Top 100 Teacher Jonathan Yarwood-- Your online consumption of golf content could be doing more harm than good!

[Scottbox]

I'm going to repost this IG post/screed by Jonathan Yarwood about why a lot of online golf content is potentially pretty harmful. I won't go into it much, just watch/read it. Very on-point, IMO:

 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DLQRjeVRE_T/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

 

I'll let you folks go to town on this. Try to keep it constructive and on-topic (wishful thinking?)

Edited June 25 by Scottbox

[iacas]

I don't know that I agree with the video per se.

 

I don't know what the original video is of the instructor in the pink, but it seems obvious to me that he's showing an exaggeration or a feel. I don't think anyone would ever really want a golfer to look like that at any speed.

 

We have these things measured, and if someone is rotating their forearms 15° in the wrong direction instead of 10° in the right direction, they may need to feel 45° of rotation in the right direction just to get to 5-10°.

[getitdaily]

A few things...

 

1. That guy was talking too much and he was discounting a move that is very much needed by a good number of people (not everyone).

2. He kept using the perspective of lead wrist flexion. However, that shallowing move from the guy (Justin rose) in the pink shirt, is as much (maybe more?) about trail wrist extension as it is about lead wrist flexion. That move he's lamenting has been a huge part of my swing changes since December. 

3. Golf content on social media is both a sewer and a gold mine. One can get a ton of crap but there are  gold nuggets to be had. 

4. Yes, that move has to be matched up. But so does every other move in the swing.

[kamaaina1]

[Milk Diesel]

23 minutes ago, getitdaily said:

A few things...

 

1. That guy was talking too much and he was discounting a move that is very much needed by a good number of people (not everyone).

 

I think this is the key problem with online videos. People consume it thinking that every video is a tip that should apply to them. So the guy thats 8* in to out sees a video that shallowing the swing will fix your contact, and all the sudden he's in an even worse spot.

 

I appreciate the online videos that start with "If you do this, or have this problem, this video may apply to you". Granted, even that will be self diagnosis at best.

[Johnny Biarritz]

He may or may not be correct with this specific instance, but I'd argue that this is probably true on the whole. Most people don't practice enough and may not be athletic enough for a lot of things to work, so watching videos just gets a bunch more thoughts going in their heads and messes it all up. It's the same with reading a magazine or a book just on a larger scale because people don't real 10 golf books every day but they might well watch 10 videos from 10 different people.

[Valtiel]

9 hours ago, Milk Diesel said:

I think this is the key problem with online videos. People consume it thinking that every video is a tip that should apply to them.

Yup. My thesis for golf (and life for that matter) is "know where you are in relation to acceptable 'neutral'". Otherwise information you consume on just about any topic runs the risk of being misapplied if it in fact does NOT apply to wherever you happen to be. 

[Scottbox]

Bottom Line: go take a lesson (be it live, or on Skillest, or on FaceTime)! With someone who gets what YOU are doing right/wrong.

[virtuoso]

23 hours ago, Scottbox said:

I'm going to repost this IG post/screed by Jonathan Yarwood about why a lot of online golf content is potentially pretty harmful. I won't go into it much, just watch/read it. Very on-point, IMO:

 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DLQRjeVRE_T/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

 

I'll let you folks go to town on this. Try to keep it constructive and on-topic (wishful thinking?)

Isn't Yardwood's content also online?

 

I think the actual debate is which online content is better.....in which case, Yardwood would say: "Mine is."

[Hawkeye77]

On 6/25/2025 at 12:15 PM, kamaaina1 said:

 

I'm actually a lot thinner than that. 

[Scottbox]

On 6/26/2025 at 8:41 AM, virtuoso said:

Isn't Yardwood's content also online?

 

I think the actual debate is which online content is better.....in which case, Yardwood would say: "Mine is."

Ok so I have a car. And you have a car. So I guess that invalidates my ability to have an opinion about cars. 

Edited July 3 by Scottbox

[virtuoso]

6 minutes ago, Scottbox said:

Ok so I have a car. And you have a car. So I guess that invalidates my ability to have an opinion about cars. 

No, you should have an opinion, but you shouldn’t discourage people from buying cars generally.

[MoneyMan300]

On 6/25/2025 at 11:10 AM, Scottbox said:

I'm going to repost this IG post/screed by Jonathan Yarwood about why a lot of online golf content is potentially pretty harmful. I won't go into it much, just watch/read it. Very on-point, IMO:

 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DLQRjeVRE_T/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

 

I'll let you folks go to town on this. Try to keep it constructive and on-topic (wishful thinking?)

I think we can agree with the overall sentiment about online tips, but this instance I think he is wrong.  Exaggerations are used in instruction ALL the time, and that's what this is, an exaggerated move.   He's being disingenuous by showing a small clip of someone without context.   If he wants to call this out he should at least link to the video so we can get the context.

[Scottbox]

1 minute ago, MoneyMan300 said:

I think we can agree with the overall sentiment about online tips, but this instance I think he is wrong.  Exaggerations are used in instruction ALL the time, and that's what this is, an exaggerated move.   He's being disingenuous by showing a small clip of someone without context.   If he wants to call this out he should at least link to the video so we can get the context.

With all due respect, there's no context to the clip (which I guess is an error of omission). Thus, attempting to go into a man's head and call out his comments as "disingenuous" is kind of a stretch. And since we don't have a context, we really don't know whether the clip depicts an "exaggeration" or not. 

[MoneyMan300]

1 minute ago, Scottbox said:

With all due respect, there's no context to the clip (which I guess is an error of omission). Thus, attempting to go into a man's head and call out his comments as "disingenuous" is kind of a stretch. And since we don't have a context, we really don't know whether the clip depicts an "exaggeration" or not. 

 

It's disingenuous, because he claiming this is bad instruction, without giving any real context of the video, and then goes on to compare it to John Rahm (an outlier), lol.   That is an exaggeration used by tons of coaches, nobody is teaching getting into those exact positions, it's feels.

[Scottbox]

I don't think so.

Just now, MoneyMan300 said:

 

It's disingenuous, because he claiming this is bad instruction, without giving any real context of the video, and then goes on to compare it to John Rahm (an outlier), lol.   That is an exaggeration used by tons of coaches, nobody is teaching getting into those exact positions, it's feels.

I'm not sure what you mean by "nobody is teaching those exact positions". I've had lessons where people teach "those exact positions". And a lack of context is an error, not a dishonest assertion-- a valid argument poorly reasoned, is all. 

[MoneyMan300]

11 minutes ago, Scottbox said:

I don't think so.

I'm not sure what you mean by "nobody is teaching those exact positions". I've had lessons where people teach "those exact positions". And a lack of context is an error, not a dishonest assertion-- a valid argument poorly reasoned, is all. 

You've had instructors teach you to get into a position to come 30 degrees from in to out?  Whoever it is in that video is showing an exaggerated movie of shallowing early and then steepens late....then Yarwood goes on to show Rahm doing just that in a real golf swing.    Like I said the over theme isn't wrong, he could have maybe used a better example.

Edited July 3 by MoneyMan300