Despite all the modern know how and technology, the handicap of the average golfer has not gone down over the years. This does not make sense. Is the game too difficult? Perhaps the game is difficult because the teaching does not follow learning principles. In other words, good learning is not taking place because golf is being presented in an overly analytical way.

Today, too many golfers are too full of technical trivia ever to be able to make a decent pass at the ball, and I think sometimes the fault lies in the sheer volume of needless information they pick up from overly detailed instruction. To weigh down a student with thoughts about positions, swing paths, body parts and mechanics is the wrong approach. Being conscious of too many things just doesn’t mesh with how the human mind works: And, with how sports, athletics and activities are supposed to be played. Teachers who do that are well-intentioned but generally misguided.

A talented coach will watch you long and carefully enough to figure out the root cause of whatever you are doing or not doing. Then, he will never give you more words than are necessary to explain a particular fault and its cure. A gifted teacher will always keep his message both simple and fundamental which is the only way to help a student become a good player in the first place and to stay one for a decent length of time.