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Has this happened to you!!
I hope that the information, which I am about to relay may be helpful to many. Some of you may have had a similar experience and, will relate to my post. You have my sympathy. If you have not had the misfortune, to share my experience, then you are lucky. I'm UK based but, I'm sure, similar scenarios have occurred, throughout the world. Here goes.
After an 11 year break from golf, due to a back problem, I started to play again, in September 2002. I had forgotten a lot and felt that regular lessons were required. I went to a local pro, who, after about 5 lessons, felt that I was capable of playing to a 14-18 handicap. After more lessons, I, eventually, felt confident enough to join my local golf club, which I did in mid-June 2003.
By the end of August, I had gradually been cut to 18 (started at 24). My best score was 13 over. My game was in reasonable shape and it looked as though my goal of getting to a 16 handicap by the end of 2003 was easily attainable. I needed more work on my short game but, I had only been back to the game for less than a year, so was happy with the progress which I had made so far.
It was then that I made a big mistake. In September, I deserted my local pro and attended a couple of courses with a teaching pro, who claims to have "The Holy Grail" golf swing. He was so intent on teaching his concept that, any swing faults, which we all have, from time to time, were just a trifling obstruction in our voyage to golf swing Nirvana. As long as us pupils followed his teaching of the golf swing, all faults would be eradicated. WRONG!!!!!!
To cut a long story short, my game fell apart. By the end of November, my handicap had gone up to 19. On one round, my card was 35 over!! In the 3 month period that I adopted this
"swing guru's" method, my score cards were, on average, 22-33 over. I played to an 18 handicap just twice during this period. I never once played below my official handicap. I play 2-3 times per week, so you can understand how badly my game started to disintegrate.
In desperation, I returned to my local pro at the end of December. He, immediately, identified a couple of problems. I was no longer coiling away from the ball plus, my weight transference was out of sync
The good news is that I am hitting it further and straighter than I have been for the past 4 months. I played last Sunday, on a frozen course, with temporary greens. If five of my putts hadn't hit frozen wormcasts, I would have carded 12 over, instead of the 17 over that I recorded.
To conclude this post, I have one piece of advice which I hope will be of help to all of you. If you find a pro who really helps your game, i.e. who brings about better ball striking, reduced score etc., don't get seduced by some supposed "swing guru" who claims to have the ultimate answer to the mystery of the golf swing. Your local pro is probably as good, if not better, than those who claim to hold the "Holy Grail" in their hands.
you can shoot lower!!!
Alan
After an 11 year break from golf, due to a back problem, I started to play again, in September 2002. I had forgotten a lot and felt that regular lessons were required. I went to a local pro, who, after about 5 lessons, felt that I was capable of playing to a 14-18 handicap. After more lessons, I, eventually, felt confident enough to join my local golf club, which I did in mid-June 2003.
By the end of August, I had gradually been cut to 18 (started at 24). My best score was 13 over. My game was in reasonable shape and it looked as though my goal of getting to a 16 handicap by the end of 2003 was easily attainable. I needed more work on my short game but, I had only been back to the game for less than a year, so was happy with the progress which I had made so far.
It was then that I made a big mistake. In September, I deserted my local pro and attended a couple of courses with a teaching pro, who claims to have "The Holy Grail" golf swing. He was so intent on teaching his concept that, any swing faults, which we all have, from time to time, were just a trifling obstruction in our voyage to golf swing Nirvana. As long as us pupils followed his teaching of the golf swing, all faults would be eradicated. WRONG!!!!!!
To cut a long story short, my game fell apart. By the end of November, my handicap had gone up to 19. On one round, my card was 35 over!! In the 3 month period that I adopted this
"swing guru's" method, my score cards were, on average, 22-33 over. I played to an 18 handicap just twice during this period. I never once played below my official handicap. I play 2-3 times per week, so you can understand how badly my game started to disintegrate.
In desperation, I returned to my local pro at the end of December. He, immediately, identified a couple of problems. I was no longer coiling away from the ball plus, my weight transference was out of sync
The good news is that I am hitting it further and straighter than I have been for the past 4 months. I played last Sunday, on a frozen course, with temporary greens. If five of my putts hadn't hit frozen wormcasts, I would have carded 12 over, instead of the 17 over that I recorded.
To conclude this post, I have one piece of advice which I hope will be of help to all of you. If you find a pro who really helps your game, i.e. who brings about better ball striking, reduced score etc., don't get seduced by some supposed "swing guru" who claims to have the ultimate answer to the mystery of the golf swing. Your local pro is probably as good, if not better, than those who claim to hold the "Holy Grail" in their hands.
you can shoot lower!!!
Alan
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