Teaching/ Writing vs. Playing

[lagster]

I heard a story years ago about a certain champion golfer.
This man had even won a major championship or two.

He was asked to write an instructional book about HOW he plays golf. He had never really thought much about his technique. He had a somewhat unusual looking swing, but he just seemed to have a knack for playing exceptional golf.

The way I heard it... he got into a room with several mirrors in it, and proceeded to try to figure out exactly what he did in his swing. I suppose he worked on it for a while, and came up with something.

Well... after that, he was never really much of a factor again in tournament golf. Once he tried to figure out how he DID IT, he COULDN'T DO IT.

I think someone trained in TGM is less likely to have something like this happen. Because... he more accurately does KNOW what he is doing.
But, he is not immune.

I think a TGM trained player could be playing well, and for example, THINK he is making a particular kind of PLANE SHIFT, and/or a particular kind of RELEASE, then see his swing on video, and see he is not doing what he thinks, or FEELS that he is. This alone could affect him adversely. Or, he may try to change his Plane, or Release in an attempt to do what he thinks he should be doing.

I think the correct attitude should be, unless he sees he is violating one or more of the 3 Imperatives, that he should probably stay with what is working well. Of course, there is a fine line here, because most golfers are always trying to improve.

I remember reading that Peter Thompson once saw his swing on video. He was very surprised at what his swing actually looked like. I think he said, "It was a lot rougher than the image I had in my mind." After that, he would not look at his swing on video or TV.

There does seem to be something to this FEEL vs. REAL phenomenon.
I would think with many of the great players, however, that what they FEEL is actually very close to what is REAL.

Any comments? What have some of you found to be the best frequency to look at your swing on video? Can one look too much? Does your FEEL match up with REAL?

 

[rwh]

Interesting post, Lagster. I don't know how often one should look at their swing on video, but Homer said to look at yourself, "look, Look, LOOK". Ben says on his tape to constantly look at yourself in the mirror, checking everything. Jack Nicklaus got a "check-up" on his fundamentals at least once a year from Jack Grout.

So, looking is good and I like to check myself on video. However, I think one can get "addicted" to video in that there is a temptation to always be fooling with your swing so your "video" looks better. I think it best to decide on the set of fundamentals you want to use, then stick to those and use the video like Jack used Mr. Grout.

 

[drewitgolf]

The saga of Ralph Guldahl is sad indeed. Everybody learns in his or her own best way. Kinesthetic, feel learners, who often learn thru intuition, that try to become technical, generally "screw themselves up". You can mess with success. The results are often disasterous.

People like that stay away from these type of forum.

 

[diggerdog]

Immediately after seeing my swing on film, I started a low-carb diet. It reminds me of getting the video back from my first class reunion and seeing me dance for the first time. I even come over the top when I boogie.

 

[6bee1dee]

quote:Originally posted by drewitgolf

The saga of Ralph Guldahl is sad indeed. Everybody learns in his or her own best way. Kinesthetic, feel learners, who often learn thru intuition, that try to become technical, generally "screw themselves up". You can mess with success. The results are often disasterous.

People like that stay away from these type of forum.

It was a photography that did him in. I poorly angled picture of him at address gave the impression that his ball was closer to his right foot than it actually was. This made him put the ball closer to his right when he played taking his game away. The book was rather successful when it came out. He was a hot golfer at the time.

Why couldn’t he get over the picture and make adjustments with a rational mind looking at his ball flight. It is very sad.

Thompson once said at the offer to right an instructional book, that it would be the smallest book in the world. He said his secret was to pre-set the right hip for the backswing.

And lastly, I’m just a bundle of nickel knowledge, Ben said to a student, "I don’t remember how we every taught without video. That swing looked good but the ball flight wasn’t. Lets look at the tape.”

 

[MizunoJoe]

Jeff Sluman used a TV victory interview to sell his video camera, claiming that it "goofed him up" to look at his swing. I believe that if you use certain "unrealistic" imagery to make your motion work, video COULD mess you up. What I would like is just video which shows the lower shaft and clubhead coming into impact and just past separation, like what they're doing now on CBS.

 

[Brian Manzella]

Of course though, Joe, we also have to listen to Peter Kostis when we see it.

 

[dss]