This pro says you should improve your game with every lesson

Ed Clarke is teaching professional at Fraser Golf Centre in Surrey, B.C.

For the last ten years, ‘Fast Eddy’ Clarke has been a fixture at the Fraser Golf Centre, only a chip shot from the Surrey Golf Course. It was Lee Trevino who said  there are as many ways to teach golf as there are instructors, and Fast Eddy has certainly developed his own philosophy for teaching the golf swing.  

One Sunday morning I joined Fast Eddy and two students at the driving range. Beginning with a short demo lesson, Eddy explained his approach. His premise is you can improve at every lesson and every golfer wants to hit the ball reasonably long and reasonably straight consistently. 

Eddy stressed two concepts: 
1. Proper balance is part of the setup, which includes alignment, posture, weight distribution and position of the arms. 
2. The golf swing is the same for every club in the bag.

Some fellow CPGA instructors might disagree with the latter, because hitting a wedge is very different than hitting a driver. Eddy, however, insisted that the legs (big muscles) drive the hips, which turn the body, while the arms (small muscles) and chest move as one. The arms are just going along for the ride. 

As for the ball, it gets in the way of the club face. Eddy stressed that golfers must not hit the ball, but swing through the ball. To prove his point, Eddy selected three clubs ranging from a wedge to a fairway metal and proceeded to hit all three clubs the same, without even looking at the ball.

Fast Eddy does not believe in using video. There is no Konica Minolta BizHub Swing Vision analyzing the golf swing for swing plane, angle of the wrist, drop and sit movement, rotation of the hips and every moving part until completing the follow through. Eddy explained that if the student wanted that type of analysis, he would provide it, but he believes it can result in “paralysis by analysis.” Instead, Eddy stressed the feeling of a good swing over the mechanics. 

“I am not here to impress my students with my knowledge, only to improve their golf,” he said.

Eddy is a character and you should enjoy his lessons. He is one of the few instructors who will play golf with his students, giving an 18-hole playing lesson. Now that’s pressure. 

Fast Eddy can be reached on his cell at 778-241-9927 or at the Guildford Golf Course Pro Shop.