Practically every golfer will at some time seek out golf tips to help improve their golf. There is an enormous golf tips industry. A quick search Google showed over 800,000 hits for the exact phrase “golf tips”. A similar search on YouTube brings back over 124,000 results.
Here are 3 reasons you should never listen:
- Golf Tips Don’t Work
- Tips mess with your mind
- Tips are not a one size fits all
Too many tips
Before getting into the specifics of the reasons you shouldn’t spend any time searching out and applying golf tips here’s a bit of evidence of just how easy it is to find new tips.
Tips come from everywhere. On Google you have tips from top tour pros (past and present):
- Rory McIlroy, “My Game Changing Tips”
- Greg Norman’s Golf Tips
- Tom Watson, Golf Tips, Putting…
- Golf Tips – Graeme McDowell
That’s on the first page alone.
You also have tips from:
- Golf Diges
- PGA.com
- GolfChannel.com
- BBC Sport
- Today’s Golfer
The list is practically endless.
On YouTube you see more specific tips in the results:
- Golf Tips tv: Driving the Ball Long and Straight
- PGA golf lesson: Scoring Zone (Chipping and Pitching Tips)
- Luke Donald: Mizuno Masterclass Live/Golf Tips
- Perfect Pitch Golf: Short Game Golf Tips
You know what?
Practically all of these first page search results go to great sites. There is some really great information. There are some genuinely great tips from outstanding tour pros and some brilliant videos and commentaries from teaching pros. There are even some great tips from writers and commentators.
Be careful – they will ruin your game!
The Worst Tips of All?
The worst tips of all are those from your regular 4-ball partners. Out on the golf course everyone seems to feel that they are at liberty to pass on their tips. If you are having a bad day you are going to be an easy target:
- Stand a little closer to the ball
- Grip your driver lower down on the grip
- Make sure your hands are in front of the ball at address
- …
Now this really can be an endless list. You just need to look at who you are playing with. If they still hit bad (awful?) shots or their swing is not clearly totally consistent then why would you listen?
Why You Should Avoid Golf Tips
Reason 1 – Golf Tips Don’t Work
The key to playing golf well is a reliable, repeatable golf swing. In some players the swing is a thing of beauty: Rory McIroy and Michelle Wie being obvious examples.
Others like Bubba Watson or Lee Trevino may not have the prettiest of swing:
“Everybody can see that my swing is homegrown. That means everybody has a chance to do it”
Bubba Watson
“My swing is so bad I look like a caveman killing his lunch”
Lee Trevino
While Bubba and Lee may not have the most clean looking swing but they do have (or had) swings that were highly effective and very consistent.
So, I have a question for you, “How reliable and consistent is your swing”? If your answer isn’t ‘completely’ how can you expect any tip to work?
Reason 2 – Golf Tips Mess with Your Mind
Reason 2 is heavily related to reason 1. To play good golf you need to go onto the course in a relaxed, confident frame of mind. Your practicing and tweaking should be done on the practice ground. You should be confident in your technique and routines are clear in your mind.
The golf course is the place to play golf. You should have one or maybe 2 swing thoughts. Mine are:
- Stay loose (particularly wrists and shoulders) and smooth
- Watch the ball through impact
Even with my old, wild swing I could play pretty well (or at least OK) if I could keep these thoughts in my mind.
So what happens when we bring in some random tip (particularly from one of your playing partners)? For example, you duff a couple of chips so one of your partners tells you to hold your hands further forward at address.
Now you have a third swing thought. The tip may work for a couple of chips. So you think I will try that on my other iron shots.
Now it doesn’t really matter if you think the chip works or not. You are breaking out of your personal technique and mind set. You are reacting to what happens on the course rather than sticking to your own principles. You begin to think too much. A couple of more shots go awry.
It’s a tight spiral to poor golf.
Reason 3 – Tips are not a one size fits all.
Another question for you. How many golf swing techniques are there?
I don’t know the answer but it is most definitely not one.
Nor is there only one size of golfer on the tour. There are players like Dustin Johnson at 6’ 4” and Phil Mickelson at 6’ 3”. On the European tour you have golfers like Jbe Kruger at 5’ 5”.
All of these players hit the ball a long way – Jbe Kruger averaged 294 yards.
Do you think the swing of Dustin and Phil closely match the swing of Jbe Kruger?
Of course not. So do you think your swing is closely related to all of the golf tips you see? Yet you can find golf tips attributed to each of these players. How can you be sure that these tips relate to you game at all?
Sound Technique and a Clear Mind – The Key to Golf Improvement
If you really want to improve your golf you should steer away from tips in all guises. Until you have a sound, repeatable swing technique (it doesn’t have to be perfect or a thing of beauty) you will not improve.
If you really are looking for a tip here’s one for you, “Go see your pro. Say you are looking for a basic swing technique and one or 2 swing thoughts to take out onto the course. It will do you more good (and probably cost you a lot less) than following any of the tips available on-line.