So the Golfer said to me – “I want to get my swing on video so I can see what I’m doing wrong. I want to compare my swing side by side to a PGA Tour Player’s swing to see what I need to correct.”

And I said to myself – Here’s another Golfer that’s about to take a drive down the infamously long road of Frustrated Golfer Lane. For some Golfers this road never ends – it just goes on and on and on until they either quit or just accept their fate of not being a good Golfer (or as some frustrated Golfers would call themselves – I’m just a hack).

The use of video is like the story of the Emperor’s New Clothes – nobody has the guts to stand-up and say that they actually got worse using video analysis. Though in reality – I have yet to see a Golfer improve their score after having video analysis – yet have seen hundreds of Golfers that have gotten worse. Golfers are scared to tell others that, gasp – I didn’t improve afterwards. They think that everybody must improve with video and if you don’t – well, you must be an inadequate, untalented Golfer that has no hope of improving.

Why is video bad for you?

Think of it this way – Instead of wanting to hit your Driver like Tiger Woods, you desperately wanted to be able to dunk a basketball. So you signed up for the Michael Jordan School of Dunk, to learn how to slam dunk a basketball through the hoop like the greatest of all time.

So you’re off to go to The School of Dunk to learn. They start off by watching you dribble the basketball, do a few lay-ups to the basket and then test your jumping skills. Next, they video you trying to dunk a basketball through a hoop 10 feet from the ground; – just like a Golfer getting a video of themselves trying to hit their Driver 300 yards. And on your first attempt, you’re not able to dunk the ball, though you do catch the bottom of the net.

Now you begin the comparison – So they split the television screen with one side having a picture of you and the other side being a picture of Michael Jordan. They then start running the tape and we see some major differences – as you’re stepping towards the basket, the strides of your steps are 4 feet apart; while Jordan’s are 7 feet apart. As you jump to the basket, you jump from 3 feet away; while Jordan takes off from 12 feet away.

You then get into the mechanics of the dunk. When you jump, you bend your knees at a 65 degree angle and Jordan at a 90 degree angle. They have also found that as you jump that your posture is bent over about 10 degrees more than Jordan. So they tell you that you need to bend your knees more when you jump, along with thinking about your posture while you’re thinking about your knees.

So you spend hours upon hours practicing what you saw yourself doing wrong on the video. And then you go to the local basketball court to try and dunk the ball. You line-up with the ball in your hand, you look at the basket, you start to move towards the basket concentrating on doing it exactly as Michael Jordan had done, and as you get towards the basket, you start to jump from 12 feet away just as Jordan had and ….. you don’t even come close to dunking. You actually don’t even come close to reaching the bottom of the net.

Why didn’t you dunk?

Why couldn’t you even reach the bottom of the net this time? You watched what you did wrong on the video, you watched what Jordan did correct, and you practiced. Well, you’re 55 years old, 5 feet 7 inches tall, spend most of your day sitting behind a desk, spend more time on your Blackberry than you do on the court, have a bad back and just started playing basketball about 4 years ago. While Jordan is 6 feet 6 inches tall, has spent 41 of his 44 years devoted to the game of basketball, is a 6 time MVP and could be the greatest Athlete ever.

What makes a Golfer think that if they can watch Tiger, or as the brilliant marketers of video analysis put it: ‘we’ll compare you to someone that has a comparable body type as you’ – what makes you think that’s going to help you?

Listen, you could join the Spud Webb School of Dunk – Spud Webb was a real Professional Basketball Player that was 5 feet 6 inches tall that could dunk a basketball – try to copy Spud’s dunking movements and still fail. You could be the same 5 feet 6 inches tall and still not be able to jump as high as Spud. So having a video comparison with a PGA Tour Player of similar size is just as ridiculous.

The thought of video analysis helping you to swing better is absurd. If you’re being compared to Tom Kite and trying to do the things he’s doing – how’s that going to help you? Why won’t you hit the golf ball better? Well, even though you’re the same height, weight, physique as Tom – he’s been playing golf for 40 something years on a competitive level. He’s practiced 7 days a week for 8 hours a day over those years – what makes you think that by watching a video of him swing next to your swing will allow you do the same as his body?

You can practice getting into the same swing positions as Kite for hours upon hours – yet there are more factors that go into hitting a golf ball any where near his level. One – practicing swing positions has nothing to do with improved swing motion – you can’t practice positions and think that it’s equivalent to swing motion; Two – are your golf muscles as trained as Tom’s – he may not look like an athlete, but his muscles have been conditioned for the last 40 years to work with his swing; are your golf muscles going to learn to work like Tom’s by watching a video of his swing; Three – Tom has hit millions of good shots that has given him true confidence that he can hit the golf ball well on a consistent basis – you’ve hit millions of bad shots that has had the opposite effect.

Video Analysis is really a silly concept when it comes to Golf Improvement!

Does seeing everything you’re doing wrong in your golf swing help you to hit the golf ball better? No, it actually helps you to hit the golf ball worse because now you’re thinking of everything you’re doing wrong in your swing on every swing. Video Analysis is the negative approach to improvement. Video Analysis is the ‘I have to get worse before I get better approach’ – which in reality is: ‘I got worse and as of yet, have not gotten any better!’

So how is video analysis negative if so many Golfers are trying it? Well, I’m still waiting to hear from a Golfer that has gotten their swing analyzed and then improved 6 to 11 strokes. Yet, on the other hand, I’ve heard from 100’s of Golfers that have had their swing analyzed and have promptly had their scores get 6 to 11 strokes worse.

Theories and Assumptions (which is the marketing mumbo jumbo that Monkey Digest and the Monkey Channel use to lure desperate Golfers to sell magazines and attract viewers) say’s that if you get video analysis – you’ll improve. Though, Results (which is reality) show that Golfers are getting worse after video analysis. Would you rather depend on Results or Theories and Assumptions to help you to finally have a consistent golf swing that will have you feeling more confident on the golf course?

The Monkey believes others have improved with video because other Monkeys are too scared to say that video didn’t help them because they don’t want to be scorned by other Monkeys by saying that the Emperor is standing naked in front of you

The Player looks at Results and actually doesn’t care what the Monkeys think – they’d rather think like a Player

Go ahead, Be a Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon