SEPARATING FACTS FROM THEORIES

Golf today is big business and having been involved in the game for almost 60 years (Over 40 years as a professional) I am pretty sure that my experiences have given me a good insight into the complexities of the game. My profession is to teach people how to improve THEIR golf game. No one else’s just his or hers.  My pupils are aged between 6 and over 80 with handicaps ranging from not having one to +5.  Many of my pupils are professionals themselves.

The gross scores of my pupils have ranged from 180 (yes 180 ) down to 59 ( yes 59 ) over an average 18 hole course.

The absolute key to learning almost anything is to understand what to do. It is also vital to understand what not to do.

This is where separating fact from fiction is fundamental to my success at improving my pupils ability to play better golf whatever their natural ( or lack of ) talent/s are.

The objective of autumn’s ‘ Food For Thought ' is to help you to understand that many theoretical ideas will completely nullify your learning process. A theory according to the Oxford Dictionary  'is a supposition or a system of ideas intended to explain something, especially one based on general principles INDEPENDENT of the thing to be explained ' e.g. the head should remain still even though the World's number one male and female golfer’s do not keep their heads still.                                                                                                      

The following are taught as facts when they are theories

Keep the head still
Return to the address position at impact
Maintain your spine angle
Maintain your height
The swing is a circle
Start back in one piece
Point the club at the target
Drop the hands inside the line of the backswing to start the downswing
Roll the hands through impact
Woods and irons require different swings
Slow down to hit the ball further
The shaft should be parallel to the ground at the top of the backswing
Coil like a spring

There are many more and I unfortunately have to spend as much of my pupils time separating facts from theories as I do informing them what to do.

As I have said the above are all theories so all you need to do to prove they are theories is to watch a high shutter speed film of the current world number one lady golfer frame by frame and see how many of the above theories are present in her technique and then repeat the exercise with the current world number one gentleman’s swing. 

If you do not have access to these films they can be seen in my studio. I have used cameras for 30 years and when used correctly it is a simple matter to separate facts from theories. My lessons take as long as they take to clear my pupil’s minds of theories and then we get down to the serious business of what to do.

Another vital part of my tuition is to help my pupils realise there is one basic swing for all shots rather than having a different swing for different shots and clubs. For example many golfers have a different swing and thought process for the following clubs:

Drivers
Fairway woods
Long irons
Medium irons
Short irons
Wedges
Sand wedges
Lob wedges
Pitch shots
Chip shots                                                                     

Ten different swings are not required to simply hit the ball forward. So when the mind is cleared of all the theories and the one swing doctrine is established the learning process can finally begin.

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