{"id":110,"date":"2010-09-07T07:56:10","date_gmt":"2010-09-07T07:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peterandraes.com\/?p=110"},"modified":"2011-04-13T16:02:30","modified_gmt":"2011-04-13T16:02:30","slug":"how-tiger-gets-his-mojo-back-part-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/peterandraes\/golf\/personalities\/110\/how-tiger-gets-his-mojo-back-part-two","title":{"rendered":"How Tiger gets his Mojo Back – Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018How Tiger gets his Mojo Back\u2019<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Part Two:<\/strong><\/p>\n

– The Zone at Twilight \u2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

Inside each and every one of us <\/strong><\/em>is our true, authentic swing.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Something we was born with, <\/strong><\/em>Something that\u2019s ours and ours alone,<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Something that\u2019s got to be remembered.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The trick is to find your authentic swing,<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

somewhere within the harmony of <\/strong><\/em>all that is, all that was, and all that will be<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Legend of Bagger Vance <\/em><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/a>

10th tee at Palmer Park, 'Golden Hour', Mid-July<\/p><\/div>\n

I learned to play golf at Palmer Park in Detroit, Michigan. In\u00a0the 1960\u2019s, this former country club bordered by a 300+ acre forest, was one\u00a0of the most exciting places on Earth. Adjacent to Detroit Golf Club, its woods were home to deer, rabbits, possums, raccoons, ducks, geese, and\u00a0songbirds. To a young boy, Palmer Park was a very enchanting place.<\/p>\n

In my youth, Palmer Park was also a nexus (gathering place)\u00a0for Detroit\u2019s growing multi-ethnic middle class, and thriving Afro-American golf community.\u00a0The upscale Palmer Woods neighborhood next to it was home\u00a0to prominent business people, doctors, dentists, lawyers, engineers, artists, teachers,\u00a0judges, & elected officials – everybody who was anybody.<\/p>\n

Palmer Park was a true melting pot, and one of the few places in America where all classes, races, and sexes truly played golf together. Palmer Park drew the top amateur golfers of all races and cultures, as\u00a0well as local police, firemen, and autoworkers. Many celebrities played\u00a0there too including boxing legend Joe Louis, Motown founder Berry Gordy, composer Norman Whitfield, singing stars Smokey Robinson and Marvin Gaye, as well\u00a0as sports stars Dave Bing (basketball superstar and current Detroit\u00a0mayor), and Lem Barney (football superstar and hall of fame).<\/p>\n

I began golf and martial arts at the same time (age 9) and intuitively fused them together. One day, at the age of 12, while doing some karate movements before teeing off, my playing partners that day, Marvin\u00a0Gaye and Smokey, nicknamed me \u2018Karate Pete\u2019 that they shortened to \u2018Karate’.<\/p>\n

Palmer Park was also home to local entrepreneurs who also had the leisure time and the money to play golf. And as a result of\u00a0these colorful characters, Palmer Park was nationally known as a \u2018hustlers\u2019 golf\u00a0course, and featured in a June 16th, 1966 Time Magazine <\/em>article titled \u2018Soul\u00a0Golf\u2019.<\/p>\n

Many of Palmer\u2019s hustlers came from the Southern United\u00a0States where they learned to play as caddies. They all had colorful nicknames like\u00a0\u2018Georgia Boy\u2019, \u2018Hawkeye\u2019, \u2018Tennessee\u2019, \u2018Pepsi\u2019 (shorten version for his hometown of Pensacola, Florida)\u2019, and \u2018Mississippi Junior\u2019.\u00a0Palmer\u2019s cast included \u2018Rev\u2019, reverend Ralph Hart (who is white, but vibes black). \u2018Rev\u2019 usually played with \u2018Prime\u2019, (so named because he looked like the Prime Minister of Nigeria), \u2018Little Oscar\u2019 (who was nearly 5 foot tall but played like he was 10 feet tall), and \u2018Sugar Jim\u2019 (so named for his huge heart and sweet demeanor). \u2018Rev\u2019 shouted, \u201cHeavenly Days\u201d after every good shot. Without doubt, \u2018Rev\u2019 was\/is anointed by the Holy Spirit, for voice carried very far, and his joyous Southern twang was always inexplicably uplifting.<\/p>\n

