GAPS in your Golf Game? (Free Lesson!)
 

I hit balls at the range, most every day. I usually play 4-5 times a week at a Championship Course.

Every day at the range, I see husbands trying to teach their wives how to swing. Friends giving lessons to friends. Invariably, the teacher only marginally knows more than the student. I watched a guy today, coaching & teaching his wife or GF. He couldn't hit 3 balls in a row in the air. His wife was a newbie, but had a swing that would make Nelly Korda jealous. With some decent instruction or coaching, the lady would be a single-digit handicap in 2 months. With her husband teacher her, she'll probably give up golf out of frustration.

I've been shooting in the mid-70's for 40 years. I'm a 4.6 Index now and play from the Blue Tees. I also oversaw an operation that had a Rick Smith Golf Academy and later, a Bobby Clampett Impact Zone school. There are probably a 1,000,000 people who know more about the golf swing than I do, but I know a little. What I do know, is how to get the golf ball around the golf course, in a reasonable amount of strokes (usually).

G is for Grip
A is for Alignment
P is for Posture
S is for Set up (Ball position, distance from the ball & the consistency those things)

Very few recreational or even average golfers, need a huge amount of "swing advice".

What most need, is information and coaching on the basics. There is almost no "swing flaw" that can't be corrected organically, by changing or adjusting, one of the above. My swing plane got out of whack. I took a swing lesson via video last week, with Ryan Mouque in Australia. A simple change in spine angle corrected the issue in10 minutes (at least for now).

Everyone's body is different and works differently. That said, most everyone has a grip, alignment, posture & setup, that will allow them to swing fairly naturally and hit the ball, reasonably straight and reasonable well. Find it. Most "swing flaws" can be traced back to an issue with your "GAPS".

Did you take a bunch of lessons to learn to tie your shoes? Sign your name? Slice a loaf of bread? Walk? Throw a baseball? No. You figured out what naturally worked for you and it may be way different than the way someone else does it, but if it works for you who cares? Bryson DeChambeau doesn't swing anything like Rory McIlroy, but they both play pretty well.

Once you can swing naturally and make decent contact, there's only course management left to vastly improve your game. Let's face it, none of us are going to be playing in The Masters this week. We don't need to know how PGA Tour players do it. I know quite a few guys who play on Tour and trust me, they are all "freaks of nature" when it comes to hitting a golf ball (& usually other sports, too). We only need simple & basic.

If you only want to have fun and be able to break 90 on a regular basis, that's all it takes. Stop playing "golf swing" and especially stop trying to teach your wife or friends, "golf swing". If I see one more guy who can't break 90, showing his wife where her golf club should be a at the top, I'm going to say something. Help them with the basics if you must, but make sure you know what you're doing.

There is plenty of online advice. Try Rick Shiels, Danny Maude, Aimee Cho or even George Gankas.

If you prefer books, find these on Amazon, cheap ... they're all old and you can buy used copies for a couple of bucks.

The LAWS of the Golf Swing: 1998: by Jim Suttie, Mike Adams, and T.J. Tomasi
Play Your Best Golf All the Time. 1953: by Tommy Armour
Impact Zone. 2007: by Bobby Clampett
Understanding the Golf Swing. 2001: Manuel De LA Torre

Do not read Ben Hogan's "5 Easy Lessons" or Jack Nicklaus' "Golf My Way". Both great golfers, but Trackman & High Speed Video, have proven they didn't really know how or why what they were doing, worked so well.

Are you married ? Once ?

Best response or reality check ever

I have taken several hundred lessons. Videos, motion sensors on my body, cameras from every angle. Pros with different styles. If you looked at my swing you would think I was a very good player. But i am a 17 index and struggle to break 90 and probably always will. My career best is 78 which I’ve done exactly twice in 20 years. Meanwhile I know lots of guys with quirky swings that whip my butt every day of the week.

It’s not all about the swing.

I watched a guy on the range today, who looked like he got his swing as the free gift, in a box of Cracker Jacks. It was awful. It was perfect in the Impact Zone. He hit every ball dead straight. Could drive it 175 or so. Could easily shoot in the 70's, with good course management & decent putting.

Was it Charles Barkley?

My entire point, but you were able to reduce it to 6 words.

For the average golfer, it has nothing to do with the "swing". When's the last time you saw someone hit a golf ball with his backswing? It's all about what the club is doing in the 6" before it hits the ball and the inch or 2, after.

For the average golfer, It's all about moving the ball forward in a reasonably consistent direction, aimed at a target that will keep you out of trouble.

Unfortunately, every teacher seems to want to teach a "golf swing", instead of how to play golf.

Moe Norman had a horrible looking swing, but made it work by hitting countless balls on the range till his hands bled. Always believed he had the "perfect" swing, but it doesn't work for everybody. You can go on YouTube and see some interesting alternative swing techniques (Jim Venetos, Marcus Adberg, channel-lock and others). They all work because the ball doesn't care what your swing looks like. But if several things are wrong, you can never hope to deliver the clubhead properly for a good shot. Try everything until you find out what works for you.

