ARIZONA FEATURE

Longbow Golf Club, Apache Creek Golf Club and Alta Mesa Country Club Stand Out for Gregg Downey

November 13, 1998
Desert Sands Golf Course head professional Gregg Downey has found a way of combining the mental game of golf with solid techniques and awareness. This two-time All American from Portland State University truly enjoys the game and teaching it even more.

"The first thing I do is to have my students read a book titled The Inner Game of Golf by Timothy Gallway," Downey said. "It's a good book which teaches how to play the game with inner vision and it's important to gain an internal awareness of the game right from the beginning. When people start playing golf they have a tendency to dissect their swing. They are concerned if they are turning too much to the left or to the right. They are thinking so much about how to do it that it hurts their performance. They think too much. This affects the flow of their swing.

"So the first thing I do is have them go through awareness drills so that they can improve through awareness rather than does and don'ts. We don't concentrate on the flaws of the swing. We concentrate on feeling the difference between right and wrong. We work on relaxation. You can't swing smoothly if your muscles are tense or if you are thinking about tomorrow's four o'clock appointment."

Once having drilled his students on awareness and relaxation techniques Downey gets down to the business of proper mechanics.

"I look at the overall swing first then I select one or two things about it that I know we could build upon," Downey said. "Every swing is different and I try to find the area which will improve the swing the most. We focus on that and the swing naturally corrects itself."

Downey also considers proper alignment an important factor in improving one's golf game.

"Getting a person properly aligned will get their swing to improve," Downey said. "I start with the grip. One of the most common errors I see is the middle hand not getting through the shot. Also, I do not instruct my students to throw and rotate their hips. I work with shoulder rotation. I teach them to throw their shoulders to the target rather than their hips. By rotating the shoulders its easier to keep the club head on it's proper plane and the club head square. It also helps to avoid back injuries and it creates a more balanced swing."

Downey came to Desert Sands Golf Course this past may from his head pro position at the Meriwether National Golf Club in Portland, Oregon. He started playing golf at the age of 12 and made his decision to turn pro at the age of 14.

"I loved the game since I first picked up the club," Downey said. "I loved it over football, baseball and every other sport kids play at that age. At the age of 26 I finally turned pro." During his development Downey played mini-tours in Australia, Canada and Southern California. When he came to Arizona he fell in love with its bountiful golf courses.

"There are just so many good courses to play in Arizona," Downey said. "I like to play a lot of different ones but those which stand out for me are Longbow Golf Club, Apache Creek Golf Club and Alta Mesa Country Club, which are all in Mesa. These courses are fun to play and challenging at the same time."

Downey described his own course at Desert Sands Country Club.

"It's and extremely challenging executive course requiring pinpoint accuracy," Downey said. "It's that way with every green, all eighteen holes. You have to hit the ball accurately or you will place yourself in an extremely difficult two-putt position. Also, the greens are very undulated and well kept."

Downey has a 12 year old daughter named Miranda and a three year old son named Logan who is already learning how to play golf.

"Yes, he's already learning and he's learning how to hit it hard," the proud father said. "He says 'I hit it hard, Daddy'. I love it."