Video golf lesson...

…..It’s like hearing a recording of your voice.

Introducing!!!
video golf lesson'

A video lesson is another of the many ways we can consciously improve our swing. With this recent technology, we are able to see some of the jerky and wobbly movements we make.

Before video golf lesson technology, we have always relied on seeing our swings from within our inner mind.

This would compare to hearing a recording of your voice. There is always some surprise and disbelief as it sounds very different from what our inner ear picks up.

The same goes for what is portrayed to us during a video golf lesson. I bet most of you used to see something from within that was a lot closer to being smooth and competent.

I love video technology and I find that it helps pinpoint parts of the swing that the naked eye misses.

The varying analysis software available enables the drawing of lines, plotting points on the swing path and many other graphical tricks. Used properly it can be a helpful addition to a coach’s teaching toolbox.

I have however seen two very common errors made within a golf video lesson. Firstly, pointing out mistakes frame after frame is an ego trip for the coach and a complete confidence killer for the student. The coach utters the following, “Can you see that, you’re fanning the club open. Oh dear, that is quite a bit past parallel at the top. And in this frame you are making another mistake, casting at the start of the downswing.”

Oh stop! Leave the poor soul alone. Not only are they already flabbergasted by the far from smooth swing that they thought they had. They also have to put up with an endless bombardment of criticism. Which leads to the second error.

The coach rarely picks out the strengths or doesn’t pick out nearly enough. In truth he has been trained to spot both but he is so caught up with mistakes that he thinks by relaying as many as possible he is helping you. Well I, for one, wouldn’t mind hearing what it is that I am doing well so that I could build on it.

It is imperative that a coach should only pick out one mistake during a video golf lesson and work on the correction. If you take the example above, fanning the club, swinging past parallel and casting on the downswing. That coach has already overdone it. The student now has three mistakes and perhaps three very short technical demonstrations as how to correct them.

Dear, dear. It is impossible to effectively work on more than one correction at a time. Many coaches feel that they have all the data in front of them, they might as well relay all the idiosyncrasies. Believe me, I have often seen students being shown ten or more mistakes and quick remedies. The poor souls must think they’ve got value for money from the video. The truth is that they have only been overloaded with unhelpful observations.

I can only comment on what I do when I analyze a video of ‘Leela’s swing for example. For starters, I do all the frame-by-frame stuff when she’s not there and pick out what I believe to be the one most important correction. We then both look at the video in normal speed and I will only comment on her strengths.

Occasionally she will ask about something she finds a little strange and if it’s not the correction that I’m going to be working on, then I will tell her that it isn’t a problem. After this I will get down to the main correction and do all the analysis stuff, (lines, slow motion and frame-by-frame etc). We would agree on the correction and work together on the changes. The main thing here is not to over-analyze the mistake, as it will only complicate matters and make the correction sound difficult.

If you are thinking of taking a video golf lesson in the future from your coach, I hope that some of these pointers will help with your expectations. I am not advising you to direct your coach in any way but I hope this helps to take the edge off what I find can be an uncomfortable experience.