Do we make golf more complicated than it needs to be?

[Oddsocks]

I can onLy talk from personal experience from my own golf and close friends that I play with.

I play my best golf thought free enjoying the company and surroundings, the minute you introduce a specific swing thought or change I lock up lose all Rhythm and so on. I play my best golf with a specific yet uncomplicated pre shot thought process .... And it this I really need to stick to in order to play better golf.

I've had some great rounds.... Very below hc in the region of plus 4 and plus 5 gross and this has been found rounds where company is great and I'm not thinking anything.

But I do like the big Bertha alpha!

 

[ManinBlack]

I agree people can get too far into the technical stuff and ruin their game. BUT, if you're not hitting it properly you must do something to put it right and to do that you must have an idea of what's going wrong. The other week I met someone I know slightly at the range. Every shot was a huge slice and he had it grooved nicely. He hasn't been playing long & had the typical beginners swing - aim left, open shoulders come over the top swing. The thing is, he had no idea what caused this type of ball flight and therefore hadn't a clue about how to put it right. I gave him a quick rundown of how swing path & face angle, and a combination of the two, produced particular ball flights and he at least knows now what the club is doing when he hits a bad one.

When it comes to hitting the ball I think there are a few fundamentals that help. Anyone can look like a pro at address & few beginners do. Stand in front of a mirror with an instruction book and stay there until the grip & stance look right. When it comes to swinging I think you've got time for one thought on the backswing & one on the downswing, any more & you're just confused. It's right what Bratty said, some do it naturally, others, like me, find it hard work. Yes, you shouldn't overcomplicate it but you should certainly think constructively about it.

 

[Mattyboy]

I can onLy talk from personal experience from my own golf and close friends that I play with.

I play my best golf thought free enjoying the company and surroundings, the minute you introduce a specific swing thought or change I lock up lose all Rhythm and so on. I play my best golf with a specific yet uncomplicated pre shot thought process .... And it this I really need to stick to in order to play better golf.

I've had some great rounds.... Very below hc in the region of plus 4 and plus 5 gross and this has been found rounds where company is great and I'm not thinking anything.

But I do like the big Bertha alpha!

Bazza, It sounds like 'ho hum' golf where thoughts are elsewhere.

As for the thread, just look on ask the experts - there have been disagreements about who exactly the experts are!

 

[Oddsocks]

Bazza, It sounds like 'ho hum' golf where thoughts are elsewhere.

As for the thread, just look on ask the experts - there have been disagreements about who exactly the experts are!

Could well be... Talking of oh hum..... When we playing matt

 

[Sweep]

It would appear that the OP is a very talented golfer, able to get into low single figures with little effort and easily achieving a repeatable swing. For most of us, single figures is the "holy grail" and it takes a lot of our sweat and effort to build the game to get there, if we manage it at all. So, I guess a lot of us do take the game too seriously and we do make it too complicated, but for many of us, it is part of the fun in getting as low as we can.

 

[louise_a]

I have been custom fit and I have had lessons which have helped me a lot. That said I don't overcomplicate things when playing. Just keep the head down and complete the swing. I certainly hear playing partners talking about things like "flying elbows" whatever they are.

I do play golf for enjoyment but I also want to play as well as can.

 

[Twin Lakes]

I think most people do make it too complicated. It's not Rocket Science!
I've got to single figures by concentrating on hitting the ball and making a good connection......
All my gear is second hand apart from the putter!

 

[daymond]

Too many golfers never acknowledge when they have reached their own level of incompetence, whether that be 22Hc or 4Hc (as an example only)
In reaching this level a lot of blood, sweat and money has been involved and having reached it even more of the same is employed to reach the unattainable lower Hc.
The game is simple as all you have to do is hit a little ball from a tee and get it into a little hole but the over complication involved as questioned by the OP just gets in the way of results and enjoyment.

 

[macca64]

I agree, most down at the club I play with just go and play for a laugh, even in comps I find people i play with are pretty relaxed and my mates who are not members aren't interested in anything but just playing, might be why i dropped 6 shots last year

 

[G.U.R]

It's a personal decision and in some cases it's a financial one. I found that by playing regularly my handicap has come down, all second hand kit, my thought process was as soon as my handicap levelled out I would have come to the end of natural talent and a choice would have to be made based on my financial situation at the time.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I am not blessed with natural sporting ability and so whatever success I've had has come as a result of hard work and sheer bloody mindedness. I feel I have to work hard on my game to try and get better and have been trying to build something over the last couple of years that is more consistent and I can trust. I feel I am there now.

