[golf2much]

With a little instruction, a Broadway dancer could, in a very few minutes, produce a "golf swing" that to the untrained eye looks very much like the "real deal." It would be a thing of grace and beauty and would serve its purpose admirably: namely, to delight and entertain those beyond the footlights. But would it produce expert results on the playing field? Of course not.

Yet, it is this "dynamic whole" that constitutes the Golf Stroke's Basic Motion. It is the framework upon which the Golfer builds his entire Game. The only real difference between the Stroke of the Duffer and the Stroke of the Champion -- or any skill level between the two -- is the precision of the Component Relationships within that Basic Motion.

It is true that some people -- and golf players are people, too -- are more analytical than others. However, you simply cannot become a good player without paying at least some attention to Stroke Mechanics. No one can read the works of Bobby Jones and watch his films without knowing that he paid a great deal of attention to 'cause and effect.' Ben Hogan was the supreme Golf Stroke Mechanic of his time...perhaps of all time.

And Jack Nicklaus? He made modifications to his Grip throughout his entire career. He paid attention to both ends of his Pivot, from its bottom with his Rolling Ankles to its Top with his Stationary Head. He began each new year with his instructor, Jack Grout, and the request to "Teach me golf." They focused on the fundamentals, and as Jack grew older, they worked diligently on Flattening his Swing Plane and making his Stroke more rotary.

Players who choose to learn Feel from Mechanics (as opposed to the other way around) can enjoy continuous progress and a lifetime of better Golf. Homer Kelley wrote: "Is the player benefited by this fragmentation of the Stroke? Undoubtedly. Not only eventually, but immediately." [1-J]

As an example of the true learning process, think of tying your shoelaces. Could you have learned this very complex act as a "dynamic whole?" No. From the first attempt, you brought every bit of mental and manual dexterity you could to bear on the problem, but in the end, the only way you got the job done was to take it one segment at a time. But does that mean that you now must laboriously think through each of these steps each time you tie your shoelaces? Of course not. In fact, if you do, you will not tie your shoelaces nearly as well as you know how to tie them. The glorious news is that you have 'paid the price' and have integrated the independently learned segments into a unified, efficient motion. In other words, a "dynamic whole." You've done the work required and now can tie them with ease and with little, if any, conscious thought.

It is the same process we use learning to drive a stick-shift automobile.

Or learning to write...first in crude block letters...later in flowing, cursive script.

And so it is with Golf.

As usual, spot on... A week or so ago there was a long debate over at the GEA about where all the TGM'ers had gone. Not to bring that up again, but the thread evolved to a discussion of learning/teaching methodologies, the "whole" swing vs the "fragmented" approach, how golf instruction had been backwards for 500 years and other "Broadway Dancer" approaches to teaching the golf swing. I asked, and am still waiting for an answer to the question: Name one activity that a human does/learns(except neurological functions) that is not an incremental learning activity? I'm still waiting for Mr. Instruction has been Backwards for 500 years to respond with an answer.
G2M