Instruction
Do old school teachings have a place in golf’s new school environment?
Every week, I watch golf telecasts that show the best players in the world playing tough golf courses and hitting shots that challenge their skills. It’s a joy to see what they can do with a golf ball.
Today’s players are so talented and golf analysts aren’t scared to say so. My favorite part of golf telecasts, however, is when former golfers (turned broadcasters) help us understand what is going through golfers’ mind, what could happen with the shot and what technique(s) would work best for them under pressure. Most of us have never been “there” on Sunday, so it’s nice to hear analysis from people who have.
One topic that consistently comes up in the world of instruction is the debate between “old school” versus “new school” teaching methods. The most vocal critic of new school instruction, which is characterized by the use of golf radar systems like FlightScope and Trackman that track the movement of the club and ball, is Brandel Chamblee. Like him or not, he’s not afraid to voice his opinion and that’s why I love to listen to him. You never know who he is going to target, but lately his criticism has been aimed directly at Sean Foley and Tiger Woods.
Everyone is asking why Tiger can win the non-majors, but he can’t seem to break through on the big stage. Chamblee’s answer is that Foley’s new school instruction has forced Tiger into playing “golf swing, not golf,” which compromises his ability to score when he is struggling with his swing.
But it’s not just Tiger. According to Chamblee, the new school methods that Foley and others like him teach produce robotic players who have little imagination. They’re not trying to hit the best shots; they’re trying to “please the machine” and make perfect golf swings.
As a full-time teacher for more than 20 years, I have seen both sides of the argument. I have taught with my eyes, using split-screen video, 3D motion analysis and now with golf radar in every lesson. So which style is better?
I’m here to say that instructors need BOTH styles to be able to teach better than their predecessors. Here’s few examples why:
If you only use your eyes, you CANNOT see everything going on
I’ve heard the debates that argue that I don’t need golf radar to see what’s going on. Heck, I’ve had one of the best teachers in golf tell me that he has the best eye in golf instruction, and doesn’t need anything to help him on the lesson tee. But he and the other instructors who claim to be able to see everything aren’t really seeing everything.
The most important part of the golf swing, impact, takes about 1/10,000 of a second. While teachers who trust their eyes can be right about certain things most of the time, there is no way that they can accurately judge angle of attack, true path, face angle and all the other variables golf radar provides by just looking at ball flight and divots. If an instructor’s eyes can see what’s going on during the 1/10,000 of a second, they should be ninjas, not golf pros.
It’s not about “pleasing the machine” on every shot
One of the inert dangers of using golf radar is the total reliance on the numbers to formulate a good or bad shot in the player’s mind. As we all know, perfection is IMPOSSIBLE, however, reasonable consistency is not. I have always tried to stress to my students (while using golf radar) that it’s not about making the numbers say the same thing every time. It’s about learning how to “feel” the differences between numbers.
If you tend to swing too much from the inside, try to make swings that have an outside-in path. Can you feel the difference? Now that golf radar has defined these feels numerically, you can now figure out how to keep your swing’s path in very tight parameters. It’s not the numbers that define you, but the feels of how you did it. If you can feel the difference between a slightly in-to-out path and a slightly out-to-in path, it seems to me that you would have better control of your swing path.
Feel is not real
As we all know, what we feel is not real in the aspect of how we are swinging the club and our body. Many players have fouled themselves up on the range by thinking they are doing one thing yet swinging in exactly the opposite manner. If you are relying only on your feel, you can run into problems. Homer Kelly said in his book The Golfing Machine, “Let mechanics produce and feel reproduce.” To me, that is the best way to practice.
If you are working on controlling your ball’s curvature, you could just focus on what you feel and what you see the ball doing in mid-air, or you could use golf radar to chart your “face-to-path” ratio. With a centered hit, the smaller the gap between the face direction at impact and the path of the club the straighter the ball will tend to go. Therefore, using “hard data” from golf radar to control the golf ball’s curvature and then feeling HOW you in fact made the ball go straighter will make it easier to reproduce shot shapes on the golf course when it matters. I prefer using golf radar to define feels, not the other way around — it saves time and stops wasted effort.
