#1 Fault in Golf Instruction

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Guitar Hero

Guitar Hero

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First I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year.


The problem with mainstream golf instruction today is teaching shaft planes. This is the #1 fault in golf instruction. You do not hit the ball with the shaft. You hit the ball with the sweet spot. Balanced Sweet Spot movement through the swing is KEY for impact and swinging on shaft planes will destroy it.


When the sweet spot is out of balance it is like swinging an out of control club head. Anything can happen at impact. It is the reason for the slice, hook, top shots, fat shots, weight shift and many many more faults.

I tested one golfer who was way “Over The Top” with the club face wide open at impact. BIG SLICE! He told me he was trying to swing the shaft on a flatter shaft plane. This is what he was told to do in his last lesson. He did start his swing on a flat shaft plane with a club face wide open. Now he swings the sweet spot in balance and hits a slight draw.

To Better Golf :)
 
B

Brian Manzella

Administrator
John,

I have to disagree.

The biggest fault in golf instruction today is ignoring the clubface. Or not understanding how the clubface is squared up.

The second biggest is how poorly the Pivot is taught, and how poorly A pivot is taught.

I know some folks that teach "sweetspot plane" and can't teach a lick.
 
J

Jim Kobylinski

Super Moderator
While i am biased because i have learned from Brian i do have my own ideas and while i agree with Brian, imo my pet peeve is instructors who don't know the ROOT CAUSE of a problem and thus will never fix a student.

LEarn the various root causes of a problem so that you can find which one it is and eliminate it.
 
cmartingolf

cmartingolf

New
Hi John,

We've met at the show a couple times and I have some of your gizmos (love'm btw).

While I'm a "face fixer" too, I am interested in understanding this sweet spot plane theory.

Is there a way to explain it on this forum?

Cheers,

Martin
 
ggsjpc

ggsjpc

New
a doosy

Boy, if this isn't the one question that will bring all the golf pro's in this forum to the front of their seats. I thing this thread might have some legs and I'll be very intrigued with how it goes.

Root causes-that can be interpreted in so many ways.

Is it that the student is not physically capable of doing what's asked?
Is it that the instructor simply doesn't know?
Is it the instructor isn't capable of communicating the information necessary to help?
Does the student have a past experience(injury, fear, previous lessons) influencing their current move?

I think the most common flaw in golf instruction is allowing unprepared people to teach. Granted, we all need to start somewhere and information is constantly changing but there needs to be some kind of certification to do this. Idk about the golf machine stuff but the PGA's requirements are a disgrace. The PGA is only concerned with getting more members(dues) than improving the standing of the profession.

It's the ability of Brian's members to have this discussion that places this forum heads and shoulders above the rest. Not to mention, the quality information.
 
D

David Madras

New
I agree heavily with Brian, Jim, and Kevin.

I would like to add that most teachers think giving a student a "fundamental" is fixing the root cause but fail to relate it to the students game. As a result, they proceed to mostly compound the problem...not remedy it.

We need to get to the root cause because certain fundamentals are either right for that particular person...or they are not! What they need to do is understand if the fundamental is IMPERATIVE for the student in getting better as a player.
 
Guitar Hero

Guitar Hero

New member
Brian Manzella said:
John,

I have to disagree.

The biggest fault in golf instruction today is ignoring the clubface. Or not understanding how the clubface is squared up.

The second biggest is how poorly the Pivot is taught, and how poorly A pivot is taught.

I know some folks that teach "sweetspot plane" and can't teach a lick.
Click to expand...

Brian, I am not talking about sweet spot plane. I do not use shaft planes, sweet spot planes or any planes of any kind. I do not use line drawing programs as well. That is #1 fault in mainstream golf instruction.

Now that you have a Casio high speed camera you will be able to see the club face motion. This is one way to look at sweet spot motion in the golf swing. An unbalanced sweet spot motion will produce many faults including a pop out take away, outside in down swing path; flipping, incorrect pivots and balance just to name a few.
 
Guitar Hero

Guitar Hero

New member
ggsjpc said:
Boy, if this isn't the one question that will bring all the golf pro's in this forum to the front of their seats. I thing this thread might have some legs and I'll be very intrigued with how it goes.

Root causes-that can be interpreted in so many ways.

