The Morgan Golf Academy

In this day of high speed Internet, high definition TV, web enabled cell phones, and more golf magazines than I can read, where do you turn? The golf channel has excellent shows designed to do one thing, help you, the golfer. Golf magazines advertise on who has the most tips in each issue. Professional golfers give you tips on how they play the game. The Internet is full of websites professing their style of teaching, drills or tips to make you much better in no time.

I think a high percentage of golfers are intelligent people. They also want to do their best on the course with what time they can spare. This makes the normal golfer out there very susceptible to a serious condition that can keep them from getting better or even make them worse. That condition is information overload. So what can a golfer do to either prevent or reverse this situation? How does this affect the normal player with access to all this information?

How can you tell if you have information overload? One of the first signs is asking our golfing friends, your teaching pro or the program on the TV to explain each and every tip you see or hear. Do you find yourself thinking that a particular golf problem you have sounds exactly like the one you just read? What is the first thing you think? AHAH that will work for me! You read on and a few pages later, WOW another one that will work for me. I need to remember these the next time I go to the range or to the course. Anyone feeling guilty yet? The golfer will let all these thoughts flood his mind when the next golf event may come along. This will cause many problems for any golfer but it is compounded for those that have limited chances to play.

The answer is simple but very counterintuitive for most people. If one of the tips you read really hits home and you want to try it, please do, but limit yourself to only one per week. This is much tougher than it sounds! Try just one, and if it works, use it and make it a part of your game. Please try to avoid another tip until the one that works is automatic. The best players will work on only one thing at a time to improve their game. They spend a lot of time and concentrate until they know it works. With hundreds of tips available at any given time, how is it possible to limit yourself to just one?

There are several ways to limit exposure to the cascade of golf information. One golf magazine, one golf show, or one golf website, and mute on the TV during telecasts are good ideas. Remember this is a very tough assignment. The human nature in all of us want to know more, to learn and improve. This is a change of process more than a change of human nature. To really learn what you feel will help your swing (golf tip) it takes time and commitment. Please take your golf self improvement one tip at a time.