Information Overload
A Rebuttal (sort of) to Tiger's Take on YouTube Videos
Tiger Woods was recently asked what piece of advice he would give to amateurs, and before the question was even finished, he said:
“Stop F***ing watching YouTube.” Then Tiger quickly added, “And go hit balls.”
I don’t entirely agree with Tiger here. He is the GOAT, and I’m just a guy with a newsletter, but when you are THAT good and have every resource at your disposal, Tiger might be overlooking the experiences of us mere golf mortals.
“Don’t F’ing Watch YouTube”
Tiger has a point. Amateur golfers tend to go down YouTube rabbit holes of swing fixes that leave our heads spinning. I’ve done it many times. Next thing you know, you're showing up to the range or course with a million thoughts going through your head.
Sometimes, it is just a drill to fix a specific flaw; you know it’s the answer to all your ails. Then, you find yourself shanking everything off the moon and moving on to the next thing. Rinse and repeat.
The problem here is twofold:
Information Overload
Self Diagnosis
The sheer volume of information at our disposal is overwhelming. There are a thousand golf videos for every swing flaw. Each video and coach has the answer, and sometimes those answers are different.
On top of all this confusion, most of us can’t reliably self-diagnose our own swings. Or maybe you do know your swing flaw, but we don’t know HOW to fix it or WHY we have said flaw.
I’ve fought an overly steep swing for years. I knew my flaw, and I was correct, but I couldn’t fix it because I didn’t know the how or the why. I wasted countless hours going down swing fix rabbit holes, leading to frustration and dead ends.
What helped me understand my swing was lessons with a coach. I won’t go into a diatribe on getting lessons here, but if you want to save years of frustration, get a lesson! It won’t fix everything, but will put you on a path to improvement with a plan and a better idea of what you need to work on.
Armed with expert knowledge, you can start picking and choosing videos geared toward your issues.
Information Overload
It probably sounds like I’m agreeing with Tiger. Well, I am, to a degree. Undoubtedly, we are in an age of information overload, whether it's investing, golf, news, entertainment, etc. But would you rather go back to when this information was nearly impossible to find? I don’t.
YouTube and other formats contain top-notch information from expert coaches and available for free at the touch of a button! Sure, there is a ton of crap as well, but it’s up to us to filter through the noise.
I'd rather have a wealth of information at my disposal than not have it.
Overall, YouTube golf videos are a net positive for golfers, and it can be a huge positive if you recognize and avoid the pitfalls.
Watching and reading content from these guys has made me a better golfer:
At my age (78 and a12.6 Index), practicing a lot to change my swing is not on the menu. My entire game depends on -- TEMPO. If I maintain my TEMPO, I score mid 80's. If I putt better than normal, I flirt with breaking into the high 70's. Not rocket science. Just don't over-think the YouTube stuff. We are not pros. Listen to the down to earth assessment of the game, like from this place, for us amateur lovers of the game to get better.
I've told people to stop watching YouTube videos. It's not that the information is wrong or bad, it may not apply to them. At the same time, just hitting balls isn't the answer either.