Lessons from the Tour

Jeff Fisher
Director of Instruction
Fisher Bryan Golf Academy at Longbow Golf Club
Mesa, AZ
jfisher@obsports.com

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As I write this month’s column, Tiger Woods has just won again at Bay Hill and has once again ascended to the number one ranking in the world! He has told everyone for two years that he was close and just needed reps. Needed time to get comfortable with his game plan. Every golf publication and talk show alternately wrote him off and proclaimed him “back”!

The thing about Tiger is no amount of speculation or criticism swayed him from what he believed was the right path for his golf game. He stuck to his guns with what he and his coach, Sean Foley, were working on and they have been proven correct. For most people,  six wins is a really good PGA Tour career and Tiger has done that in his last twenty starts!

The point is that the correct path for every golfer is unique. What is good for Tiger’s game is not good for Bubba Watson’s game and is not good for Rory McIlroy’s game. But, if you have something you believe in, and a plan you can work to make it happen, you can have success!

I talk a lot in my columns and in my lessons about how every golfer should embrace their own unique set of talents, as well as boundaries. Trying to do something that is not right for you, no matter how well it works for someone else, is just a recipe for disaster. There are very few “must do’s” in a golf swing.

What you, as a golfer, need to figure out is what are your “must do’s”. Correct impact is really the only “must do” in the swing and even then “correct” depends on the type of shot you are trying to hit. If you find the posture, backswing and downswing that are best suited to your body and its capabilities, rather than work off of some picture of the perfect golf swing, then you are much more likely to hit the shots you want to hit on a regular basis.

Find a coach who asks the right questions. Questions that pertain specifically to you…like how often you play and practice, what other sports have you played and what kind, if any, injuries do you have. Then the two of you can work together to build your best golf swing. One thing the Tour shows us every week is that there is no one way to get it done and Dr. Bob Rotella said it best when he told us, “Golf is not a game of perfect!”.

Jeff Fisher is the Director of Instruction at the OB Sports Golf Academy at Longbow Golf Club in Mesa, Arizona. Jeff can be reached at 480.414.9330 or jfisher@obsports.com.