The 80/20 Golf Swing

Over the years I’ve had 3 profound golf learning experiences:

The first was when I discovered the miracle that is natural learning. The must-read book, The Inner Game of Golf (by Tim Gallwey) set me on a path of discovery and mastery and I haven’t looked back.

The second was when I finally, after years of resistance, embraced the importance of the short game. And I’m not talking about knowing that those short shots are important, I’m talking about “getting” it at a deep level – a place where I did something about it and made significant improvement.

And the third profound experience was discovering the incredible principle known as the 80/20 Rule. Like the short game, I had found out about this years earlier, but I wasn’t ready for its magic. Here’s the story…

I was in Chicago for a business conference in 2010. For the most part, the event was overrated. Many of the speakers just liked the sound of their own voice or were too obsessed with gimmicks and get rich quick schemes. But one presenter stood out like a sore thumb.

Perry Marshall was once a self-confessed struggling engineer. He tired of having no money and went into sales, along the way becoming a global expert on Google Adwords. And Perry’s talk wasn’t on Google, business or trying to make money.

It was on the 80/20 Rule and he had everyone’s attention.

The 80/20 Rule states that about 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes and Marshall showed with amazing clarity how for most businesses, you’ll make most of your income from only 20% of your customers. It’s these vital few we should focus our energy on.

Perry was drumming into us that the 80/20 Rule is everywhere, business and life and nature and we needed to embrace it to get ahead of the pack. He used a version of the image below to help us see things more clearly.

 

The X axis represents the “causes” and the Y axis the “effects”. Most things have little impact, but if you’re able to find these important causes you’ll get more done with the least amount of effort. Perry said a number of times, “You can move the biggest door with the smallest hinge”.

As is my way, I was trying to figure out how this principle could be applied to golf. Immediately I was getting some inspiration. I could see how typical golf instruction was full of too much information – tips, lessons, concepts, swing thoughts etc. Millions of ideas that golfers have to decipher to play halfway decent. I knew that taking in all this information was impossible, but Perry’s presentation caused me to ask a profound question…

What are the most important golf swing fundamentals?

And thanks to being part of a comprehensive biomechanical study (back in 2004), I knew I could find the answers. Before I go on, I want you to check out this golf version of the graph.

 

 

For the most part, us silly golfers think about too many things. Most of these concepts have very little impact on our results. Basically, we’re wasting time and energy thinking about,

– how to cock our wrists
– how to swing more slowly
– how to swing on plane
– how to hit the ball further
– how to swing properly

The list could go on and on. And I’m sure if you’ve been playing golf for any length of time you’ll know how hard it is to separate the shit from the shovel.

For the last 5 years I’ve been obsessed with 80/20 thinking. It dominates my life and along the way it has helped me become a better golf coach.

I’ve just finished writing a new book, it’s called Scientific Golf Swing Secrets. And it contains the vitally important swing fundamentals – the really important ones so you can forget about all of those other “stupid” things.

The idea of the book is to give you the bare minimum instruction that will allow you to build a better golf swing (this is “proper” coaching). If you are hoping for a detailed manual that gives you a specific blueprint you’ll be disappointed. But…

… if you’re keen to take your game past the “fix it” mentality and play better golf without having to think about 27 things, then you’ll get a lot out of it. Ultimately, my goal is to get you thinking less and playing more. From here you are more likely to unleash your powerful, instinctive and consistent golf swing – an 80/20 Golf Swing.

For a limited time I’m offering this book for only $1. Some golfing friends were reading it yesterday and think I’m nuts for selling it so cheaply. But if you’re quick you can have it posted to your door for only 1 buck (plus postage). Check it out now if you want to learn more about 80/20 thinking and how it can apply to golf learning.