Your Golf Swing Is Good Enough

This is absolutely true for the average golfer but it
may be true for all golfers as well. There is loads of
evidence on the pro tours that the ones making the
money are those best at chipping and putting. The golf
research guru himself, Dave Pelz, actually followed If you
watch the Golf Channel or read any of the
magazines and books on golf, it will be very hard for
you to miss the basic theme that "There is a perfect
swing and you will do the most for your game by trying
to get it". Even when you watch a tournament on TV, you
see the commentators participate in this conspiracy by
showing us frame-by-frame analysis of the pro and
critiquing his/her every move. Now, maybe we can give
the TV guys a break because they are just trying for
some entertainment value and let's face it, most of us
are interested in the details of the swing because
we've been brainwashed by years of this theme.
For many years, I too was a "swing zombie" in my quest
to improve my golf game. I even participated with a
group of golfers that all had our swings videotaped and
then we critiqued each other in a classroom setting.
The feedback I received from all of us watching my
swing ran from "very smooth" to "way off-kilter".
Everybody had a differing opinion of many of the swings
that we watched and at least for me, it only confused
me more.
In my younger years, I had a typical amateur slice
swing that obviously came out of my years of playing
baseball and softball. In those days, I would just aim
for the left edge of any fairway and I could count on
the ball moving left to right, at worst ending up in
the right rough but usually hitting the fairway. I
enjoyed playing golf those days but I always felt that
something was missing. So when I could finally afford
it,I decided to take a set of lessons from a pro. Of
course I told him that I wanted to get rid of my slice
swing and he asked me back "are you sure?". This answer
kind of shocked me but he was a very good instructor
and by the end of the lessons, I was able to hit the
ball out of bounds both ways, left and right. I figured
that it would just be a matter of time until I "dialed"
in to hitting it straight. To make the story short, 5
years later and I was still "dialing" and getting wrong
numbers (ob, jail, water,no score improvement, etc.).
Looking back, I honestly believe now that if I had
stuck with my old left to right swing and just used the
rest of what I learned from the pro, that I would have
improved significantly. Why? Because I was a typical
golfer and not a 12 handicapper trying to become a
single-digiter (a good golfer trying to become a great
one). Studies have shown that the overwhelming majority
of amateur golfers shoot in the 90's or above for men
and it's over 100 for women. If you are in that group,
then you really should be working on parts of your game
that will give you far more efficient score improvement
for the time and effort spent. This would primarily be
in the area of the short game and the mental game.

tour players around for years taking detailed
statistics and he proved it (see his book, My Short
Game Bible). In addition to that, there are too many
pros to list that admit that their swing is not "
technically correct" or maybe not even very good...BUT
THEY WIN TOURNAMENTS! Look at Jim Furyk, 2003 U.S. Open
winner. He actually has a big loop in his backswing.
Lee Trevino always told people that they should not
copy his swing. Even Jack Nicklaus says in his books
that he wasn't a very good ball striker. Bruce Lietzke
has won tournaments on the PGA and Senior tours playing
his left-to-right shot his whole career - And he says
he rarely practices! On top of that, the tours are
littered with past champions that totally lost their
game AFTER they tried to change it for the better. And
now they are begging their sports psychologist to help
them "find" their old swing.
I have talked to PGA golf instructors that say it's
their clients that want the swing advice (just like I
did) even when they recommend working some other part
of their game first. So maybe it's our own fault in
creating the current situation where average scores of
amateurs have not dropped one stroke in the last 50
years despite the advances in equipment technology. Now
don't get me wrong, if you are a total beginner, maybe
you should start out with learning the basics of the
golf swing with a lesson. But if you're hitting it
solid most of the time, you are good to go for a real
scoring quest as more swing advice is not the quickest
way for you to drop your score. There is just so much
more that you can do, on and off the course, that will
pay you back in saved strokes for far less time spent
than "fixing" your swing. Most of us have precious
little free time that we can work to improve our games
so why not work on that which will give us the greatest
bang for our (time) buck?
And so, let me be the first to make a pledge to the
golf spirit inside me (I always thought that golf is
like religion): "I for one, do solemnly swear that I
will not pay attention to any swing advice of any sort
until I can score in the 70's consistently with the
swing I have (and maybe not even then)".
Visit Craig Sigl's website at: http://www.break80golf/.
com It is dedicated to score improvement for golfers
with little time to practice. Download free ebook "How
you can play better golf using self-hypnosis". Sign up
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