by Lawrence Poploski

Created on: December 20, 2010

Trying to learn golf from your friends is akin to learning how to save money by visiting a casino.  The logic is flawed.  Unless you have friends that are touring or teaching professionals, you should avoid at all costs virtually anything information offered by your friends. Perhaps in no other sport than golf is the axiom of "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing" more obvious.  

Most hack golfers suffer extreme delusions of grandeur.  Maybe once or twice a round lady luck will strike and your friends will smack a golf worthy shot on the course.  When this happens, it immediately instills within them a shinning moment of supreme confidence in which they announce to the whole world they have "finally got it" on the course.  This lasts until they hit their next shot into the abyss for a triple bogey which they quickly explain as the by product of karma gone wrong, someone passing gas during their downswing or worms in the ground that were making too much noise.  It's never their fault because, as they are so happy to recall, they are the same player who nailed a tee shot dead solid perfect to tap in range on the prior par three.  Never mind their score at the end of the round will tally about the same number as the temperature in Death Valley at high noon in mid-July. They are still ready, willing and able to share with you the secrets of the game should you be foolish enough to invite their discourse into your life.  

I play with many such mental giants.  One golfing friend of mine can't make a four foot putt into a manhole at the bottom of a drainage ditch yet he constantly critiques my putting stroke, offering advice on how I can improve my short stick game.  "You need to follow-through longer after you putt the ball" he told me last week after I lipped out a birdie putt from 20 feet.  This comes from a guy who made the punch stab putt stroke an art form.  Clearly, do as I say and not as do is often the mantra from friends on the course.  Another regular I play with is always experimenting with different grips and has now logged at last count over 3,458 different variations of the Vardon, baseball and interlocking types.  He's a 17 handicapper only because he flunked math several times in high school and still can't add right.  Still, he's convinced he's the world's foremost expert on golf grips with a mission to educate the world with his specialized knowledge.  "I'm telling you," he yelled to me during the Ryder Cup, "if Tiger would just move his left thumb more towards the center of the shaft he wouldn't be pushing the ball dead right so often. "  Why The American Team failed to seek his advice I have no clue.  

If you want to learn golf from your friends, I suggest you make new friends.  Go hang out at a driving range and befriend the teaching pros or players who frequent the place regularly and have low handicaps.  You wouldn't go to your accountant for a root canal so why seek golf advice from people who really have no clue?  Even in the rare instance what they might tell you is correct, if you listen to them the price you'll pay for their free counsel is more of the same, especially at times when the last thing you want is any advice.  Take lessons from a professional because the money you spend will be worth every cent.  Never make the mistake of being penny wise and pound foolish by seeking free advice from hack friends who can only score a birdie if they have net at the aviary.  You get what you pay for, especially if it involves free advice on on the golf course.  

Learn more about this author, Lawrence Poploski.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.