Is technical instruction a hinderence?

[SocketRocket]

This is a false analogy though.
What you say is true. But does not mean it applies to hitting a golf ball. One can equally say hardly anyone has a problem hitting a ball with a golf club. Rarest whiff aside, we all succeed perfectly every single time we try it. We do make contact and move the ball.
We can throw a ball into the ground as you say with unconscious brain sequencing because we are not concerned with hitting a spot one inch square, at a specific speed, at a particular impact angle and with precise spin rate on the ball, in three dimensions.
If that were the requirement, then we couldnt just let what happens happen. We would have to override our instinct, and become concerned with precisely the physical finger, wrist, arm, shoulder, and torso movements to achieve that very specific goal.
Hitting a golf ball to the precision needed for what we call good golf, unfortunately/fortunately requires consideration of similarly precise technique.
At this stage, you have probably reversed your opinion !

People often say that they play their best golf when they swing freely without a head full of swing thoughts. Letting go of control and trusting their instincts.
Hitting a nail with a hammer is a precise operation and tends to be most successful when you look at the nail and let your brain organise your actions, similar with throwing a dart, look at the target and again let your brains inbuilt knowledge synchronise your motion.
I agree that it probably won't be effective straight away and will need practice to ingrain the action but we can do that by feedback from poor results and making natural adjustments.
Do tennis coaches explain how your hips should move, the swing plane etc, probably not, when I was a squash player my coach used to explain the shot shape to achieve and where to position myself but not what to do with my wrists, hips and shoulders.
Golf Teaching Pros in general don't explain good impact conditions, when I think back to the many golf lessons I had it was never explained to make ball turf impact with irons, the benefit of a forward leaning shaft, hitting up with the driver etc. My eyes were opened when I read a book called 'Nail it' by Joe Hagen, he used the imagery of driving nails at different angles into the golf ball depending on which club you were using and letting your body organise itself, It was a breath of fresh air and especially for beginners with no preconceptions.
Go on, just say you will think it through

 

[Depreston]

Golf must be the only sport that has so much technical instruction that completely contradicts itself

I mean the whole Face sends it path bends it was only discovered when launch monitors came about

“lag” is another one that is still taught by some but ridiculed by others

Some teach to have quiet hands where others preach opposite

I find it absolutely fascinating

 

[Hobbit]

Golf must be the only sport that has so much technical instruction that completely contradicts itself

I mean the whole Face sends it path bends it was only discovered when launch monitors came about

“lag” is another one that is still taught by some but ridiculed by others

Some teach to have quiet hands where others preach opposite

I find it absolutely fascinating

Is it safe to mention Aimpoint

 

[garyinderry]

Golf must be the only sport that has so much technical instruction that completely contradicts itself

I mean the whole Face sends it path bends it was only discovered when launch monitors came about

“lag” is another one that is still taught by some but ridiculed by others

Some teach to have quiet hands where others preach opposite

I find it absolutely fascinating

Isn't that the beauty of it. Always something to try and see what works for you.

Match ups is a term you hear used these days to describe how if you do this then it helps to do this to make it work.

 

[Dunesman]

Golf must be the only sport that has so much technical instruction that completely contradicts

I dont think so. It might have seemed that way in the past, and some of the old lines are proving hard to die. But technical instruction only began within the last 20 years. It is quite consistent. What went before was just random guesses and was not truly technical in any way, amd can be consigned to the dustbin of history (one doesnt really consign things anywhere else really).
Technical instruction is now indeed that and the only way to understand and develop an effective golf swing.

 

[Golf is fun]

If you were swinging an axe at a tree would you swing out to in, hammering a nail would you naturally cock and release your wrist, throwing a dart would you need someone to explain how to use your shoulder, elbow and wrist, the majority of people could throw a golf ball hard into the ground Infront of them without any tuition. In golf we get ourselves horribly confused by the detail of how our body parts should move and in what sequence, our brains naturally understand these things that have been installed into our DNA through evolution. OK, there are some people who are uncoordinated but not many and those that are tend to get worse when given detailed instruction on how to move, some people can't march and carry out what's referred to tictocking, the more they are told what to do the worse they get but if left to walk naturally they're ok.
Using a task based approach is normally a much better way to learn, the image of driving nails into golf balls is a really good way to understand good impact conditions.

I'm a massive supporter of task based learning, I've mentioned it many times in this thread.

You have to be careful with it though. If I asked you to do a forward roll, you could do it right? Therefore a forward somersault isn't a problem? On a balance beam? If yes to the first, but no to the second or third ones, why not?

This is the same as assuming the golf swing is like a hammer or an axe. If you're a tradesman who uses these tools all the time great, but if you've ever watched some people attempt DIY they can't drive a nail without bending it, and it takes them 100 blows of the hammer to do what a carpenter can do in 5 blows. Theoretically we have the movement pattern, but swinging an axe or a hammer is easer because we limit the plane of motion to only vertical or only horizontal for the most part. If you put a random person in front of a tree, gave them an axe and asked them to fell it most people would swing the axe horizontally, they wouldn't fold at the hips and swing it somewhere in the middle of horizontal and vertical. This is before we look at whether someone could hit the same spot on the tree repeatedly and with a high amount of force.

I believe you can teach most people to swing a golf club through giving them tasks, and enough time to repeat and refine, but it is important to give the person a clear concept of what the task is, and place constraints to help them modify their movement depending on their natural tendencies.

 

[Oggie41]

at the same time getting me to allow myself fluidity in backswing and follow-through

This was key to making improvements in my chipping as well. If you haven't tried it, practicing hitting chip shots without your thumbs on the grip can really help to ingrain this (it's one of the drills in Dan Grieve's book).

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

This was key to making improvements in my chipping as well. If you haven't tried it, practicing hitting chip shots without your thumbs on the grip can really help to ingrain this (it's one of the drills in Dan Grieve's book).

Pro had me deliberately weakening my grip for me to see what happened when I did that...Answer...it enabled me to keep the clubface open through the strike (if I needed a bit more loft height in the pitch - so for instance when totally short-sided). And for the very shortest little pitches had me standing with right behind me barely touching the ground - but there for stability through a strike but taking no other part. Answer...hit lovely soft and spinning pitch. Not that that's how I should address the ball - just illustrative.

Big key was him showing how the tool (club) worked with minimum input from the player - and that I just needed to let it work that way - then showed my how I can do that. So off to practice chipping ground shortly.