IS CENTER OF GRAVITY GOLF TOO EASY?

I think as a species, we have been conditioned to believe learning a new task or becoming proficient at a skill should be difficult. This is very evident at every turn when I watch golf videos or listen to golf professionals explain how to swing a golf club “properly”.

            It seems to me; almost everyone has a different idea on how this should be accomplished, adding to the confusion and slowing down the learning process. Any time there is conflicting information, the brain has trouble filtering out what it is supposed to tell the body, and frustration sets in.

            Let’s think about something; Old Tom Morris used to get a featherie ball around the Old Course in St. Andrews in the 1800s in very few strokes without the aid of a swing coach, fitness coach, or nutrition coach. I love watching the old Champions Tour videos with Chi Chi, Lee Trevino, Byron Nelson, Arnold Palmer, and a host of others, every swing different, all getting the job done, and not a swing coach in sight.            

            With all the differences in the golf swings of the early 20^th century, the similarities are glaring, every player had impeccable balance, a specific sequence to their swing, and understood how to use geometry to control their ball flight, other than that, each and every swing was very unique.            

            It seems today, we are trying to force a new belief system of perfection in a golf swing, with specific angles and positions that must be hit in order to produce desired results, and while that may be great if your paycheck depends on your golf score and you have 20 hours / week to devote to practice, for the rest of us… it spells disaster.

            Having too many swing thoughts or conflicting information makes it impossible for the weekend golfer to improve or enjoy the game to it’s fullest, the golf swing is an athletic move and while every body has different physical limitations, every golf swing is also a little different. The Great Golf teacher Harvey Penick once said  “Beware of the golfer with a bad grip and a bad swing, for he has learned how to score with the swing he has” I believe amateur golfers world wide should take heed in this comment, your swing doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be yours, and you have to own it!

            Students and clients of Center of Gravity Golf have told me a thousand times;  “This is too easy, I finally get it!” The reason is simple, I let them use what they have naturally and teach them the proper sequence to swing the club, and it never fails. Once a student discovers his way of getting it done, it never leaves him.

            The principles are easy, the boss fingers control the clubface, the feet control the ground, the center of gravity triangle controls the geometry of ball flight and consistency, and the two power sources are the “engine” and the “piston”; put them in the proper sequence and you have a golf swing you can rely on. 

            So is Center of Gravity Golf too easy?  I think it’s just easy enough, but I’ll let you be the judge. A very smart man once said, “This is so easy…it just might work”... and it does.