Why do many people think reading golf mag tips from pros are a bad thing?

I'm not saying it's better than taking lessons, but it seems many of the tips just repeat the same basic principles which is a good thing. ie weight forward, proper impact position etc.

Of coarse some tips are silly so you have to be selective.

I use some articles/drills to supplement what my teacher says.

Isn't it great to read how Luke Donald approaches his chip shots

or Hunter Mahan's ideas on how to swing a club properly?

What is the downside?

PS I know a one page article isn't going to teach you how to swing a club

but as supplemental info it seems good.

I think reading "tips" in golf magazines and instructional books are a great way to never progress.  It's one thing to "know" what you should be doing, but it is quite another to "know" if you are actually doing it properly.  Also, I think the tips can clog a golfer's mind and their swing becomes so technical that it is unnatural for their body.

I stopped reading all of that crap months ago, am taking weekly lessons, and my swing, accuracy, and consistency are better than ever.

Could be that your swing is getting better from the lessons, with nothing at all to do with you ceasing to read golf mags.

Reading clogs your mind with technical thoughts. You read twenty things and you think if you implement all twenty, your game will vastly improve. Not the case. The instruction may be technically correct, but many times the instruction is also conflicting between two issues of the same magazine. I had a hundred thoughts going through my head trying to improve based in tips from magazine and books. Now I have about three. Of course, it was easy for me to stop reading...my instructor blatantly said I stop reading or he does not work with me. :-)

It's easy to get overwhelmed, if you tried to read and incorporate every quick tip or article.  But just like anything else, you can glean good info if you are selective. The same goes for Golf Channel informational series, or even golf discussion forums.

Here's a whole pile of reasons;

http://thesandtrap.com/t/41332/the-comics-thread

Gets people thinking too much and one instructor can tell you one thing you should be doing and another tell you that is bad. Now that I'm getting more into golf instruction I'm happy I read a lot of those articles. It helps!

What pros think-feel they are doing and what they do are typically two different things. Pics don't always match the commentary.

Personally, I've found all of these tips clutter your mind, and you end up mixing and jumbling too many different ideas into your head.

I have a friend with this problem, he comes to me with all the new tips and thinks of too many things in his swing.

One way I use them:

Now I'm focusing on getting my weight to my left side properly.

I listen to my teacher and I look for how others explain and what drills/thoughts others have on the subject.

If their way of thinking or drills make more sense to me then I incorporate them.

Yes it can be easy to get to many thoughts at one time so I try and work on 1-2 things at a time.

The downside is that they all contradict one another.  They had an article comparing Pelz, Utley and Stockton last year.  I think we can all agree they are somewhat decent coaches for the short game. The 3 of them didn't agree on anything. You would be better off picking on and going with that teacher than trying to mix and match technique. Things like strategy (i.e. how to play a par 3 or when to try a shot) are more likely to be useful.

I read them all - what else is there to do on an airplane.

I suspect that they are really written by Humpty "Words mean what I want them to mean." Dumpty. (Alice in Wonderland - Through the Looking Glass.)

On occasion a tip on playing a specific type of shot may be useful. But, the tips often don't fit the system I've learned. Or, the tip suggests something I took lessons last year to get rid of.

Mainly, stray tips get in the way of swing-building.

There's a lot of good information that gets written about in the golf magazines, like certain things the pro's do, but not everyone knows how to go about using that information. If you're the type of guy who reads every tip and tries to incorporate it into your swing, like the one poster who said he had 20 different things going through his mind when he swings, then yes, stay away from the magazines. But if you can read some tips and pick one out that you think might help you, and you work on that tip at the practice range only, until you get it down good enough and then see if it improves your ball striking or whatever, some of these tips can help you. There's a good article in the May issue of Golf Magazine on Rory McIlroy and the way his hips move. In fact, it's the way a lot of pro's move their hips. It's not a complete nonstop rotation of the hips through the swing, and it's not a lateral slide of the hips either, it's kind of in the middle, a little of both. It's a power move that they compare to the cocking and firing of a pistol. Dr. Paul Cheetham did a study of some PGA players using 3D motion analysis. Anyway, I've been working on that at the practice range, part of the time I'm there. Making changes like that take's a lot of swings. When I'm out on the course I don't have even one swing thought on my mind. I have a way of blocking everything out except for my target and visualizing the shot. That's the way I play my best. But I don't see any reason why you can't give a swing tip from a magazine a good lengthy try on the practice range , one tip at a time and only part of your practice time, and see if it helps you. If you're the type of person who knows how to go about it in a logical way.

I once found a golf magazine with the headline, "217 Ways to Add 15 Yards to Your Tee Shot." I figured that if I did all of them I could hit the ball 3,255 yards and drive the front nine.

The best things to do with the tips in golf magazines is to clip them out and give them to the people you play money matches with.