A.J.'s Truth about Golf

[Deep red]

I was watching the Golf channel today and caught an infomercial about this video product. Has anyone watched it or even heard about if before. I so is it worth the money and did it help your game?

[Curious George]

Don't fall for like that. Invest in lessons. Honestly, those things are designed to appeal to the short cut nature of people. Golf is a game like any other: the right technique + lots of practice = good results.

You can't learn from a video.

[Andru]

Bull

The video is great. Having actually watched! ( tsk-tsk CG )

It's a different way of looking at golf not a fast fix, not a swing lesson either. That's why you CAN learn from this video. I'm not going to get into all the details. I will not do it justice.

1) There's a golf "SWING"
2) If I learn to make it perfectly
3) I'll make perfect shots.

This sounds logical but it's wrong. as we've learned from Jim Furyk. There is no perfect swing.

How about this

1) There's a ball
2) there's a stick
3) there's hand eye coordination

What he does is give you sense of skill development with a tool ( the golf club ) and you can practice and develop this tool the same way you learned to play any other sport. Like Ping pong

Vs. Trying to figure out where your right elbow is at the top of the back swing, and it's position down to the ball and weight shift and BLAH BLAH BLAH.

It has helped my ball striking more than any lesson. You can have control of the ball. I'm not saying you'll be perfect. No one is perfect. But every day I hit balls I learn something new and my skill with the golf club gets better.

Buy it from Golf Town it comes out to about 40 bucks cheaper. Than ordering it from the US.


Cheers

[challengegolf]

I watched it and did learn some things about the physics of swinging the golf club. I really learned from the Short game video(that's the best part of the entire serie in my opinion) that came with the tape . I think that if you are a beginner the tape will help as long as you take lessons from a pro on top of it. It is not a shortcut to becoming an under 75 player the next day but I did learn to hit left, right and center with my driver. It did not take only 10 balls to accomplish that but with the tape and time at the driving range you can do it.
hope it helped

[Andru]

It depends on the individual.

If you've been a pretty good stick and ball athelete in the past IE( hockey player, baseball, cricket, tennis, etc. ) You'll do fine with the video alone.

[Curious George]

My apologies Andru, didn't mean to insult...but you would agree that it taught you the basic ideas, and you had to PRACTICE on top of it...right?

Here's a good idea DEEP RED: how good would you like to get? Find someone on this forum who has reached that level, and ASK THEM what THEY did/do....

And while Jim Furyk's swing may look weird to the amateur, it has every component that every PGA touring pro has...

[Andru]

No Apology necessary I respect your opinion. I was just trying to say you should check it out before dismissing it.

No doubt I had to practice. Like anything. I hate infomercials they have to say things like "instantly" and put a premium on results to get people to buy.

Jim Furyk yes he applys the club head to the back of the ball. That
's where the similarities end. Even his grip is different.

There are a few positions tour players reach at impact. The question is this.

Is practicing these positions or trying to reach these ideal positions the best way to teach a player to strike the golf ball. A player who doesn't do this for a living.

OR

Does teaching the person how to use the club IE. What part of the club face is used to strike the ball, Controlling the club face with your hands, and what part of the ball to strike a better way.

I believe the second option with some practice will put you in the right positions, for you. You don't have to think about it. It just happens. And it feels natural because you created it. Now if you want to play on Tour then hire Leadbetter to tweak your right elbow position.

Cheers

[Curious George]

Andru: I agree completely. But...

The reason they do all that "arm in", "don't extend too far past", "don't bother with this" is because they've had 100 years to study, document and analyse the swing...and determine where the energy comes from, and (most important) where it is lost.

You can get a great hit out of any swing. I used to come over the top, and compensate with an open face, and voila: straight. but the timing had to be perfect, every time. Otherwise slice.

With practice and the components, I no longer have to swing that perfectly, and my errors are less. Golf is about reducing your errors, not a perfect swing. All that arm in, elbow in, etc., stuff is so you don't waste your time finding that out on your own.

And the reason I say take lessons before buying a video is because its faster to learn from a teacher (in person) than a book (or video).

[alice]

I took up the game when I was 8. I lived in Vancouver so I was able to play almost every day of the year. When I was 15 my handicap was single digits and by the time I was 17 I was playing to a 1 handicap. In all that time I was growing up and playing golf I only received one or two lessons. I had a subscription to Golf Magazine and I played and practised all the time. I would see a tip on how to play a certain type of shot in the magazine. I would write it down in point form to remember initially then go out and try to perform the shot. Then the next time that situation came up I knew what shot I was going to play. That is how most of my shots came to be. Now I play to about a 6 handicap and get in 15 to 30 games a year. I know that if I ever had the opportunity to play more often my scores would drop. I was able to play two games in a 5 day period last week. Played up at DragonFly in Renfrew for the first time and shot 76 from back tees. For me it's like riding a bike again for the first time in 10 years. You can do it but are a little cautious until you get the hang of it. Once that happens what out!

[Andru]

CG

I get your point now. I guess everyone here has a different way of learning to play this silly game.

As for a lesson vs. a video. That's where we respectfully disagree I guess. I honestly believe someone can learn from a video like AJ's, but not the swing oriented videos like, Jim Maclean's, Leadbetter's etc.. Just too confusing.

[Curious George]

I agree. I think they make it confusing to sell more...

I think an in person instructor avoids that . ALICE, you seem to be a natural...I've only met a few, and they seem to be the exception rather than the rule.

For me, golf is not like riding a bike, it takes me an entire summer to get my game where it was at the end of the last summer...anyone else like that?