Goodbye swing gurus

Badds.com has been doing it tough. He has slipped off the radar and it seems a long time ago that he impressed everyone with a win in The Australian Open in 1999. Only last week someone asked me about Aaron Baddeley and I said I wasn’t sure if he could make it back.

But that was before I saw a recent news article. This gives him hope and maybe he can make it back to the big time. I would go as far as saying that Baddeley will come back better than ever before.

The following quotes come from the man himself. If you’ve ever doubted the automatic process is for you or if top professionals don’t need it, then check these out. I’ll include my own comments below each quote.

The first Aussie Open was my best, ball-striking wise

Ok this one is interesting. He has said this nearly eleven years after he won the Aussie Open as an amateur. Despite lessons with all the gurus and thousands of hours of practise, he has never been able to better that ball striking performance. Interesting, isn’t it?

I hit it really long, straight and I hit every shot down the stretch perfect.

All this crap about needing experience is blown out of the water. He actually took on Montgomery and Norman on Sunday afternoon. He prevailed because he played naturally and automatically. He maximised his chances of performing well by playing golf and getting out of his own way. And he certainly hit the ball well – he was unbelievable!

I felt like I was working too hard (in recent years and) wasn’t seeing enough results

Working hard seems like the right thing to do but it rarely is. Working too much on your swing is a sure game wrecker. If a super talented golfer like Badds can’t do it, what chance do you have?

I’d got away from playing the game. It was too much about the process of the swing, thinking too much about how to do it, rather than just hitting it.

I’ve played my best (not thinking too much). If I have to hit a cut, aim left and hit a cut and your body responds to the shot you want to hit. That’s what I want to get back to.

Did you read that? He has realised that all of the technical BS has not helped him. He is saying that automatic golf works. If you’ve ever doubted the automatic way I hope this will sway you.

If there’s a tree in the way, hook it around the tree. Now I can do that quite comfortably again. I hit a shot last week that was an 80-yard hook. Two years ago I didn’t have that shot.

This is playing golf. It can never be an exact science. You’ve got to let your system work out the minor details. Trying to control every part of your swing is a recipe for disaster – it just doesn’t work.

As you may know I helped Aaron learn his phenomenal putting game. It is purely automatic and helped him become recognised as one of the best in the world. With such a pure putting talent he only needs to hit the ball reasonably well to be successful. When he forgets all the crap the swing gurus have been teaching him and gets back to what’s normal, I have no doubt he’ll have a chance to reach his lofty goals.

Like a lot of super talented people they think they can control the golf swing. It’s not possible. The good thing that’s come out of this is that he has realised it early enough. He is still young enough and has the motivation to get back to where he should be. I rarely make predictions – but if Baddeley can stay on track and keeps following his gut then I think he will win again soon. He certainly has the ability.

Go automatic!

Let me know your thoughts.

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