This week I would like feature and give a big recognition to Dan Muirlaslo one of Chestermere’s longtime residents. Many of you may recognize Dan from the east side of Chestermere where he and his wife have resided nice 2003. Or, you may have run into Dan at the Lakeside Golf Club where, as of this year, he is looking after managing the back shop operation.
Dan retired last year from Pan Canadian Petroleum and Cenovus where he worked as a business optimization specialist. Dan’s skills were such that he would analyze and then create more efficient processes for the oil and gas industry. Now retired and wanting to keep busy and near one of his loves of life, golf, Dan brings his enthusiasm and skill set to Lakeside greens. If you happen to be at the golf club during week day mornings you will be greeted by a smiling Dan and lay witness to his organized operation and passion for neatness and cleanliness. Dan is also a key employee for his ability to fix just about anything!
I had a chance to hit a few balls with Dan the other day and perhaps offer him a few tips. Dan is a solid golfer carrying an eight handicap who regularly shoots in the mid to high seventies. His 4o years of golf experience has given him a very simple compact golf swing. With a rather short backswing, Dan was delivering solid hit after solid hit with a nice little draw. However, one thing I noticed was that his ball flight was a bit lower than it should be. When I had him try to hit a fade he suddenly hit it much higher and straight. What had happened, is that over the years, Dan had slowly started to address the ball with a slightly shut and closed club face. To his eye, the club looked square but in actuality he was addressing the ball incorrectly.
With the minor adjustment of squaring up the club face Dan started to hit the ball much higher and straighter. His shots into greens will now land much softer and allow him to hold greens much easier. One of his complaints was that he often found his shots into greens often landing and bouncing to the back or over. Hopefully not any more!
If you find your shots are consistently drawing or fading or going too high or too low check your club face alignment. It just may be a little off and like Dan you may not realize you are doing it. This small tweak just might make the difference in knocking off a few strokes and sending you on your way to playing YOUR best golf!
