Roller Coaster Golf Swing!

A picturesque description of the golf swing comes to us from one of our star students.

Bob T. (protecting identity) age 49, Quality Assurance Manger, Bristol, Rhode Island, sent some wise words we can all apply to our golf swings.

In describing my swing Bob writes, " . . . It only makes sense that a short swing will encourage a jerky move back to the ball. I was watching a roller coaster go over the top recently and thought of your swing. Slows to a crawl, then slooowwly speeds up and hits top speed at the bottom. When you get it right, it feels like your swing has been released from bondage!"

Bob nailed it and that's exactly what my swing feels like when it's firing to the MAX.

Another analogy I have used is the back swing is very slowly cocking the gun, the downswing is squeezing the trigger (not a quick pull) very g-r-a-d-u-a-l-l-y so the gun f-i-n-a-l-l-y fires at impact. For this reason, the swing looks effortless, yet there is explosive power as the ball takes off like a rocket.

Bob continues. ". . . My head was filled with tips, illustrations, diagrams, photos and text from any instructional material in sight, UNTIL NOW! Thanks for releasing my swing formerly held hostage by all of the above!"
"Also, your response to my email is appreciated, the part about 'following the hands to a nice high position' was a revelation. For me, hands high with a still head tended to make me lift my left arm and disconnect it from my body (like you showed in the video), but allowing my body to turn to "follow my hands" has me winding up nicely. I wasn't thinking about my left arm mind you, but I could FEEL that it wasn't "stretchy" as you say. I think that would have worked well in the video, unless that is too technical (we don't want THAT!)"

"My Dad born 1911, and long since gone, taught me how to swing, and his philosophy was 'don't swing nice and easy, swing nice and smooth.' After he was gone, I fell into the instructional trap and my swing looked like a spastic jumble of magazine pictorials pasted together. Frankenstein comes to mind, pieced together from old magazine instructions!"

" My roller coaster observation? That's just another way of saying what you say anyhow - 'Don't apply the power all at once.' I stole that from you, because you told me to steal your swing in the video."

"Keep on, 'not instructing' golfers Jim, because you don't instruct, you simply show us what a great swing looks like and let us copy it. I'll bet that's how the great swingers (Snead, Hogan, Jones) of yesteryear learned. They stole it!"

"My own thought on the golf swing is that it is a 2 part thing. Rhythm and Tempo. I know what tempo is (pace) and yours is great, but to me, rhythm is all the parts moving in sync, and after years of instruction, that was contradictory to this, I finally discovered that fluid and stretchy is the way to good rhythm. No more HIT THAT POSITION as the teachers say."

"Personal note: thanks for your prompt responses. I was away from golf for many years (after losing my Dad, Mom and 5 yr old son in a short time) and I am rediscovering the joys of the game. I taught myself an instrument also (guitar). That's where I got the tempo and rhythm thing from. Thanks Jim, "

Bob T.,

Partners with The Anti-Pro

Jim McLellan,

The AntiPro/The Maverick

Visit or Return to McGolf Home of the Perfect Golf Swing

Yogi Berra

"You can't hit and think at the same time"! Yogi Berra

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Hatfields and McCoys

The female golfer has two distinctly different parts of the brain. Neither can perform the function that the other specific part of the brain is designed to do. These parts are called the cerebrum, for thinking, located in the front part of the brain and the cerebellum, for motor skills, located in the back part of the brain.

The male golfer has three distinctly different parts of the brain & shares the same two functions as the female brain mentioned above plus one more. In addition the male golfer has another brain part located in his pants. On and off the golf course the male golfer spends a large majority of his time thinking with this part of his anatomy. In many cases he would be better off thinking with 'IT" rather than the cerebrum as we are about to witness.

When we learn a new task we use the cerebrum. Study this or that by thinking and learn. If we are learning a motor skill the cerebrum communicates with the cerebellum and begins telling it what to do. ASAP the cerebrum is cut loose as the cerebellum takes over the job of performing a motor skill__ driving a stick shift, eating an ice cream cone without jabbing oneself in the eye, and something glorious called the golf swing. Assuming you have the stick shift and ice cream eating down pat lets move on.

