The Greats Are Not Always Right

Everytime I hear 'obviously the PGA Tour pros and the top instructors understand the laws of ball flight', I get reminded by things like this, which was written from Butch Harmon's book (thanks to TallVolFan for posting this on another forum)



BUT, let's not get too anxious to rip into Harmon.

There have been plenty of teachers who I would consider good teachers who didn't quite understand the laws of ball flight. And to Harmon's credit, I think Mickelson is probably swinging the club the best he ever has (although I think he could swing it even better with better instruction) and Tiger was striking it his best under Harmon as well.

So why should we care about teachers who understand the laws of ball flight versus those who don't?

Well...there's only one Tiger Woods and one Phil Mickelson. And if you don't quite fit into Butch's method of teaching, much like Ernie Els and Jose Maria Olazabal didn't, then not understanding the laws of ball flight can be even more hazardous.

Golfers should remember that there are almost countless ways to swing the club to hit the ball consistently well. The key is finding a swing that allows you to:

- control the clubface
- control the clubhead path
- control the low point
- effectively and efficiently pivot the body

So if you understand how the ball flies, you can start 'digging it out of the dirt' and figuring out what type of swing will have you ace those factors I listed above.








3JACK