It turns out that I knew almost everything about golf except for how to swing a golf club. I knew how to select the right club, how to compensate for windshear, how to stay out of the traps, and how to take my time and line up my shot carefully. I knew what golf equipment to get, how to keep track of my game, and even how to psych out my opponents. It was just that, being a self-taught golfer, I never learned how to swing a golf club correctly. I had no follow-through, my approach was all wrong, and even my stance was off. None of my friends had ever told me this, because they figured that my game was good enough as it was. Nonetheless, it needed a lot of work.

That was when I decided to find a golf tutor. I looked at all of the videos that promised they would teach me how to swing a golf club, but I was skeptical. I have some money, after all, so why not work one on one with a professional golfer? Even watching videos by pros showing you how to swing golf clubs, I reasoned, was not as good as having a solid amateur show me the proper way.

It turns out that my approach paid off, but not in the short run. When I learned how to swing a golf club correctly, it actually threw off my whole game in the short run. I would not swing in my accustomed manner, and so I often had no idea at all how far, how fast, and in what direction the ball would go. It was almost like being an amateur again. In the long run, however, learning how to swing a golf club made me a much better player. Once I adjusted my game to accommodate my new swinging style, I was better than I had ever been before.