Giving a Golf Lesson - the danger of partial solutions Recently observed a friend and fellow golf-instructor give a golf lesson. The student said that recently his ball striking was all over the place. The instructor said, “I will give you one simple solution that’ll instantly bring the joy back into your game.” The student was using a 6 iron, and lo and behold, all 3 shots he hit after making a simple set-up change were great. The solution? The instructor said, “You have a weak posture.” (Similar to the picture below). He had the student bend forward from the hips more, without a slump in the spine, and bend the knees less - instantly better ball flight!
What happened was that the golfer’s spine now suddenly began moving on a more vertical plane (as his upper body bent forward more), so naturally his arms and shaft approached the ball at a steeper angle and could lift the ball off the ground with greater ease. However, what about when the golfer uses a longer club when excessive steepness will not help? How about when swing timing gets messed up as it often does when there is only one opportunity to get it right, as on the golf course? The golfer’s backswing looked like the picture below in terms of the left side of his body being lower than the right, and his right wrist and elbow being bent so that they cannot easily straighten out while still allowing the club to arrive at the ball FROM THE INSIDE.
Moral: partial solutions work for some people some of the time in some situations. 