Dave Ramsay For Your Swing - January 2011
2011 New Year's Golf Resolution: No Cookie-Cutters!
by Dave Ramsay, Head Golf Professional
I'm not sure if this is a bad omen or not for our New Year of 2011, but I've just stumbled upon a stunningly bad piece of advice in a popular golf magazine. It isn't something I normally hear players actually advise other players to do, so it may not be in the same category of "common golf advice that is bad" as the last few articles I've written on the subject. But in our frequent desperation to improve our golf game we often search for and grasp at any and all information that we can - and unfortunately, a glossy magazine on the shelf at the corner store is an easy outlet. This means that if its advice that is easily acquired, I’m going to mention it. And while this may not be commonly extolled advice, any busy golf pro will attest to the fact that many players indeed do the following.
What is this terrible advice that, after this buildup, you must think ranks up there with "buy high, sell low"? Well, to paraphrase:
You can improve your game on the cheap by finding a professional that is giving a golf lesson and be sure to sit or practice near them, listen, and try everything the instructor is telling the paying student.
It is great this advise recognizes the value of a qualified golf instructor. But it fails to recognize the critical truth that a qualified instructor tailors each lesson to the student at hand. The magazines advise equates to a "what's good for one is good for all" attitude toward instruction. Which explains why golf magazines are so popular in the first place - individual swing fixes are impractical to address and (maybe more importantly) don't sell as many magazines as the implication that anyone that follows this tip will get whatever is the desired result. I'm not going to bore you by preaching about how wrong this attitude is; I've already addressed that before, so read past articles if this is a new concept.
I've got a busy schedule this week that might benefit you. I'm taking my '03 Toyota Sienna to the shop because of a rattle in the rear suspension. Maybe you have a '07 Mustang with a transmission problem that could be fixed by listening to what my mechanic tells me for my car. Later, I need to take my 11 year-old to the doctor for some ear problems she's been having. If you're a 68 year-old man with a heart condition, feel free to join us and listen in on my daughter's diagnosis. Next, I need to pick up my laptop PC from the local computer guru that's been removing a particularly nasty virus of some sort. Come with me when I pick it up and as he describes the problem and repairs in a language foreign to me, you can learn what is wrong with your Mac desktop.
It's not uncommon to have someone approach me after giving a lesson that says, "you know, I was trying some of the things that you were telling your student, and it really was helping me!" Well, it's great that it helped, and it doesn't at all surprise me that it helped when I am teaching beginning and intermediate techniques that apply to most players. And it is helpful to listen in on a teacher when considering whether to book a lesson with them in order to see what they're like in personality, knowledge, and approach (make sure that this teacher doesn't give everyone the same lesson either, because there are instructors that do that). But be aware that it's very dangerous to apply the instruction that a good teacher is tailoring to their student alone, building or fixing components of the swing particular to that golfer's individual issues. Your swing deserves more than a cookie-cutter approach! Take a lesson that is specifically for YOU!
The first three people to ask me "when can I go with you to your car mechanic?" get a complimentary swing analysis (if I haven't already given you one)!
by Dave Ramsay, Head Golf Professional
I'm not sure if this is a bad omen or not for our New Year of 2011, but I've just stumbled upon a stunningly bad piece of advice in a popular golf magazine. It isn't something I normally hear players actually advise other players to do, so it may not be in the same category of "common golf advice that is bad" as the last few articles I've written on the subject. But in our frequent desperation to improve our golf game we often search for and grasp at any and all information that we can - and unfortunately, a glossy magazine on the shelf at the corner store is an easy outlet. This means that if its advice that is easily acquired, I’m going to mention it. And while this may not be commonly extolled advice, any busy golf pro will attest to the fact that many players indeed do the following.
What is this terrible advice that, after this buildup, you must think ranks up there with "buy high, sell low"? Well, to paraphrase:
You can improve your game on the cheap by finding a professional that is giving a golf lesson and be sure to sit or practice near them, listen, and try everything the instructor is telling the paying student.
It is great this advise recognizes the value of a qualified golf instructor. But it fails to recognize the critical truth that a qualified instructor tailors each lesson to the student at hand. The magazines advise equates to a "what's good for one is good for all" attitude toward instruction. Which explains why golf magazines are so popular in the first place - individual swing fixes are impractical to address and (maybe more importantly) don't sell as many magazines as the implication that anyone that follows this tip will get whatever is the desired result. I'm not going to bore you by preaching about how wrong this attitude is; I've already addressed that before, so read past articles if this is a new concept.
I've got a busy schedule this week that might benefit you. I'm taking my '03 Toyota Sienna to the shop because of a rattle in the rear suspension. Maybe you have a '07 Mustang with a transmission problem that could be fixed by listening to what my mechanic tells me for my car. Later, I need to take my 11 year-old to the doctor for some ear problems she's been having. If you're a 68 year-old man with a heart condition, feel free to join us and listen in on my daughter's diagnosis. Next, I need to pick up my laptop PC from the local computer guru that's been removing a particularly nasty virus of some sort. Come with me when I pick it up and as he describes the problem and repairs in a language foreign to me, you can learn what is wrong with your Mac desktop.
It's not uncommon to have someone approach me after giving a lesson that says, "you know, I was trying some of the things that you were telling your student, and it really was helping me!" Well, it's great that it helped, and it doesn't at all surprise me that it helped when I am teaching beginning and intermediate techniques that apply to most players. And it is helpful to listen in on a teacher when considering whether to book a lesson with them in order to see what they're like in personality, knowledge, and approach (make sure that this teacher doesn't give everyone the same lesson either, because there are instructors that do that). But be aware that it's very dangerous to apply the instruction that a good teacher is tailoring to their student alone, building or fixing components of the swing particular to that golfer's individual issues. Your swing deserves more than a cookie-cutter approach! Take a lesson that is specifically for YOU!
The first three people to ask me "when can I go with you to your car mechanic?" get a complimentary swing analysis (if I haven't already given you one)!
