Video analysis is commonplace in the golf coaching world offering golfers of all levels the opportunity to receive visual feedback to aid the technical aspects of their development. The benefits of offering this feedback to a student is for them to be able to create a mental picture of the changes they are attempting to carry out. Having that visual image enables you to send the signals from your brain to the muscles to create new movements and improve technique.
The main benefit for the coach is that it gets a lot of points across very quickly. If the famous saying is 'a picture paints a thousands words' then god knows how many words a video paints. As a coach I am constantly told how seeing the swing on video makes everything even clearer in a players head, making it a great tool for me when attempting to make change. This is down to the fact that people learn best both physically or kinesthetically. Seeing the swings and understanding the movements allows the player to visualise the change they are attempting to make or the position they are trying to achieve and attempt to turn the visualisation into movements.
I had an interesting conversation on Twitter the other day which for first time made me wonder more about the downside of video analysis. The problem is does the use of video analysis lead to too many people seeking a pretty swing? Does it prevent people from fully benefiting from the process of self discovery, a skill used throughout life? Does it make us over reliant on technology in order to control our game?
I think where a movement needs to be analysed and a fault identified then video is a great tool. The answers are there in front of you which you may need confirmed from the first impressions of the naked eye. I think however the balancing act comes when you need to make sure you are able to maintain a pupils ability to go through self discovery and learn their own swing and realise their own movements. I would never want a player to become dependent on video analysis. Golf is about ball striking and flight consistency, and ultimately hitting consistent shots to complete a round of golf in the fewest shots possible. Look on the European or PGA Tour and you know you will see no two swings the same, so is there even a right way anyway? That's another question for another time.
A great description was given to me by a fellow Twitter Professional who specialises in the mental side of the game. He described how video was useful so long as it was used to develop players as we are developing 'picture feelers' rather than 'mechanical thinkers'. A great way of describing the difference between using video as an aid to develop skills whilst still maintaining an emphasis on feel, creativity and ultimately self discovery rather than predetermined one dimensional robots.
I hope this raises a few questions for other Pro's and your coaching or how you view video analysis. For me a useful tool as long as used in the golfers best interests.
Thanks for reading. Feel free to leave your views on video analysis for golf.
Dan Gale
PGA Professional
TPI Certified Instructor
Dan is a fully qualified member of the PGA & Certified TPI Instructor
Check out his website at www.dangalegolf.com
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