There's a difference between knowing something and then putting it into practice. Basically when it comes to golf, who cares how much someone "knows" when in practice someone with less knowledge and more talent is beating the tar out of them.
I could provide other examples, but let me throw out the names Wi and Waite as players people on this site seem to think have reached golf swing nirvana and yet their actual over all golf games were/are below average compared to other pros. Certainly nothing worth copying, yet the positions they hit during these swings is something to marvel at.
You're right - someone with more talent will usually beat the pants off someone who has less talent but an encyclopaedic knowledge of the golf swing. But for people of equal talent, knowing AND understanding more will eventually lead to better scores. Everyone knows a superb athlete, probably a baseball player at one point, who hits a driver 300+ 90 degrees the wrong way. A year later they'll still be doing that unless they take time to learn the swing.
On the other hand, I think golfers who are serious can run into analysis paralysis from time to time. When I play a round, I have no thoughts of "working on my swing." I just play the game and hope it sunk in. After 18, I assess where I went wrong and work on it later.
