After reading through the GolfWRX forum thread “Brandel Chamblee Says Some Idiotic Things” (http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/815743-brandel-chamblee-says-idiotic-things-ongoing-thread/ ) and seeing my name come up multiple times I thought I might take a moment to explain why I take the time to challenge Chamblee in video commentary available on my website. It is important to note that, at least in my mind, I did not pick this fight; rather, Chamblee instigated it when he singled out “modern instruction” (the “cookie-cutter, scientific approach to teaching”) as a “cancer” on the game.
In a 2010 interview (http://www.golf.com/tour-and-news/golf-magazine-interview-brandel-chamblee?page=2), Chamblee had this response to being asked what he meant by ‘cancer on the game’:
“…the golf swing is art, but it is taught as a science. That’s a confining way to learn the game, and it is bad both for players who learn that way — I go back to swings like Scott, Donald and Howell — and for golf in general. When you learn the swing by watching and obsessing over videotape you become fixated on your flaws, on perfection.”
Well, I happen to use video all the time when I teach. In fact, I will use almost any means I can think of to help people play a game that is truthfully too difficult for the average player to attain any semblance of mastery. I take Chamblee’s overreaching statements as an attack on who I am and what I do (as well as just about everyone who tries to make a living teaching golf), and when I am challenged I will fight back with arguments backed up by visual evidence. Fortunately, I have a YouTube channel, GolfWRX column and a website that give me an opportunity to voice my opinions, and while not reaching anywhere near the amount of people that a commentator of Chamblee’s status does, I still have a voice that gets heard.
Let me offer a short list of what I consider the major issues here, and then talk about them in more detail.
Chamblee (as well as all the other commentators/analysts on the Golf Channel and the major networks) has the bully pulpit. He is constantly on screen and is viewed by hundreds of thousands of people daily. What he says matters, as many (not all, of course) take both the subjective and technical information they get from the Golf Channel and use it to form their own opinions and apply it to their own golf swings.
Chamblee has an extremely negative opinion of teaching pros that use technology to help their students. This “technology” includes video, launch monitors, 3D Motion Analysis and any other methods he considers “scientific.”
He has repeatedly attacked Tiger Woods’ decision making regarding the management of his golf game, in spite of the fact that Tiger has amassed the greatest record of any golfer in history other than Jack Nicklaus.
It is only recently that television announcers on golf broadcasts have been held accountable for the things they say. For example, if they have it in their minds that lowering (or “dipping,” as they like to call it) during a golf swing is a bad thing, they point out the presence of lowering every time a player hits a bad shot. In my extensive study of the golf swing, and that would include the swings of the greats (past and present), plus the swings of all my students, most of whom are not great and make up every possible level of player in existence, I have found that most great ball strikers have lowered significantly by the time they hit the golf ball. Some lower in the backswing and then again in the forward swing (Hogan and Woods). Some lower only in the forward swing (Nicklaus and Nelson). Some lower only in the backswing (Els, Lema), but you have to really look hard to find anyone who stays at the same height throughout the swing.
This is a perfect example of how “conventional wisdom” is perpetuated in spite of copious evidence to the contrary. If the announcers did their homework, I wouldn’t have anything to complain about. My job is to help the people who come to me for lessons. They are usually fairly serious golfers (they have to be somewhat serious as lessons aren’t cheap) and they watch golf on television.
I know they are listening because I field their questions every day, and the information they pick up on golf telecasts comes up in our lessons. I find myself explaining regularly how the things they hear on television are highly questionable, and when I hear it and see it myself I can now, through the miracle of DVR, save it and then spend some time analyzing just what was being said. With side by side video, I can show clearly that what is being said is many times simply wrong, which helps me to dispel some of the myths that populate the game.
I am not trying to come off as a know-it- all or as some kind of golf swing genius. Rather, I have a genuine belief that people deserve to know what actually happens in a swing as opposed to the tired old adages that masquerade as “fundamentals,” and I have received tons of comments thanking me for the detailed explanations I provide, especially the ones that free people up to make a more athletic swing at the ball. Thus, I find it exciting to be able to show beyond a shadow of a doubt that good players don’t “stay level” and “maintain their posture,” and that the good ball strikers never swing “down the line,” even though they may “feel” and state that they do exactly that.
It is beyond me that the Golf Channel, which serves up golf instruction as a major component of its programming, would have on staff someone with a publicly avowed distaste for “modern instruction,” the type of instruction on display every day when you tune in to watch. I have always encouraged teachers to play competitively and to do everything they can to maintain and improve their own golf games, but Chamblee longs for the days when ex-Tour players were the teachers, imparting their knowledge based entirely on experience, focusing on feel and instinct rather than technique. Only someone who has never held a teaching position could have such an opinion.
If Chamblee spent a week doing what I do (giving 40 hours of lessons mostly to people who struggle to make solid contact), he would certainly change his tune. He would know for a fact that people can’t take a suggestion and put it into action without any and every type of aid possible. The better technology gets, the more tools teachers have to try to help their students. I would agree that there are cases where teachers overindulge in the use of machines and swing aids, and fail to use basic hands-on methods, but for a teaching pro to avoid using at least some of the available tools is to guarantee that he or she is not going to give the student everything they should be getting from a lesson.
I have no idea how teachers function without video. Impact is impossible to see without the ability to slow it down and study it, and a lesson becomes guesswork when this crucial component is left out. If Chamblee is going to call what I do to help my students a “cancer on the game,” then you had better believe I am going to fight back with an argument that refutes his misguided opinions.
Lastly, when it comes to Tiger Woods, I just don’t see how someone can question the way Tiger has managed his game. Players change things around all the time. Tiger is the only one scrutinized and questioned, which is, of course, ludicrous, as his record dwarfs any player currently competing. Chamblee’s arguments regarding Tiger’s various changes are also ridiculous. It’s Tiger’s game to do with as he pleases, and he continues to win. Even though he hasn’t won a major since 2008, he’s still won 79 PGA Tour events, 40 European Tour events, 17 World Golf Championship events, three U.S. Amateurs, and three U.S. Junior Amateur Championships. His record is mind-boggling.
What Brandel doesn’t understand is that with all the tools available today, the golf teacher is more like the NASCAR mechanic. He works on the car: he doesn’t tell the driver how to drive. When the mechanics are good and the player plays his own game, good things happen. Tiger understands this. Chamblee does not.
I often draw my own critics who question my credentials as a player and teacher, and the GolfWRX thread is no exception. I have played in six majors and three senior majors. I was a first team All-American in college, and although I never made the Tour, I did have a nice career as a club professional, winning three State Opens and the National Club Pro Championship in 2001.
As a teacher, I have made the Golf Digest Top 50 and Golf Magazine’s Top 100 lists, and have worked with thousands of players, from beginners to Tour professionals. That’s why I feel that I am uniquely qualified to question Chamblee’s and other announcer’s pronouncements regarding golf swing technique and other golf related subjects, especially when I can back up any and all of my statements with very specific and detailed evidence using video.
When I do a controversial or critical video it is not just for effect. I choose to highlight what I consider to be gross negligence on the part of the announcers. Mostly, these videos have to do with swing technique, and if I make a statement that is contrary to what is being stated on the air I always back up my assertions with video of top players past and present. I think that it is important for the public to get proper information regarding swing technique, and I will continue to be vigilant in keeping the announcers on their toes.