I have long been a believer that the majority of golfers, of all levels have become obsessed with numbers; swing speed, smash factors, spin rates the list goes on. But this obsession is damaging the average golfer rather than helping them. Golf coaches are becoming more reliant on computers and the analysis machines that they are forgetting how to coach a golfer to become a better player.
I give you an example. A long time ago I began working with a junior golfer, with a handicap of 26. He was determined and a hard worker, he practiced when he could after school and attended private lessons as well as the public golf school we ran. Quickly his handicap dropped and he was becoming a solid golfer. His improvement journey continued for a few years with me, eventually reaching a handicap of 2.4. Due to circumstances out of my control he left the club where I worked and joined another, feeling obliged to switch to the clubs pro.
After around 8 months, he came to play a tournament and we got chatting. He was waxing lyrical about his new coach and the use of a well-known launch monitor, and how his ball striking had improved immensely with the use of said equipment. I asked how his handicap was doing and to my shock, considering his apparent delight at his new found ability, he had increased to 4.4. I didn´t want to knock the professional he was now working with, but I had to question why he was so happy with his “progress”. The response was worrying, “because now I know what I am doing wrong, the analysis I get from the launch monitor tells me everything I need to know”.
He had become obsessed with knowing the numbers, his numbers. He had moved away from being able to self-diagnose a problem and work with it or solve it to being obsessed with a series of numbers, which offer little or no sensory feedback. He had become a golfing robot, with a horrible snap-hook that was destroying his game.
I spoke to his parents, with whom I had built a good relationship and asked their opinion, and suffice to say they were not happy with what had happened. But it was too late, their son, who had bags of potential was hooked, he wouldn´t take a lesson without the launch monitor and a video camera capturing every single swing.
I have no issue with golfers or coaches using modern technology to assist in the improvement journey, but they must not become a necessary tool for training. You must nurture personal feedback and encourage the client to understand their swing and how it feels or should feel. You have to be able to have some naturalness to the movement, otherwise you are creating a robot, who will achieve little enjoyment from the game.
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