Why is Golf so Hard?

Golf swing video analysis. Golf-Tek. Golf swing training aids. Enough instructional videos to wear out your VCR. You've read every book on swing theory. You've paid for the "best" swing instructor around. Is this you? Honestly, are you any better? Or are you worse? For the amount of time, effort and money put into your game, you should feel cheated. Golf instructors have gotten richer because once they touch your swing you'll HAVE to come back for more lessons because you'll be worse off than before. Instructors get richer and your game gets poorer - and so does your wallet. They tell you it will take a lot of time and a lot of practice because the golf swing is so complex and there is so much to learn. They tell you you will need frequent lessons for the next year. From a business stand point, it's a brilliant ploy and golf is so addicting that people will buy in to this idea. It does not have to be this way - it shouldn't be this way. My goal in giving a golf lesson is to never see you again. To teach you how little you really need to know, to help you unlearn what you already know, and to send you on your way. Not much of a business plan, I'll admit. But then again, my opionion might be considered with a little more regard because I'm less subjective. I don't make my living selling swing theories or golf lessons. I don't need to see you every week for hours at a time to pay my mortgage. I want to help you get better so you can have fun again and play the game as it was meant to be played.

How many people do you play with that say, "Oh, I'm working on a swing change." When are they ever NOT working on a swing change. Almost everyone is always "working" on their swing. When does it ever stop? Working on your golf swing is a phsychosis. It's a neurotic episode that makes you stand in front of a mirror for hours, working on your swing. It makes you go to bed at night thinking about what you "worked" on today at the range. You wake up thinking about what you are going to work on today. You go to the range and you work and work on "changing" your swing. Everyday, it's the same story. Maybe something you "worked" on will click for a day, maybe even a week. But it won't be long before you are looking for something to work on again. A new book will come out. A new training aid. An ad on The Golf Channel or Golf Digest for the latest and greatest tip from some "instructor" who has spent their life doing the exact same thing you have - working on their swings. They've worked on their swings so much that they can't swing anymore. They've got themselves in a mental pretzel, just like you. They've worked on their swings until they reach what I call the "crossover point". The crossover point is where a good golfer knows so much about the golf swing that he can swing anymore to save his life. He gives up his resolve to play for a living and decides to teach - he has no choice. It's a sad day really. It's a day when life long dreams are crushed and it doesn't have to be this way. We've all dreamed of playing golf for a living. Sadly, many great golfers give up that dream because of golf instruction - over instruction, over analysis, bad instruction. They are victims of golf instruction, not benefactors. We all are.

When you first started playing golf, you got hooked on it almost immediately. You had fun, you played with your buddies, you drank a couple beers (or cases of beer) and had a good time. Is it the same today? How many of you find yourselves going to the golf course to work on our swings? We go to the golf course just to work on our swings. I don't know about you, but the whole word "work" doesn't connotate "fun" for me. Golf is a game and a game is supposed to be fun - not work. Do you "work" at having sex? If so, you're probably doing it wrong :-) The same thing goes for the golf swing. Yes, there is technique involved that you must learn. But I can assure you this, it is FAR easier to learn than what you have been taught in the past about the golf swing. The one plane swing makes sense, it's far simpler than a two plane swing and it works. The people I have taught the one plane swing to get it almost immediately. It's that simple, it's natural and it doesn't require you to go to the range and "work" all the time on your timing and technique. Golf can be fun again. Learn the technique, and then move on to the "good stuff." Staying in the moment, making the tough 4 footers - playing the game, having fun and enjoying the challenge.

That's what I'm interested in most - the "good stuff." In the coming weeks I will share with you my thoughts and ideas, my trials and tribulations on the good stuff. My stories of tournament rounds gone good and bad. I will share with you the life lessons I have taken with me from the game of golf that have made me a better golfer and a better person.