Strangers on the Range Offering Unsolicited Advice

[earlymann]

Brian and Jim, I hope I'm allow to vent.

Frankly, I hate it. Today after a range practice session, I headed over to the putting green and chipped for half an hour, working on normal ball placement (left of center) and angled and vertical hinging, and using a little bit of a pivot (which I always do). I found that vertical hinging works a little better for me. I liked the spin I achieved especially on pin placements close to the rough.


I chilly dipped a few.


So this guy comes over and starts offering advice.

- "Hands forward, no no more forward...more...more....yes"

- "ball should be back in your stance, more back, no no..more back....back more...there you go"

- "now all you gotta do is just swing through it. Don't just hit at it. What club are you using, a lob wedge?" I answer sand wedge. "You know sometimes on a longer chip it's better to spot land and let ball roll out....using a 8 iron is better..."

and on and on he went...

for about 2 minutes. (Two minutes is a long time when someone is saying things you don't want to hear.)

You all have seen my swing. Jim said it looked like one of those top texas junior amateurs. Ringer did an analysis, told me I looked like a player. Yeah, it doesn't matter how I look, I know. But "I have some credibility", is what I'm trying to say. The guy sees me hit a few fat chips and the golf knowledge flood gates open.

I know he meant no harm; he was just trying to help. People think they're saviors of golf.

 

[Jim Kobylinski]

Should have asked him if he wanted to play a few "closest to the hole" contests for some cash .

You can use your way and i'll use mine .

 

[earlymann]

On another day, an older gentleman, a nice fellow, noticed that my right thumb was too much at an angle (pointing leftward) and that it should be more on top of the shaft. He was showing me because he noticed that at the start of my downswing, I tend to regrip the club. He said the right thumb more on top of the grip will help stop the regripping.

He said, "see like this..." and he showed me.

I don't know guys...

I'm about to blow up on the range one day.

 

[earlymann]

Should have asked him if he wanted to play a few "closest to the hole" contests for some cash .

You can use your way and i'll use mine .

During his golden lesson, I started to say, "there's this website I follow that..."

And he goes, "Don't worry about the website..." in mid sentence.

I should've challenged him for a beer or something.

 

[welshdentist]

Why not tell him that you charge for receiving advice?

 

[Brian Manzella]

Hmmm....

Well,

Just tell 'em to call me.

 

[mgranato]

Practice with a hospital mask on and cough a lot - that should keep the budding TOP 50's away. Unfortunately, nearly every range has 'em.

 

[Bigwill]

My father does this to me often, when I seem to be having a particularly bad round. He only does this with me, or playing partners that he knows very well. I know he just wants to help. But one day, when I was having a very bad round, he was doing it. The problem was, he didn't stop when you were over the ball. I got so hot that I took it out on the ball. Unfortunately, I swung so hard that the shaft broke into 3 pieces when it hit my back on the finish. The worst part? It was my dad's brand new driver. He still gives advise, and sometimes he still gives it while you're over the ball, preparing to hit. But he dosen't let me hit his clubs anymore.

 

[birdie_man]

I'll give someone advice if they are really struggling and I know how to fix them.

I won't sit there with a guy and force my information on him though. It's more like.......this is what I think.......and I do think I know what you need to do...........but it's up to you if you want to try it.

 

[birdie_man]

During his golden lesson, I started to say, "there's this website I follow that..."

And he goes, "Don't worry about the website..." in mid sentence.

I should've challenged him for a beer or something.

Aw man that would be annoying. Those "just do it" guys can be too much sometimes.

 

[rbaumgolf]

I've been making a fortune (in good will) showing slicers in my golf league the twistaway)

 

[2mongoose]

It's amazing how much I could help someone if they just asked. I mean, we're talking hackers here it's just some fundamental stuff but they act like it's utterly impossible to get better yet 1) don't practice 2) don't ask the people who can actually play!

 

[priceunderpar]

I was having trouble on the range a few month back. Two guys pull up in cart about 10 feet behind me. I'm over the ball getting ready to start my backswing, and I can see them out the corner of my eye. I hit my shot and one of the guy yells "Can I give you some advice- Without a pause he starts giving it to me- "If you straighten your back leg-"

I was already upset because I was hitting some shanks that day, and I was really pissed that a couple of jackasses had pulled up on me as I'm getting ready to hit a shot so I interupted him mid sentence and said- "No I don't want your advice!"

The guys look at me kind of shocked, then one of them said "excuse me?!" with a shocked face- I repeated my first response in a firm tone, but not screaming or anything- "I don't want your advice." He and his friend looked at each other, sat there chuckling for a second, and then drove off to the clubhouse laughing at my response. At that point the adrenaline was pumping and I coudn't calm myself down. I didn't want to be out there hitting bad shots while these guys were in the clubhouse judging every bad swing I made, and telling everyone how obnoxious I was to refuse their advice, so I went home.

The next time I went to the range, the assistant pro stopped me and let me know that the guys went in there and told everyone how rude I WAS. I've been as low as a 6 handicap, with multiple tournament rounds in the 70's and a career low round of 72 so I've had some success with this game. I like to figure it out on my own at the range. I love golf and read everything I can about the golf swing, so I've probably heard his advice somewhere before. Furthermore, I have trusted sources of info (like Mr. Manzella) because they're so much b.s. out there.

The guy offering advice that day was overweight and bald. If I would have walked up to him and said. "Can I give you some advice- You need to start exercising and eating better! Oh and I think you need to get some Rogain for that bald spot! Follow my advice and you'll look better"- He'd probably want to fight, and everyone would say I had it coming. I didn't accept his unsolicited advice and he thought I was the A-hole!

