ABOUT ME
Alan Martin (the real ME)
was born in New York City, grew up and went to school on Long Island. At
five-foot, seven-inches and 150 pounds I was an unlikely future star in the
NFL, but that didn't discourage or stop me from trying. Between 1976 and
1979 I had six pro tryouts as a place-kicker. Throughout my childhood I
played, watched or thought about sports constantly and taught myself to play
golf by watching on TV. Because I already played baseball and hockey,
hitting a golf ball came naturally to me. Being an athlete was not
only my passion; it’s played a key role in shaping all aspects of my life.
In fact, I credit my participation in sports for the competitive,
do-it-yourselfer’s attitude and my entrepreneurial spirit. For me, golf is
more than just another game. It’s a major component of my lifestyle and a
part of my DNA structure.
Upon graduating from college, my
career path took me into sales in the
technology industry. Today I live in New Jersey, after
moving and starting a family during the decade of the 1980s. Throughout the
good and mostly challenging times, I was successful enough to afford a
middle class living, in regional sales for many small software
companies, until early 2006. Throughout those years, golf was the one
constant in my life and the only sport I continued to play on
a regular basis. Even while coaching my children as they played youth
sports, I found a way to support my habit of playing at least one weekend
round, nine months out of the year.
During the late 1980’s, life came at me fast. In my mid
thirties with a full-time family life and career to manage, just finding the
time to play the game and practice to maintain a single-digit handicap was
becoming a stretch. All at once I was a new father with a career in
transition. At the same time, my golf game mysteriously took a turn for the
worse. I remember one depressing moment of weakness as it was hitting rock
bottom, when I thought about giving up golf for a while. Down deep, I always
believed the problem was only temporary, and soon I’d find the key to
getting my old game back. As much as I wanted to enjoy myself, the golf game
I was playing embarrassed and frustrated me more than ever before. Good, bad
or ugly, I needed my weekly fix.
The next obvious question I would expect to be asked is, why
wouldn’t you just go to a pro for help with your game? My simple answer is,
I could have and if you’re a beginner you definitely should. A solid
foundation is important in any sport, especially golf. For me, it always
came down to one or more of these three factors: time, money, or simplicity.
The first two speak for themselves.
In terms of simplicity, golf books, golf magazines, and
watching instruction on TV didn’t keep it simple enough.
I couldn't relate to them as
they were overly technical, focusing too much on making the perfect swing.
A major benefit of Thumbs Down®
The POWER
MOVE of Golf and this book is that they were created and written by me, an average Joe
amateur golfer, just like most of you.
Upon discovering a simple and powerful move at impact that squared the club,
cured my out-of-control slice, plus added distance and accuracy I only
dreamed about, I wanted to share it with fellow amateurs that like ME, want
to improve ...with a passion. It always puzzled me as I watched a comparison of pros
swinging in slow motion. Anyone could easily see how different each player’s
swing was, as compared to the other. My eyes always zoomed in on the impact
zone in the golf swing, seeing how similar they all looked while striking
the ball and just after.
It disturbed me every time the announcers glanced over the
moment of truth, concentrating their explanations on the mechanics of the
swing instead. My eyes glazed over with confusion, when the experts gave a
detailed description of the player’s swing in a language only physics majors
understand, not me. Almost everything I saw, heard, and read encouraged me
to believe that consistent ball striking was the result of proper swing
fundamentals, and centrifugal force squared the club naturally. Maybe it’s
natural for those who play and practice full-time, but for myself and the
majority of recreational players I play with,
there’s nothing natural about
it.
Even though the game of golf continues to gain in popularity,
it’s not growing in size. Personally, I believe the average Joe (male or
female) is tired of not improving quickly enough, like the commercials
guarantee. Golf is a difficult game to play and it requires years of
learning and practice to play it well. Equally as important, people by
nature don’t like to do things at which they’re not good at. I can only imagine
how confusing it is for newer golfers to learn and understand the complex
terminology I often hear. Since finding answers in simple terms isn’t easy,
I felt I needed to share the simple solution I discovered during the process
of curing my own out-of-control slice,
and improving my golf swing.
My message stresses
using the hands and wrists to make
a simple power move at impact,
as the #1
priority versus making a pretty swing. Since I live in an amateur’s shoes
everyday, I have a first-hand understanding of the challenges we face that
some pros may have forgotten or may never personally have had. After
experimenting on several willing amateurs and myself for years, it was easy
to see how well the power move worked and how easily golfers could
teach it to themselves, in minutes. For fellow amateurs,
Thumbs Down®
The POWER
MOVE of Golf
is the missing ingredient we’ve been looking for. Now it
was time to throw my hat in the ring, with a solution for the masses that
worked and offered “simplicity at last”.
This book was written for the millions of serious "everyman"
recreational golfers that want to improve and was never intended as an anti-lesson
or anti-pro gimmick. It’s not the complete book of golf instruction or
positioned as a substitute for taking lessons and learning the game from a
certified PGA teaching professional. I respect and admire professional
instructors, for the important role they play and all they do to improve and
promote the great game of golf. After all, they teach Tour players, right?
What kept me motivated during a longer than expected process,
was I knew I had something that could be really big, maybe even
revolutionary. My research confirmed that the
Thumbs Down®
The POWER
MOVE of Golf
was based on the same ball striking fundamentals used by the best
players and taught by top instructors. The light bulb finally went off in my
mind, when for the first time there was a simple answer to my question,
“what do I do now”, just before the club strikes the ball. After years of
desperately searching for the answer to that question, it came down to this
thought; “just make a Thumbs Down
at the golf ball as you strike it”. What could be simpler? My dream is that
one day the Thumbs Down®
The POWER
MOVE of Golf
will be recognized as
the
simple answer
the average Joe’s been searching for, and that I provided it.
Everything happens for a reason, is an expression that fits.
Call it fate or destiny, but the terrible golf seasons I had between 1989
and 1993 turned out to be the springboard for my future career change as a
golf inventor, author and entrepreneur. Like most inventions, it all started
with a problem that needed to be solved. In this case, self-preservation is
a better description. If you’re a serious golfer like me, you understand how
much of a priority it was to fix my problem.
Finally,
after years of searching for a solution, the WOW moment came one afternoon
in the summer of 1995 by the club’s practice green. Not only was it
exciting, but in the process I had just solved for myself the same problem
also suffered by fellow amateur golfers, all around the world. For me
Thumbs Down®
The POWER
MOVE of Golf was priceless. It was so simple, effective and repeatable; For me, it was like
discovering the Holy Grail we’ve all been searching for.
.
AJM Marketing Enterprises, LLC
Copyright 2012, All rights reserved
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