Tips, Cures & Fixes: Golfers Trapped in Perpetual Eve of Instruction

You are at the bookstore. A search finds four tennis instruction manuals. And look, here's "Three Easy Steps to Bowling." Soccer anyone? Look long enough and you eventually find a collection of books promising to explain the necessary skills for all of sports' major food groups.

And then there's the section for golf.

Never have so many words been written on a subject so few can master. Of course, maybe that's the explanation: Who searches for answers on a subject they actually understand?

Whatever the reason, golfers' hunger for instruction alone has saved the unemployment rate from hitting 15 percent.

Pick up a golf magazine and find "Ten Easy Ways to Cure a Slice." Stop by a bookstore where an entire wall of literary offerings promise to settle golf's age-old debate: Overlap vs. Interlocking? An Internet search for "golf instructional books" turns up 981,000 sites.

"Everybody has a concept on how the golf club should be swung," Florida teaching professional C. D. Gaughan said. "I've never seen a sport with so many coaches."

The simple explanation is supply and demand. Every golfer apparently believes somewhere out there is the secret that will unlock an inner Phil Mickelson. (Once upon a time, we would have said Tiger Woods, but now that's entirely different book.)

"Everybody is looking for a secret to a quick fix: 'I don't have the time to put in. If I can get tomorrow today, then I am going to try that.' ''
- C. D. Gaughan,
Florida Teaching Pro Golf Digest, one of the game's largest-selling monthly magazines, confirms that its best newsstand sales are produced by cover stories offering instruction. Features, profiles and travel guides are nice, but the one sure way to attract golfers, is a promise to shave strokes.

From books to video instruction, there is little remaining in golf that has not been analyzed, theorized and ultimately commercialized. Yet, every week brings another approach to conquering the frustrating challenge of making solid contact with a ball that sits motionless and defenselessly just waiting to be smacked.

"An amateur can improve if he is willing to do things necessary to improve," advised Champions Tour player Tom Kite. "You can't improve your business without studying your business and taking the necessary steps and having a system to improve. The same thing is true with golf."

Unfortunately, people want to improve but they are not willing to do the necessary things.

"You have to have a systematic plan in place. Most amateurs have no clue. It seems haphazard. There's no method to their madness out there. They don't understand the golf swing and the cause and effect. You can learn physics by yourself, but it's a lot easier if you have someone to teach you. You can learn golf by yourself, but it's a lot easier if you have somebody who knows what the heck they are talking about and you are willing to listen."

The problem with golf is no matter how well it is played, there always is room for improvement. Potentially, any tip or any lesson could save a stroke somewhere.

Still, can golf skill actually be learned by reading?

"Some people can, but across the board I don't think so," Dave Stewart, head professional at Florida's Kissimmee Golf Club, said. "Somebody who has some knowledge as to why a golf ball does what it does, and how a club propels a golf balls, yeah, then you can improve. But if you don't even know what the impact of a club and ball look like, then there is no way you can improve.

"People say, 'oh, I didn't get under that one.' Well, you know what, you never get under a golf shot unless the ball's on a tee. If you are hitting an iron shot, you hit the back of the ball and the loft of the club gets the ball in the air. If they do not understand that concept, and take a book, no. But if they have a background on how a swing works, yes they can improve."
Nevertheless, written instruction and an insatiable appetite for it has become as much a part of golf as dimples. And has been around longer.

"I'm a collector of antique golf instructional books," said Gaughan, who is based in Tampa. "I think it is fascinating to read years ago what they wee thinking about. And it has not changed. All we do is change the words. That's the big secret. We change the words and we have a new concept. But if anyone thinks they are gong to come along and reinvent the wheel, it's not going to happen.

"Everybody is looking for a secret to a quick fix: 'I don't have the time to put in. If I can get tomorrow today, then I am going to try that. If somebody buys a new driver, I'm going to by one too -- so I can hit the ball even farther sideways.' "