If It Ain't Broke

In the history of this great game, there have been well documented tales of leading golfers falling from grace after seeking to refine their games or reconstruct their swings after a winning breakthrough.

Ian Baker-Finch is one such sad story. After winning The Open Championship in 1991, it seemed like the world was at his feet but a combination of factors, including his desire to hit the ball longer, meant he kept tinkering with his game.

Soon enough, he was struck by “Paralysis by analysis”, a phrase coined by Gary Player while renowned golf guru David Leadbetter chipped in by saying: “Ian needed just one pill, and instead he took the whole bottle.”

At his lowest ebb, Baker-Finch snap-hooked his opening drive at the 1995 Open Championship in St Andrews so far left that his ball rolled across the first and 18th fairways and out of bounds. It was apparently the only time that a golfer, either amateur or professional, had done so with his wayward shot going 170 yards dead left.

Years later, Finch, now a successful golf commentator in America, ruefully said: “My muscles have no memory of that old swing. It’s gone forever.”

Golf’s fickleness and a golfer’s obsession to find the perfect golf swing pose a real danger to those seeking immortality, as show in Baker-Finch’s unfortunate career nose-dive.

Reigning Asian Tour number one Anirban Lahiri of India, whose swing is not quite the most text-book of swings, probably describes it best when he explained why he opted to work with coach Vijay Divecha.

“I saw a few coaches before going to him. The others all told me to tear down my swing but Vijay never wanted me to copy a swing. He told me to keep my natural abilities but put my fundamentals in place. He didn’t want to teach me something that I am not,” said Lahiri.

Like, they say, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. You just need to oil it.