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Golf is what the ball does

Part of the culture of golf (and particularly online instruction nowadays) is a tendency to put so much emphasis on the specifics of how we swing, that many golfers become disconnected from the purpose of the swing, and less skilled as a result.


It's not a new thing. Even back in the 1920's P.G. Wodehouse poked fun at swing obsession in one of his short stories, referring to a fictional instruction manual called "How to get better at golf by staring at photographs" by Sandy McHoot.


The antidote - "Golf is what the ball does" is a famous quote from the legendary coach John Jacobs who recognised the need to keep golfers focused on the ultimate objective of the game. What he meant was that:

the effect we create on the golf ball is the only absolute in the game. HOW a player specifically does it, is another question.

The only thing that directly tells the ball what to do is how the clubhead behaves through the impact zone. This is something I will cover in depth in other pages.


Getting the job done

A cornerstone of a learning-friendly perspective to improvement is to be extremely focused the desired effect on ball flight and therefore club delivery. Function over form, getting the job done, is a key belief of an effective, pro-learning attitude to the game.



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