Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Lessons from a pro

Most pros are selling a dream: good golf is easy.
Good golf is damned hard. It takes commitment, the desire to push your body to the limit, the psychological strength to do whatever is necessary to make the lowest possible score on every single hole you play, the intelligence to know what that score is. And the character to accept that no matter how hard you try, or how great your talent, there will still be the occasion when you hit a terrible shot, and it will be your fault, and you have to make the best of it.
In other words, good golf is not a relaxed, happy, pleasant walk in the park. Good golf is a trial, a task. Good golf feels great AFTERWARDS. 
Some pros will be honest and tell you that. They can help by pointing out things that you're doing that may seem right to you, but have been proven to be less than optimal. Sometimes those things are "fundamentals" that earlier golfers have proclaimed necessary to play good golf. For example, you might have gotten the advice that proper setup posture is as if you were sitting on a shooting stick, or a high stool, with your weight more toward your heels.
Modern teaching reverses that: you can move through the ball more efficiently if your weight is more toward your toes, on the balls of your feet. The difference is a matter of a few inches, but that small difference can help you to get more clubhead speed with less risk of injuring your lower back. A good pro will do more than tell you that: he'll CONVINCE you of that.
The hardest thing a pro has to do is take a chance on losing you as a paying customer by pointing out that what you're doing is wrong -- if you want to improve. 
But ask yourself: if the pro doesn't know better than you, or you can't accept the fact that he knows more than you, then why are you there?
Bottom line: either accept the fact that a pro can help you, or go be a pro yourself.

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