Focusing on numbers stunts imagination
One of my favorite things to do, now that I have a golf radar machine, is to actually see what my “stock shots” actually do in the way of the numbers. It’s funny, as a player I always had a few types of shots I would play under certain situations, making the ball react mostly in the way I could count on. But was the ball actually doing what I wanted it to do or was I making things too hard?
For example, I hit the ball left to right 95 percent of the time, but sometimes — like into a hard headwind — I would try to hit a hard, low hook to keep the ball under the wind and have it run more. What I found when I hit this type of shot on golf radar was that it indeed did go lower than my stock fade, yet it flew 20 yards on the average SHORTER than my normal shot and ran out about the SAME distance! I always felt it flew a touch shorter and ran out farther, but this in fact was NOT the case. I was making this shot much harder by not hitting my normal shot most of the time.
Short shots from 30-to-100 yards are all about feel from what most of my clients say, yet this new-school technology has help me define the feels of what these shots actually do in the air and how they will react when they hit the ground. I hit these shots and focus on a few things: overall carry distance, launch, spin, spin loft and decent angle. These things help me to determine how to control the ball.
After a few sessions on golf radar, I have a better idea how my knockdown 100-yard wedge will fly versus my stock 100-yard wedge versus my high soft 100-yard wedge. Without golf radar, I would NEVER know how these things would differ.
Final Analysis
So which style is correct? I think the new-school techniques have the potential to help players UNDERSTAND AND FEEL what they are doing and how they can improve their motion; however, you will never convince me that golfers can do it without old school experimental techniques.
My challenge to you is to find a new-school teacher that is well versed in old-school experience, and I bet you will find the person that will get you to the next level.
Thank you, Brandel Chamblee, for alerting us to the fact that “old-school” instructional techniques cannot be lost with our new school technology. Just be patient everyone. It will take time to integrate both.
The LPGA Tour is kicking off its 2026 season this week at Lake Nona Golf and Country Club in Orlando, and the pros are dealing with something most Florida golfers rarely face: freezing temperatures.
“It’s colder here than in the UK at the minute, which is a first,” said England’s Charley Hull during Wednesday’s media day at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions.
Even Lydia Ko, who lives at Lake Nona, seemed surprised by the cold snap. “We’re pretty much getting to below zero in celsius here, which maybe in other parts of the country they would be thankful, but when you’re in Florida it is a little bit of a surprise,” she said.
If the world’s best players are adjusting their games for cold weather, recreational golfers should, too. Here’s how to play smart when the mercury drops.
Understand What Cold Does to Your Game
Before you change anything, you need to know what you’re fighting against. Cold air is denser than warm air, which means your ball won’t fly as far. Period.
Hull noticed this immediately during practice rounds at Lake Nona. She mentioned hitting a gap wedge into the 18th hole during a previous win but needing a 4-iron during Tuesday’s practice round. That’s a difference of four or five clubs for the same shot.
Action item: Expect to lose 5-10 yards on every club in your bag when temperatures dip below 50 degrees. Plan accordingly and don’t be stubborn about club selection.
Layer Up Without Restricting Your Swing
Hull admitted she wore three pairs of pants during practice. While that might be extreme for most of us, staying warm is critical to playing well in cold conditions.
Your muscles need warmth to function properly. When you’re cold, your body tightens up and your swing gets shorter and faster. Neither of those things help you hit good golf shots.
Action item: Wear multiple thin layers instead of one bulky jacket. Look for golf-specific cold weather gear that stretches with your swing. Keep hand warmers in your pockets between shots. And don’t forget a good hat because you lose significant body heat through your head.
Take More Club Than You Think You Need
This is where ego gets in the way of good scores. When it’s cold, the ball doesn’t compress as well off the clubface. Combined with denser air, you’re looking at serious distance loss.
The pros at Lake Nona are dealing with a course that measures 6,642 yards but plays much longer this week. If they’re adjusting, you should too.
Action item: Take at least one extra club on every approach shot. In temperatures below 40 degrees, consider taking two extra clubs. It’s better to fly the ball to the back of the green than to come up short in a bunker.
