Best and Worst Tip Ever

[allin]

I was at the range after I played today watching a hacker father teaching his son how to play . Lots of technical talk and erroneous stuff like keep your head down etc. Becoming afraid that he would soon hate golf when his dad went to get something I waited until he hit a good shot and gave him the best tip I have ever heard. The arms turn the body on the backswing and the body turns the arms back to the ball on the downswing. I quickly demonstated what I meant. He hit like 6 good shots in a row until dad came back with more technical information .
I think the worst tip, or at least the most damaging for me was to delay club release. Conciously trying to do this I think screws up your swing something awful. I feel now that club release is a result of other things you do in your swing not a concious process, awareness of what is happening OK, manipulation high risk.
So what about everyone else? Best and worst tips you have ever received or the ones that that you tried that helped or hurt you the most.? I can see it now silence falls as all of you type, like the old EF Hutton commercial!

[rmgators]

Release is also something I feel like I struggle with...do you guys consciously release and roll your hands through impact or does it just happen through centrifugal force?

Sorry to get off topic...I would say the best tips I've received were simply learning the proper grip and also I read somewhere to keep the clubface looking at the ball for as long as possible on the backswing...this seemed to propel me toward some solid ball striking for quite awhile (was when I had a much stronger grip, however).

[DDBowdoin]

I don't release the club that much because it tends to work the ball a bit to much right to left (I'm not sure if I am thinking of the same term here)

after watching this open I realized my trajectory was a lot like Tigers, that nice hold off fade... it was nice to see, but obviously I don't hit my 6 iron 230 yards...

[wachesawgolfer]

Whats works for some may no work for others as each swing is different. Thus, a good tip for me may not be a good tip for you. I think its hard to call a swing tip bad if its helps even a few.

[Rafcin]

hard to point out the "worst" tip ever in my case, maybe part of the reason is the fact, that I'm kind of full of myself and don't take anybody's advice for granted, w/o being convinced it's correct? Sometimes it's good to be stubborn
The best? Had to be the tip from my teaching pro, which corrected my overshift in the upper body - if you imagine a wall where the ball is, perpendicular to the target of your swing - make sure you don't bang your head into it, just push it gently with your left hip.
This was a single thing I can point out, that really turned my game around...

[Rafcin]

I was at the range after I played today watching a hacker father teaching his son how to play...

I think "these" fathers are the original reason why we're not allowed to bring hand guns to a driving range....

[NCGolfer]

I think "these" fathers are the original reason why we're not allowed to bring hand guns to a driving range....

If I had a nickel for every bit of crappy advice I heard and overheard from hackers on the range...

Anyway, the best advice I ever got was how to keep from casting and holding my wrist angle as long as possible. I had been hitting the ball well, but a simple tip and swing thought instantly added around 5-10% distance on all my clubs. The worst was when someone told me that my grip was way too strong and that I should put my right hand on top of the club...and I mean like Jim Furyk. I felt like I was going to lose control of the club and let it fly down the range. Needless to say I went back to my strong grip and hit the ball just fine after the guy left. This isn't trying to be pretentious or condescending, but unless you are a golf professional, you shouldn't freely dispense your advice. If you feel the urge, then you should only be allowed to if you are significantly better than the person you are trying to help. Otherwise, shut the f

[Rafcin]

...but unless you are a golf professional, you shouldn't freely dispense your advice. If you feel the urge, then you should only be allowed to if you are

I'd not completly agree with it - sometimes a friend playing with you is lost and doing something really bad... there is always place and time for an advice, gotta be careful with that.

I make that mistake with my wife all the time - she does something "bad" in her swing and I interpret her look as "I've no idea what's wrong, help me!!!!"... I give advice... and I get hit with the 5i in the head. On the other side - my buddy was playing in a matchplay parallel to my match - and put his driver 3 times way right... finally after the 3rd one I whispered - 'check your ball position, seems to be pretty far back...' - next drive right down Broadway. So after that lengthy speach my point is - one doesn't have to be significantly better, but one have to be sensitive about time and place

[allin]

My intent was to encourage a little self expression that didn't require any judgement. I hope I was clear. I chose the phrase for you on purpose. For example release almost certainly does mean different things to different golfers. I have heard it applied to forearm rotation, hand response, and most often to the opening shutting of the clubhead compared to swingpath.
I am wondering if we aren't gettin a little rigid. I have several aquaintances that borrow my eyes when they practice. Not because I am a good golfer, they all shoot 6-10 strokes lower than I do. But I am usually able to tell them what I see that is different from when they were performing better or worse. I suspect that most of us offer suggestions in the vein of you might want to try this I have been told it will help with... Besides I thought there might be some funny stories told.

[allin]

Of course accepting advice in the middle of a competive round isn't legal is it?

[Rafcin]

Of course accepting advice in the middle of a competive round isn't legal is it?

Accepting - is legal. Giving one - is not.

[iacas]

Accepting - is legal. Giving one - is not.

During a stipulated round, a player must not:

(a) give advice to anyone in the competition playing on the course other than his partner, or(b) ask for advice from anyone other than his partner or either of their caddies. You can't give it and you can't ask for it. And if you have a weird relationship whereby "some guy" (your coach) just happens to be "giving" advice (he can't be penalized if he's not a player) and it's obvious you're the one "receiving" it, you can be penalized for that, too.

[Xt1ncT]

2 things spring to mind for me.

One was from about 15 years ago in a golf shop in Exeter Devon. I was trying some irons and had this really fast backswing. The shop assistant just said to me "You don't hit the ball on the way back - so why take it back so fast?"

I loved the simplicity of that.

Another was from Nick Faldo - the best golfer England has produced (imho) - it was on TV sometime ago and he just said "Don't hit it harder, hit it better".

I suppose these aren't really tips, more swing thoughts that I use when practising, but they're pretty simple and have stuck with me.