As for kit, that is purely personal taste and so if I want custom fitted clubs and can afford it then I will do it. If I want 16 pairs of FJ's I'll get them. Live and let live and as long as I'm enjoying my golf then I'm happy. If I can get the handicap to single figures then even better

 

[London mike 61]

It depends on what you want to get out of the GAME , for some it's being the best they can possibly be , for others it's about beating your opponent. There are some folk who just want to enjoy the GAME for what it is, a chance to get some fresh air and four hours away from home or work.

In a age long gone when Tom Morris played the GAME , there were no instruction books to peruse or videos to see how someone else played the GAME , you just had to go out there and get stuck in.

The point is that it is a GAME and we would be wise to remember that and enjoy the good parts and don't dwell too much on the less than perfect days .

There is always tomorrow.................

 

[Andy808]

When I was a mid twenties handicapper I thought too much about swing thoughts, swing plane, ball striking, why it went wrong, how to fix it and so on to the point golf had become a chore not the fun it should be as a hobby.
Then 18 months ago one of my playing buddies told me it's all in my head, so I asked what he ment.
He said everything! How your hitting it, your swing and worst of all what's going wrong. He said that fine of the range but on the course just hit it!
Since then I have read a couple of books on the mental game and learned a lot about myself and how I play golf. Now I go out have fun with my mates and don't worry about the score until the end of the round. I'm now down to 18 and looking at a small cut from my medal round on Saturday (if the club get around to putting it through the computer) so I'm hoping to get down to 17 at least.
But most of all it's fun again.

 

[garyinderry]

When it comes to swinging I think you've got time for one thought on the backswing & one on the downswing, any more & you're just confused.

agree that there is certainly time for at least two good swing thoughts. for me its take away and follow through.

Faldo simplifies it by saying he has one backswing and a few follow throughs to create different flight shapes. same backswing then he chicken wings the left arm a bit to hold the clubface from turning over for a fade and swings more around for a draw. simple!

 

[stevie_r]

There are some folk who just want to enjoy the GAME for what it is, a chance to get some fresh air and four hours away from home or work.

^^^^ Me, refuse to beat myself up over a bad score.

 

[davidy233]

Just on here.

I have never come across anyone at my Club that takes golf as seriously as some on here. I believe a lot of what forumers get up to takes the fun out of the game, but each to their own.

Interesting point richart - but I've rarely heard anyone talk about golf in the clubs I've been a member of - on the forum people will describe their good round at times - If you come off the course and go through your round then you'd see eyes glass over.

 

[Snelly]

Just on here.

I have never come across anyone at my Club that takes golf as seriously as some on here. I believe a lot of what forumers get up to takes the fun out of the game, but each to their own.

I completely agree Rich. As an example, I don't know anyone outside of this forum that I play golf with who understands the ball flight laws. I specifically asked this question when in a 4 ball where the handicaps were +1, 1, 3 and 3. Not only did the other three not understand them, they had absolutely no idea what I was talking about. Truly clueless about it and they thought I was making it up.

I wonder if this is a generational thing though? All four of us have played golf for 25+ years and learned the game at a time when such a concept simply did not exist. Perhaps it is the case that people relatively new to the game, hear of things like this and take the quite natural view that they are intrinsic to the game and need to be investigated?


Golf is extremely simple in my view. It always has been and always will be.

 

[matt71]

When I was a mid twenties handicapper I thought too much about swing thoughts, swing plane, ball striking, why it went wrong, how to fix it and so on to the point golf had become a chore not the fun it should be as a hobby.
Then 18 months ago one of my playing buddies told me it's all in my head, so I asked what he ment.
He said everything! How your hitting it, your swing and worst of all what's going wrong. He said that fine of the range but on the course just hit it!
Since then I have read a couple of books on the mental game and learned a lot about myself and how I play golf. Now I go out have fun with my mates and don't worry about the score until the end of the round. I'm now down to 18 and looking at a small cut from my medal round on Saturday (if the club get around to putting it through the computer) so I'm hoping to get down to 17 at least.
But most of all it's fun again.

I need to take a leaf out of your book or the two you have read lol, I enjoy the game not really worried about comps etc (still wnat to hold my own) but do over think my shots and what might happen next. Even more so when I hit a duff one.

my aim during the medals is to finish as high as I can but also try and watch and learn what the lower handicap players do around the course and to enjoy teh game to teh best of my abilities.

However still wanting new clubs as mine are bobbins and has nothing to do with me

 

[Airlie_Andy]

Looking at it from a slightly different point of view some of the people I play with turn up for comps every week and complain that they hover around the same handicap level going up and down a maximum of a couple of shots. When I ask if they are taking lessons they just shrug and say they dont bother. Well isn't the definition of madness doing the same thing and expecing a different result? My own game has improved massively from taking lessons.

 

[Spear-Chucker]

Can't speak for anyone else but all of my best rounds have been the least complicated. Seen paralysis by analysis destroy some very good players games.