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Golf

Fox Hollow pro to impart knowledge

By MIKE TOMPKINS
Published December 8, 2005

An avid collector of golf books, Tom Shea is constantly looking for the perfect swing. With a collection of approximately 600 books, dating from 1895 to the present, he's found that the golf swing is like a diet. What works for one may not work for the other. One thing that worked for Shea was a book titled Live Hands.

The book, dating to 1946, was written by E.M. Prain and discovered by Shea in the 1980s. It focuses on the importance of controlling the hands, thus controlling the swing. Shea said that "I've basically been teaching the same thing for over 20 years, so I figured I'd pass it along to my students."

As the PGA golf pro at Fox Hollow Golf Club in Trinity, Shea has plenty of opportunity to pass along information. Saturday at Fox Hollow, he will hold the first of several free clinics. The clinic is from 10 to 11:30 a.m. and space is extremely limited because of numerous holdovers from a rained-out Thanksgiving weekend clinic. Fox Hollow's phone number is (727) 376-6333. "I'm going to give more of an in-depth look into the teachings of (Live Hands), said Shea, who usually charges $50 for 30 minutes of teaching. "The book is pretty general. I'd also like to videotape everyone, so I can compare their swing with the correct swing. I've always said that there's a big difference between what people think they're doing and what they're actually doing. I pride myself on being able to assess their problem, and, ultimately, fix it."

Shea said his years of reading show that there's always more to learn.

"You'd be amazed at what's out there," Shea said. "I'm just trying to find out different ways to perfect the swing. I might say you should focus on your right hand, and the guy across the street may say you should focus with your left. I'm just trying to simplify it for people, so they can find out what works for them. It's a never-ending process."

[Last modified December 8, 2005, 00:50:19]