The Golf Geek
Prescribing the Next Step for the Time-Starved Golfer
3 Golf Magazine Myths Which Keep Golfers Mired in Mediocrity
Posted on 20. Oct, 2011 by Allan in Wisdom
Judging golf magazines by their cover.
Are all golf magazines making promises they can’t keep?
Well…yes.
Yes, they are.
Like Calamity Jane, they’re not exactly lying…but they’re careless with the truth. They know exactly what to put on the cover to entice us to pick up their magazine. Take a look at their covers next time you have a minute or two to spare at the newsagent – it’s fascinating. For instance, every magazine has 2 or more numbered headlines (5 tips to stop the yips; Tested: 16 of the best GPS). We golfers must be fascinated by numbers.
But what really stands out is the way magazines use golfing myths and our desperation to improve at golf to make us buy.
Here are 3 ways golf magazines sell us short to sell magazines.
1. “Fix Your ….”
Pick up 3 magazine, and these words will be on the cover of at least one of them. Whether they’re looking to fix our slice, our hook or our swing as a whole, golf magazines say they can help. It seems helpful, at first glance, doesn’t it?
But who says we’re “broken” in the first place? The human body is an incredible
machine, capable of unimaginable feats. Unless we have genuine pathology, it can cope very nicely with swinging a club at a stationary ball. Much of what we come to believe is “broken” occurs as a direct result of trying to fix what was never broken in the first place.
You’re not “broken”…so please don’t be fooled into thinking you are.
2. “…like a Pro”
Yet another headline which promises the earth and fails to deliver. This one uses our desire for a “magic bullet” – we want to improve at golf, we want to play like the professionals do…and so our eyes are drawn to this headline. Every month it screams out from the cover of one magazine or another: “Pitch like a Pro”, “Escape from bunkers like a Pro” and “Throw your clubs like a pro” (Okay, so I made the last one up…but it’s also the one you or I have the most chance of achieving).
We’re so desperate to get there we’re willing to believe a three-page instruction feature will allow us to get there without having to do the hard part. Ridiculous…but we fall for it time and again.
Magazine features are no substitute for putting in the hours of dedicated and effective golf practice.
3. “Tips and Drills to Lower Your Scores”
How can “swing tips” in a magazine help us improve at golf? With all of the variables which can affect the flight of the ball, can a one-page tip really offer reliable advice? And even if it could, how do we know what we feel is real? Is there really one “true” way to swing a golf club? (hint: the answer is NO). Any advice doled out by a magazine is either too generic to help anyone, or far too specific to help most. . Such advice is as at least as likely to harm our game as to help it.
Even if we find a tip which works, it’s a band-aid than a structural change in our swing, a compensation which might help other compensations align…for a while. And then it all falls apart and the search for a tip which works starts all over again. And, as I’ve said in the comments of this post, it’s like putting up layer after layer of poor quality wallpaper when the best course of action is to strip it back to the good wall which lies beneath.
Tips? Ignore! They don’t drop scores…please use your time more wisely.
…And there you have it.
3 headlines golf magazines use to get us to buy…which don’t stand up to scrutiny.
But we only have ourselves to blame.
Golf magazines raise most of their money selling advertising. This means they give golfers what they want rather than what they might need, perpetuating the myths and half-truths passed down from one generation of golfers to the next.
But we’re different.
We’re here.
So here’s my promise to you: no lies, no nonsense, no watering down.
Just what you need to improve at golf without changing your swing.
Nothing more, nothing less.
I’m opening this one up to any questions. What’s your biggest issue as you strive to improve at golf? Is it on the course, or on the practice tee? Do you lose focus at a certain point in the round, or do you need tips on effective golf practice to help you take your range game to the course? Is it something you’ve still to see me cover? Or has another Magazine Myth got your goat?
Catch up with me, be it in the comments below, on Twitter or via the contact form.
I’m looking forward to hearing from you!
10 Responses to “3 Golf Magazine Myths Which Keep Golfers Mired in Mediocrity”
Leave a Reply
Pick Up Your Prescription!
Want to know why you can't take your range game to the course?
Sign up for my newsletter to get practice tips delivered directly to your inbox & get my eBook "Why Almost All of Your Golf Practice is a Waste of Time...And How to Fix It" (worth £5.95/$9.95) ABSOLUTELY FREE. Yes, that's free.
Subscribe Now!
Protected bymy Spam-Free Guarantee; you can be assured I will never share your email address with anyone else
Connect With Me!
I mainly subscribe for the photos, stories from tour players of the old days, and occasionally I find a helpful tidbit but no way no how is anyone making any structural change to their golf game from a tip.
