Golf-Paralysis of analysis…and what to do about it
Ralph Guldahl was on his way to becoming one of golf’s all-time greats. He won the US Open in 1937 and 1938, and he won The Masters in 1939. Then he was asked to author an instruction book. He went into great detail, which forced him into thinking about parts of his swing which had always come naturally to him. After that, he lost his game and never recovered it. The moral of the story: If you try to make your golf swing too complicated, you are doomed. It is not reasonable to expect golfers like us, who play once, maybe twice per week, to be expected to swing the same way as a pro who practices and plays every day. Pros also have personal swing coaches watching their every move, yet they all seem to swing somewhat differently. Is there such a thing as a mechanically perfect swing for all types of body builds? Unless you are built like Tiger Woods, trying to make a mechanically perfect swing may make you a worse ball striker than you are with your natural swing. No golf instructor should ever try to make you do something that your particular body build is not capable of doing. You have to admit that all people are born with different degrees of muscle flexibility hand-eye coordination. Pro golfers have outstanding hand-eye coordination, and they probably have always been more gifted in this area than you and I. So in order to get the most enjoyment out of the game, set goals that are reasonable. It is not reasonable to expect an overnight quantum leap of improvement just because you took one lesson or read some tips.
Reasonable goals can make you feel better even when your scores do not show immediate improvement. For example, we all know that sometimes we fix one part of our game, only to see another part of our game go sour, so your scores may not show improvement, but hey, you did fix one part of your game. What if your fix is a lasting fix, and then you fix another part of your game, and then another? In a normal round of golf, what if you 3-putt one less time than normal? What if you got up-and-down one more time than normal? What if you hit one more green in regulation than normal? What if you hit one more good drive than normal? What if you made one less mental/strategic mistake than normal? What if you had one less flub than normal? Each one of these improvements seems minor, but if you can put them all together, they can add up to several strokes improvement per round! These are only a few examples of goals, there are many other ways to set them. Start with small goals like these for yourself and keep track of them, and celebrate the ones you achieve. One day you will put it all together and have your best score ever.
(see www.geocities.com/golfwithjoey)