Unsolicited Advice #01: Soft Tools

Golf is a game where you need tools for a number of reasons and all of them lead (or should lead) to making that learning curve as steep as possible.  The steeper that learning curve, the sooner you can enjoy the game on the fairway and have some semblance of control each time you swing the club at a golf ball.

I'm calling this series of posts "Unsolicited Advice" because I am not a good golfer (yet), I don't consistently break 100 (yet), I have never broken 90 (yet) and I only dream about breaking 80.  Having said that if I were you, I may not necessarily listen to a guy like me.  But this has been my process and the path I've chosen.  I'm sharing what I feel are the best of the path I've chosen and hopefully it helps you.  Hell, hopefully it helps me.  We'll have to check back a few months (maybe years *gulp*) to see if that last statement comes true.

I like to use what I refer to as "hard" and "soft" tools.  Hard and soft tools are things that are useful when you are not at a fairway or driving range.  Of course nothing beats being on the fairway and learning on site but unless you have limitless amounts of time and copious amounts of money (for green and caddie fees), learning on the fairway may not be convenient, possible, or practical.

Listed below are some of my favorite soft tools for learning the game of golf.  Note that I have listed these things in the sequence that I hoped I had discovered them and not necessarily in the order that I actually discovered them.

1.  AJ Bonar's The Truth About Golf

Swing first, think later.

This is a 3 part series by AJ Bonar on golf.  What I really like about these videos (and why I wish I had watched them first) is how AJ Bonar talks about golf.

He starts the series basically doing away with all the technicalities and intricacies and talks about golf like you were a 4 year old.  He says your swing, swing plane, grip, stance, footwork, weight transfer, etc., etc. ALL DON'T MATTER.  For a beginner this is great to hear!  Not so much because it is true but because it builds confidence and hope for those of us who feel so helpless when we can't achieve a textbook swing (or hit a ball straight, or sometimes even just hit the ball at all!)

AJ then goes on to say that all that really matters is that you hit the ball the way the tool (i.e. golf club) was designed.  Whether you hit the ball with an open or closed stance, weak or strong grip, with your elbows out, or feet wide apart doesn't matter unless you understand how and where to hit the golf ball.  This is such a simplistic but true insight on golf.  We often get too caught up on having a good looking swing we forget why we're doing it.  I wish I had seen this video when I had just started playing because then it would have taken so much pressure off.  I could just focus on getting the club to hit the ball the right way and then worry about form later.

A good example of this would be the first time I learned to play basketball.  As a young kid I was too weak to throw a basketball from above my head the way the pros do it.  My arms and legs were just too scrawny and weak.  It was impossible for me to have the textbook shooting form.  So I started out playing basketball shooting from the knees and scooping up the ball with both hands up to the rim.  As I got a bit older, I would shoot from the waist and then later from above my head.  Finally when I could shoot set shots I practiced shooting the ball at the peak of my jump for a beautiful jump shot.  I was obsessed with basketball and would watch the shooting form of some of the greatest shooters/players in the game.  I had VHS tapes of Larry Bird, Reggie Miller, Chuck Person, Dan Majerle, and of course, Michael Jordan.  I would study their form and pause-play tapes frame by frame looking at the position of the ball, the hand position, whether or not the thumb on the left hand pushed the ball forward on the follow through(like Chuck Person's shot).  I looked at all these things and tried to emulate the features I liked from each player.  This is how I learned my form. Ultimately though I learned the satisfaction of getting the ball in the hoop first before I ever even thought about my form.  I feel that this 3 part video from AJ Bonar gives you the right mindset when you first start out and will keep the purpose of improving different aspects of your golf swing later on always in your mind.

2. David Leadbetter Videos

World's #1 Golf Instructor

These are the videos that really start talking about the technical aspects of the golf swing but without being too technical.  Believe me, there are so many things going on with the body during a golf swing that there's a video for every aspect, if not all aspects, of it.  I've watched many and frankly some of them make you feel like it's impossible to swing the club the right way.  It makes you want to just walk away before you even get started.  

