No worries, Virtuoso... I can snark with the best of 'em. Thanks for replying.
"It" ... I don't know what that means for everyone else, but I'd like to know what others think "it" means to them. I think "it" most resembles "athleticism" to me. Dynamic balance, fluid motion... something along those lines.
Look down the line at your local driving range and I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that you can easily pick out the guys/gals that have "it" and those that do not... sans definition of "it."
Well, I guess I could write 10 pages on this easily, but I'll try to just hit on the very basics.
A good instructor is not hugely concerned with, say, an individual golfer's hand-eye coordination on the front end of a lesson series. That concern might come along later as individual goals get higher and higher. The bottom line is that most amateurs, because of their clubhead delivery, have given themselves such a small window of opportunity to hit a well struck shot.
The clubhead is approaching the ball in such and awkward and oblique way that it automatically appears that they have no speed and coordination.
Is it true that they have an absolute potential limit to what they might acheive in swing performance? Of course, but they are always so far short of their potential, it ceases to be a major concern anytime soon.
Myth and Truth about golf instruction:
Myth: Only the most highly experienced instructors should teach tour pro's.
The exact opposite is true. Any knowledgeable internet swing theorist good give a reasonable lesson to a tour pro--as long as the tour player didn't know you were just a desk jockey. You couldn't screw him up that bad, and you might help him a little....and you could sound like you knew what you were talking about.
The hardest lesson to give effectively is the one that is given to Mrs. Schwartzstein, who was dragged to the lesson by her husband. She's been barked at by her husband on the course, based on everything he's read in the golf mags, she is scared to death, she's embarassed everytime she tops the ball, and she thinks she looks fat in the swing video, but, deep down, she does want to play better.
With a good instructor, after one hour, she is getting the ball in the air, she is high-fiving the instructor, and super excited to get back out to the course again.....and has learned how to politely ignore her husband completely.
With a knowledgeable swing theorist, after 30 minutes, she is a quivering mess, the top has turnd into a complete wiff, and she never wants to play golf again.
To be continued.....
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