The golf swing is given birth as follows. The cerebrum picks up the information as to what to do with the back swing and informs the cerebellum that it has a job to do. The cerebellum lays down a network of pathways for the neurons to ride on. The cerebellum then informs the cerebrum that it fully understands what to do and for it to go away, leave it alone & wait for its next thinking assignment. Some time later, the cerebrum explains to the cerebellum that the golfers head needs to remain still. The cerebellum takes over and gets rid of the useless cerebrum. And so it goes on to the follow-through and the golfer proudly owns a swing with NO thinking involved. Ideally, the part of the brain that runs motor skills is in complete charge......In a perfect world.

Here's the problem. Some fellers are wired with a history of using the cerebrum to learn stuff. . But, and that's a big BUT, they do NOT fully understand that one part of the brain can NOT perform the functions of the other part of the brain. Their history is to throw more and more information at a task to better understand and perform that task. If he's an engineer he matriculates (and tries not to get caught) at the local University learning how to build skyscrapers & suspension bridges__so they don't fall down. If he's a doctor he spends years in school learning what not to cut while performing brain surgery so his patient doesn't end up with the IQ of a tomato. If he's a stock broker he studies all he can about trends, stocks and bonds, and the mysterious super structure of investing so his customer doesn't end up living with the homeless.

Golfers might think that the problem with their game lies in not having enough information. They have a problem so they dig for more and more advice, information, tips, etc. This causes major conflicts between the thinking part and the motor skill part of the brain & makes the Hatfield and McCoy Feud look like love birds. Both parts of the brain can NOT be involved in the golf swing__ AT THE SAME TIME__when it functions at its peak level of efficiency. As a matter of fact, the golf swing is only working correctly when only the cerebellum is involved, exclusively.

I've witnessed top dancers look like beginners and become befuddled once a new move is introduced into their routine. . Because the cerebrum is becoming involved. The cerebrums job in any motor skill has to be__ short lived. Any more time spent "on board" once the cerebellum '"gets the picture" causes earthquakes inside the skull that registers a number 10 on the Richter scale.

There are zillions of golfers with libraries that take up one wall of their massive dens from floor to ceiling. They incorrectly assume that the golf swing requires tons of study and regrettably apply the same procedure to non-motor skill endeavors...real-estate, computers, geology, fixing hearts, building space ships. They make lousy golfers IF they continue to use the same part of the brain that make them smart & rich__in the first place. It doesn't work for golf...never has, never will. It's really quite simple.

May I draw your attention to that round thing you've been secretly working on in your basement?__The one that will revolutionize the world and make you very wealthy! I've got some bad news. The wheel has already been invented. You don't need to re-invent the golf swing, either.... I beat you to it!

Now you know what drives the golf swing and what doesn't. Take this article seriously and use the correct part of your brain if you're truly serious about finding your very own glorious golf swing. Unless, of course, you enjoy sticking yourself in the eye with an old rusty fork, smashing your thumb with a hammer, driving your Harley into a brick wall at 150 miles per or doing a swan drive into a pile of jagged rocks.

Jim McLellan,

The Anti-Pro/The Maverick/Your Best Friend!

Visit or Return to McGolf Home of the Perfect Golf Swing

Breaking News

Hey AP, ". . .You're so fine
Change my water into wine
Show me that you're no fool
Walk across my swimming pool. . . "

Just when I started believing I was the Guru of Golf, the Sultan of Swat, The King of the Swing, The answer to the golfers prayer . . . comes some Breaking News. I've got more to learn. And learn indeed, I Did__from a student!

Let's back 'er up to 2004. Said student orders the McLellan Golf DVDs, falls head over heals in love and posts reviews all over the Net. He did it right. Giddy in Golfdom. Perfect! He built a solid and powerful and consistent and pretty golf swing, the envy of the guys and gals at the driving range! He had nailed the 3 key factors in the golf swing . . . everything else followed naturally and automatically, as it should.

He was in full agreement that the golf industry's approach was nuts and didn't work. Whoopee. He felt sorry for anyone who was having a problem with our game. All one needed to do, said he, was to follow the sage advice of one world renowned golf instructor extraordinaire aka Jim McLellan . . . like he did, by Golly. Was he lucky or what? He broke the code, kept it simple, followed no other advice and had video taped his swing and made the necessary corrections. Here's a guy who embraced the 3 key Jewels of Wisdom. Too bad for the rest, said he.

