There may not be a man or woman in this country who is truly satisfied with their golf swing. Even as the best golfers in the world descend upon Bethpage Black this weekend, all but one will go home frustrated with their game. (Though in their defense, it’s hard to hit a fairway when it’s under half a foot of water.) For most of us, the only chance at any sort of improvement is playing an occasional eighteen holes, or perhaps hitting a bucket of balls at the local driving range. But when you’ve got the resources of Mike Bloomberg, there are all sorts of expensive ways to incrementally improve your game.
In a story in today’s Times, we learn that Bloomberg has hired two professional golfers to help improve his swing, is a member of four different exclusive clubs, and owns a “digital simulator to measure the speed of his swing and the distance of his shot.” According to City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, he’s become “obsessed” with the game, and though he was once pretty terrible, he now routinely shoots between 80 and 90.
And he could be even better, if not for his pesky day job. (Donald Trump, who of course never exaggerates things, says that if Bloomberg “had more time to play, he’d be a terror.”) It’s probably true, though. Joe Bruno shares an anecdote about the time he invited Bloomberg to try a special driver designed to test a player’s swing. The head of the club swivels if the player’s swing is flawed, and Bruno says it “flipped and flopped” when Bloomberg tried it. But Bloomberg returned a few weeks later, and sure enough, his swing was suddenly perfect. Speculates Bruno: “He must have gone out and bought a dozen of those things and swung them everywhere he went.”