"Several things" can be "wrong" with your GAPS, but they all lead to the same, exact place. Contact (swing path/club face alignment) are the only things that affect what the ball does.

Manuel de La Torre was one of the greatest instructors ever. He preached "the ball flight tells you everything".

With the advent of Trackman and especially, the Foresight Sports GCQuad, we learned that what Manuel said, is true. Ball flight tells you everything you need to know about impact and therefore, your swing.

It's been my observation since moving to the Villages and playing golf, that the seniors I play with are so stiff, or is it more appropriate to say, inflexible. I suggest a few simple stretches for their hamstrings or back muscles and I hear, "it hurts, I can't do them". They constantly lift their heads before hitting the ball. They do this because of their inflexibility. I am a big believer in the basics, and GAPS is certainly important, but how do you get these golfers to do simple stretches?

We may be saying the same thing, but ...

I have hardly ever seen a player "lift his head". I've heard on the golf course, at least 42,000 times ... "oh, you lifted your head".

Most of the time, something in your Posture or Setup, caused your head to move.

& before someone says, "he looked up to watch his ball" ... that's usually incorrect in my opinion. Everyone's inclination is to keep their eye on the ball until they hit it. Common sense.

You "turn" your head to watch your ball, not move it "up". Annika Sorenstam was famous for following the ball with her head. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzKbz7z76BY

free lesson to get the basics right. no upsell. Any book by Harvey Penick
 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFwz9o5QWzg

Hank Haney free simple basics....

Any book by Harvey Penick (even one just for women). Simple, no gimmicks. Gets average golfer to enjoy game more without gadgets.... old school. You can find them as free PDF's on line too....

example - quote little red book...harvey Penick = A 5-foot putt counts one stroke, the same as a 270-yard drive, but the putt may be much more significant to your score.

Psychologically, the driver is very important. If you hit your tee ball well, it fills you with confidence. On the other hand, if you smash a couple of drives into the trees, your confidence can be shaken.

But nothing is more important psychologically than knocking putts into the hole. Sinking putts makes your confidence soar, and it devastates your opponent.

A good putter is a match for anyone. A bad putter is a match for no one.

The woods are full of long drivers.

Simple free tips to get the basics right so you can find your own swing without starting with no guidance.... Takes a long time for a new player to think about clubface being slightly open or closed...

The statistics say otherwise. Putting is responsible for about 15% of your scoring differential from a PGA Tour Player.

The above is a quote from Harvey Penick. Penick died in 1995. Way before TrackMan and ShotLink. Psychologically, the driver probably isn't any more important than any other club. Why should it be? On a Par 4 you have 3 more shots to get it in the hole. On a Par 5, you have 4 more shots. The odds are, if you make ONE good shot, you can make Par. If you know anything about course management, you can make a Bogey with 5 lousy shots. A poor drive is generally the easiest mistake to recover from.

There are very few courses in TV, with "woods" to smash it into. Other than on TDS, where I've lost 2 balls in the woods, it hasn't happen to me in TV in 300+ rounds. I play "tree lined" courses most every day I'm not in TV. I can't remember the last time I "smashed a couple of drives into the woods".

Exactly the type of advice that's dispensed at the Driving Range, which in my opinion, is reason that golfers don't improve. BTW, out of 193 Players on the PGA Tour in 2023, Scottie Sheffler ranked 163rd in Putting. He won $23,000,000. How important is putting?

A new player should learn what the club face does and why, before he evens learns to hold it. If you don't understand what the hitting implement does and why ... how will you ever learn how to use it?

When's the last time you shot even par from 6000+ yards?

For those of you who think Putting is so damn important, here's a practical test you can try, the next time you play golf.

Give yourself, EVERY putt that's within the length of your Putter (36"). In The Villages, most everyone does that, anyway.

For putts between 3' - 8', give yourself ONE of them. Putt the rest, keeping the above in mind.

Your score at the end of the day, will be what it would be, if a PGA Tour Player was doing your putting.

[Statistically, PGA Tour Pros make about 95% of their 3' putts and 50% of their 8' putts. Amateurs make about 40% of their 8' putts.)

I bet you your score won't improve as much as you think.

What's that prove? Your putting is likely no where near as bad as you think it is and improved putting is not the way to lower scores. At best, you're likely to improve a couple of strokes. Big deal. So you shoot 94 instead of 97?

I partially agree with your comment. On the other hand, I follow a few young YouTube golf influencers who are in their 20’s, they golf everyday and have the best equipment and access to top trainers. Still they can’t keep it in the fairway. On the other hand … I play with more seniors who hit fairways and green in regulation. One guy had the smoothest swing like Fred Couples. He said 2 count back, 2 count forward. It was beautiful to watch him play.