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James Dodson

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a decade ago when he signed on with Henry-Griffitts, a pioneer in dynamic clubfitting, and realized the "safe" path of teaching at an old-line club might not be as safe as it seemed, at least to his sanity. "I'd ruffled a few feathers but the old Yankee members were fine," he says." "It was the newcomers-the ones who had a little so-called knowledge-¬who made things difficult. Like that prisoner, 1 needed to take a peek at beauty, to risk everything."
   Among other things, he studied aikido, a type of martial art, and the Alexander Technique, a method of releasing unwanted tension, intensely for more than six years, discovering "that I'd been in the role of a teacher for years when, in fact, 1 was hungry to be a student again¬- very useful perspective."
   His aikido teacher was a man who had been injured as a young construction worker, confined to a wheelchair, and told he would never walk again. ''When 1 met' him, he was flying through the air, liberated by his own body, proving beyond any doubt that intellectual intelligence is very limited," Shea recalls, "Quite a gift, huh?"
   When the student truly desires a teacher, a famous Eastern proverb goes, one will appear on the road. But will the student notice and truly surrender his old life?
   All mystical rumination aside, playing the royal and ancient game of golf, one learns from hanging around with Shea, really may be easier than we think. Whatever we have, we're halfway there,
   "Trying to hit a golf ball the so-called 'right' way is the second least effective thing you can do;' Shea says. "Trying to avoid doing it 'wrong' is the least effective thing you can do:"
   Not long ago, a group of elderly women engaged Shea to teach them to play the game, "I gave three 90-minute seminars; he says. ”They were complete beginners, most of whom had never even swung al club in their lives. They had no idea how to even hold the club, and in some cases, couldn't get the ball airborne:”
   He began by explaining to them that; despite all they've heard to the contrary! from husbands and boyfriends, golf is really easy. To begin with, the ball is sitting still. It has no idea where it's supposed to go. The player gets to pick the target and supply the intention to send it there. He showed them a few basics and turned them loose on the range, advising them to feel the joy and let 'em fly, liberated as pre-schoolers- ¬golf with no boundaries, no rules, no right' or wrong way.
   "By the end of the session, all of them were hitting the balls as if they’d been playing for years,” he recalls, not thinking-hitting. A few were nailing balls out there with 3 woods. It was beautiful to watch, such complete human joyfulness. The most gratifying teaching experience I’ve had in a long time.”