Steve Gould - The Golf Delusion: Why 9 Out of 10 Golfers Make the Same Mistakes

First published 2009 by Elliott and Thompson Limited

27 John Street, London WC1N 2BX

www.eandtbooks.com

ISBN 978-1-9040-2773-7

eISBN 978-1-7839-6068-2

Copyright Steve Gould and D.J. Wilkinson

The right of the authors to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Although the authors of The Golf Delusion were the co-authors of the book The Swing Factory, they have no association with the company or the trademark The Swing Factory.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

Pictures (studio and location) by Charles Briscoe-Wright ()

Pictures (pages ): Getty Images

Picture (page ): Popperfoto/Getty Images

Pictures (pages ): Augusta National/Getty Images

Pictures (pages ): Bob Thomas/Getty Images

Picture (page ): Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

Picture (page ): AFP/Getty Images

Pictures (pages ): iStockphoto

Leslie King extracts taken from The Master Key to Success at Golf, 1961

Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders for images and extracts used within this book. Where this has not been possible the publisher will be happy to credit them in future editions.

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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Printed in Italy by Printer Trento on sustainable paper.

N o one in the world has had more golf lessons, or seen more teachers, than I have.

All I can say is that time and again, I come back to Steve and Dave and they always put me right. I truly believe that their obsession (inherited from Leslie King) with the early part of the backswing is indeed the key to a proper swing. When that part of my swing deteriorates, I have no chance. And when theyve put it back in the groove I play at my best.

The same applies to countless friends Ive sent to their basement, and to my aged father who has never been easy to teach.

This book is a brilliant distillation of their wisdom, and if you care about golf you would be insane not to read it.

Hugh Grant

K nightsbridge is one of the most prestigious locations in Europe. It is home to the rich and the famous, the socialites and the aristocrats and surprisingly enough to one of the most glamorous and successful golf schools in the world.

Located a mere Tiger drive away from Harrods and a short chip from the Harvey Nichols handbag display, a converted squash court beneath a Georgian faade may be the last place you would expect to see a golf lesson taking place. Yet it is our belief that, since its conception in 1951, more lessons have been given at the Knightsbridge Golf School than anywhere else on earth.

The School was founded by Leslie King, one of the first instructors to develop a system of teaching the golf swing. He never claimed to have invented a swing, but to have watched it and categorised it, pulling it apart to enable him to help his pupils build a swing that was as near perfect as possible. He had devised his swing model from watching the great players of his day, building their swing fundamentals into a foolproof technique that could be learnt by all.

During the 1970s and 80s Mr King passed his knowledge down to us, and over the past twenty years we have developed his original technique into a modelled swing that can be taught to anyone, from the wonderfully talented to the woefully inept.

In the time we have been at the School, we have taught tens of thousands of golfers. Sadly, the swings that we see today are no better than those we saw when we first started teaching in the 1970s. How can this be, in an age where golf instruction is such a massive industry?

Golfers of all levels have greater access to more instructional information than ever before. Books, magazines, DVDs, online tuition, computer analysis and more bombard the desperate golfer in his search to find the key to this enthralling, if frustrating, game. Yet all this information barely makes a difference. We see the results every day of our working lives and experience has taught us overwhelmingly that almost every golfer navely believes that the next golden tip or magic clue will elevate them to a higher level.

Lets face it, its what everyone hopes for, one quick fix and everything will suddenly fall into place. Unfortunately its not as easy as that. The majority of golfers fail to realise that golf must be learnt in the same way that one would learn to speak a foreign language, play a musical instrument or fly an aeroplane. The reason for this is that it is possible for anyone to hit a good golf shot purely by accident. Take a bucket of balls, swing the club back and through and even the most un-coordinated would make good contact with a few balls, watching them fly long and straight. This gives the golfer the impression that a few tips here and there will smooth out the rough edges and they will soon be playing good consistent golf, forgetting the fact that maybe only five or six shots from a bucket of balls have been purely struck. Learning a good golf swing is no different to learning anything of value. It must be learnt under controlled circumstances, slowly, one step at a time and in great detail.

Most golfers dont think this way because of the accidental good shot. For example, you would not be capable of conversing in fluent Cantonese one minute and be unable to utter a single word seconds later; play a musical solo, then moments later not hit a single note; fly the Atlantic, then lack the ability to get the aircraft airborne again. However, this is very much the case in golf. A booming accurate drive can be followed by a huge shank into the woods, a fluff, a top or even an air shot, and often is!

The purpose of this book is to teach you a structured modelled swing; to teach you where to be at each and every stage of your swing and to blend the swings structure into one beautiful, free-flowing movement. It offers the only guaranteed solution to the trial and error golf played by 90% of golfers. Building swings this way has been our lifes work, and if you study this book in great detail we are convinced that it can do the same for you. Every word, every sentence and lesson has been written for a reason, and nothing should be overlooked. It is important to remember that these teachings are not theoretical. They have been proven in well over half a million teaching sessions and will build a sound, solid swing that will last for life.