European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 26, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday february 26, 1990 the stars and stripes Page 25 duffers can take a lesson from a do s Rife of Spring by Jerry Tarde new York times about this time every february every golfer strokes a few putts on the living room Rug and utters the same words this is going to be my year. Every golfer starts with the Hopes of fixing his grip curing his Shank straightening his slice and holing More putts. The trouble is that these resolutions evaporate by the first weekend of Spring because most Golf ers Settle for a rive minute Warmup before playing their first round. One who is determined to make it his year is arguably the Best golfer in the world already Nick Faldo. His goal for 1990 May sound familiar. I want to gain 20 Yards without sacrificing any consistency he said recently. Only Faldo is doing what every golfer says he will do but never docs he is starting the year with a series of lessons before teeing it up on tour. To understand the Faldo program you must flip Back the Calendar to last december when the masters Champion hid his Golf clubs in the attic of his Home i Berkshire England and began his annual hiatus from the game. After a month or so he telephoned his Mentor David Leadbetter and arranged a meeting at Leadbitter s base at Lake Nona Golf club near Orlando  has been working with Faldo since May 1985 and is widely credited with turning a Journeyman into a world class pro. Under Leadbitter s Tutelage Faldo accomplished what Ben Hogan had done 40 years earlier he flattened his shoulder turn reduced his hand action through Impact and became the most consistent the to Green player in professional Golf. The process took two years of lessons and practice. But victories in the 1987 British open and 1989 Mas ters underscore Faldo s improvement. David Lead better saved me from a life of golfing  Faldo said. So when Faldo showed up on Leadbetter s lesson tee at 9 . A couple of saturdays ago ready to Start the season both teacher and Pupil had Complete Confidence in each other s abilities. As Faldo hit a few Warmup shots one observer thought he was witnessing a classic Golf swing producing pure Ball flights. All Lead Beltjr saw was mechanical errors and a Rusty shot pattern. The hands on instruction began immediately. His posture had slipped his Ball position needed to be checked alignment was off. What they called a Little Fine tuning looked like major surgery to an outsider. You can t swing by memory said Leadbetter. Feel is a funny thing what you feel like you re doing May not resemble your real swing at All. That s Why you need to have someone else Check your basics especially at the beginning of the  after a couple of hours of hitting balls the two adjourned to observe Faldo s swing on  s studio has a to screen on one Wall mirrors covering two Walls and a Grid of vertical and horizontal lines drawn across a fourth Wall. The Pur pose of the Grid is to Check body movement during the swing. Faldo is a very visual person  said later. I use videotape with him More often than with other tour pros. He even likes to draw a Silhouette of his body on the screen with a magic Marker so he can Check body movement during the  then it was Back to the practice tee for another hour before a lunch break. The process was repeated in the afternoon. Their main objective was to increase fal do s leverage so he could hit the Ball More solidly wit the Driver. We re working on getting Nick More wound up getting More Coil into his swing said . Faldo had been keeping his right Elbow too close to his body and not allowing the right  to extend through the hitting area. The prescription was a prac Tice Drill in which he hit balls while holding the club with Only the right hand. At first Faldo looked like a 36 handicapper barely making Contact with one errant shot after another. Within 10 minutes however his Ball flight was indistinguishable from Normal shots with two hands on the club. And so it went for four Days with Only the occasional break to play & practice round. We went to the Golf course to make sure he could play with the thoughts he was  said Lead better. Faldo seemed genuinely to enjoy the routine. Hav ing something to work on keeps your interest up he said. It Sparks you off again. You can go a month Orso and things Aren t going quite right and you get tired. All of a sudden you get a new idea which hopefully is not too difficult to work on. It takes a Day or so before it feels comfortable and you Start hitting the Ball with a bit of fizz a bit of sparkle. Then you think great 1 want to get out there and hit my drives As hard As i can that s the Good feeling of wanting to get Back to the course and see How Well you really can  Faldo left Lead Beltjr s practice Tec with renewed Confidence and a stronger More piercing trajectory on his drives Leadbitter said. What have the rest of Nick Faldo says lessons saved him from  us Learned?1. Make up your mind now to take a lesson before you play your first round of the year. Your Best Chance of breaking old bad habits is to fix them at the Start of the season.2. Before every round you play go through a Check list grip alignment Ball position posture.3. Find a teacher you have Confidence in and stick with him. You May not win the masters but you la occasionally hit that High fading 3-Iron that turns out exactly As you had planned. Tiny Albertville coping with olympian task by Larry Siddons Albertville France a two years from now Michel Barnier can relax a Little. Until then the chief Organ Izer of the 1992 Winter olympics will keep his guard up. Nothing can be left to Chance Barnie says when you Are staging the most com plex Winter games in history. We arc quite confident now bar Nier said. But the Success of the games is a daily  since he and another local hero former skiing Star Jean Claude Killy began campaigning eight years ago to bang the Winter olympics to the Savoy area of Eastern France they have fought Many Battles. As the countdown to the closing ceremonies reached two years Friday Barnier said the fight is going the organizers Way. Construction helped by a mild Winter is on schedule and under budget at the 12 Sites spread from the Cross country ski stadium on the Plains of Les Sai sics to the ski jumping Hills in the peaks around Courchen Val. The first events aimed at testing both the facilities and the people who run themare less than a year off. Badly needed improvements have begun on highways through the narrow valleys winding their Way to the olympic Sites. Most importantly perhaps the Resi dents of the Savoy Region arc starting to get together behind the project Barnier said. That s quite a change from the Days just after the International olympic committee named Albertville the Host in october 1986 in those bitter times it seemed As if political bickering among the people and politicians of the isolated towns and villages was becoming an unofficial olympic sport. When the games were awarded to Albertville there was a lot of enthusiasm. But after that we had to Start working and there was a difficult phase Barnier said in an interview it was All organizing and planning and there was no room for enthusiasm. Killy the triple Gold medallist for France in the 1968 Winter games left the organizing committee for a time but was lured Back As co president. One of his main jobs is to get the slew of Politi Cal civic and cultural groups working together and Barnier said the Effort is paying off even if the victories May be As Small As one regional organization agreeing for the first time to use the same design on All its business cards. The climate is getting much better now he said. We can say everyone has found his place in the games. Many had delusions of what their place in the games would concern. But life will go on in 1992 and everyone has to be c9n scions of it. The climate now is going upward and the population is behind the olympic  Barnier Killy and the rest of the organizers must try to keep All these factions working together because the Host City by itself has Little to offer As far As sports facilities. A town of 23.000 set on the Flatland at the foot of the French Alps Albertville i hardly a Winter wonderland. The first sight that greets motorists arriving from the North is an Auto wrecking Yard and there snot a ski slope or bobsled run in sight. But the spirit is Here to stage the Winter games. The olympic rings hang proudly Over the shopping District like Christmas lights on main Street. Stores sell olympic to shirts and trinkets from Lapel pins to cof fee mugs. The red flame of the Albertville olympic Emblem is everywhere. Allenville will be the venue for the opening and closing ceremonies figure skating and Speed skating in new stadiums and Arenas being built just South of town. But the rest of the events will be staged up to s3 Miles away returning the Winter games to the mountains As the official theme goes. Making sure twill work becomes a More difficult task by the Day Barnier said. We Are into a new phase which is More of functioning than development and it is not any easier he said. We know that these Are the most Complex Winter games  since the financial Success of the 1984 games in los Angeles every olympics Winter and summer seems to have an offi Cial described As that City s Peter Ueber Roth. Baumier fills that Bill in Albertville. A native son who lives and works in the House where he grew up Barnier is a member of the French parliament Jug gling constituency responsibilities with olympic planning. He is rumoured to have his Eye on High level Public office once the Winter games Are finished. Tall and lean with his dark hair going Gray his appearance reminds some of an other politician John Kennedy. And he cites the late . President when he Speaks of his Hopes for the Albertville olympics. I believe that countries must have very important projects such As this Baumier said. President Kennedy spoke of a new Frontier a Community of feel ing and it is Best to have something to come together and have a Community being proud to win something together and have Success together. Because this common Success can also bring you individual  once the Winter games Are through Barnier said he will move on to other important projects but not before a backward glance. First i will say thank you to everybody to All the staff of Cojo to the Politi Cal parties the 6,000 volunteers our partners and sponsors and also to France which has been a big support he said. Then we will make the final report of the games. Life goes on afterwards. But is important not to fall Back into the daily routine. You need something to look ahead