David Leadbetter's videos talk about golf in a way where he doesn't dwell so much on weight being 40% here or 60% there or on angles being 2 degrees this way or 8 degrees another.  Instead, he talks more about how positions should look and feel, and he gives pointers and drills to practice.  This, for me, is a far better and more interesting way to learn than to try figuring out how much weight is on one foot or how many degrees is the angle of the club.

I actually learned about David Leadbetter while in the driving range.  I was swinging away at a local range and angrily cursing myself after every bad shot (which means after EVERY shot).  I'm sure it was both funny and amusing to some of the people there.  I know this because while I was busy being mad at myself, a middle aged Korean lady who spoke bad English came up to me.  She offered me some unsolicited advice of her own.  She shared some constructive criticism on my swing and proceeded to tell me about a video she repeatedly watched when she had first started playing golf.  She told me I should go and find a David Leadbetter video called "Beginner to Winner".  I did not tell her I was a beginner but I guess my swing was so bad I didn't have to.  I politely smiled, thanked her for the advise, and took a mental note of the video title.  I didn't care that the advise was coming from a Korean lady who spoke bad English.  If I sucked so bad this lady felt a need to help me, I was probably pretty bad and I wasn't going to let my ego get in the way.

I must have watched "Beginner to Winner" 20 times.  It's a comprehensive video that covers many facets of golf for both the long and short game.  I looked for more David Leadbetter videos and watched those at least 5 times each too.  Check this guy out, there's a reason he's the #1 golf instructor in the world.

3. V1 Golf App

V1 Golf: Best Swing App

This is a great tool to record golf swings.  I liked it so much I bought the paid app.  Recording your swing is not a vanity thing.  Well ok, that's not entirely true.  Initially I took videos of my swing because I wanted to make sure I didn't look like a complete idiot on the golf course.  And as evidenced by the video I posted of my first swing, it's a good thing I did because I looked like an imbecile.

But there's more to it than just trying to look the part.  As I mentioned above, form has got a lot to do with function. There's a reason why all the great basketball shooters had common aspects about their shooting form.  This isn't to say that they all didn't have their own unique intricacies within their shot but the fundamentals were there.  That's what everyone is trying to do - build good basic swing fundamentals.  When I look at videos of other golf pros' swings and compare it to mine, I'm looking for what others are doing consistently and what I'm not.  Sure, I would absolutely love to have Tiger or Rory's exact swing but that's almost impossible.  Even Tiger and Rory have different swings if you look close enough. 

What's great about this app (at least the paid version) is you get access to numerous golf pro swings and they're all in a format that can be slowed down.  You can observe Phil Mickelson's swing frame by frame and even flip him so that he looks like a rightie.  And if you're feeling especially brave, you can compare your swing to any pro and view both swings side-by-side.  I'm sure it must be a treat to get to a point where you do this and your own swing looks like a pro's (except maybe if it's Jim Furyk's - who's game I love, btw).  I can only imagine the feeling because I'm not at that point (yet).

Even more encouraging is keeping a history of your own swings and seeing improvements periodically.  (Just remember to back up those videos because I've had to reformat my phone a couple of times before and forgot I had my swing videos saved in my phone and lost them.)  Again, doing a side-by-side comparison of month 1 and say month 5 or 6 can be really, really encouraging if you've put the time in to work on your game.  Most people might not even be able to tell the difference but it doesn't matter.  All that matters is YOU see the difference because you know what you've been working on.

Lastly, EVERYONE wants to see their own swing so taking videos of your friends' swings and sending it to them is almost always appreciated by the guys in your flight.  Plus, you get to compare their swings to your own and either have a good laugh or feel really jealous (I am usually guilty of the latter).

If you're serious about golf - and by serious I mean you feel like this is your new "thing" when you have free time - watch AJ Bonar and David Leadbetter.  Also get the free V1 golf app and take a few videos of yourself.  I don't suggest getting the paid app until you're really sure you like V1 Golf.  YouTube has a bunch of golf pro swings in slow motion so don't just buy the app for that.  Check out some alternatives on the Google Play and the Appstore too.

So there you go, those are my main soft tools.  Next up, fun hard tools for practicing in the yard...