Adjust Your Expectations on the Greens
Cold weather affects putting in ways most golfers don’t consider. The ball is harder and doesn’t roll as smoothly. Your hands are cold, making it harder to feel the putter. And if there’s any moisture on the greens, they’ll be slower than normal.
Ko mentioned that she still sometimes reads the greens wrong at Lake Nona despite being a member for years. Cold weather makes that challenge even tougher.
Action item: Hit putts more firmly than usual. The ball needs extra speed to hold its line on cold greens. Take a few extra practice strokes to get a feel for the speed before you putt.
Embrace the Mental Challenge
Hull said something interesting about cold weather golf: “I like the mental toughness of it.”
That’s the right attitude. Everyone on the course is dealing with the same conditions. The player who stays patient and doesn’t get frustrated by the extra difficulty will come out ahead.
Action item: Lower your expectations by a few strokes. If you normally shoot 85, accept that 90 might be a good score in 40-degree weather. Focus on solid contact and smart decisions rather than perfect shots.
Warm Up Longer and Smarter
This might be the most important tip of all. Cold muscles are tight muscles, and tight muscles get injured easily.
World No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul revealed she’s been protecting a wrist injury that bothered her late last season. Cold weather makes those kinds of injuries more likely if you don’t prepare properly.
Action item: Spend at least 20 minutes warming up before your round. Start with stretching, then hit easy wedge shots before working up to your driver. Keep moving between shots on the course to maintain body heat and flexibility.
The pros at Lake Nona this week will adapt and compete at the highest level despite the cold. You can do the same at your local course by following these tips and keeping a positive attitude.
PGA Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer. You can check out his writing work and learn more about him by visiting BEAGOLFER.golf and OneMoreRollGolf.com. Also, check out “Playing Through” now on R.org, RG.org’s partner site, each Monday.
Editor’s note: Brendon shares his nearly 30 years of experience in the game with GolfWRX readers through his ongoing tip series. He looks forward to providing valuable insights and advice to help golfers improve their game. Stay tuned for more tips!
Brooks Koepka is back on the PGA Tour, and whether you love him or hate him, the guy knows how to win when it matters. After his LIV Golf stint, the five-time major champion returns this week at the Farmers Insurance Open.
What makes Koepka fascinating? He doesn’t fit the mold. His swing isn’t textbook. He doesn’t obsess over mechanics. Yet he’s won three PGA Championships and two U.S. Opens, regularly making it look easier than guys with prettier swings.
So, what can average golfers learn from someone who treats the game so differently? Quite a bit.
Stop Overthinking Every Shot
Koepka describes his approach as “reactionary” rather than mechanical. While most tour pros grind over swing thoughts, Brooks sees the target and hits it. No mental checklist.
This might be the most valuable lesson for weekend golfers who’ve watched too many YouTube swing videos.
How to actually do this:
On the range, hit five balls where you stare at the target for three seconds prior to addressing the ball. Don’t think about grip or stance. Just burn that target into your brain. You’ll be shocked at how pure you hit it when your brain focuses on where the ball is going instead of how you’re swinging.
Next time you play, give yourself a rule: Once you pull the club, you’ve got 15 seconds to hit. Koepka is one of the fastest players on tour because he doesn’t give his brain time to sabotage him.
If you feel tension in your hands at address, you’re trying to control too much. Koepka’s grip pressure is famously light. Loosen up until the club almost feels like it might slip, then add just enough pressure to hold on. That’s your swing thought: soft hands, see the target.
This approach works better under pressure. When you’re standing over that shot with water left and OB right, the last thing you need is a mental checklist. See it, feel it, hit it.
Play to Your Strengths (Even If They’re Not Pretty)
Koepka uses a strong grip that wouldn’t pass muster in some teaching circles. But he’s built his game around what works for him, elite driving distance and recovery skills. He doesn’t try to be someone he’s not.
