Welcome!

I have been accused of ranting sometimes when giving a golf lesson. Great, then let me take this opportunity to do some ranting right now. I am a golf instructor but, very seldom do I actually get to give a lesson. Instead I spend the majority of my time telling people all the things that they don’t need to be doing to their golf swing. It’s more like the Betty Ford golf detox center. So many people have made this game way more difficult than it truly is. I know I have…. in the past.

I’ll give you some examples: But before I do this lets agree that the majority of golfers are rotary with a few exceptions like Colin Montgomery or Davis Love 111. Ok, so here’s one, turn your shoulders and then get the club down the toe line toe up. This is a complete biomechanical contradiction! Because if you turn the shoulders early like this the club is taken inside and the face will remain shut. A bad place to be as is outside and open. Why shut???? The right arm won’t easily fold to open the face since you are so busy turning your shoulders. So now we are told to satisfy video by getting the club back out and down the line. And once it is out make sure to roll the face back to open. Great, now the club is picked up to the outside and wide open. But it looks perfect on video. Good luck.

Here’s a thought for you. The arms are attached to your shoulders and not the toes. Logic dictates then, that as we swing the club the line we should be concerned with is the shoulder line, not the toe line. What the #%&#!

Consider this, if you have the benefit of arm swing, use it. Not everyone has this benefit. It is one incredibly easy thought plus it makes all the good things happen in a golf swing. If you do this the right arm will fold the right wrist will hinge and the continued arm swing will pull the shoulders behind the ball, and the weight will transfer where it naturally transfers to just like Ernie Els or Louis Oosthuizen. Oh and by the way since the arms are swinging the legs will coordinate automatically. Also everything will now arrive at the top at the same time. Voila a golf swing.

Here’s one that really grinds my gears. Slow your backswing down. Why?????? Don’t you want your legs to move? I want to hit the ball as far as I can, that’s why I swing the club. Imagine someone walking like this where there arms swing slow to fast. Go back to Oosthuizen in this year’s Masters. He was swinging as fast as he could to keep up with Bubba Watson the eventual winner. In fact he, Oosthuizen, on the last hole hit a drive uphill over 300 yards only 30 behind Bubba. Go Bubba!

 I like the idea that we are all different and so are the swings. You will find out its Ok to do things in your swing that for the next person should avoid at all cost. Don’t let people force obligations and requirements on you and If someone is teaching everybody the same thing It may not and probably won’t work for you.   

See you next week