It seems that the more a Golfer struggles … the more he/she starts looking for more advanced techniques to solve their problems. Yet, the more advanced the technique you attempt to implement … the worse your swing gets … because “more advanced” also means more difficult.
In order for a Golfer to see improvement … he/she first needs to come to grips with their current skill level. Because there are many Golfers that do not break 90 and 100 that are trying the same (or similar) techniques used by the Tour Players.
To be able to successfully use many of these advanced techniques … you first must master other, more basic mechanical traits in your swing. For example: a Golfer that doesn’t have the skill to get their body and arms moving together in the first movements of the backswing … shouldn’t yet be working on trying to create an “inside to out swing”.
Because if you don’t have the skill to control your clubhead by the time it gets hip high on your backswing … you’ll never consistently be able to start your club smoothly and correctly on your forward swing. Thus, you’ll continually struggle to repeat the mythical “inside to out” swing path before reverting back to your more familiar “outside to in” swing path.
You take a lesson or read an article or see a video about learning to swing from the “inside out” as it’s been reported to be as important as oxygen. But contrary to popular belief … practicing that technique isn’t going to help you if the movements of your swing aren’t solidly in place prior to getting to the point of attempting the inside to out maneuver.
To give you another perspective on using more advanced techniques – the best Players in the world have built their swing one step at a time. As they were working on their swings years ago to break 90 or 100 for the first time … they most likely weren’t trying to “lag” the club going into impact. They first had to have the ability to hit consistent shots and score in the 70’s before trying to find a way to create additional power using a lag.
Yet, we see Golfers everyday in the 80’s, 90’s, 100’s and 110’s … that are working on lagging the club into impact.
So we like to say that the opposite to improving your golf swing is improving your Karate.
In Karate they don’t teach a white belt to chop a cinderblock … that’s reserved for the most advanced participants. Because – before you get to the point of forcefully trying to crack hard cement with your hand … you must first “master” many fundamental, basic techniques. However, if you skip those techniques … you’ll probably end up with a painfully broken hand, arm and … heart.
But, in golf – most of the techniques being taught to Golfers scoring over 90 are the equivalent to what’s being taught to an advanced Karate Master. Yet, these techniques should be reserved only for the Golfer that’s equivalent to a black belt. Because you first have to have a high degree of feel and control in your swing before you try to implement 90% of what is being taught by most Pro’s, magazines and Internet videos.
This is because the majority of golf instruction techniques that are written about in magazines and spoken about in videos are based on the observations of the “perfect” swings used by the Tour Pros. However, the rest of us should first work on understanding the feel of how your hands, arms and core need to work together before trying to perfect the more advanced techniques.
Plus, if your current physical skills do not allow you to move like an elite athlete … how are you going to copy the techniques used by these elite Professionals? As these Tour Players have been conditioning their muscles, ligaments, tendons, bones, balance, and connectivity for decades at a very high level … how is a guy/gal that hasn’t done these things 8 hours a day, everyday of the week for the last 20 years going to use those same advanced techniques?
The answer: you’re not. All you’re going to do is continually fail in your attempt to improve … as your body and mind will not let it happen.
Just because you’re not satisfied with the way you’re playing … doesn’t mean you need to start working on more advanced techniques. Because all you’re basically doing is adding more thoughts to think about, as well as trying to coordinate even more movements into the already bloated swing you currently have.
The Monkey isn’t spending enough time on understanding the feel of their movements … yet is trying to use advanced swing techniques
The Player is first understanding how to feel their clubhead work with their hands and body
Who do you want to be?
Go ahead, Be a Player!
Regards,
Marc Solomon – Your Instructor For Life
www.GolfMadeSimple.com