Here’s how to build your game like Brooks:
Look at your last five rounds and figure out where you’re actually gaining strokes. Bombing it off the tee, but can’t hit greens? Lean into it. Play courses where distance matters more than precision. On tight holes, grip down on your 3-wood instead of trying to thread a driver through a keyhole you’ll miss seven times out of ten.
Koepka knows he can scramble, so he’s not afraid to miss greens. If you’re deadly from 50 to 75 yards, start leaving yourself those distances on the par 5’s instead of going for them in two every time.
Know when to take your medicine. Koepka in the trees at the PGA? He’s punching out to 100 yards, not trying to bend a 6-iron around three oaks. You’re in the rough with a flyer lie and water short? Hit your 8-iron to the middle and move on. That’s not playing scared, that’s playing smart.
Save Your Best for When It Counts
Here’s a wild stat: Koepka’s putting average in majors is often more than a full stroke better per round than in regular events. He elevates when pressure is highest.
How does an amateur tap into that gear? It’s not about trying harder, it’s about caring differently.
Here’s what actually works:
Decide which rounds matter to you. Club championship? Member-guest? That annual trip with college buddies? Circle those dates and treat them differently. Koepka doesn’t care much about regular tour events, but majors? That’s when he locks in.
Two weeks before your big round, change your practice. Stop beating balls mindlessly. Play nine holes in which every shot has consequences. Miss the fairway? Hit from the rough on the next hole too. Three-putt? Twenty push-ups. Koepka’s practice intensity ramps up before majors because he’s rehearsing pressure, not just swings.
Develop a between-shot routine that resets your brain. Koepka is famous for his blank expression after bad shots. Try this: After any shot, take three deep breaths while walking, then find something specific to notice, a tree, a cloud, someone’s shirt. That’s your reset button. By the time you reach your ball, the last shot is gone.
The Bottom Line
Brooks Koepka’s return reminds us there’s no single path to success in golf. His “substance over style” approach proves that results matter more than looking good.
You don’t need a perfect swing; you need a reliable one that holds up under pressure. You don’t need to hit every shot in the book; you need the shots you can count on. And you don’t need to play great every time; you need to play great when it matters.
Welcome back, Brooks. Thanks for the reminder that golf is ultimately about getting the ball in the hole, not winning style points.
PGA Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer. You can check out his writing work and learn more about him by visiting BEAGOLFER.golf and OneMoreRollGolf.com. Also, check out “Playing Through” now on R.org, RG.org’s partner site, each Monday.
Editor’s note: Brendon shares his nearly 30 years of experience in the game with GolfWRX readers through his ongoing tip series. He looks forward to providing valuable insights and advice to help golfers improve their game. Stay tuned for more tips!
Blades Brown made a big impression last week in the California desert, and not just because he’s only 18. He put up numbers that would catch any weekend golfer’s attention. Most of us won’t hit 317-yard drives or find 86% of our greens in regulation, but there’s a lot to learn from how Brown managed his game at The American Express.
Here are three practical lessons from his performance that you can use on your own course this weekend.
Step 1: Give Priority to Accuracy Over Distance Off The Tee
Brown’s driving stats are impressive. He averaged almost 318 yards off the tee, ranking 12th in the field. More importantly, he hit 76.79% of his fairways, tying for fourth place in the tournament.
Think about that ratio for a second. Brown could have swung harder, chased more distance and tried to overpower the course. Instead, he played smart golf and kept his ball in play.
Your Action Item: Next time you’re on the tee box, ask yourself a simple question before pulling the driver. Do you need maximum distance here, or do you need to be in the fairway? If there’s trouble lurking or the hole doesn’t demand every yard you can muster, take something off your swing. Grip down an inch. Make a three-quarter swing. Do whatever it takes to find the short grass. Brown’s approach illustrates that fairways lead to greens, and greens lead to birdies. He made 22 of them last week, along with an eagle.
The math is simple. When you’re hitting three out of every four fairways like Brown did, you’re giving yourself legitimate looks at the green with your approach shots. That’s when scoring happens.
Step 2: Commit To Hitting More Greens
This is where Brown really separated himself. He hit 62 of 72 greens in regulation, an 86.11% clip that tied for first in the entire field. Read that again. An 18-year-old kid tied for the lead in one of the most important ball-striking statistics in professional golf.
