This attitude is typical of the way I was treated when I first received instruction from local PGA instructors. Although I did not know what existed, I was still appalled at the paucity of information imparted during a lesson and it was the key reason I looked elsewhere for inspiration. Fortunately I stumbled across Yoda and “The Golfing Machine”.
So you really think that joe MOST average golfers really care? Thats off base and your speculating.
Heck I know very good players whom don't care. Im not saying I don't.
The GD write up was fine for the average player. It did not get to out of there grasp. That way when they do look for further information the TGM crew can spoon feed them.
I am going to add one thing. For me, I always have people come in for as much time as possible for there first lesson. If they are really looking for a swing (change if needed).
I will also give them as much video examples of great players, showing what they do. BTW the three TGM hot points are always hidden with this lesson.However the terms used are very basic. If I used my M**** terms with the player, such as windows of ball flight. It would be sloppy on my part.
The best thing we could do as teachers is develop a player develop there trust so that they can sit down with us in the future over lunch and golf swing talk.(bring your laptop)
The yellow book to many is a big fence to most. We as teachers have to show the golfing world how to climb to the top of it....
What you have said is spot-on.
As an accomplished TGM teacher (see http://justintanggolf.blogspot.com) who can quote the book chapter and verse with the best of them, that is something that I steer away from.
Though most TGM devotees on this site would beg to differ, most students really do not care what book you are teaching them from, whether its TGM or MGT. What they truly care about is whether you personally care about their games and whether you are able to get them results.
If you truly understood TGM, the delivery will not be very difficult.
Let's put things in perspective. If I were an oncologist, opening up a textbook on oncology would be mind-numbing at the first.
However with more time spent in the text, the terms and definitions will become more and more comfortable.
When a patient comes for a consultation, do I then give him the essence as simply as possible (translate) or do I tell him what's in the book verbatim?
If you truly knew something, you would be able to simplify it without making it simplistic. There is a difference and Dana Dahlquist knows it. Trust me.
Mr. Kelley put it this way...if he could do it all over again, he would just do three things.
1. Set his flying wedges.
2. Take it up and down the plane.
3. Add a hinge action.
Originally Posted by cpwindow4
I am going to add one thing. For me, I always have people come in for as much time as possible for there first lesson. If they are really looking for a swing (change if needed).
I will also give them as much video examples of great players, showing what they do. BTW the three TGM hot points are always hidden with this lesson.However the terms used are very basic. If I used my M**** terms with the player, such as windows of ball flight. It would be sloppy on my part.
The best thing we could do as teachers is develop a player develop there trust so that they can sit down with us in the future over lunch and golf swing talk.(bring your laptop)
The yellow book to many is a big fence to most. We as teachers have to show the golfing world how to climb to the top of it....
Just my Point of View- what what it is worth(less).
Instructors many of us are not. But this is and may be the only place where you can talk verse and chapter. I don’t have a golf instructor- this forum is my instructor. Many decided that they wanted to understand The Golfing Machine without the burden of earning a living as a golf instructor and I believe Yoda understood that many non- professionals wanted to understand what Homer Kelley wrote when he began this forum. If Kelley’s book were to be left only in the minds of golf instructors, it would again old day revert back into obscurity. Thousands knowing a little is better than hundreds knowing much.
You can learn verse and chapter here; you can learn a golf stroke on the lesson tee. It is a heck of a lot easier for an instructor to speak TGM to me than what passes as instruction elsewhere. But I’m lucky. Instructors like yourselves can’t cater only to machine heads and pay the bills. I chose not to go to an AI who said he doesn’t teach using TGM terminology; that wasn’t going to help me one bit in the long run. I know I am not the run of the mill golfer looking to grab a lesson package and I know how tough it is to be an independent contractor and earn a living.
