Feel vs Mechanic

OK here is my poll. How should the golf be taught,

By feel first, then mechanics
By mechanics first, then feel
Completely by feel
Completely by mechanic

In my years of playing, I personally have improved more by learning from a feel standpoint, but I did learn mechanics first. Most instructor can pretty much agree on mechanis, barring styles, One Plane Swing, Two Plane Swing or natural golf aside, within each group they pretty much agree. But start talking feel and you run the gamit and almost no one agree on anything.

In years past, my era, feel was predominate factor. Remember all the different swings Trevino, Chi-Chi, Floyd, Nicklaus these player learned by feel you could actually see a range from the distance and know who they were, by their swings. Todays players seem to be more the mechanical taught players, they all with few exception, pretty much look the same. Of course you could start a completely new debate, just on this, some say they look the same due to equipment. I believe it is because we have become to mechanical in our teaching. Lets here your views. Thanks

I think it is a mixture.
Mechanics is the correct hold on the club, and the realisation that you have to use the body as a kind of giant spring.
I played my first round of golf left handed in 1976, changed to right handed in 1980, read a wonderful book called "seven days to better golf", by Harry Obitz and Dick Farley, and in 1981 hit 77 on a par 72.
I used to play racquet sports and my whole game was based on feel.
In 2002 I had my first golf lesson, and my whole game was shot to pieces, but the litle bits of useful knowledge I have retained means that I am hitting the ball better than ever.
Conclusion - if you have played other sports to a reasonable standard then you are going to be a feel player.
GoNavy, you are so right about the old days - Lee Trevino was a hero of mine before I even picked up a club. Arnold Palmer used to thrash the ball.
The only players today that I can think of with odd swings are John Daly and Jim Furyk.

BZZZZZZZZZZZZT!! Wrong answer!

BZZZZZZZZZZZZT!! Right answer!

I think it totally depends on the student.

I personally am a technical player - mechanics are my friend. The only place where I'm a feel player is putting.

Exactly - different people learn different ways, therefore there is no right and wrong in general, on per individual. That is why we stress that if an instructor isn't getting through to you, change instructors. It's not that he/she isn't a good instructor, just not a good instructor for YOU.

the swing is mostly mechanical and i believe it should be taught mechanicaly. Then it is up to the player to then get a feel of how to hit the ball.

I go with LowPost42... a golf professional will teach each student in a way that best suits the learning methodology of the student. It's all linked to a concept called NLP, but basically:

a. some golfers learn by seeing something, like a picture or watching the professional demonstrate (visual)
b. some golfers learn by being told what to do, like a list of instructions (audio)
c. some golfers learn by feeling, like beng put into the correct position or being assisted in the movement so they can feel it, or by saying something like "you should feel this or that" (feel)

As to the level of technical content in the lessons, that all depends on what the golfer is able to understand and absorb.

This what the art of teaching is all about ...

__________________
Golf is easy ... once you know how.
Graham Arnott, teaching professional
Kelrosa Golf Studios
www.kelrosagolf.com
Class 'A' PGA Member
Full Member: World Golf Teachers Federation (GB&I)

hi gonavy,
as a relatively new player who has just had his first lesson i would say its mechanics first and then feel. as a novice not so long ago i thought the ball was played from middle of stance for every shot teed up 3 inches! i was really shocked to find that you hit down with your irons to pinch the ball between the club and ground and how the body coils in the swing i just thought you swung your arms back and through again. so i think you have to be taught the right way to do things and the feel comes later. my short game is coming along great now but it was bloody awful 12 months ago because i didnt know what i was supposed to be doing!

__________________
cheers slats
"Golf can best be defined as an endless series of tragedies obscured by the occasional miracle"

I'd agree with the "everyone's different" sentiments. A different question though is what (as a beginner) you are taught and when.

I wish that when I first went for lessons the pro had confiscated my clubs and taken me to the putting green rather than starting off swinging a 7-iron.

I suspect that a strict progression through putting, chipping and pitching to reach the full swing would give a much sounder grounding in the fundamentals.

Any thoughts on this from the Pros?

Hi There,

You are correct in your assumption, if you could teach someone from chipping and then pitching they would get a better perspective of what is required in the full swing, especially at impact. It is also easier to achieve contact with the ball, thus gaining confidence.

The problem is no-one ever does because it's a macho thing, as soon as they see the long clubs it all goes wrong, more brawn than brains I'm afraid.

You could make a much better player from scratch to scratch with patients.


Ian.

I used to be very mechanical but really improved when I learned how to 'feel' the correct movements. They key is that everyone will feel things differently and its the understanding of that principle which helped me. For example saying start the downswing with the hips, as a feeling, wont work for someone who has fast hips

You have to experiment and find the feelings that work for you and realise that when you read an article in a magazine or book that says differently that is someone else's feeling, and may not be the right way for you personally

Mechanics allow you to get setup properly and know when you are in the right poisitions throughout the swing

I don't remember where I read it, but the writer wrote that pitching is just a full swing on a smaller scale (so that if you learned short game first, the full swing ended up being just an extension of said shortgame).