How did he do it? By keeping his ball in the fairway (see Step 1) and giving himself clean looks with mid-irons and wedges.
Your Action Item: Start tracking your greens in regulation. You don’t need a fancy app or a statistics degree. Just mark down whether you hit the green in the regulation number of strokes. Par 3s in one shot. Par 4s in two shots. Par 5s in three shots.
Once you know your baseline, set a goal to improve it by 10%. If you’re currently hitting five greens per round, aim for six. The beauty of this approach is that it forces you to think strategically about club selection and shot shape. Brown’s strokes gained approach number was positive (0.179), meaning he was better than the field average. You don’t need to be perfect. You just need to be on the dance floor more often.
When you hit more greens, you eliminate the need for heroic short game shots. Brown only had to scramble 10 times all week, and he got up and down 70% of the time. That’s solid, but the real story is that he rarely put himself in scrambling situations to begin with.
Step 3: Minimize Mistakes And Stay Patient
Here’s the stat that jumps off the page: Brown made only three bogeys all week. Three. In four rounds of professional golf against the best players in the world.
He also made just one double bogey. That kind of clean card doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when you play within yourself, avoid the big miss and trust that pars are never bad scores.
Your Action Item: Before your next round, decide that you’re going to play boring golf. No hero shots over water. No driver on tight holes just because you can. No aggressive pins when there’s a safe side of the green.
Brown’s performance shows us that consistency beats flash every single time. He didn’t lead the field in any single strokes gained category, but he was solid across the board. That’s how you post numbers and cash checks.
Give these three steps a try. Your scorecard will thank you.
PGA Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer. You can check out his writing work and learn more about him by visiting BEAGOLFER.golf and OneMoreRollGolf.com. Also, check out “The Starter” now on R.org, RG.org’s partner site, each Monday.
Editor’s note: Brendon shares his nearly 30 years of experience in the game with GolfWRX readers through his ongoing tip series. He looks forward to providing valuable insights and advice to help golfers improve their game. Stay tuned for more tips!
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Rick Altham
May 25, 2014 at 8:41 pm
Some of the greatest ball strikers of all time figured out their swing without radar or a camera. They also did it with blades and persimmon woods. You would think with all the new technology the current tour players would be superior ball strikers. However, Hogan, Knudson, Player etc are still considered the gold standard.
Dennis Clark
May 22, 2014 at 2:17 pm
I agree Tom; It’s not simply what radar sees but what we have LEARNED from what radar sees. Hence the “new ball flight laws” etc. Good article.
Dave
Oct 1, 2013 at 9:34 pm
I’ve never cared for Chamblee, but his method’s do tie him to additional attention by bashing Tiger. He gets mentioned more often because of it and I don’t agree with that approach to success by members of the media. Tiger has made the rest of his competitors look at all aspects of their games in order to improve. The rubber-band effect, or, forcing them to start looking at diet, fitness, sports psychology, and coaching differently, kicked in a few to several years after he came on Tour. Since then it has become harder to consistently dominate out there. Personally, I think Tiger could survive without a coach and win. I also think that since his early childhood he had an influence over his shoulder, his Dad, watching him practice and guiding his direction. It’s familiar for Tiger to have someone, and up until Foley they’ve all been older, father type figures. As technology comes along, naturally it gets integrated and embraced as part of getting better. I’d imagine almost everyone on Tour has a launch monitor by now, if not their coach does. I get the “Playing golf swing” comments as I’ve gotten into the same rut with my own swing and trying to make a perfect backswing, ugh. However, Brandel’s comments have always rubbed me the wrong way given how comparatively lacking his career on Tour actually is. He knows nothing about winning a major, being the best player in the world and all those expectations, dealing with everyone scrutinizing your golf swing and some shaking their head in disapproval. Brandel is just after ratings, job security. Wanna be Johnny Miller.
Ninja radar
May 21, 2014 at 12:10 am
bottom line is, they should be ninjas, not golf pros!
