Millions of people throughout the world play golf (3 million in Britain, 10 million in the USA) but very few become really good golfers. Why is this? Basically it is the wrong way in which the golf swing has been analysed and consequently the teaching this is based on is equally wrong.
Incorrect teaching can never lead to progress and achievement. Golf teaching is nothing more than a “try this” or “think about” approach to problems. Nearly every golf instruction book, even by some of the great players, have fallen down and have often done more harm than good. They express personal ideas rather than genuinely tested teaching concepts If you look at all major sports in the world it is clear there has been process of analysis with a consequence that standards have been raised based on a true theory of improvement. Look at the level of achievement in Olympic and World track and field records over recent years. The increase in performance levels are the result of improved teaching based upon the correct study. Is golf really the exception to this?
For any real progress to be made in golf teaching a start must be made from a correct analysis of the basic swing movement. Having found the essential principle, it is essential then to devise and test a simple method of teaching these. The method must produce the desired result each and every time it is applied. One man who devoted his life in golf to finding a method of teaching the golf swing was Leslie King.
His method of teaching consistently produced international players, national and county champions, single figure players by the score and most of all it produced a release from the “trial and error golf” for thousands of average players. Mr King’s method is still employed by Steve Gould and David Wilkinson, the two protégés he taught at the golf school located in the centre of London’s West End.
Michael Bonallack, now Secretary of the R&A and the British Amateur Champion in 1961, 65, 69 and 70, was taught by Leslie King. In fact Michael wrote the forward to the only instructional manual written by Leslie King. He opened his introduction with “My only regret in having lessons from Leslie King is that I did not have them sooner. From my very first visit I realised that here was a teacher who had only one way of teaching …. no gimmicks….no modern fads…. just a straightforward and uncomplicated way of consistently repeating an action to swing the club into the back of the ball and along the line of flight.”
Instructors who teach ballet, karate, horse riding, or whatever have a clear knowledge of what they are trying to create in their pupils and an equally clear knowledge of the techniques that will take pupil to the desired goal.
It should be the same in golf. Unfortunately it isn’t. Most golfers have no idea what they are trying to achieve and when they practice they build in their faults. Golf instruction has been more a matter of curing that fault rather than giving the player a defined programme for improvement. The Leslie King method is such a programme and if applied to your game will immediately show an improvement.
Lesson 1: The Set-Up – A Master Reference
Lesson 2: The Grip
Lesson 3: The Role of the Golf Swing
Lesson 4: Requirements of a Sound Golf Swing
Lesson 5: The Backswing
Lesson 6: Starting the Swing
Lesson 7: The Role of the Body
Lesson 8: Top of the Backswing Analysis
Lesson 9: Cause & Effect of Backswing Problems
Lesson 10: Direction and Power – The Downswing
Lesson 11: What You Should Feel
Lesson 12: Club Face Check
