How To Avoid Snake Oil Salesmanship In Golf

As part of my current golf series I thought I'd like to talk about the gimmicks and bs products that may appeal to the mid-high handicap golfer. The Golf Channel bombards their commercials with equipment and golf dvds like the f2 wedge, speed whoosh, medicus, stack and tilt, etc. but the unfortunate thing is most of these products have a placebo effect at best.

Products I'd actually recommend: Phil Mickelson' Secrets of the Short Game dvd. This will pretty much be all you need from 100 yards and in. A good complimentary tool to this is the dave pelz putting tutor. It's one of the most widely used training aids on tour and I definitely have seen an increase in putts made from 10 feet and in.

Ben hogan's 5 lessons Pretty decent book and the grip section is AMAZING.

How I play Golf by Tiger Woods Interesting book on course management and has decent tidbits on all facets of the game. Personally, I like looking at the pictures of his swing during his prime and see how different it is now. In my humble opinion, the squatting move he started with Haney was the beginning of the end. Once he did that he started to drive the ball much more erratically.

Golf My Way by Jack Nicklaus Still one of the best books if you want to build an old-school 1970s power swing. One big thing about him and most golfers pre 1990s was that he lifted his left heel. This is pretty uncommon now but for some it is a good way to get a better weight transfer so can you hit longer drives. Most of the videos are now free on youtube. Depending on who you ask, Nicklaus or Greg Norman is the greatest driver of the golf ball of all time. I'd pick Jack since he had a much more consistent game but nobody could beat Norman's A-game, he attacked every pin.

v1 Golf App on Iphone and Android Easily the best golf app. This app can film your swing and compare it to one of the tour pros in their library. Personally, I have a phil mickelson-like swing that isn't exact the prettiest but gets the job done most of the time. My weakness at the moment (like phil) is my accuracy with the driver. I think if I can somehow be less across the line at the top of my swing I can hit more fairways.

Other things to avoid: Golf fix with Michael Breed, Martin Hall school of golf, brandel chamblee whining about tiger, etc.

Also, don't watch too many of the golf teaching pros on youtube. It will confuse the hell out of most people and not all golf pros are created equal. It's like teaching ubuntu to your 90 year old grandma who has never used a computer.