Not exactly. Fast forward to 2008. He writes to say that he is having problems. Problems? Whoops, what's wrong? Did I omit something? Did I say something that I shouldn't? Is there a better way to learn how to find one's best golf? Is this a wake-up call for me? Am I no better than the other pros I cut down, (at every opportunity)? Pa-Leeze, Dear God, I beg you . . . don't send me down below to spend an eternity with "them."

I open my email bag and find a request from the "star" student. "Hey Jim, I need your help, can I send you a video of my swing?"

My wife, who doesn't play golf, walks by my monitor as I play the video for the first time. "Whoops!" she mutters as she continues her stroll.

Expecting to see the 3 key factors in place, I start to faint and reach for the smelling salts. Factor 1, his back swing position stops way before it should. Not nearly high enough or back far enough and the left arm bends. Oh Dear! One down and 2 to go. Factor 2, Follow-through mirrors his back swing, has no purpose, is sloppy and is not in the correct position. Lets see, that's 2 down and one to go. Factor 3 Head not still & bobs around like a cork on a river. What's the score? Zero for 3. Can't get worse than that! Oh Yeah? I also suggest that it is of utmost importance that students video tape themselves and correct any problems. Never did!

So this student had no idea what was going on and was practicing bad habits. Can it get any worse than this, you ask? Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, here comes another swing eating shark. Mr. "G-Whiz I'm doing everything like you told me" was reading books, watching videos, and following advice from everyplace under ol Sol. Zero for 5. Merdre!Confusion and frustration set in. Paralysis through analysis. Head spinning out of control. Seriously considering quitting the game for good. All because the instructions were NOT followed. Yet, it is so simple.

My most difficult job is to convince golfers how simple our game really is & to Follow the Owners Manual to the letter..(it's only one page). Practice! Get good! Enjoy!

Don't follow the Owners Manual___ buy clubs that float.

The good news is, this student, a fine gentleman, is going back to square one and doing it right this time. I expect great results.

Love is lovelier the second time around. I'll let you know. Count on it!

Jim McLellan
The AntiPro/The Maverick

Visit or Return to McGolf Home of the Perfect Golf Swing

One Move Golf Swing

The Secret of the Golf Swing is ONE move!

Yes, there are 3 pictures___your eyes are not playing tricks on you. The far picture to the right is the magic secret position that sets the foundation for the rare/great swing!

Notice the back swing is higher than Sam's hat which has NOT, NOT, NOT___moved! Because his swing is fluid, free flowing, and seamless this hallmark position encourages a full body and shoulder turn. This ONE move golf swing gives the impression of "effortless power"___ Sam has plenty of time to develop maximum acceleration by the time the club head reaches impact.

If the golfer has the ability to be in this stellar position at the top of the backswing, the chances of the rest of the swing being perfect approach 100%!

Jim McLellan
The AntiPro/The Maverick

Visit or Return to McGolf Home of the Perfect Golf Swing

Sam's My Man

There are Only 3 Key Factors in a Great Golf Swing. 1) Full-High Back Swing, 2) Still Head, & 3) Full-High Finish. Everything else will follow naturally and automatically, contrary to what you are hearing from the Golf Industry Circus.

Check out Sam Snead on the Youtube link below!

I would say he's got it, wouldn't you? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6Gu7n7Vnm0

Jim McLellan

The AntiPro/The Maverick

Visit or Return to McGolf Home of the Perfect Golf Swing

Something Stinks

The golf swing is primarily a reflex action that takes place at the speed of the chemical/electrical current that flows through our body. Or if you would like for me to break that down . . . roughly the speed at which lightening strikes the ground.

There are beau coup, faux golf teachers cleverly disguised as some one who is in the business of trading your money for a slim chance that your golf will improve. One high profile trickster suggests that by stopping a swing at 8 various check points you can get better.

For openers, the golf swing is not a stop and go proposition. The only time the golf swing stops is very momentarily at the top of the back swing and at the finish. This flim-flamer has the gall to suggest that the golfer will be well served to stop the golf swing at 8 different points to make sure the swing is still behaving itself. I've never witnessed a swing that stops 8 times that can hit the ball out of the golfers shadow.

The only purpose of this system is to make money for this lame brained instructor as he sells more "golf trips." Here's the coup de gras out in the open. He suggests, no, make that implores that a very important position a golfer needs to monitor is . . . impact. This is an outrageous insult to our intelligence. No one, this side of Krypton, has been able to think at impact. The swing is so... FAST ___ as a matter of scientific fact___ that the ball is actually 45 yards "gone" before the golfer realizes that he has HIT__ IT!.

