Thread by @codykessel

Another absolute gem from Dr. Bob Rotella in "Golf is Not a Game of Perfect" that I wish I had come across at certain times in my career. 🙌🙏

A thread 🧵

“Practice ranges came along, and teachers found they could make a living just standing on the lesson tee and talking about hand positions and body coils and swing planes. They stopped walking the course with their pupils. They stopped teaching rhythm and feel and scoring skills.

Gradually, teaching golf became a big business. Teachers competed for a share of the market by claiming that they, and they alone, had discovered the secret, the mechanical key to the perfect swing.

Many in the golf business fought over ownership of the “correct way” to teach the swing, even though, as it happens, almost none of the great golfers swung the club “correctly.”

Bobby Jones regripped the club at the top of his backswing...

Walter Hagen had a forward move that resembled a lunge. Not only that, but the best players, from Jones down through Palmer, Player, Nickalus and Trevino, have always taken pride in the fact that their swings were a bit idiosyncratic and highly personal.

*𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐚 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐬𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐧.*"

Of course, there are mechanical themes that can and should be taught early and refreshed throughout a player’s career. When the time is right. But in the course of my career I also wasted a lot of time and energy trying to swing “correctly” or like other players I admired.

I swing how I swing. I play like me. And that is simply the best way to play.

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