Cock-A-Doodle-Doo – Is Your Golf Instructor Lying To You
It seems nowadays that each year brings with it enough golf equipment to bring about the fantasies of golfers all over the world. As you might suspect, 2007 has been no exception with the arrival of the new square head driver. Golf enthusiasts waited with baited breath for the new Nike Sumo and Callaway FT-i. The manufacturers didn’t disappoint us either. Technology has taken the barriers of clubhead weight and Moment Of Inertia and pushed them down. But with the advent of new tools for the golf enthusiast, has the way in which you learn to use them been forced to evolve with these new golf clubs?
Scouring the internet, golf publications and forums, it seems that some golf instructors have tried to revolutionize the teaching of the golf swing just to make something ‘New and Exciting’. Yes, technology has given us plenty of advancements, but should we then sacrifice the basics of a good golf swing just to keep up with golf equipment evolution?
Let’s take the wrist cock in the golf swing for instance. You will find people telling you to fold your right wrist back on itself. Sounds like SHANK to me. There’s others that want you to keep the clubhead outside of the line for as long as possible. Works for Jim Furyk, but he’s been playing that way since he was a kid. What happened to ‘Not’ breaking your wrist? Is this golf instruction invalid because it’s been around for centuries. Less is more, right? Doesn’t the wrist cock in the golf swing occur when you set the clubhead down behind the ball? The whole idea is to bring the clubhead back to the ball square. How hard is that for the average golfer if he’s wailing away at the top of his backswing? Or trying to somehow ‘uncock’ his wrists at the precise moment that he needs to even though he’s probably only hit a few shots during the month! Thinking about your wrist cock is just one more thing for your mind to process. Keep it simple!
Beware. Make sure that you are not following golf instruction that is meant to lead you astray from what is simple and repeatable while you are playing.