These shysters mugs are frequently found on the front cover of Golf Ragazines and appear on the Goof Channel. I asked one of our star students what he thought about this instruction, he said, and I quote, "He gave me a migraine that lasted for months."

Sanity Time! Let's say you watched me walk across a room and back and I asked you to do the same. Would it be necessary for me to describe, step by step how to do this? Would it be necessary that I described right foot now left foot, weight shift, the contra swinging of the arms, the muscles involved, proper balance?__OR___ would it make much more sense for you to simply copy what I did, walk "over there" and walk back? Yet as simple as this is___ there is far more involved in walking, not to mention driving a stick shift, than swinging a golf club.

Here's the catch. If the walking coach above simply had you copy what he did, you wouldn't need to come back for more lessons time after time after time, would you? Golf pros make their living on repeat lessons. The more complicated they make it, the more information they shove down your throat. They want you to get the impression that you are getting a LOT for your money. You are! . . . a lot of Horse Shit.

Why in the name of heaven wouldn't an intelligent golfer not grasp the concept that if the back swing position is good and the follow-through position is good that a club head traveling at 100 miles per hour will do just dandy between these two points. Having checkpoints is absurd. The swing is not a freeze frame thing! Checkpoints are impossible for the moving golf swing. Checkpoints my butt!

Instead, a F-L-U-I-D, uninterrupted, golf swing, that has the proper back swing & follow-through positions, follows a perfect path. The golf swing is not parts and pieces where you move this, now this, now that, now this, not that. It is one great big beautiful full, gorgeous, powerful and consistent phenomena that requires NO thinking, and certainly no marketing "foolery" checkpoints.

BeWare if your "walking coach," . . . or your golf pros motif has any similarly to the ones above. NEVER prepay for a series of golf lessons! NEVER! If, during the very first lesson, you smell something fishy, run like hell to the bank and stop payment on your check or credit card. It's your money, honey. Only a Moron would fall for this. Turn your BS filter on high alert & be vigilant . . . they prey amongst us.

Jim McLellan
The AntiPro/The Maverick

Visit or Return to McGolf Home of the Perfect Golf Swing

You, The Movie Star

How we see ourselves and how we really are or how others see us can be solar systems apart. How would we look to ourselves, if we could see ourselves as an outside observer? Are we overweight, smoke or drink too much, talk too much or too little, serious or light hearted, skilled or inept, pretty or butt ugly? Shakespeare would say, "it's in the eye of the beholder."

A couple of years ago My wife and I took up, what I thought, would be the very last thing in the world I would have any interest in whatsoever, . . . DANCING! Some readers may have guessed by now that I'm obsessive-compulsive and have to be good at what I do. I suppose it is some sort of a mental illness that drives to me excel at something so that I don't make a complete buffoon out of me self.

We dove into the deep end. Took lessons from some of the best instructors available, bought DVDs, practiced at home, danced as much as 3 and 4 nights a week at various clubs both in town and at actual dance events. We went from being a couple of clumsy beginners to the top dancers at our club. We were hot stuff, or so we thought. We could out-dance most in our club. Club members told us how cool we looked, how much we had improved.

Inflated by all the comments, we decided to video tape ourselves so we too could be amazed.
Quiet on the set, Roll 'em. Turn the music up, full blast, and strut yo stuff.

Three minutes later, and eager to see ourselves as these super dancers, we sat down to be impressed with ourselves. OMG times 10,000 . . . who are these people? We don't look like THAT! We certainly dance better than THAT! Maybe we just don't dance good in front of a camera. Are we being over critical of ourselves__ OR__ are we actually that pathetic? We are moving like a couple of old stick people, stiff as a board, not moving to the music, like we thought we were. We fought nausea. Maybe we're not cut out to be dancers, are we too old? . . . sure looks like it. Should we quit and let the rockin' chair get us?

We decided to not let the camera win. We picked ourselves up off the floor, licked our wounds, ate some humble pie, threw up, got mad and went to work. Stand up straight, move like younger dancers, get funky, let yourselves go, move your body to the music . . . this IS dancing, isn't it?