Nearly every afternoon from the spring through fall, the \u20185 O\u2019clock Train\u2019\u00a0would depart from the first or tenth tees. This \u2018train\u2019, composed of a dozen or\u00a0more foursomes, paid \u2018Little Oscar\u2019, (the conductor) a $5.00 fee that formed a\u00a0cash, \u2018kitty\u2019, that the lowest scorer would win. This sum was very small compared to all\u00a0the numerous side bets that, at times, reached $100,000 for nine holes.\u00a0Every summer the best African-American tour professionals visited Palmer on\u00a0their way to the PGA Tour\u2019s Buick Open.<\/p>\n

The immortal Teddy Rhodes, and trailblazing\u00a0Lee Elder (the first Afro-American to play in the Masters) came to\u00a0Palmer. Charlie Sifford, Pete Brown, Rafe Botts, Jim Dent, and Chuck Thorpe (Jim\u2019s younger brother and an earlier version of Tiger Woods) also visited each summer to\u00a0battle our best. Palmer\u2019s roster featured over a hundred players who were scratch or better. The competition was fierce. This included Afro-American P.G.A. club pros Chris Williams, Ben Davis, Tommy Horton, Sie Willis, Eddie Leonard, as well as Public Links champions\u2019 Andrew\u00a0\u2018Woody\u2019 Woodward, and Curtis Walker. It also featured world-class amateurs Dave \u2018DSR\u2019\u00a0Brown, Eddie Simmons, Fred \u20183 Eagles\u2019 Neal, Larry Long, T.C. Richardson, Tom Truss, white firemen Ed Sabol and \u2018Buck\u2019 Jacobs (father of Janina), Kent Williams, and the inimitable Sherry \u2018The Rifleman\u2019 Wellons. Palmer Park\u2019s finest players usually beat every P.G.A. Tour player who came to gamble out of their hard-earned money.<\/p>\n

As a youth, it was thrilling to stand in the gallery behind the first tee watching these\u00a0great players launched drive after drive far into the distance, then to follow the action as they battled around the course. It was Palmer\u2019s \u2018Golden Age\u2019. Being raised around such skilled athletes, in such an idyllic setting, and at such a perfect time created a confluence that changed my golf and life forever. For, on one particularly glorious July afternoon in 1966 — as I happened to be in the right state of being, in the right place, and at the right time — a door between two worlds opened before me, I intuitively stepped inside, <\/em>and traversed the Zone<\/em> at twilight.<\/p>\n

– The Magical In-Between –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Palmer Park @ Golden Hour<\/p><\/div>\n

In Michigan, during the heart of summer, twilight seemed to last forever. In the late afternoon golden sunbeams illuminated the corridors of towering Dutch Elms that guarded the fairways, highlighted the flags on distant greens, and bathed the subtlest contours of Palmer\u2019s golf-scape in shadow. After the 5\u00a0O\u2019clock train had departed, I teed-off alone, under a bright blue sky.\u00a0I played the first three holes in even par. I was happily content, enjoying, in solitude, the beauty & tranquility of the golf\u00a0course.<\/p>\n

Just before sunset I arrived at the 4th<\/sup> tee. The 4th<\/sup> hole is a 340-yard dogleg that angles\u00a0right. The fairway is aligned to the East, so that in the late afternoon the setting sun illuminates the flight of a white\u00a0golf ball in contrast against the blue of the sky. Thick woods\u00a0border the entire right side of the hole. And the green is tucked into a cul-de-sac of trees that form a cathedral-like canopy above.\u00a0Into this idyllic setting I stepped, and hit an absolutely magnificent 3-wood just\u00a0past the corner of the dogleg.<\/p>\n

As I approached my ball I began to hear and feel a soft humming vibration that seemed to emanate from the forest. The\u00a0air began to sparkle with tiny flecks of scintillating light. This vibration increases in intensity, then deepened, bottomed out, and disappeared into silence\u2026 like the sound of water running flat.\u00a0Goosebumps appeared on my arms, my belly tightened, and my\u00a0body tingled as energy spiraled through me from the soles of my feet to my\u00a0crown. As the energy channels in my body opened wider, I surged with power. And for the first time in my life, I physically experienced the \u2018Ki<\/em>\u2019 energy my Karate<\/em> Sensei<\/em> (teacher) had spoken about.<\/p>\n