The ‘Home Office’ never cared about forums like LBG or even their old one. They seem to be embarrassed by amateurs talking verse and chapter. They want to sell books but not teach it except through an AI who may or not want to teach through it.
off topic-
I’d like to know what the Home Office thinks about Lynn Blake and his Tour guys that are doing so well. What was their reaction to hearing Lynn’s name mentioned with The Golfing Machine- an ex-AI who they said never sold a copy of the book for them- on National TV?
Good post guys.
With all this being said, and I am but an outsider(darksider).
What is the future for TGM?
I have seen bashing come and go for many years. Still its the best system for teachers and students to learn.
It also is in the here and now of some of our latest tour winners. (John and Jay)
For me personal reasons aside, would it be best that the TGM arena reaches a bit more out to the new golfers.
-Juniors
-Local and National Golf expos
-PGA teaching events
Mabey its pie in the sky, however Ive not seen much in the PGA's meetings.
I may be off base, or it may be in the works.
I agree most golfers just want to hit better shots. All eyes glaze over when I start to answer questions about TGM in any depth.
I, on the other hand, am a seeker. I was the kid who de-constructed all of his toys to see how they worked, then re-assembled them. The only time I ever get angry on the golf course is when I don't know "why." Bad execution is part of the process, but not knowing gets under my skin.
While I have expressed my curiosity to my many PGA instructors, none has shown me what's "behind the curtain." Some were unwilling to do that work, some (most) were unable to effectively communicate those answers, and some just didn't know or weren't sure. Lynn was different.
I am a professional educator. If I had been a better golfer I probably would have become a teaching professional. The reason I opted for the so-called more cerebral career path ironically is becasue I did not "get" the golf swing! I knew that it would be a smoke and mirrors side show! No doubt I would have been able to convince the garden variety golfer whose inexpereince or ineptitude would be the perfect cover for the likes of me. Throw some jargon....add a little lingo... stripe a few drives and they follow like rodents to a penny whistle! I am not suggesting that you reach a master status before you can teach a novice the basics, but I am all too aware of the saying that goes something like "...those that cannot, teach!" I chose a field in which I am well trained and reasonably profficient. My resume as a mediocre player in a mediocre college golf program was simply not enough. My talent could not overcome my ignorance any longer!
My real point to make was that I believe people can be catergorized as "artists" or "mechanics" with regards to how they assimilate information. Some of my students "just get it" almost intutively, while others reach that point after much blood, sweat and tears. Genetic predisposition, conditioning or whatever some people catch on about this and the other quickly while others have to mull it over. We do not all incubate at the same rate I would suggest! It is a rare find to discover someone that is both an artist as well as a mechanic - a savant with a work ethic! I think Tiger fits that bill. Nothing about TGM's technical nature would upset his finely tuned competitve balance in my opinion. For some people more information might seem to be detrimental, while others will improve as a result. However, I do believe that innate talent (the inner artist) doing its own thing, unconsciously as it were, has a shorter battery life, than the knowledge/understanding or mechanic approach. When knowledge and potential collide...hello world!
This is where golf is truly a great game. As Mr. Kelley suggested you are going to get the ball in the hole at some point no matter how poorly you play! The ratio of mystery to complexity you exchange is mostly up to you!
I think Mr. Kelley gave us a wonderful gauge for our sincerity as it pertains to our desire to improve our games. If you cannot do basic motion for more than 10 balls in row then the jig is up! If you have not yet bought dowel sticks then then the jig is up! I recall a story...Ok partially...where Jackie Burke agreed to help an up and coming youngster. He sent him off to sink several hundred three footers in a row, or something to that effect. In essence, many people end up siezing the engine by refusing to spring for the oil change! All inevitabilities are brought to pass by some kind of effort.
Not to get too analytical but people "reject" TGM and its vernacular because the book suggests an "IS" condition in the universe as opposed to the la la land of their own fabrication. I recall a statement that Mark Twain made about how he envied the awe with which a primitive man must have viewed a rainbow, unspoiled as it were. I like Twain but what a load of (insert expletive.) For the mystically inclined there are still things that science and objectivity do not speak clearly to...the golf swing is just not one of them!
Hybrid Mode
