Pete Styles – PGA Teaching Pro

I think looking back over Johnny Miller’s career and his golf swing in his live, you start to notice that it’s very recognizable. His career was very recognizable, his wins and his success very recognizable, the way he was in the golf course very recognizable as he is in the commentary box now. But also his golf swing and his style was also very recognizable and that’s not necessarily a bad thing if it works.

So, if you’ve got a golf swing that you feel isn’t quite the identical match of the guys on the TV, but it works for you, then maybe it’s not necessarily a bad thing and not necessarily something you should completely overhaul, particularly not in the middle of the golfing season.

If you went out and you saw yourself on camera, you saw yourself on video, and you looked your golf swing and thought, “Well, that’s a bit old, that’s a bit steep, and that’s a bit lefty with the left foot, but I’m playing well, I’m doing a bit of a Johnny Miller, I’m a bit steep a bit here, but acutally I get through the ball okay and I’m playing well. I’m bringing my handicap down,” it isn’t necessary that we make a full overhaul change of your golf swing right in the middle of the season.

You should acutally trust the style that you have, trust what’s working for you. Yes, you can always keep practicing. You can make little improvements. But don’t rip the whole thing to pieces in the middle of the season. Maybe make those bigger changes in the off-season and even then you don’t need to try and adapt your golf swing to a golf swing of somebody that you’ve seen on the TV. Maybe cherry-pick the best elements. If your ball striking is good and your steep golf swing is giving you the good ball striking, don’t change that. You might ruin that.

Maybe if there’s something else that’s wrong in your game, focus on that first. Go for the easy wins. Go for the big victories if you like. So, when you see Johnny Millers’ record, it’s fantastic. When you see his golf swing, he has got some good moves in there. He’s got some moves that we wouldn’t necessarily encourage everybody to make, but his ball striking was fantastic too. He trusted his style and you should trust your own style too.