Are We Really Smarter Today?

Status
Not open for further replies.
E

eric54

New
Spent some time today thinking about instruction past and present and the point we are now at in teaching. In theory we should be much smarter now than teachers of 50 years ago because of video, trackman etc but the trend now of a centred pivot is making me question that. It just makes no sense to me as athletic moves such as throwing a punch, hitting a baseball etc require a transfer of weight. Was also researching Greg Normans swing and he had a huge weight transfer and was one of the greatest drivers of a ball the game has seen.

This thread wasnt started to bash the centred pivot crowd but more to question the research they do and how they reach their methods. I am sure some teachers from 50 years ago forgot more about the golf swing than some instructors know now. I am not sure we are smarter today.
 
Virtuoso

Virtuoso

New
No, but dang it, we sound smarter....doesn't that count for something? Every student I have comes back for at least two more lessons when I say "motor patterns" or "compression leakage."
 
D

DCgolf

New
Virtuoso said:
No, but dang it, we sound smarter....doesn't that count for something? Every student I have comes back for at least two more lessons when I say "motor patterns" or "compression leakage."
Click to expand...


LOL. The naïveté of the golf consumer is shocking. Bright, sucessful people who will believe anything cause your name is on your bag. Makes me wonder why I ever went out of my road to learn more than grip, aim, posture! I guess I just had to...in response to Eric, yes of course we r smarter. Why should golf be any different than anything else? Square to square was the S and T of my day. It came and went just like this will. But remember too, that you cannot dismiss anything simply on theory, because any "pattern" can work for some, just not for all. I had a guy today that I "centered pivoted". Hit it way better.
 
mgranato

mgranato

New
There were loads of crap teachers and bad theories 50 years ago. The difference was they didn't have an Internet to create a 4 person following like they do now.
 
E

eric54

New
mgranato said:
There were loads of crap teachers and bad theories 50 years ago. The difference was they didn't have an Internet to create a 4 person following like they do now.
Click to expand...

But with the tools available today we should know better. I doubt teachers 50 years ago didnt
 
B

birly-shirly

New
Golf teachers might be smarter today - but if their clients aren't, then how would we know?

In other words, I think golf faults go in cycles - much like the rest of history. The general public worries about being OTT, then about getting stuck. They think a big weight shift, a la Ballard, is the secret - and then SnT comes along as a reaction to people who get so far off the ball they can never get back. Flipping used to be the mortal sin, now it's handle dragging.

Golf teachers are condemned to fix the faults of 50 years ago - or else, they're fixing the over-reactions.
 
Virtuoso

Virtuoso

New
wulsy said:
The people teaching golf are thicker these days, so that cancels out the technological advances.
Click to expand...

Sir Wulsy, I thought you were going to work on this attitude about golf instructors.....well, everyone has a relapse now and then.
 
D

DCgolf

New
Percy Boomer taught centered pivot 100 years ago. Ernest Jones taught release 75 years ago. Morrison said it was left handed game, 80 years ago, Tommy Armour, right 75 years ago. I taught all those things. Today.
 
D

DCgolf

New
30? Try 100. Great history. Look up early editions of "The American Golfer". Classic stuff! Very little new under the golfing sun. TRACKMAN et al possibly excepted. But even there Cochran and Stobbs et al had a lot of it right. I seem to have spent the last 30 years trying to find new ways of saying a few basic things.
 
E

ej20

New
Tiger has had the benefit of trackman through Foley but he's still yippy with the driver and no distance control with his short irons.

Maybe the gurus with wacky ideas like parallel planes work better.;)
 
Frans@France

Frans@France

New
eric54 said:
.... In theory we should be much smarter now than teachers of 50 years ago because of video, trackman .
Click to expand...

How many teachers use video? How many (little) Trackman? 1 every 1000 teachers? Overcoming resistance to technology in this "traditional" teaching community is very hard. I believe it is for that reason that Trackman focusing more on the Range version. Seems that the golfers are more open for all this then the teachers.

IMHO most teachers are scared about the new technology because it can be rather annoying having a machine showing if the teaching makes any difference...
 
C

cwdlaw223

New
We are much, much smarter today. The hard part is, and always will be, execution. Good players can take this new knowledge and become even better more than a beginner can use this information. However, all benefit and can cut down their practice time to get better. I don't want to drive without a map to a new destination just as I don't want to hit balls blindly.
 
B

Brian Manzella

Administrator
ej20 said:
Tiger has had the benefit of trackman through Foley but he's still yippy with the driver and no distance control with his short irons.

Maybe the gurus with wacky ideas like parallel planes work better.;)
Click to expand...

I know several teachers with TrackMan....I don't teach like any of them.

The box is not a teacher, or a method.
 
hp12c

hp12c

New
I tip my hat to those who make a living teaching/instructing the golf movement. R we smarter thats depends on who we look at both student and instructor are guilty of smarter and not so smart u know what I mean. I was listening to ans instructor telling a group of teenagers to put a little more topspin on their shots to keep the ball down, he then gets on the mat and hits a few low shots and then asked them to do the same and Ive also had golfers better than I tell me to put a little more top spin on my ball to lower the flight.:cool:
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top