Greetings Golfers,

During the off-season I read a lot of golf sites and even get into quite a few “discussions”. At the end of February I bid farewell until November. But, every now and then I take a peek … and it kills me not to respond.

Some of the sites are full of golf instructors whose ideas of the golf swing are unbelievably technical. I almost said absurdly or ridiculously instead of “unbelievably” … I’m trying to be nice.

However, one site went completely the other way yesterday – they basically said that nothing matters – “just swing”. What???? Maybe you can “just swing” if you already have a great swing or are a one-in-a-million natural golfer … but for most people that is insane advice. That would be like telling someone who’s trying to learn a new language to just speak it.

Of course much teaching in golf – or anything – has become too focused on breaking it all down, instead of understanding the fundamentals and finding a natural way to incorporate those fundamentals into a golf swing.

Obviously the pendulum swings back and forth with every idea and concept … but right now I believe that golf has gone goofy in both directions.

Ironically, the leader of the technocrats – Homer Kelley – once said “You can be in all of the correct positions and still miss the ball”. Yes. The emphasis needs to be on contact. How to make contact and what proper contact really is.

Just because golf instruction has gotten too technical doesn’t mean that anything goes. To me, I’m very accepting of “weird” swings as long as they get the job done. They work because the player has found a consistent way to make good contact and control the ball.

Work on chipping and half-wedge shots. That’s the best way I know of to learn proper contact.

Don’t get obsessed with reading golf sites.

Cheers,

Tom Abts
GM and Head Golf Professional
tabts@deerrungolf.com