Haters Hate - Don't Give In

I went to the range this evening to work on the 2.8 THE BEST GOLF SWING PRACTICE DRILL OF ALL TIME. I am going to work on this drill until the feeling is engrained and has wiped out a couple of decades of ugly swings and associated feelings and bad results. About 30 minutes in, I sensed I was being watched. I did a glance around, and sure enough, I saw 'Bob' out of the corner of my eye. Bob was looking for an opening, just a glimpse of recognition so he could move in. Almost every range around the US has a 'Bob.' You know the type - hangs around the range ready to give his unsolicited advice to tell you what is wrong with your swing. I didn't acknowledge his presence, but he sauntered over and stood about 10' away right behind me. I was determined not to acknowledge him, hit 10 or so balls, and he finally blinked.

" How's your swing going?"

"Good, just working on a drill."

"What are you working on?"

"Crisp contact, compressing the ball."

"You want to know what you are doing wrong?"

Now mind you, he's probably watched me hit 25 7-irons perfectly with a half swing, all going about 135 yards with a nice soft draw. After thinking of a half dozen smart-ass retorts, I decided to be preemptive.

"Let me guess, I have too much weight on my left side, and I'm reverse tilting?"

"Yes! You can never get back over to your right side with all of that weight on the left!" He is trying to show me with his club, but I am not looking. Not deterred, he has now walked in front of me and making an exaggerated tilt to the left, then an exaggerated tilt back to the right with the club sticking into the ground a foot behind the ball.

"Thanks for the tip." I say a silent prayer that he will walk away, but I know that's not happening.

I hit two more balls, and Bob says, "You are still doing it."

"I know because that's what I want to do."

"But that's going to cause all sorts of inconsistency."

"But you've watched me hit balls for 10 minutes, and I am striping them. Isn't the goal of the golf swing to have your weight going forward into impact?"

Bob is now confused, probably because he is being forced to think that one through. He then comes back with the 'load up the energy on your right side, then release that energy theory.'

Against all better judgment, I say those three dreaded words. "I use Stack and Tilt."

Bob begins to explain why SnT is bad, no tour players use it, blah, blah, blah and I cut him off.

"Hey Bob, what's your handicap?" He proudly says he's a 7.

"Why aren't you scratch?"

He laughs nervously, but says, "I'm trying to get there, but golf is hard."

"Yes, it is and I'm trying to simplify it. I appreciate you wanting to help, but unless you can pull out a PGA teaching card from your pocket, I'm going to follow the advice of my PGA instructor. Thanks." I go back to my drills, head down. I don't need any new friends anyway.

I know Bob won't be the last member of the SnT Haters Club, but it makes me more determined to follow the course in order and not get ahead of myself, not go back to what is 'comfortable' and has caused me to call the Golf Suicide Hotline 100x over the years and hate the game I love.

I'm sure none of you can relate . . . but sharing just in case.