Carlos Danger
Sep 12, 2013 at 5:28 pm
Chamblee’s opinion on how to hit a draw……Aaron Rodgers, he is beyond combative and makes himself look like an uneducated tool. Once Chamblee and Mclain wake up we can then invite them in to the circle of an intelligent golf swing cause and effect conversation. Until now dismiss the rhetoric and know that Chamblee is purely scared to explain the proper way in which to swing a club due to lack of knowledge.
Andrew Cooper
Sep 14, 2013 at 4:31 am
“…the proper way in which to swing a club..”?! Anyone who thinks there’s a “proper way” really doesn’t understand golf.
RG
May 23, 2014 at 1:29 am
You can hit a ball properly, but there is no proper way.
Jack
Sep 11, 2013 at 2:36 am
Easier to said than done, especially on things that can’t be proved. What’s a talking head to do though.
larrybud
Sep 9, 2013 at 2:54 pm
Tiger may lack many things, but imagination is not one of them.
David
Sep 9, 2013 at 12:12 pm
Seems like a good eyes teacher works well…Remember when Stricker helped Tiger with his putter stance by just watching him and he went on to win WGC.
Ni
Sep 9, 2013 at 2:56 am
If I could say what I want to say to Brandel, it would be this:
“Don’t just blame it all on the instruction! Tiger has just as much to blame for hiring the coach and allowing the coach to be there all the time! A player like Tiger is good enough to know what to do with his own game, so if we see that he allows Foley to hang around all the time, it’s not necessarily the coaching or the coach’s fault that he, the coach, is allowed to hang around and disrupt the student’s game.”
DocWillie
Sep 9, 2013 at 8:52 am
Tiger hasn’t won, BECAUSE IT IS HARD AS HELL TO WIN A MAJOR!!! In fact, it is hard to win any PGA TOUR event. But he has largely contended through all of these events. Dude has won five times this year alone! If his Sean Foley swing hadn’t been so damn accurate and hit a flagpole in Georgia, Adam Scott may still be waiting for a win. How many people have won more than one major over the last 5 years? How many first-time major winners have there been? I despise Chamblee’s capricious critique of Tiger; he’s supportive when clearly he will win, he’s dismissive when Tiger even slightly struggles. But how many missed cuts does Tiger have? Is Tiger at Q school with his new swing?!? Gosh, whose golf swing does Chamblee like? I would guess he loves his own. (I wonder, is there youtube footage of Chamblee?)
Ken Lines
Nov 2, 2013 at 9:10 am
I found some of Chamblee’s swing on the internet and it does not have 10% of the athletic components of any PGA or LPGA star. It is a good swing to study for those with shoulder/neck issues. His swing would work well in strong winds and with some hybrid clubs. If he had a real sense he would be teaching recreational golfers. Tiger, Ernie, etc. need excessive game to have any shot at winning a major. Can these players see into the future and know if every change will hold up? No. One simple/tidy golf move is not going to beat the field often. People do age and need to adjust.
Martin
May 19, 2014 at 6:11 pm
I he spent his time teaching recreational golfers he would make $40k/yr instead of 6 figures.
Martin
May 19, 2014 at 6:13 pm
His beef with the instruction Tiger gets, is the biggest compliment Tiger can have, he’s Tiger.%4&&% Woods.
Like it or not, Tiger can’t hit a fairway to save his life when it matters anymore. So the notion that he is trying to swing golf instead of play certainly applies off the tee.
naflack
Sep 8, 2013 at 7:36 pm
i think radar has taught us that what looks on or off plane in many cases in simply not true. i think this in turn will give golfers more freedom to swing the way they swing with less focus on reaching a position for what would now be an arbitrary reason.
Mark in Scotland
Sep 8, 2013 at 7:07 pm
John Jacobs (old school) knew a thing or two about teaching the game. He said the purpose of the golf swing was to deliver the club head to the back of the ball perpendicular to the intended line of flight. The method employed is of little consequence so long as it can be repeated.