After I reached my drive and prepared to hit my second shot, a full\u00a0pitching wedge to the green, I became enveloped in silence, and my mind came to a standstill. I focused on the spiral in my belly, coiled tight\u00a0to the top of my swing, and effortlessly uncoiled through impact. The energetic sensation at\u00a0impact felt like lightening! My shot flew high and straight, landed below the flag, and rolled into the cup for an eagle!<\/p>\n

As I walked to the elevated tee of the 5th<\/sup> hole, a straight, 275-yard par-4, I bristled with energy. As I prepared to hit, silence enveloped me. My mind came to standstill. I coiled tight then unleashed through\u00a0impact. Craaaaack! My drive leaped into the sky and disappeared in the dusk. As I approached the green, I saw my ball next to the flag. A second eagle two!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The Zone at Twilight<\/p><\/div>\n

As twilight deepened, Palmer Park took on an enchanted quality and appeared lustrous with great depth of field — as if it was underwater. A luminous, iridescent web-like matrix of light appeared to interpenetrate my body, the golf course, forest, and evening\u00a0sky. The sunset\u2019s colors glowed more brightly, richly, deeply, and vibrantly than usual — in a palate of ethereal pastels like a Maxfield Parrish watercolor.\u00a0Palmer Park glowed in translucent radiance. As I walked through the avenue of sycamore trees between the 5th<\/sup> green and the 6th<\/sup> tee, I began to faintly hear the Sound Current. A herald of muted horns rang out far, far in the distance, as a delicate whisper of strings,\u00a0flutes, and woodwinds floated upon the evening breeze. A celestial choir swelled and soared high above, then dissolved into the twilight. This music pierced me like a cold wind.<\/p>\n

Playing in this magical in-between, at twilight, I birdied the 6th<\/sup>, 7th<\/sup>, and 8th<\/sup> holes, then nearly aced the par-3 9th<\/sup> hole, when my tee shot hit the base of the flagstick. I had played the last six holes 8-under\u00a0par, effortlessly, magically, hitting shot after shot, after shot, in the sweet-spot.<\/p>\n

After I left the 9th<\/sup> green, I paused next to the first tee to watch the last\u00a0colors leave the sky, and the first stars appear. As I walked to the bus for a short ride, home my body tingled with energy as I recalled my play.\u00a0This transcendent high and its afterglow lasted late into the evening, and\u00a0followed me to the edge of sleep. That night I dreamt of flying. I still\u00a0remember soaring — wings outstretched — the wind rushed past my face\u2026\u00a0as I look down on Palmer Park, and the 4th<\/sup> hole, far below me\u2026<\/p>\n

Suddenly, I am roused from this reverie by a golf course marshal who informs me that it\u2019s closing time. I snap back into present time. It\u2019s 1991, and I\u2019m still sitting next to #18 at A.S.U. \u00a0Night has come. The sky is dark and filled with stars. I slowly get to my feet, walk to the parking lot, get in my SUV, and drive home. It\u2019s past 9:00 pm when I arrive at the abode of my host and best friend, Mitch Ballou. I am so utterly stunned at what I\u2019ve just witnessed Tiger do that I don\u2019t bother to eat, or to shower. I just sit on the sofa in Mitch\u2019s front room in total darkness — totally dumbfounded — and stare off into space. Tiger not only did things I\u2019d never seen — and I\u2019ve seen a lot — he did things I never imagined. When Mitch and his girl, Alexia Adams, arrive home well after midnight, they find me still sitting in the dark staring off into space\u2026totally blown away.<\/p>\n

The next day I call Earl at his home in Cypress, California. As a player I want to know more about Tiger\u2019s Inner-Swing<\/em>, Hyper-Drive,<\/em> and how to launch my shots deep into Hyper-Space. And as a teacher I want to know how and where they learned it. As he speaks about Tiger, and his Green Beret-based philosophy of golf as a martial art and form of combat — The Art of the Warrior<\/em> — our friendship and my training with him begins.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018How Tiger gets his Mojo Back\u2019 Part Two: – The Zone at Twilight \u2013 Inside each and every one of… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":112,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2903,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-peak-performance","category-personalities"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/peterandraes\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/27\/2010\/09\/Palmer-Park-Clubhouse.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/peterandraes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/peterandraes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/peterandraes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/peterandraes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/peterandraes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/peterandraes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":691,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/peterandraes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110\/revisions\/691"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/peterandraes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/peterandraes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/peterandraes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/peterandraes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}