Hi Nick, a pleasure as ever to hear your thoughts. I’m not certain of the main thrust of your comment, though – do you feel golfers don’t look to make changes based on magazine articles or tips? Or do you think any player trying to do so is embarking on a journey of frustration? If it’s the former, I disagree…but I totally agree if it’s the latter.
I’m curious, too, about the “tidbits” you pick up: how do you know which ones might work for you? Have you managed to escape unscathed, or have some tips caused problems?
Allan: Sorry for my lack of clarity. I was trying to say that trying to make big changes based on tips is no way to overhaul one’s motor pattern. Not that people aren’t trying, but because there’s no progression of information and no customization, it’s a poor information delivery mechanism.
All the tidbits I’ve learned in theory have caused problems, in that I have 10,000 tips floating around in my brain. Had I just found one good teacher and taken a monthly lesson and never read a golf magazine I’m positive I would be a better player by now. It’s the same with the fitness industry, the magazines contribute to people hopping around from program to program, never applying any good ideas for long enough to see results.
Nick, thanks for this comment – you and Mr Golf Ball there just got a hat tip for the next post! “Shortcut Syndrome” is as real as it is destructive, and it’s broken the spirit of many a golfer. It’s time we started to chew some gum and kick some butt on this topic…and I’m all out of chewing gum.
Allan,
I’ve said it for a few years now but mainstream golf media wants to make you feel you’re not good enough and you need they’re quick tips and golf clubs.
It’s not unlike what the celebrity and pop culture industry tells woman and young girls. Regardless if it’s a new makeup product, a certain clothing trend or weight loss program, it’s all about presenting the idea that woman and young girls need various products to look and feel beautiful because god knows you can’t look and feel beautiful with your current look much like you can’t play good golf on your own. These products are what pay the advertising bills for TV shows and magazines.
The first few minutes of this trailer on an exciting new Documentary sum up my feelings for the golf media.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gkIiV6konY
In the golf world, it’s all about that quick fix because they know the majority of golfers think this game is too hard and don’t have the time or motivation to put in the effort so they sell the quick fix whether it’s a tip or a new club. The same can be said for Men’s Health. It’s the same regurgitated stuff that’s marketed with an eye catching and intriguing headline in each edition because once again they know most men are too busy or lazy to look like the model on the front page with a 6 pack.
In the end it’s all about what’s going on in your head and what you believe. That’s why I like reading your blog. It’s a mental approach which I believe along with the short game and course management, makes up 80% (the other 20% being the swing) of the game.
Lastly you make a great case for the difficulty in using swing tips for these magazines. The main problem with trying swing tips in magazines is this; when a golfer tries a swing tip, how do they know they’re doing it properly? Unless there is a camera present, who provides feedback? A friend can help but do they do a trained eye in golf instruction and know what to look for?
This is why you will never see a technical swing tip on my blog. I don’t want to give something to someone if I can’t see how they are doing it. This protects all parties.
Anyways, great topic and something I feel doesn’t garner enough attention in mainstream golf media but that’s because we’re the minority. Like you said when golfers awaken to the belief that they’re not broken, it’s the first step to better golf and the only way to ignore the messages the golf media continues to push out.
Jordan, many thanks for your eloquent comment. I totally agree – magazines also perpetuate the equipment myth – the idea their reviews are wholly impartial (oh yeah? how much of their income comes from advertisers, and who advertises in these magazines if not equipment manufacturers?).
But, even worse than this, they perpetuate the myth that we can buy a golf game, which is clearly bunkum, and misleads their readers.
I used to think online reviews were better…but I recently came across a post which really opened my eyes (& I thought I was fairly worldly-wise!). Details will be forthcoming in the near future!
Thanks again,
Allan
Anyone in business is obviously out to make a profit and will often leverage the ignorance of their potential customer base in doing so. Just witness the asinine commercials on television. The golf industry – whether it be equipment, swing methods, instruction, cures, tips, ad nauseum – is counting on one thing, the average golfer will not put in the work to understand the fundamentals in order to tweak a golf swing that already fits their physical limitations.
Whatever your pain, there’s someone who will try to sell you a shortcut. Sad but true…and I suspect it says more about us than it does the marketers. Because if we all suddenly stopped responding to these ads, if they stopped pushing our buttons, the marketers would work it out after a few months of lean profits…and then they’d work out how to push our buttons in a different way. But we don’t have to fall for it any more…don’t let them get to you!
I stopped buying golf mags on a regular basis years ago. The only time I buy one now is at an airport and that’s just to help with the tedium that is air travel. I only really read the course reviews, most of the content is aimed at selling you stuff you don’t need. Then it’s on with the iPod and staring out the window…
Sean, thanks so much for your comment. I’ve been known to buy the odd golf magazine now and again…but I tend to avoid the instruction like the plague (unless I’m researching one of my periodic pieces on the limitations of such instruction!)
Thanks again and please come back again,
Allan