 

[golfer24]

Totally agree. I played recently and whilst working on my swing i may make exagerations of particular moves. So i was trying to get the hips to move a little more laterally on the downswing whilst keeping the bowtie back when the guy i was playing with said your hips are like Elvis you have got to get everything through together, (which is bad advice anyway) This was on the 12th hole and meant that my experiment was over as i reverted to my regular hip move and of course played worse. Advise should never be given on the course or range unless requested it just annoys to many folk.

 

[rchang72]

He still gives advise, and sometimes he still gives it while you're over the ball, preparing to hit. But he dosen't let me hit his clubs anymore.

Maybe you should stop and ask, "Can I try this with your clubs? Just to make sure I do it right."

 

[rchang72]

My father-in-law would try to give me directions in putting and chipping. Unfortunately he would invariably walk all over my line while showing me where to go.

 

[otto6457]

Different angle

I have a slightly different problem.

I am a major range rat, especially when I was trying to get ready for the State Mid-Am last month. I have been approached several times by people asking me why I am there so much because my swing "looks" good. They ask me about the drills I do (that Brian gave me), and some ask me to take a look at their swing or ask me why they can't stop slicing or hitting it fat......etc.

I ALWAYS explain that I am not an instructor and the only thing I know about the golf swing is what I have been told by instructors, (like Brian) that understand the problems "I" have. I couldn't tell them any more about their golf swing than I could about differential calculus. I feel like it's quite likely that if I told other people to work on what I work on, they would get so screwed up they would hunt me down and hurt me. Most of the time the people tell me thanks anyway and go back to their labors, but a couple of guys have told the club pro that I am not very friendly. (which sort of hurts my feelings since I really try to be nice)

I now always go to the farthest spot on the range and set up so that my back is to all of the other people. It seems that people are less likely to speak to me if we never make eye contact.

I have often wondered how it must feel to be a good instructor and see so many people struggling so hard and knowing exactly what will improve them immediately. It must be almost disheartening. I would almost feel guilty for not saving them from themselves. If you spend much time at a driving range you know what I mean. There are so many people that want to hit a golf ball well that it is often difficult to find any room at some ranges. Yet if you stand and watch the people hit all those balls, you will be hard pressed to find a single person hitting the ball well. But they all work very hard and they really want to be better.

I remember when I saw Brian in Louisville in March, there were several people on the range working on their swings during our second day. I was thinking about how I had flown half-way across the country to see Brian, and these people probably had no idea how lucky they were to live so close to one of the best instructors in the world. Then I wondered how many of them had ever worked with Brian. I thought to myself that there was probably not a single person on the range that had ever met Brian. I estimated that few of them had ever worked with any instructor at any time. I might be wrong, but even I can see basic flaws like a horrible grip or terrible back swings. (the type of swing that makes you wince, and that every instructor would fix in one lesson). Yet, there was Brian, giving me more information in two days than I got at Haney's in two years, and for the life of me I can't understand why he has to travel anywhere. There should be a never ending line of people in New Orleans or Louisville begging to take lessons from this guy. He should be booked solid for the next 5 years.

What I don't understand is that if you wanted to learn how to solve differential calculus equations, you wouldn't do it by continually adding 2 + 2 and getting 5 as your answer. But that is what I see on the range every day. Why don't people go see the one person that can make their addition equal the correct answer? Even a beginning club pro can fix the fundamentals like grip and posture. But you see horrible grips and horrible posture from one end of the range to the other.

Golf is a difficult game. Some say it's harder than Chinese algebra. So why do so many people that love this difficult game, refuse to learn how to add?

I just don't get it.

OK.....I apologize, this turned into a rant!!

 

[Bigwill]

Maybe you should stop and ask, "Can I try this with your clubs? Just to make sure I do it right."

Lol. That would shut it down real quick!

 

[Ringer]

Today I was pitching to a green from about 40 yards out working on finishing in multiple ways. I chunked some, thinned some, hit really short, really long.. even shanked a couple. I was flat out EXPERIMENTING to see what I could do with the club.

Now, you all know I teach, but someone sure enough came over to offer me advice. Just to see what the guy knew, I let him go right ahead... but it was really unfair. I committed total sabotage to the things he told me to do. I over did every bit of advice he told me. He didn't last 5 minutes.

That was how I turned a fun day into a funny day.

 

[Michael Jacobs]

I have often wondered how it must feel to be a good instructor and see so many people struggling so hard and knowing exactly what will improve them immediately. It must be almost disheartening. I would almost feel guilty for not saving them from themselves. If you spend much time at a driving range you know what I mean. There are so many people that want to hit a golf ball well that it is often difficult to find any room at some ranges. Yet if you stand and watch the people hit all those balls, you will be hard pressed to find a single person hitting the ball well. But they all work very hard and they really want to be better.




I remember when I saw Brian in Louisville in March, there were several people on the range working on their swings during our second day. I was thinking about how I had flown half-way across the country to see Brian, and these people probably had no idea how lucky they were to live so close to one of the best instructors in the world. Then I wondered how many of them had ever worked with Brian. I thought to myself that there was probably not a single person on the range that had ever met Brian. I estimated that few of them had ever worked with any instructor at any time.

Part 1
I look out on the range and course and see it everyday, I call it
"JOB SECURITY"

Part 2
Use that to your advantage!! There are soo many golfers out there, many of them have taken lessons and have not improved. To many who don't know any better, Brian is just another pro teaching at a range and in their mind what is he going to show me that is any different from the last pro I had.... This is what we are up against --- but it seems to be fading fast -- lesson tees are selling out in minutes and more and more content will be available to those who cannot attend. I suggest everyone try to get to a tour stop, it is well worth it!