I was giving a lesson to one of my regular students a scratch senior amateur who had a real good PPGS setup with the trademark wide knees and the ¾ limited turn backswing. We had taken a break and where standing back of the hitting line, looking at and analyzing the video of his swing. A good looking, well dressed lady, who appeared to be in her mid forties, walked down and started hitting balls in the spot immediately to the left of us. Right from her first shot, after a little stretching, she began putting on an impressive display of ball striking. She was hitting it quite solid and straight with good height, control and distance. and doing it consistently shot after shot. If I had to guess, I would have said that she was a single digit handicapper by her swing and ball striking.
We were very impressed with her swing and ball striking, and at one point, my student looked at me and asked if she was a student of mine. He noted her swing was ¾ with limited backswing turn and quite vertical as well as firm, with little leg movement in the backswing, and she swung up to a good T ' Finish. She had all the characteristics of a Surge student. She could easily be considered as a good female model for the PPGS. She made good swings and hit really good shots for around 5 minutes just stripping one shot after another looking like she was a top player. She was a joy to watch. I don't get to see many amateur ladies golfers hit it anywhere near as well as she was doing. But all of that came to a quick and ugly end.
A huge man who looked 250 to 300 pounds and who was sporting a huge cigar in his mouth came walking down and dropped his bag of balls right beside hers as the range was full and there was no other open spots. It was obvious they were married, but they certainly appeared the odd couple. Their physical appearances certainly were a contradiction. She was fit. He was, well, rotund.
She continued swinging and hitting real good shots until he finally started watching her swing. Despite hitting it exceptionally well, all of a sudden he blurted out, 'NO'¦NO'¦NO. You can't swing like that. You're not turning enough, and your swing is too short. You have to turn more and swing to parallel.' My student and I cringed at his instruction and could not believe what we heard. I was hoping she would say something like, 'Buzz off, can't you see I am hitting it good.' Or maybe even, 'Look at that guy (pointing to my student), he has a short backswing and little turn.' But she didn't say boo.
All she did was listen to his comments and did as he asked. She made a bigger turn and swung to parallel and she hit her first awful shot. It was a thin heel, cut shot that barely got airborne and squirted out to the right. Her next shot was even lower and by the third she was topping it. Mr. Smelly Cigar had, in one sentence of swing tips, turned his wife from a pure ball striker into a hacker. She went from a player to a beginner who could barely make contact with the ball in one swing. It just kept getting worse the more he prodded her to swing as he instructed. He never once seemed to be bothered or realize that he had just transformed her from a butterfly into a frog. He had ruined her swing and still kept on insisting she swing his way, despite the fact it had turned her into a hacker.
After a few more hits that looked more like skanks ,she picked up her other clubs and stepped back to watch him. His swing had more angles that a crooked car salesman, and his ball had no clue what solid and straight was as far as impact was concerned. He was a chopper and had, in one swing tip, brought his smooth swinging wife down to his pitiful level.
The outcome of this story is sad: turning a good swing and ball striking into hack and whack. The other disgusting aspect is that he never realized it or cared or backed off and let her do her thing which, obviously, by her good shots alone, proved her swing was pretty good.
The moral of this story for one is, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it.' A second one is, 'Look before you speak and instruct.' Another is, 'If you don't know what you are talking about'¦keep your mouth shut.' A fourth is, 'Be smart enough to back off when you see that your tips don't work.'
From the player's perspective, women and junior golfers are much more at risk of being approached on the range with offers of swing help and advice. Husband or not, father or friend, and most of all a stranger coming up and offering swing advice. My advice: 'STAND YOUR GROUND.' If you are swinging and hitting it well, and someone offers up unsolicited and unwanted advice, politely decline it. Say that you have an instructor or that you are happy with your swing and ball striking and do not care to change anything.
The Surge!