The Dangers of Getting Golf Advice from Social Media

I get it.

You’re tried of playing bad golf. Of not having a consistent golf swing. And of chunking your irons, topping your woods, and slicing your driver into houses.

So you turn to social media for golf advice. You watch reels, shorts, and videos of both amateurs and pros explaining the cause and effect of your swing faults and the drill you need to fix it.

“It’s an absolute game changer!” they say.

You work the drills the next time you’re at the range. Your range session goes pretty good. You think you fixed your swing and are excited to get on the course and shoot lower scores.

Then your next round is a total shit show. You’re baffled as to why your golf game isn’t any better. Then you go home and repeat the process.

Here are a few reasons why you might want to reconsider getting your golf advice from social media.

Advice From Clueless Amateurs

This will especially apply if you like to upload your videos up to platforms like Reddit for some swing feedback. But also if you’re just consuming general social media posts from amateurs.

Many of them have NO CLUE what they’re talking about. How can you tell?

• Their advice is from their coach. The person giving the advice to you has no idea if it will work for you. They simply suggest you try it out to see.
• They can’t explain the cause and effect behind their advice.
• They tout myths or outdated advice i.e. you need to keep your head down.
• They’re trying to fix the perceived issue instead of the root cause.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s nice when other golfers in the community are willing to take the time to watch your swing and give you feedback.

The problem is that their advice — if implemented — can do more harm than good. If they don’t understand what the real issue is, you might end up working on an aspect of your swing that is totally fine. Maybe your swing ends up worse.

Something else to think about — many people’s swings are okay, they just might need to be matched up so that it becomes functional. But you’d be lucky if an amateur who commented on your swing could tell you the proper match-up for your swing, let alone explain what a swing match-up even is.

What About Social Media Advice From Golf Pros?

What about golf professionals — should you take advice from them?

Absolutely, if you’re getting a golf lesson. If you’re working 1-on-1 with somebody – and you have vetted them and trust them – take their advice and ignore everyone else.

However, if you’re like many golfers and getting your advice indirectly from a golf pro on social media — from an Instagram post, TikTok, or YouTube video — you want to tread carefully.

One thing I don’t care for is how specific or granular some of their tips are.

Some of these pros talk about how your hands need to be positioned a certain way at P3 or that your problem is your leg moving in a funny way on your downswing.

The problem with this type of advice is the odds of a viewer understanding all that is slim-to-none. It’s not that you can’t understand it, but that you haven’t taken the time to fully understand the swing and how this particular tip plays into that.

Also, if you haven’t learned about the swing or ball flight laws, you’re not qualified to diagnose your swing. If you can’t diagnose your swing, how can you possibly know that this particular tip will help?

My opinion is that these channels are more for pros to prove that they understand the golf swing so they can get eyeballs on their coaching and online courses. Or rack up views on YouTube to collect some ad revenue.

One thing I will say is that watching YouTube videos from pros or consuming some of their social media content can be a good thing if you’re doing all that to vet them before taking a lesson.

Why Do Golfers Turn to Social Media for Advice?

I wanted to explore a few reasons why golfers might turn to social media for advice — especially when there’s a risk that the advice will do more harm than good.

• They don’t want to pay for coaching. Coaching is expensive. For the cost of a cheap lesson, you could play 1-2 rounds of golf.
• Getting feedback or swing tips from social media is faster than a 1-on-1 lesson.
• Social media is easier. It’s easier to watch a short clip or video and wrap your head around a simple tip than an entire lesson, concept, or series of drills. It satisfies our desire for quick answers and results.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m guilty of some of this too.

I’d say the last reason is that many golfers think they can diagnose and fix their swings, and teach themselves how to play golf well.

I’m not saying you can’t. You absolutely can. But the number of golfers who can make swing changes that stick pale in comparison to those that don’t.

Why Don’t Your Changes Stick?

If you’re using golf tips from social media and aren’t seeing any improvement on the course, then here are a few things to think about.

• Are you bouncing from one tip or drill to another? It usually takes more than a weekend to make changes to your swing. If you want to make lasting change, you need to stick with a drill for a while.
• Do you believe in what you’re working on? I imagine that if you’re guessing what your (swing) issue is, you might lack confidence in what you’re working on. To be fair, if you’re bouncing around, you’re not giving the tip or drill enough time to work. However, that’s not the root of the problem here. The real issue is that you’re guessing what you need to work on.
• You don’t know how to practice effectively so that your range game translates to the golf course. You go through a bucket of balls in an hour. You don’t slow down your swings during drills. You don’t record your golf swing.
• You’re not working on the right thing. For example, maybe you identify that you have an over the top golf swing, so you look for tips for how to shallow your club in the downswing. But maybe what you really need is to perfect your setup or to stop rolling your club inside on the takeaway.
• You don’t understand the swing or cause and effect of the swing. And you don’t understand concepts like ball flight laws and, by extension, swing path and face control at impact.

One thing I want to point out — I’ve mentioned that you aren’t qualified to diagnose or treat your golf swing or game if you haven’t taken the time to understand concepts like the swing (path and face control), ball flight laws, and match-ups.

I stand by that.

However, I want to point out that anyone can learn this stuff. It just takes time, patience, and work. However, if you want to make golf changes that stick, regardless of where you get your advice or if you get your advice from social media, then this stuff is a must.

So many people want quick fixes, though. They want advice now and to fix their swing by next week. That’s just not realistic. And if you think this way and quick results are what you’re after, then odds are you’re going to struggle with your golf game for a long time.

Should You Ever Get Golf Advice From Social Media?

There is a time and place for golf advice — even from social media.

One thing I didn’t talk much about that I like social media for are ideas for drills and games to play. If you have an idea of what you need to work — especially if it’s from a pro — but you want to try different drills to see what works best, then social media can be good for that.

I like picking up different practice games from social media too. I see nothing wrong with having a library of games and drills to choose from.

As for improving your golf swing, I think you could do well with golf tips from social media. However, you need to be a student of the golf swing and various concepts.

I would also recommend that you only follow the advice from one or two people. You’ll notice that many coaches, pros, and amateurs follow different methodologies. You can follow two different accounts and get totally different advice.

This will only lead to you being confused and frustrated — and not seeing the progress you want.

But if you can stick to one or two coaches with similar methodologies, you’re patient, and you actually work the drills — and you know what you’re looking for and trying to fix — I think you can use social media advice to improve your golf game.