“Always Try New Ideas” – Butch” (Harmon). (Golf Digest, Dec. ’19)
Firstly,
Always – : at all Times, :FOREVER
Secondly,
Try – : to subject to something (such as undue strain or excessive hardship or provocation) that tests the powers of endurance
Thirdly,
New – : beginning as the resumption or repetition of a previous act or thing, : different from one of the same category that has existed previously
Fourthly,
Ideas – : an indefinite or unformed conception, : obsolete : an image recalled by memory
Always means unceasing. My interpretation is that Butch believes we should never settle on one course of action or underlying structure because there are only three structures, Open, square, or closed. So few do not lend themselves to clever manipulation. Only numerous, unending, myriad, et.al. movements provide fodder for golf instruction chicanery.
Try means attempt. Again, my interpretation is that Butch wants us to try one idea after another without looking for one, base, structural or philosophical truth. The parable, “Castles built on sand” comes to mind. If golfers have no foundational connection, instruction’s contractors are guaranteed constant work.
New means not remembered. “There is nothing new under the sun” does not apply to our instruction industry. Because, if the words used to explain are different, the explanation is deemed to be different. Hence, selling the same information in a forgotten collection of words is clever. However, brainpower spent on wordplay is wasted for research. I posit that fear is the greater constituent of clever, because stepping away from the word herd has consequences. I have an metaphallegory… maybe, an allegetophor. You decide.
The Open Stance is the Lion King of our golf swing on our instructional Serengeti. No matter how many clever ideas go prancing by, you can rest assured, if one or two stop for a debate, the Open Stance Lion is ready to devour them both. Consider our discussion equivalent to “The survival of the fittest”. Truth is not negotiable… it hurts. Now, on to “ideas”.
Ideas means multiple, unnamed and unqualified suggestions. However, instead of allowing our own mind to create our own ideas, instructors want to spoon feed us theirs’. We spent the better part of fifty years ingesting medicine from those invested in maintaining your illness… abominable, at best. Consequently, golf remains an undersubscribed sport. Golf is too hard because its purveyors make it so.
Is there anything sadder or more hopeless than to swing in the Sargasso Sea of relativism and torment? Those eels are creepy. Regardless, the next time you watch a famous instructor on T.V., think, “This (insert clever name) is trying to break my swing with this excrement!” Each of them WILL ONLY TALK ABOUT MOTION – NEVER set-up philosophy.
I cannot actually believe how beautifully Butch’s quote from the recent Golf digest fits into my post yesterday. Moreover, Harmon and GD feed my ongoing narrative regarding golf instructors and golf instruction. I could not ask for a finer point on my letter. Hopefully, you all will learn to spot their subterfuge, and help others with your Open Stance stories and better ball-striking. In the mean time….
Open your stance, and play golf.
John Wright – Founder
The Open Stance Academy
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