Sunday, January 31, 2010

MORE OVER THE TOP GOLF INSTRUCTION. TENNIS ANYONE?

MORE OVER THE TOP GOLF INSTRUCTION. TENNIS ANYONE?
BOCA RATON, Florida - Watching TV can be entertaining. What's more, sometimes the content that's supposed to be dead serious turns out to be the most entertaining of all. And funniest!

Last night I watched part of a golf instruction infomercial. What caught my eye was the guy who was swinging a tennis racquet and golf club together. Would that be legal in a golf tournament?

The thought process was an attempt to illustrate how a golfer should be feeling like he or she is hitting a two-handed forehand tennis smash when swinging the golf club. They didn't say whether this would work with a tennis ball sitting down in thick bermuda grass.

The whole absurd program got me to thinking, though. What about creating all sorts of analogies between the golf swing and God-knows-what? My first silly thought was that the golf swing should feel like I'm beating eggs for an omelet. Flip that wrist....flip that wrist.....How about a hula hoop as an aid to making a full hip turn? Want to hit your putts the right distance? Practice making your bowling ball stop just short of the one-pin. Yikes! Cure a slice by closing your eyes? Why not?

Is the tennis/golf guy a scammer? In my opinion he's not. No more than the golf pro who keeps trying to teach complicated things to students who can't possibly learn them. In their minds, the lessons they impart should work for everyone because it works for them.

You can't bring your Louisville slugger to the golf course. Whatever swing pattern you developed in your garage using a racquet, a bat, a rake or a hoe will vanish once you have a golf club in your hands. My suggestion for those who want to feel like they are swinging a tennis racquet is to play tennis, not golf. If you want to play golf-really good golf-figure out the best way to swing an actual golf club.

Uncomplicated, inexpensive and definitely not tennis.
 
 
 
 
Keywords for this article: golf, swing, over the top, lesson, instruction, eBook, cure slice, golf DVD, golf instruction, golf lessons, golf swing, golf tips, golf video, hip turn, over the top golf swing, tennis, wrist flip
Revised 09-03-2012