As we were looking through Golf Improvement Weekly archives for a quote of the week, we came across a Classic GIW from 2006. As we read it – we couldn’t stop laughing at how true it is. So we want to present this GIW to you to read. This truly is a classic!

Who do you play for on the golf course? Or let me put it another way – When you’re on the golf course, are you ever worried what other people are thinking about your golf swing or your game?

The Monkey is more worried about how their golf swing looks to others rather than staying focused on their PLAN. Or in other words – it’s more important for you to look like you know what you’re doing in front of other Golfers, rather than staying focused on your game and scoring well!

OK, I understand that you might not understand what I’m saying or are in self-denial – so let’s go to an example.

Tell me if you’ve ever been in this situation –

You’re paired up with one other Golfer and through the first 9-holes you’re playing better than normal. The other Golfer that you’re playing with is not playing as well as you. He/she is doing a lot of “Fiddling” with their swing on every shot and saying things like – “If I could just get the golf club set at the top a little better, I’ll be able to hit the golf ball so much better” and “You have to excuse me, but I’m not playing as well as I usually do. In fact, this might be the worst I’ve ever hit the golf ball” or “I’m not really concerned with what my score is today, I’m working on something in my swing.”

So after 9 holes, you’ve scored your best score or close to your best score (pick a number based on your level of golf and use a score you want to break for 9-holes 49, 44, 39 or 35). The Monkey you’re playing with is somewhere else in the stratosphere considering the 8-mulligans he/she’s taken and of course I don’t think that his/her ball has ever hit the bottom of the hole.

You stop in the clubhouse between nines to use the restroom and to allow the Monkey to get a hot dog and Diet Coke. As you’re walking out of the restroom, you pass the Monkey putting some relish on their hot dog as they call you over – “You know Grover, you have a pretty good swing, but, you know if you could just take your club back a little more on the inside on the way back, you’d hit the ball so much better.”

So you kind of blow them off by saying –

“Ok, thanks, I’ll try that.” But, they won’t let it go. So on the way back out to your golf bag, you get the whole Monkey Digest synopsis on why the club must come inside on the way back “… because if it doesn’t, then you can’t bring the club back down on the inside swing path and you’ll be way off plane. So if you can get your arms dropping more down on the inside, you’ll be able to swing the club on the proper swing path through the golf ball from the inside to the outside.”

And then as you get to the 10th tee, you have about 3-minutes to kill as the group in front of you is still in the fairway waiting on the group in front of them. So the Monkey looks at you and says – “here, get your Driver and come here – I want to show you what I mean. Set-up. Set-up like you’re going to hit a Drive. Great, now you could probably get a better spine angle, but let’s talk about your swing path first, though your grip does look a little weak.” And then the Monkey proceeds to grab a hold of your club and put you into all these contorted positions as he/she regurgitates everything that’s wrong with your golf swing.

And you shoot 60 on the back nine holes (which is probably what the Monkey shot – yet they told you that they scored a 41) as you lose a dozen golf balls and have to listen to the Monkeys commentary not just on everyone of their shots, but also yours.

So why’d you allow the Monkey to help you go from so good to so bad?

I believe it’s that we all want to look good in front of others on the golf course. We all want to do things the correct way and don’t want to look like we’re doing things weird or wrong.

So all hail the Players whose swings are all wrong according to the Monkey philosophy of – “I’d rather swing correctly than score my best”.

Let’s salute these poor souls that do it wrong:

Annika Sorenstam for taking her eye off the ball as she over rotates into impact

Jack Nicklaus and his pathetic flying right elbow

Jim Furyk and that backswing – oh, that crazy backswing – “that swing can’t hold-up for long, he’s going to have to eventually change that”

Lee Trevino for aiming so far left with his feet that you wonder what golf course he’s playing

Tiger Woods for straightening his left leg through impact – “Hey, wait a minute Marc – that’s what a lot of Golf Pro’s are teaching now.” Yeah, but how many times did these same Pro’s tell other Golfers to never straighten their left leg – before they heard Tiger was doing this?

And if you went to the golf course and used the claw grip for putting before Chris DeMarco made $10 million doing it – what would other Monkeys have said to you and how long would you have used it even if it did help you to make more putts?

All those Players have their own PLAN and nobody, nobody can change it!

And unfortunately for the following Golfers someone changed their PLAN – because if you have a chance to ask Curtis Strange – What happened to your game after you won consecutive US Opens or Sandy Lyle – What happened to your game after you won the British Open, TPC and the Masters or Hal Sutton – what happened to your game after you won the Players Championship, TPC and Memorial in the mid-80’s and was called “The Next Nicklaus” and why it took 12-years before you won again – And if you get to ask Ian Baker Finch what happened after you won the British Open and then just totally lost your game – and if you get to ask ……..

They’d all say – “The Monkey got me! They told me that if I could just change (feel in the blank) in my swing that I’d swing more correctly.”

You want to be a Player? Then beware of the Monkeys – they’re out there lurking – looking for weak minded Golfers that they can convert to their “Evil Monkey Ways”.

The Player’s motto – Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil!

Why Speak No Evil? Because as my good friend Todd Temkin from Chile so eloquently put it –

Monkeys gloat when they play well and mope when they play bad. Players just play!

The Monkey is more worried about what others think of their golf swing
The Player is too focused on their PLAN to really care what others think

Go ahead, be a Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon