Brian Manzella
Administrator
And they say I rip 'em...this beats any of that. I think this new found teacher-to-teacher criticism is GREAT for golf. All we need now is a REAL Summit, with lively DEBATE and a teach-off!
By Jim McLean
Magic Methods
A recent Golf Magazine illustrates what's wrong with teaching!
Another, New Magical; Method.
This time a goofball teacher with excellent marketing skills and just a little knowledge on the golf swing makes a huge declaration that golf has been taught wrong, and he has the answer. Something nobody else has ever taught or known!
It happens at least every two years. Every magazine wants a blockbuster cover piece every month…if they can get one! “A New Secret ” because it sells. I hate to even bring up this latest guy's name. But since A.J Bonar brought up mine in his recent article, I'd like to point out a few things to show how so many golfers get totally bamboozled. He said Leadbetter, Flick, and McLean teach square to square golf. That is a flat out lie! Jim Flick actually co-authored the “Square to Square” golf book. Later, I believe he said it was the worst mistake he ever made. David Leadbetter and I do not teach “square to square” golf.
AJ Bonar has never read The Eight Step Swing or watched the DVD, or if he has he is the dumbest person on the planet. I lay out my entire teaching system in The Eight Step Swing book. For some reason I have the most successful golf school's in the world. My entire staff (at all golf school locations) are highly trained and they improve golfers at every level.
In the latest Golf Magazine article a West Virginia Health Care Administrator named Paul Nausbaun is the key proponent (the standout student) of the Bonar hand flip method. He says he went to my school and many others, but by going to AJ's school he lowered his handicap from 27 to 20 and won his club championship. Now, I have no doubt that many high handicappers benefit from working initially on a hands release. I teach this myself, along with almost every other instructor in the world. But, can you imagine a club where a 20 handicapper wins the club championship? This has to be the worst playing membership in the world.
Part of the recent Golf Magazine article talks about a “snappy” card trick done at Bonar's golf school. He says his secret is magic! A magic show, that's what he is selling. And golfers buy it!
100 years ago people like Bonar came into town on a covered wagon selling a “cure all” elixir. They were called snake oil salesman. That's what Golf Magazine is promoting this month which probably leads thousands of golfers to a goofball “one hit wonder.” Bonar has successfully marketed his “Magic Move”, and even a national magazine bought in.
I spent decades studying golf swings, doing research, and visiting all the great teachers. I've watched Harmon, Burke, Leadbetter, Toski, Doyle, Flick, plus many others and taken hundreds of lessons from the best in my life. Not many teachers actually travel to watch others teach. That's one reason they can get on a “magical method.” They travel in a very small universe. For sure, Bonar has never watched me teach, but I am in his article. He makes statements he has no knowledge about, and they are printed. Some people will believe him. They just don't know any better.
Golf Magazine uses Tiger Woods on their cover for the AJ Bonar cover piece. The clear impression is Tiger Wood's endorses this article. Bonar even says in his article that Tiger uses his hands as his method advocates. Now, if you asked Tiger Woods, he probably wouldn't even answer. It is just too stupid for Tiger to respond. I'm pretty sure Tiger would not endorse AJ Bonar's method. What do you think? Hogan, Nicklaus, Trevino and other greats say the exact opposite of what AJ teaches.
Interestingly, Bonar slams one of the great golf books ever written, “The Search for the Perfect Swing.” He misquotes the book and says the book is wrong! All you need to do is look at hand action on page 56 of “The Search for the Prefect Swing.” (Cochran and Stobbs the authors) write about “rotating the clubface as if using a screw driver.” They discuss in detail pronation and supination. Unbelievably Bonar then plagiarizes the very book he criticizes. It is right in the Golf Magazine article where AJ Bonar says, “Imagine you are gripping a screw driver and turning it counter clockwise.” That is Blatant Plagiary!! The golf writer at Golf Magazine is probably so ill informed he doesn't even know what he's writing or that he is plagiarizing a famous book. 10,000 teachers could help a 27 handicap chopper. I did a Golf Channel TV show where I started with almost a beginner golf shooting over 120. Within two years he got down to a single digit handicap.
This sort of thing has happened in the past, using others work..or using a famous golfer to “look like” he is endorsing your product or ideas. It happened with my “X-Factor” work. This year, once again, Golf Magazine ran Tiger Woods on a cover piece article entitled “The New X-Factor” by Peter Kostis (when Tiger had nothing to do with the article at all). The new X-Factor information in the Peter Kostis article was not new, and certainly not revolutionary. Some of the article even contradicted my research. Worst of all he was using my own ideas as “his new ideas.”
It would be hard to find any golf professional on this planet that does not teach “Bonar's secret move…hand action and hands release.” As I stated I teach it myself, but I certainly do not teach this to everyone, it's mostly for beginners. Teaching lots of hand action is, in my opinion, early stage learning. It is a major piece of my learning system and has been in publication for over 15 years. Remember this kind of hand action has been taught for centuries.
To put things into perspective a great teacher and friend of mine Jimmy Ballard said, in golf “the dog wags the tail, the tail doesn't wag the dog,” and “bad golf is played from the elbows down.” Those lines have been ripped off too, but it was Ballard who brought those concepts to teaching golf in America . He did not invent the basic idea of using an athletic motion, he brought a very new method to teaching the game using ideas from Ben Hogan and other great ball strikers. Jimmy has taught covering the ball with the toe of the club, but not with hand rotation alone. Ballard advocated releasing the clubhead with the whole right side, not just the hands. Ballard was and is still a great teacher. He worked with the top players in the world and they all would come to see him at his facility. He wasn't chasing down pros on tour driving ranges.
AJ Bonar is a snake oil salesman, a plagiarizer, a con artist, but also “a world class marketing expert!” After all a million suckers have apparently purchased his video tape. A great infomercial is obviously just too tantalizing for many viewers to pass up. We would all love a “Secret!” something quick and easy to save our golf. That is what Bonar and others like him sell.
Golfers will often try just about anything, but there is no magic move that will cure your terrible golf in 7 minutes. That's a magic trick. It's at best a short term fix for a minority of people. Golfers will be on to a new magic cure next year and AJ Bonar will have had his 15 minutes of fame.
Great teaching ideas last. Good golf takes time, and attention to the essentials of the game. Everyone is different and a good teacher must adjust to the student in front of them.
After studying so many different teachers and methods, I came to the conclusion that golf should be taught in stages. Perhaps most important there are acceptable ranges. No two swings are identical and there are many ways to be successful.
By Jim McLean
Magic Methods
A recent Golf Magazine illustrates what's wrong with teaching!
Another, New Magical; Method.
This time a goofball teacher with excellent marketing skills and just a little knowledge on the golf swing makes a huge declaration that golf has been taught wrong, and he has the answer. Something nobody else has ever taught or known!
It happens at least every two years. Every magazine wants a blockbuster cover piece every month…if they can get one! “A New Secret ” because it sells. I hate to even bring up this latest guy's name. But since A.J Bonar brought up mine in his recent article, I'd like to point out a few things to show how so many golfers get totally bamboozled. He said Leadbetter, Flick, and McLean teach square to square golf. That is a flat out lie! Jim Flick actually co-authored the “Square to Square” golf book. Later, I believe he said it was the worst mistake he ever made. David Leadbetter and I do not teach “square to square” golf.
AJ Bonar has never read The Eight Step Swing or watched the DVD, or if he has he is the dumbest person on the planet. I lay out my entire teaching system in The Eight Step Swing book. For some reason I have the most successful golf school's in the world. My entire staff (at all golf school locations) are highly trained and they improve golfers at every level.
In the latest Golf Magazine article a West Virginia Health Care Administrator named Paul Nausbaun is the key proponent (the standout student) of the Bonar hand flip method. He says he went to my school and many others, but by going to AJ's school he lowered his handicap from 27 to 20 and won his club championship. Now, I have no doubt that many high handicappers benefit from working initially on a hands release. I teach this myself, along with almost every other instructor in the world. But, can you imagine a club where a 20 handicapper wins the club championship? This has to be the worst playing membership in the world.
Part of the recent Golf Magazine article talks about a “snappy” card trick done at Bonar's golf school. He says his secret is magic! A magic show, that's what he is selling. And golfers buy it!
100 years ago people like Bonar came into town on a covered wagon selling a “cure all” elixir. They were called snake oil salesman. That's what Golf Magazine is promoting this month which probably leads thousands of golfers to a goofball “one hit wonder.” Bonar has successfully marketed his “Magic Move”, and even a national magazine bought in.
I spent decades studying golf swings, doing research, and visiting all the great teachers. I've watched Harmon, Burke, Leadbetter, Toski, Doyle, Flick, plus many others and taken hundreds of lessons from the best in my life. Not many teachers actually travel to watch others teach. That's one reason they can get on a “magical method.” They travel in a very small universe. For sure, Bonar has never watched me teach, but I am in his article. He makes statements he has no knowledge about, and they are printed. Some people will believe him. They just don't know any better.
Golf Magazine uses Tiger Woods on their cover for the AJ Bonar cover piece. The clear impression is Tiger Wood's endorses this article. Bonar even says in his article that Tiger uses his hands as his method advocates. Now, if you asked Tiger Woods, he probably wouldn't even answer. It is just too stupid for Tiger to respond. I'm pretty sure Tiger would not endorse AJ Bonar's method. What do you think? Hogan, Nicklaus, Trevino and other greats say the exact opposite of what AJ teaches.
Interestingly, Bonar slams one of the great golf books ever written, “The Search for the Perfect Swing.” He misquotes the book and says the book is wrong! All you need to do is look at hand action on page 56 of “The Search for the Prefect Swing.” (Cochran and Stobbs the authors) write about “rotating the clubface as if using a screw driver.” They discuss in detail pronation and supination. Unbelievably Bonar then plagiarizes the very book he criticizes. It is right in the Golf Magazine article where AJ Bonar says, “Imagine you are gripping a screw driver and turning it counter clockwise.” That is Blatant Plagiary!! The golf writer at Golf Magazine is probably so ill informed he doesn't even know what he's writing or that he is plagiarizing a famous book. 10,000 teachers could help a 27 handicap chopper. I did a Golf Channel TV show where I started with almost a beginner golf shooting over 120. Within two years he got down to a single digit handicap.
This sort of thing has happened in the past, using others work..or using a famous golfer to “look like” he is endorsing your product or ideas. It happened with my “X-Factor” work. This year, once again, Golf Magazine ran Tiger Woods on a cover piece article entitled “The New X-Factor” by Peter Kostis (when Tiger had nothing to do with the article at all). The new X-Factor information in the Peter Kostis article was not new, and certainly not revolutionary. Some of the article even contradicted my research. Worst of all he was using my own ideas as “his new ideas.”
It would be hard to find any golf professional on this planet that does not teach “Bonar's secret move…hand action and hands release.” As I stated I teach it myself, but I certainly do not teach this to everyone, it's mostly for beginners. Teaching lots of hand action is, in my opinion, early stage learning. It is a major piece of my learning system and has been in publication for over 15 years. Remember this kind of hand action has been taught for centuries.
To put things into perspective a great teacher and friend of mine Jimmy Ballard said, in golf “the dog wags the tail, the tail doesn't wag the dog,” and “bad golf is played from the elbows down.” Those lines have been ripped off too, but it was Ballard who brought those concepts to teaching golf in America . He did not invent the basic idea of using an athletic motion, he brought a very new method to teaching the game using ideas from Ben Hogan and other great ball strikers. Jimmy has taught covering the ball with the toe of the club, but not with hand rotation alone. Ballard advocated releasing the clubhead with the whole right side, not just the hands. Ballard was and is still a great teacher. He worked with the top players in the world and they all would come to see him at his facility. He wasn't chasing down pros on tour driving ranges.
AJ Bonar is a snake oil salesman, a plagiarizer, a con artist, but also “a world class marketing expert!” After all a million suckers have apparently purchased his video tape. A great infomercial is obviously just too tantalizing for many viewers to pass up. We would all love a “Secret!” something quick and easy to save our golf. That is what Bonar and others like him sell.
Golfers will often try just about anything, but there is no magic move that will cure your terrible golf in 7 minutes. That's a magic trick. It's at best a short term fix for a minority of people. Golfers will be on to a new magic cure next year and AJ Bonar will have had his 15 minutes of fame.
Great teaching ideas last. Good golf takes time, and attention to the essentials of the game. Everyone is different and a good teacher must adjust to the student in front of them.
After studying so many different teachers and methods, I came to the conclusion that golf should be taught in stages. Perhaps most important there are acceptable ranges. No two swings are identical and there are many ways to be successful.
