#1 Fault in Golf Instruction

[thefuture37]

Great point too.

I had a funny experience about 12 years ago in Palm Desert. This lady showed up late, had zero talent, had the worst and weakest left had you have EVER seen (betcha). After watching a few 30 yard grounders, I started in on adjusting her left hand.

She quickly said, "No, all of you teachers want to do that. My nails are more important than my golf game." She had long fake nails and no, she was not hot.

I was dumbfounded and speechless and could hardly manage to stand there for the rest of the 30 minute session.

Of course. She wanted more distance off the tee.

You make a good point here. Not everyone taking golf lessons has the goal of becoming an elite amateur or mini-pro like most of the people on this board. However, they still deserve to be taught, although it takes less to help them because they aren't trying to be perfect. This is why "method" teachers aren't the devil. They can help these people. Those who want to be the best can go to people like Brian.

 

[braveheart]

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....

I concur. They also offer mostly generic advice or tips that are not entirely customized for you, the individual. "Do this and do that drill" to have you attempt to attain some pattern or type of swing that may not be suitable for you the individual. Yes, I believe their are instructors out there that see individuals and not just people, but for the most part the easy road is taken by many of the other ones. "Just do the feet together drill or hit to right field or make the release happen," without any root cause or origin of the symptoms or deviations that you possess found or explained.

 

[braveheart]

Some of my friends are all into Dice.........they just went to see him......they sat in the front row and each wore a letter. (D-I-C-E) Apparently he made fun of them throughout the show.

Saw him in the early 90's when he was big. His act was so funny because of how he said things and not what he said. Many women at the show knew all his routines. He was unfairly chastised I felt for the content of his material at the time. Other celebrities got away with so much worse on stage.

 

[JRJ]

I have studied the sweet spot balance and the impact it has on the golf swing with 3-D machines, CAD and with high speed video.

With this information I have found two easy ways to swing the sweet spot in balance and all the great players are doing it. The first way is how Ben Hogan and Bobby Jones did it.

If you read the forward by Hogan in his five lessons (hard back book) He mentions about opening the club face as much as possible on the back swing and rotating it like a baseball bat. This is how Hogan explained sweet spot balance but it was not enough information and golfers got it wrong.

Most golfers that tried what Hogan wrote in the forward rotated the club face open on the back swing with the forearms and this is incorrect and will put the sweet spot out of balance.

Hogan did it correctly and the results made him one of the greatest. The Great Bobby Jones did it as well.

Today’s Instructors are looking at shaft planes with 2-D video and line programs. The sweet spot swinging in balance will look off plane in some parts of the swing when looking at shaft planes.

Watch this video of Moe Norman and you will see what I am talking about. YouTube - Why Moe Norman's swing is simpler and more efficient. www.swinglikemoe.com

The second way is what Moe Norman did.

Swinging the Sweet Spot in Balance will not make you look like Ben Hogan, Bobby Jones or Moe Norman. It will have your Sweet Spot swinging in balance like them.

I also have golfers try both ways and see which one works best with their swing.

John, please eloborate on the first easy way - the Hogan way. How would you correctly rotate the face open so you still had the "sweet spot in balance" You mentioned a screw driver move in in the takeaway - details please

 

[jenhaoyen]

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BJsZcGatEo[/media]

 

[JonWil]

Jenhaoyen,
Great video; thanks for posting!

 

[Guitar Hero]

Lagging Take Away

John, please eloborate on the first easy way - the Hogan way. How would you correctly rotate the face open so you still had the "sweet spot in balance" You mentioned a screw driver move in in the takeaway - details please

You do not roll the face open with Hogan’s way. I cannot explain in detail how either way is done in text on the forum as it takes feel and visual verification to know if it is correct. I have giving you one feel of sweet spot balance with the “screw driver move” that will help you. If you work on that feel with the rest of the swing you will be on your way. A Lagging take away will also help you maintain the sweet spot balance and feel longer.

 

[Bronco Billy]

English As a First Language.....

You do not roll the face open with Hogan’s way. I cannot explain in detail how either way is done in text on the forum as it takes feel and visual verification to know if it is correct. I have giving you one feel of sweet spot balance with the “screw driver move” that will help you. If you work on that feel with the rest of the swing you will be on your way. A Lagging take away will also help you maintain the sweet spot balance and feel longer.

Hogan Opened the ClubFace by Turning His Hips 90 Degrees Clockwise as Opposed to Rotating His ForeArms.... As Hogan Clockwise Rotated His Hips(ClubFace) Open He Also Counter Clockwise Rotated His ForeArms(ClubFace) to Square on the Way to the Top... Yes Two Motions at the Same Time... Very Effective.... But Not for the Faint of Heart.... Have a Great Day With Your New Found Knowledge.....

 

[birdie_man]

You make a good point here. Not everyone taking golf lessons has the goal of becoming an elite amateur or mini-pro like most of the people on this board. However, they still deserve to be taught, although it takes less to help them because they aren't trying to be perfect. This is why "method" teachers aren't the devil. They can help these people. Those who want to be the best can go to people like Brian.

I don't get it future.

Someone like Brian would be able to help this lady more, no?

Unless she happens to go to the guy who is the best "Super Duper Freak-Weak-Grip Method" teacher in the world.

But I don't think there are many guys out there teaching that.

(though Brian would still out-teach them I presume)

 

[birdie_man]

giving you one feel of sweet spot balance with the “screw driver move”

What is this move John?

EDIT:

Nevermind John I just figured it out.

 

[Steve Khatib]

I don't get it future.

Someone like Brian would be able to help this lady more, no?

Unless she happens to go to the guy who is the best "Super Duper Freak-Weak-Grip Method" teacher in the world.

But I don't think there are many guys out there teaching that.

(though Brian would still out-teach them I presume)

The only guy that could help that lady is someone she likes the look of or warms to his personality. As she is working against the instructor.

 

[James Marshall (Hogan1953)]

You do not roll the face open with Hogan’s way. I cannot explain in detail how either way is done in text on the forum as it takes feel and visual verification to know if it is correct. I have giving you one feel of sweet spot balance with the “screw driver move” that will help you. If you work on that feel with the rest of the swing you will be on your way. A Lagging take away will also help you maintain the sweet spot balance and feel longer.

John,

With this takeaway where would the toe of the club be pointing when the shaft is parallel to the ground for the first time in the backswing. If you imagine a clockface behind the clubhead from the player's perspective, would it be at 11.30ish?

Thanks,

James