The Goofy Game of Golf Searching for the Answer

Well here we are it’s 2017, and since my last blog, believe it or not I have played 5 rounds of golf, including one this past Wednesday, to get the first round of the year in. Now one of those rounds was in sunny San Diego but the other 4 were right here in the Burgh. Not bad since November 30th.  My scores went on a roller coaster ride as I shot 75, 80, 76 in San Diego with borrowed clubs(I keep telling you this game is goofy), 83 and 84 this past Wednesday.  Obviously not any closer to an answer, but nobody else is either, and that’s what this post is all about.

During my frustrating year, one of the things I did was to go online to see if I could find something, that might help my game.  Of course, there is a bevy of information out there, some good, some not so good. But the real eye opener is the amount of conflicting information on how to go about hitting a golf ball. What’s a beginning golfer to do?   Everything I am about to list here, comes from  some of the most respected names in golf, ranging from Bob Toski, Ken Venturi, Butch Harman, Jack Nicklaus, and many more. I am going to list them in the order of what I think contains the most misinformation and that are the most confusing. Don’t hold your breath while you are reading this because you will die

1. You should keep your left heel on the ground during the backswing, or it’s ok to lift the left heel on the backswing or you should lift your heel on the backswing.
2. The putting stroke should be straight back and straight through, or the putting stroke should be an arc and straight back and straight through is not natural.
3. The left arm should be straight though out the swing or the left arm does not have to be straight though out the swing.
4. Play the ball in the same position for all shots, or gradually move the ball back toward the center of your stance as clubs get shorter
5. At address, the weight should be distributed on the balls of the feet, or over the arch just in front of the ankles, or on the heels of the feet.  Thank God are feet aren’t any bigger.
6. Restrict your hip turn or do not restrict your hip turn
7. Your shoulders should turn at least 90 degrees on the backswing, or they do not have to turn 90 degrees
8. Your swing should be compact and don’t overswing, or make sure your swing is nice and long so you will have plenty of time to make the proper downswing moves.
9. You should pause at the top of your backswing, or you should not make a conscious pause at the top of your backswing.
10. Take the club back low and slow, or this is the worse thing you can do is low and slow
11. Chip like you putt, or do not chip like you putt
12. You should change your grip to help square up your club face, or you should not change your grip to square up your club face
13. Hand position at address in relationship to the ball, too many too mention
14. The first move to start the downswing, too many to mention
15. Head movement, does it, should it, and how much and what direction
16. Last but not least, good old Natural Golf with the greatest ball striker of all time the late Moe Norman, as their poster child.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 So what are we to make of all this?  Who is right and who is wrong. Maybe they are all right, or maybe they are all wrong. One thing is for sure, each person or school that advocates any of the things that I have mentioned, think they are right and they have found the holy grail. But we all know that is not true.  Over the next few months I am going delve into each one of these conflicting points. One of the most amazing things I found is the misinformation as to why you should do a certain thing starting with raising the left heel. There may be some delay because next week it looks like that I might even be able to play a couple of times. See  global warming is not all  bad.