Every round of Golf is littered with distractions… The slow group ahead of you. The guy who picks up your ball without looking. The kid who can’t really play but beats you anyway.
On the driving range, there’s nothing more distracting than a knuckleheaded know-it-all dispensing bad advice. I try to block it out with sheer mental fortitude, but it’s kind of like watching a car wreck.
Usually it’s his lovely bride who gets the brunt of his hair-brained theories…
“You need to spin your hips faster.”
“Turn your back farther around.”
“Keep your head down.”
“Swing slower.”
“No, don’t do that.”
“Quit topping it.”
Amateur advice like that is what drives people away from the game. Because one lousy golf lesson often leads down a path of permanent confusion.
There are so many sources of bad advice these days, it’s impossible to escape it. Unless you have a really good, built-in B.S. detector, you’re bound to get sucked-in as some point.
I was perusing YouTube the other day for videos on “correct golf grip.” There are hundreds to choose from, and most offer fairly accurate descriptions of how to hold the club.
But there are also plenty of grip videos that lead you down the wrong path. Like the one that dissects the grip into 11 — count ‘em 11 — “simple” steps. Or the one that claims you can correct your slice simply by changing to a “strong” grip.
Talk about a rash generalization!
That’s like putting a band aid on a sucking chest wound. Changing your grip like that might minimize your slice for a little while, but it could just as easily infect you with a push-slice, a duck hook, or any number of other deadly complications.
Instead of missing consistently to the right, you could be missing it every which way.
Besides, the vast majority of golfers who slice the ball already have a strong grip! That doesn’t stop ‘em from hitting all the houses on the right side of the golf course.
Here’s the thing: If you hang on, and never release the clubhead —or if you “come way over the top”— you can hit a big old slice with any sort of grip.
I don’t have time to discuss the technical mechanics of a slice. Forget About It. But one thing’s for sure, changing to a fundamentally flawed grip is not the answer to your slice. That possible short-term fix is probably going to cause more long-term problems than you already have.
Which leads me back to the issue of bad advice. If someone specifically asks for advice, offer it only with a huge caveat… that it’s only your opinion and you don’t really know what you’re talking about. Or better yet, if you’re asked for advice and you’re not a certified instructor, just SHUT UP!
If you’re surfing the web for advice or soliciting tips from people, remember this: If the source of the information — the advisor — doesn’t know a few, fundamental things about your swing, you can’t be sure that the tip applies to you. Why waste your time finding out?
So take everything with a grain of salt. And be prepared to sift through a lot of irrelevant information before you find something that works for your particular swing.