Is it that the student is not physically capable of doing what's asked?
Is it that the instructor simply doesn't know?
Is it the instructor isn't capable of communicating the information necessary to help?
Does the student have a past experience(injury, fear, previous lessons) influencing their current move?

I think the most common flaw in golf instruction is allowing unprepared people to teach. Granted, we all need to start somewhere and information is constantly changing but there needs to be some kind of certification to do this. Idk about the golf machine stuff but the PGA's requirements are a disgrace. The PGA is only concerned with getting more members(dues) than improving the standing of the profession.

It's the ability of Brian's members to have this discussion that places this forum heads and shoulders above the rest. Not to mention, the quality information.
Click to expand...

Swinging on planes or lines with incorrect sweet spot motion I believe is why many golfers have back, shoulder, elbow and wrist problems. I have serious back problem and cannot hit many balls or play a round of golf without serious back pain. I have now changed my swing to a more vertical path with sweet spot balance motion and it is helping big time.
 
ggsjpc

ggsjpc

New
Guitar Hero said:
Swinging on planes or lines with incorrect sweet spot motion I believe is why many golfers have back, shoulder, elbow and wrist problems. I have serious back problem and cannot hit many balls or play a round of golf without serious back pain. I have now changed my swing to a more vertical path with sweet spot balance motion and it is helping big time.
Click to expand...

Is it possible to have sweet spot balance with a flatter swing? If so, why did sweet spot balance help your back and not something else. If not, well, there's my answer.
 
Bronco Billy

Bronco Billy

New member
Sweet Spot Balance....

Guitar Hero said:
Swinging on planes or lines with incorrect sweet spot motion I believe is why many golfers have back, shoulder, elbow and wrist problems. I have serious back problem and cannot hit many balls or play a round of golf without serious back pain. I have now changed my swing to a more vertical path with sweet spot balance motion and it is helping big time.
Click to expand...

Any Chance of a Definition????
 
D

d0n

New
I think the biggest fault in golf instruction (as a helpless student) is that many of the instructors make you feel you're simply another hour lesson. Quality of lessons suffers because of the quantity of lessons the instructor wants/tries to book. Nothing irritates me more than starting 5-10 minutes late, spending 15 minutes to hit balls and refresh the instructor on what they went over last time, 20 minutes to change something, 15 more minutes of focus on the change, and then 10 minutes review and book your next lesson and then you're left there to beat balls on your own as the instructor is off to his next lesson. It's all about the instructor and his/her time not the student. It's not really the instructors, it's society in of it self. Customer service or satisfaction are a mythical beast that went extinct sometime ago. Find me one good customer focused instructor and I'll find you 30 who see students as bodies - Houston is littered with them...

As for the above mentioned simulators and cameras, I see them as a fancy way for the instructor to stay inside out of the elements and closer to the next lesson.

Perhaps $200 an hour for golf instruction is kind of like a tailored $1700 Armani suit, you get what you pay for? It's just ashamed that it takes so long to understand that most of the department store instructors are wasting your money and making you look sloppy....
 
K

Kevin Shields

Super Moderator
d0n said:
I think the biggest fault in golf instruction (as a helpless student) is that many of the instructors make you feel you're simply another hour lesson. Quality of lessons suffers because of the quantity of lessons the instructor wants/tries to book. Nothing irritates me more than starting 5-10 minutes late, spending 15 minutes to hit balls and refresh the instructor on what they went over last time, 20 minutes to change something, 15 more minutes of focus on the change, and then 10 minutes review and book your next lesson and then you're left there to beat balls on your own as the instructor is off to his next lesson. It's all about the instructor and his/her time not the student. It's not really the instructors, it's society in of it self. Customer service or satisfaction are a mythical beast that went extinct sometime ago. Find me one good customer focused instructor and I'll find you 30 who see students as bodies - Houston is littered with them...

As for the above mentioned simulators and cameras, I see them as a fancy way for the instructor to stay inside out of the elements and closer to the next lesson.

Perhaps $200 an hour for golf instruction is kind of like a tailored $1700 Armani suit, you get what you pay for? It's just ashamed that it takes so long to understand that most of the department store instructors are wasting your money and making you look sloppy....
Click to expand...

Very interesting post. One of the reasons why I dont book too many in a row. I dont want to seem as if im just running to the next guy. Definately food for thought.
 
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