The Evolution of the Golf Swing

Learning golf is a journey. Learning the all the techniques at the same time is an impossibility. This will explain why in the beginning, the instruction for the golf swing carried detailed techniques, e.g., swing plane, waiter plate, etc., but later on it became much simpler, e.g., Tiger Woods technique. Why then should I not update my earlier instruction? Which then should the reader follow?

I had this dilemna too but thinking this out carefully, I came into the conclusion that what I learned previously must also be essential. Before I was focused on learning the plane, how the left hip is very important, and so on. Now I don't even think about it. I just do what I said about Tiger Woods, lift the club up and turn around to a picture-perfect finish. But I don't think I could reach this point if I did not start from the basics - which now became ingrained as muscle-memory.

So if you readers find some inconsistencies from the start to the end part of this blog - that is essential and part of the journey - the search of the perfect golf swing. This is what is missing in most of the golf instructions and maybe this is the key to learning how to play golf. Everybody is so focused on finding a secret but all along, the secret is the search or the journey, rather than a technique itself. Most golf instruction books will mention this subtly, e.g.,:

• "I practice the mechanics in the golf driving range, then forget it in the course".
• "Muscle memory."
• "I do not conciously remember what I hit the ball with, left hand or right hand."
• "At the beginning of the golf season, I go to my golf professional to remember the basics again."

Remember, all these instructions are saying that after learning the techniques, the ultimate golf instruction, is to "forget all of them" when playing!