How To Destroy Your Golfing Delusions

The 36th Secret

In golf we must often be on guard against ourselves. We think we are doing one thing when actually we are doing something else. We can have images of our golf swings which do not conform with the facts. We tend to believe we have excellencies which do not exist. Sometimes we believe we have deficiencies which are not there, and even change a swing that is all right to begin with.
For instance, a number of golfers have advocated that the arms be held as closely together as possible. An aid to doing this is to keep the elbows together. Hogan's description of the position is that the arms are pressed together as if held by a sheath of rubber. This seems theoretically sound to us since it tends to remove the variable of loose arms.
Several years ago I read of this need to keep the arms pressed toward each other with the pit of the elbows facing upwards. I tried it but my swing became constricted and I lost distance. When I showed a friend what I had been doing and what I was now doing, he said that I had been doing it right the first time.To correct your golfing image, the best bet is the advice of a teaching pro. Movies can help some but are not quite as good. Someday devices will be available that will give us a truer picture of ourselves, but until then we must rely a great deal upon the ability of others to see us as we really are.