how Carl Lohren plays or how Deane Beman plays. Carl is saying that this is what the great swingers do and what you can do to play better. Some will read this book and conclude that the movement of the left shoulder is the secret. Obviously that is of paramount importance because that is where it all starts. But to me the secret of the book is the system, a precise and logical approach to the golf swing that puts all of the golf-swing fundamentals in clear and proper perspective.There is nothing magical about this system. I have been using it for seven years now, and I am still learning. It will have an immediate beneficial effect on your golf swing. Naturally, to keep improving you must work at this as at anything else worthwhile. After you have read this book, I think you will be willing to work. People tend to seek the easy way—a shortcut, a gimmick—unless they can be convinced there is a sure way. Once they are given a reasoned, integrated system and have full knowledge of it, they will put effort into making it work.The depth of knowledge of the golf swing contained in this book is much greater and more explicit than I have seen presented before. It is laid out in such a clear-cut, logical way that, in my opinion, it will be the cornerstone of golf instruction for the foreseeable future."

    Deane Beman, Four-Time PGA Tour Winner, Two-Time U.S. Amateur Winner, British Amateur Winner, Commissioner of the PGA Tour (1974-1994)