The Anti-Pro:
The PGA Mythology

By Jim McLellan, McGolf.com Writer

There is an old joke about the difference between a drunk and an alcoholic. The drunk doesn't have to go to all those damn meetings. Is there a difference between a golf pro that has been bestowed upon by the PGA and a golf pro that hasn't?

Who would write an article that didn't have anything but praise for the PGA or the Pope or or the AMA? It could NOT be a PGA pro. The PGA would tar and feather any PGA pro that spoke out in a manner that was not supporting and glowing. Nor could it be any pro (PGA or not) that had any affiliating with a country club, a golf magazine or anyone CONTROLLED by this almighty giant.

Would such a writer be on a professional suicide mission? Would he not be forever banished from anything that had a scintilla of relationship with them (the PGA). The fact that you are reading this column is an indication that this site has liberal views and just might have your best interest at heart.

If you selected a golf professional to help you with your game who was not a PGA pro, would you be short changing yourself? What is it that the PGA pro has to offer that the non-pga pro does not? Notice that when you write pga it is not nearly as impressive as PGA? How does the PGA turn an ordinary golf pro into a magnificent soothsayer?

Before the ordinary golf pro is able to walk on water they work under another PGA pro for X years and move up from a Class C to a Class B then to a Class A.

Does the Class A professional that is allowing this humble apprentice to work under him know the first thing about teaching the golf swing in the first place or did he acquire his lofty status by social and political graces?

As long as this guru of the golf swing wears the alpaca sweaters, gets razor cuts, wears the diamond pinkie, sports alligator shoes and "kisses butt" he is assured a job with lofty status. Does this have one tiny morsel of benefit for your best game?

I sent a 1 minute commercial to the golf channel. There were shots of me flying the ball over 230 yards while seated in a chair using a left handed club turned up side down. Not too bad for a 59 year young. Other shots demonstrated the simplicity of the best swing.

• GolfCalifornia.com instruction archives

Does the PGA (and the golf channel) have your best game in mind when they regurgitate information that is contrary to what you heard last month? If the PGA has it figured out why don't they ever agree on ANYTHING? Are they interested in your game or your money?

I sent an article to a golf magazine a couple months ago. Some staff member called and said she really enjoyed the column and that it had a lot of information not found anywhere else. I thanked her and complimented her on her astute observation. She then ask if I was a PGA pro. I told her I had been but wasn't now. She said, " OH, you have to be a PGA pro before we will run articles in our magazines." Are you getting the picture here?

Are the best ideas found outside the PGA? Revolutionary ideas are seldom found within the framework of the industry. Orville and Wilbur made bicycles. Alexander Graham Bell made hearing aids. Velcro came from some guy walking through a weed patch. A man was sitting in line to have his car washed and was watching the brushes spin around. He went home and invented the "Weed Eater."

I know a lot of PGA pros. I know a lot of pros that are not pga pros. The main difference is that the PGA pros think they are special because they have PGA after their name. You know like Dr. Johnson, MD.

Some PGA pros are excellent teachers. Most aren't. No profession has a higher percentage of excellence than any other profession! Journey back through your school years. How many teachers were "super"? 5%? The same percentage applies to every field.

In searching for a golf professional that would be the most beneficial for your game would you pick the prima donna mentioned above with the reptile shoes at the swanky country club or would you favor some NON PGA PRO at a driving range with a beer gut who ate lunch in his car, had a gift for teaching, and kept it simple?

PGA may make more sense if it were an acronym for Peanut Gallery of Australia.

To learn more about Jim's simple approach to learning your best golf swing in the shortest period of time visit his site at www.mcgolf.com.