53. The swing most players have today owes its existence to the early ideas and beliefs formed from their first introduction to the game

I have been of the opinion for a number of years that the swing most players have today owes its existence to the early ideas and beliefs formed from their first introduction to the game. These ideas and beliefs are formed as "Logical" answers to the challenge that is hitting a golf ball. These so called "Logical Answers" become imprinted deep down and ultimately express themselves as the movements that become your own unique golf swing. These first impressions form the foundation that you then attempt to build a game on. Herein lies the problem. The "Logical" answers arrived at early on are invariably the wrong answers and will prove to be limiting the more into the game you get. Sadly it takes too long for the beginner to realize this and in the meantime, the wrongly contrived swing becomes deeply rooted as muscle memory.

The point that is nearly always overlooked is that correcting the technique in future golf lessons is impossible if the correction does not come from a new enlightened "Idea" that replaces the original old wrong idea. There is a saying that goes, “If you do what you have always done, you will get what you have always gotten". The same applies if "We think as we have always thought". New better ideas are quite often the opposite to the first wrong "Logical" conclusions and it is often difficult to accept them as a better option.

An old friend summed the situation up several years back during a lesson when he said "Our problem it seems is when we start out, we try to apply Logic to what is an Illogical game". It is more accurate to say poor golf stems from applying logic to a flawed concept.

Back in the mid 80s, the most publicized swing change in the entire history of golf took place. It not only took two and a half years to implement, it also took the player involved from No1 in Europe in 1983 to 42nd in 1985 before he came back better than ever to dominate the world for a few years and pick up 6 major titles in the process. Nick Faldo had to re-configure his old ideas in order for the new swing to make sense and feel right. It was during this spell in the wilderness that he demonstrated possibly the most important trait of all and that was patience.