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Pastimes : Golf! A thread for the hopelessly addicted! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Magnatizer who wrote (1701)	7/6/2000 11:21:23 AM
From: TH	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 44012

Mag, I think both positions are right, it really just a matter of defining where the "learning" actually takes place. What I mean by this statement is that we are all self-taught, but a pro can make this process much quicker. I also think the pro can get too focused on what he thinks is right, and not on what is working. My pro and I agree on the basis concepts about 95% of the time. The one major difference is that I use more hands than my pro would like. He trys to reduce my hands and I just nod and fully plan to keep hitting them exactly the same way. This is because I know that it can be done, has advantages, and not everyone can do it. I end up working with him on all the rest of the of swing where we have a common understanding. Sometimes my pro wants to work on something that interfers with my natural swing. This is where he, and possibily the majority of pros, falter. A great pro will see what it is that makes your swing your own, and then work to make that swing better. This is what my pro does with just a couple of exceptions. In the end I would agree that the advantages are much greater than the disadvantages. I just keep an open mind that the pro is human and makes mistakes too. What he is says is for consideration, but not worship. Have a good one, and him em soon. TH

To: Magnatizer who wrote (1701)	7/6/2000 11:59:28 AM
From: J.B.C.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 44012

Let's just say we agree to disagree. When I practice here, I almost always practice next to the section roped off for the lesson area ( there's always about a 2-foot section of virgin grass next to the stakes and rope that define the lesson area that I hit from. NEVER have I "heard" the pro discuss the mental approach to the game. It's always mechanics. When I first got married and I convinced my wife to take group lessons at Torrey Pines in San Diego, they practiced on the obscure section of the range and I would be there practicing, again it was 100 % mechanics. The problem festers itself when people have a bad round and almost always are looking for a mechanical fix; oh I didn't keep my head down; I didn't transfer my weight right and on and on. I'll say it one more time there are only about five or six things that you have to master before you can mechanically hit a golf ball. But I'll guarantee one thing: I can beat the most consistent most perfect swing in the world today, and I can do it everytime! The most consistent, most perfect swing is Iron Byron, mechanically perfect in it's golf swing. But, alas it just can't mentally think it's way around the golf course. The game of golf is played in an area that 5 1/2 inches wide (Bobby Jones). That's the space between your ears. How many people have you known that they were having a career round and said "I only have to par these last three holes to shot a ____ ", only to train wreck at least two of those holes. My own experience that I remember the 1st time I was about to have a sub par round nine holes, I came to the 9th hole realizing all I had to do to shoot 2 under was par the last hole. Want to bet what I shot that last hole? If your bet is a double bogey, you win the cigar. Greg Norman's collapse at the Masters a few years ago had nothing to do with a mechanical issue, and everything to do with him MENTALLY getting in his own way. In 1986 when Jack Nicklaus won his final Masters, Greg Norman only had to par the final hole to get in a playoff. His approach shot to the 18th green went way right. If he would tell you honestly (Greg is good in that he will never dwell on his defeats), I'd bet all I have that he focussed on the result (par) vs. the target. When you left your home this morning and had to make that right hand turn onto "Broadway" were you thinking about turning the steering wheel 45 degrees and making sure you properly crossed your right hand over your left hand and placing it on the steering wheel to complete that turn, or were you simply focussed on where you wanted to go? Hal Sutton admits that after coming on tour he was being told how he should improve his swing and he made the HUGE mistake of listening, he finally went back to his old swing and old coach about 3 years ago. That cost a great player about 14 fruitful years. Yes, Butch Harmen has helped Tiger tremendously, but I bet there's a lot more than mechanics being discussed there, and also Tiger is an exceptional person in a field of exceptional players. My point is that there are a plethora of teachers that will teach mechanics, but the number that will teach you how to play golf are as rare as a 500 point rise in the NASD. When I was an average player, I could hit the ball consistently on the range, but I no where could duplicate that same consistency on the course. I didn't feel that a pro would be able to help me with taking my range game to the course so I took matters into my own hand. If I was an instructor and you came to see me to learn golf, my first question would always be: "What are your goals with golf?". Mechanics are the first step, but it's my opinion that it's less than 20 % of a low handicap, and opinions are like buttholes, everyone has one, hehehe. Jim