Most teachers know all about the various ‘methods’ but which is right for you? They can help you understand all about the importance of grip, stance, posture and alignment. The set up is more than 50% of the golf swing, the rest is load and then release. A 30 year old teacher with all the latest gadgets and up to the minute information still doesn’t and can never know what it’s like to live in a 50 year old body.
With all the benefits technology has brought to the game, there is a danger of information overload. The game is best kept simple – certainly for the average recreational golfer, which means most golfers. More shots are lost from 100 yards in. How often has it been said – learn to pitch and putt (all about feel) and see your scores tumble!
As for the professional game – it’s become almost unwatchable. An obsession with distance, a ball that goes too far and is designed to reduce spin – all to pander to television to give us a weekly ‘show’ with winners posting ’20 under’ and collecting obscene prize money on courses set up like dart boards – who do they think they are fooling?
Good to see Mickleson and Rose triumph on real courses with imaginative golf in this year’s two most important championships. Don’t bother waiting for the integration of methods. So long as the game is played in the air and along the ground no machine will ever combat those vagaries. It’s all about feel – if you don’t actually have it, you’ll never understand it. blame your parents for messing with your DNA.
BigBoy
Sep 9, 2013 at 5:52 am
well said.
Bob
Sep 10, 2013 at 7:58 am
I totally agree.
Forsbrand
Sep 10, 2013 at 4:40 pm
Absolutely spot on, John Jacobs and Peter Alliss on BBC Play Better Golf, GASP! Personally I blame leadbetter 🙂 golfers today don’t appreciate great old school students such as Howard clarke , Paul way you know the guys with great GASP basics and great hands, fast hands, because to play good golf you need a good pair of hands, which I think is massively overlooked these days!
t
Sep 11, 2013 at 12:21 pm
i don’t get excited for golf as much as i use to. i don’t get excited for new equipment. watching it on tv or in person doesn’t have the same appeal it did 20 years ago. but i do get excited seeing pictures of golfers holding persimmon drivers and watching old utube videos of lee trevino and george knudson. hopefully one day people will understand the stupidity of whats happening in golf and change their thought process. oh, this game is too tough, lets make equipment to hit it further. oh, now its too easy, lets make golf courses longer to accommodate the new equipment. oh, now its too tough again, lets make new equipment to make the ball go even further. so now i can spend $200 on shaft to hit it passed my buddy and then he can spend $300 on a shaft to hit passed me. oh, now i have to pay $120 for a round of golf because the golf course is longer. stupid stupid stupid.
big meech
Sep 11, 2013 at 1:19 pm
please don’t take lessons from that 30 year old with gadgets. Just go “find it” on the range with your “natural swing.”
Duane
Sep 8, 2013 at 6:58 pm
Chamblee is a high priced hater. He keeps his eye on Tiger, and creates critical commentary to make himself relevant. Too bad…he has the talent to be good without it.
Andrew Cooper
Sep 8, 2013 at 6:40 pm
Is a coach helping a pupil get better or not? Whatever the coaching style, that is the bottom line.
mark
Sep 8, 2013 at 6:18 pm
Tiger has 105 or more victories than Chamblee really!!!! Lets see do i take a lesson from Tiger or Chamblee.If ee don’t get new info we become announcers
nils jonsson
Sep 8, 2013 at 7:37 pm
And how many victories does Sean Foley have (and Hank Haney, Butch Harmon, and David Ledbetter…)?
Chamblee does not have to have more victories than Tiger etc in order to be able to comment on their golf swings. If that was the case, all golf coaches and commentators would be out of a job……
t
Sep 11, 2013 at 12:09 pm
don’t be confused by great golfers and great teachers. 99% of better than average PGA tour players can’t teach. why? because they can just do it. they can just hit the ball. where as, some guys like butch harmon have an incredible eye for detail and understand how to communicate swing instruction to people who have a difficult time hitting the ball.
Bman
Sep 8, 2013 at 4:56 pm
While I think Chamblee is a blow-hard for the most part, and for some reason mainly criticizes Tiger and Foley for this (Justin Rose seems immune from it), too much old or too much new in the way of instruction is not ideal. Like my mom always said, “moderation is the key”.