I guess your answer depends upon your mind. What is it in us that converts stimulus into reaction? How can different golfers, made of the same bundle of neutrons and electrons, interpret the same outcome in completely unique ways. I’d say it is 80% how we are wired, and 20% how we are conditioned. I can get into why I estimate it that way, later. Your answer to the binary headline will determine your willingness or ability to adapt to a different golf swing philosophy. The speed at which you adapt is also a byproduct of that initial answer. It does not matter if the process is slow or fast. What matters is that you don’t waver after the decision is made.
It’s a matter of perception versus protection. There is a segment of the golfing public who are relativists, by nature. There are also segments who are pragmatists, protectionists, and experimentalists. There are characteristics of each type that underpin a commonality.
The relativist adapts slowly if too much information is introduced because they disembark their learning vehicle early in the confusion. But, they adapt very quickly if you focus the message. Give them one thing to do, and leave them alone until they think they have it. Outcomes are all feedback for these folks on course and range. They have a natural disconnection from results that sustains their pursuit of change. They can take that one thing to work on and add their own ideas to that framework. These people are very open to ideas of all kinds, so focusing them on a framework idea is key.
The pragmatists hear empirically-proven information and make the change with dogged determination. As a result, all their outcomes are feedback on the range and partly feedback on the course. Their hiccup in adapting is wondering, “How much” is enough? They require exactness in how to make a change. If left alone with an idea, worry takes over for lack of a learning structure. If there is a visual example to imulate, their improvement stays on course. They create motion and let the motion take care of the rest. As long as these folks retain all their distance, they adapt surely with change. The Open Stance caters to this type.
The protectionists are loathe to do anything that doesn’t immediately feel right. Outcomes for these types are most consequential. Change is a negative thing for them. They may entertain a framework, or a philosophy, without ever adopting it. They require an impartial third party to dip their toe in the water before they will do the same. Control is the keyword for these types. They do not like feeling off balance. They will always retain something significant of their own swing philosophy, good or bad, and rationalize it as “what works for me”. If these golfers ever decide to let go of their present, familiar ‘feeling’ for a new one with the Open Stance, they may never change again.
The experimentalists are never satisfied with anything they try. They get feedback the right way. But, they use it to continue expanding. There is always more distance, more accuracy, more feel than whatever they are employing at the moment. The funny part about this type is that they don’t like to practice – mostly due to impatience. So, they create a self-fulfilling prophecy for themselves. Whatever is new is best. They are very adventurous with swing changes and believe they can do anything. Stick-to-it-iveness is the part that slows them down. If they do decide to stick with a different philosophy, they have to reword or qualify someone else’s information so it can be their own idea.
The Open Stance is effective for all the various personality and learning types. The only difference is the teacher. I mean that it has always been and will always be the voice… never the message. Homer Kelly conditioned us to believe in HIS message and find a voice that told us what we wanted to believe. As a result, golfers became broken thinking there was no best way to set up to a golf ball – no best philosophy. Time may show something different.
John Wright – Founder
The Open Stance Academy