Your golf swing is good enough
If you watch the Golf Channel or read any of the golf magazines and books, it will be very difficult for you to miss out on the basic theme that “There is a perfect swing and you will do the most for your game trying to get it”. Even when you watch a tournament on TV, you see commentators taking part in this conspiracy by showing us the professional’s frame-by-frame analysis and criticizing his every move. Now, maybe we can give the TV guys a break because they are just trying for some entertainment value and let’s face it, most of us are interested in the balance sheet details because we have been brainwashed for years on this topic.
For many years, I was also a “zombie swing”, in my quest to improve my golf game.
I even participated with a group of golfers who all had our swings filmed and then we criticized each other in a classroom setting. The feedback I received from all of us watching my swing went from “very smooth” to “way off-kilter”. Everyone had a different opinion than many of the balance sheets we saw and at least for me, it just confused me more.
In my youth, I had a typical amateur swing that obviously came out of my years playing baseball and softball. I liked to play golf in those days, but I always felt that something was missing. So, when I was finally able to pay, I decided to take a set of lessons from a professional. Of course I told him I wanted to get rid of my slice balance and he asked me back “are you sure. I thought it would only be a matter of time before I” dialed “to get it straight. To make the story short , 5 years later and I was still “dialing” and missing numbers (ob, prison, water, no improvement in scores, etc.).
Looking back, I honestly believe now that if I had taken my old balance from left to right and just used the rest of what I learned from the professional, I would have improved significantly. Why? Because I was a typical golfer and not a handicapped 15 year old trying to become a single digit. Studies have shown that the overwhelming majority of amateur golfers shoot in the 90s or more for men and over 100 for women. This would be mainly in the area of short play and mental play.
This is absolutely true for the average golfer, but it can be true for all players as well.
There is a lot of evidence on professional tours that moneymakers are the best at chopping and placing. Golf research guru Dave Pelz himself actually followed tour players for years by taking detailed statistics and he proved it (see his book, My Short Game Bible). In addition, there are many professionals to list who admit that their balance is not “technically correct”, or perhaps not very good … BUT THEY WIN TOURNAMENTS! Look at Jim Furyk, winner of the 2003 US Open. He really has a big loop on his backswing. Lee Trevino always told people that they shouldn’t copy his balance sheet. Even Jack Nicklaus says in his books that he was not a good ball striker. Bruce Lietzke won tournaments on the PGA and Senior tours by throwing his photo from left to right throughout his career – and he says he rarely practices! In addition, the rides are filled with past champions who totally lost their game after trying to change it for the better. And now they are begging their sports psychologist to help them “find” their old balance sheet.
. So, it may be our fault in most of the creation of the current situation where the average amateur scores have not dropped a blow in the past 50 years, despite advances in equipment technology. Now don’t hurt me, if you are a true beginner, you really should start with the basics of the golf swing. But if you’re hitting hard most of the time and hitting the fairway half the time, you’re ready to go on a real scoring quest, as more swing advice isn’t the fastest way for you to lower your score.