Golf Instruction
 

To have a great Golf Swing needs more time and effort that 99.99% of golfers are willing to dedicate.

Not to mention money.

Right.

I met a guy at the chipping green that looked phenomenal. I thought I was good, but this guy blows me away. I started talking to him and found out that he's about 28 years old and tries to get into mini-tour tournaments (Tries?). He said he practices 4 hours per day, every day.

Now I'm depressed.

swinging vs playing
 

You do not need a great golf swing to play great golf, you need great golf skills to play great golf.

A consistent motion that looks terrible but has good impact alignments combined with a great short game will almost always beat a "pretty" swing with no "game".

Ask Jim Furyk, Lee trevino, Miller Barber, Bruce Lietzke, and any other "goofy" swinger for a game.

BTW, Brian Gay is a better ball striker than before but he has stayed on tour all of these years because he is one of the best ever around the green.

I never saw his full stroke. I saw only the results of his chipping.

I agree, it's not a beauty contest.

Of course, you have both. How many hours a week do you practice?

God is that true.

If he going to turn professional - then we have to compare with an ordinary work day. At 28 he almost too old..?

Hitting 800 balls a day and engaging in clubhead throw away each time won't help!

What would help?

A good TGM instructor.

Absolutely

Indeed. I had coffee with two friends and one asked for a referral for a good teacher for the fellow that replaced him in his high level executive job. My other friend went on to say there were many good teachers around and to just get one in the area, you couldn't go wrong. I almost had an apoplectic fit.
The questioner then looked at me said we would meet with the young fellow next week for a some suggestions. I told him if the teacher is not well versed in the works of Homer Kelley, run away.
We will be having coffee next week and then an appointment with Mr. Carter should come next.
Point being, there are many teachers of golf. There seem to be very few teachers of G.O.L.F. The difference is enormous.

There are many good players - and they have had different instructors and coaches. If you have a lot of talent, I guess there is a good chance that you will be a good player in any case. It's worse for the average player, with average talent and who perhaps never played in younger years. Then it's not enough for a instructor with a method to say to the player who needs instruction : do it like this. The good thing with TGM is to find what's best for you. Reading the book to find this may work for some, but it's far better to find an AI who can help you work this out based on all the information in TGM and what it has to offer, which may differ from player to player.

I saw Mr. Gay on the 8th hole at Aronimink on Sunday.
 

The hole is 235 yards, a par three, and falls down the hill by what seemed like a 10 story building as I walked down.

The back pin placement was about 6 yards or so from every downslope which was shaved like the green itself. Rolling down the hill would bring you very close to the downslopes of hole 10 and as much as 10 more yards from the pin.

Brians's first shot barely rolled off the green. His second shot looked to be about 10 feet from the hole and he made the putt! I would've been happy with a five on that hole and was amazed any of the pros parred the hole. It was incredible!

:)
ICT

I think learning to play golf well as a kid would make the game much easier in later years -- at least they play by feel and seldom get in their own way trying to think their way through a swing while on the course.

I learned to play in college -- very different proposition from my view. I was always a good athlete growing up -- show me the motions and I can pick up most things. A good instructor would have helped for sure -- a TGM instructor would have been a godsend. But, learned on my own and developed the habits (compensations) that I now have.

With that compensated swing, I've played even par for nine holes and shot an 82 on NCR South here in Dayton on greens that had to be a 12 on the Stimp.

But, I never, ever truly trusted my swing. I for sure didn't know exactly what I was trying to accomplish and for doubly sure didn't know the physics and geometry I was trying to use to get that little white ball (okay, sometimes yellow and sometimes orange -- it was the 80's) from tee to hole in the fewest strokes.

TGM holds the keys to a very elusive thing -- mastery of something...namely, YOUR golf swing. (Not THE golf swing, as we all know, but knowledge of how it all fits together.)

I wonder if that's something all the hardcore TGM'ers share -- inquisitiveness about HOW things work versus just the desire for results. Be interesting to see all our Myers-Briggs personality types...

My experience is very similar to yours, but even worse. I hit my first golf ball when I was 41 years old - 21 years ago. And then I got the great idea to ask Yoda to help me get out the mess I had got into swing wise. And as I have written about before: He did.

Never too late if you can still swing!

Too old! I am 41, quit my job, moved the family to Florida and now make a living as a full time touring professional. I have yet to miss a mortgage payment! The ball has no idea how old you are. I was told by many I was too old. I didn't listen, now I play and make a living full time.

You must be encouraged to see how a lot of old timers - like Kenny Perry etc have performed in their late 40's - and after that there is the senior tour. Didn't Hale Irwin (65) shoot his age this year?

Amen.
I dont believe in the age thing. Its just a number. If you can shoot low, you can shoot low.