Correct the problems and film again. Better, but far from acceptable. Correct again, film again. Some better . . . needs more work. Film again . . . hey not 2 bad. Let's compare it with our first filming. Boy, we were AH-FULL, now. . . Some better!

There are some dancers at our club who think they are really cool who dance like two skeletons trying to _ _ _ _ ! They should video tape themselves. If a dancer or a golfer or anyone doing anything (well almost anything) is not video taping themselves they are fooling themselves and will never ever, never ever, get better.

It's the old class reunion syndrome! We don't look like we think we look. Who's that tubby old dame? . . . Homecoming queen you say, the cute little doll everyone wanted to (blank)? & who, pray tell, is that stooped over codger with the limp? Tressleman Truckhorse?__ the handsome star quarterback with the bulging muscles?, lady killer?, ran like Bambi? No way! I may not look 18 anymore, but I sure don't look like these strangers! Yeah, right.

How do you look when you swing a golf club? Is your back swing nice and high, does your head remain fairly still, and do you have a full beautiful finish? Is your swing stretchy or tight, nice tempo or choppy, athletic or ridiculous, economy of motion or spastic. You might think you look just fine, & maybe you do . . . but there is also a real possibility you should brace yourself for a real reality slap up side the head.

Get the video camera out, buy one, rent one, borrow one . . . but film yourself. Compare your swing to my swing. Are you really doing what you know you need to do or are you lost in "I think I'm pretty cool" land?

If you're not filming yourself, you are getting better & better at being worse & worse. Filming yourself is one of the "secrets" to your best golf.

DO IT NOW!!!

Jim McLellan
The AntiPro/the Maverick
Visit or Return to McGolf Home of the Perfect Golf Swing

The Puke factor

The Puke Factor is a term coined by The Anti-Pro. The PF signifies a point at which a person finally gets so disgusted with themselves that they throw-up, up chuck, heave, hurl, toss their cookies, get sick.
The PF is a line in the sand, a place in time and space, an event that alerts us that enough is enough.

You can't get your car into the garage because of all the junk . . . you decide to spend the weekend cleaning it out. You can't find your favorite tie in your closet, for all of the clothes you haven't worn since WW ll, so you buy one of those closet organizers and go to work. You are in the shower and you look down and can't see your Tallywacker, because your gut is so huge, so you start exercising and cut out the chip & dip, banana cream pie, death by chocolate-4 layer cakes, and other Tallywacker Hiders. Whoa, another phrase coined by the AP, The Tallywacker Hider (four syllables followed by two, nice melodic ring don't ya think?) & although sickening, not as bad as the Puke Factor. All of the above reached their PPF . . . Personal Puke Factor, and finally did something about it.

How about the United States of American for which it stands? Stands for WHAT? The USA is 9.5 Trillion dollars in DEBT__ yet we keep throwing money at every country in the world with their hand out.

Need some help with a Trillion. A Trillion seconds ago was, get ready for this, over 36,000 YEARS ago. That, boys and girls was 34,000 YEARS B-4 Jesus was making furniture in Nazareth. Trillion = 1,000,000,000,000. The country has not existed for a trillion seconds. Western civilization has not been around a trillion seconds. One trillion seconds ago – 31,688 years – Neanderthals stalked the plains of Europe. & that's only 1 measly Trillion. Multiply that by 9.5 for YOUR NATIONAL DEBT. Show me the money. Time to Puke!

Millions of Americans haul their butts out of bed every morning and go to work to support someone on Welfare with ten kids from 10 different Daddies so she can wake up at noon in time to watch her 'soaps'. And our wonderful Candidates running for the most powerful position in this country and, in the world, couldn't run a lemonade stand. And the citizens of Iraq were starving to death as they watched Saddam and his boys build their 19th Palace as an edifice to themselves. Where is the Puke Factor in all of this?

When does the Puke Factor kick in with your Golf Game? You read golf tips, take lessons, go to golf schools, watch golf on TV and play AT it. Your Lazy Boy recliner gets more time with you reading about golf than you play golf. You have a law suit pending from a home owner off the 3rd fairway, thanks to your slice that smashed their picture window and killed the family pet. Your swing looks like you're killing snakes. You have over 3 sets of clubs at the bottom of the lake on 18. Your score cards in the triple digits. Ladies from the Westhaven Rest Home out drive you. You shanked a 9 iron and "put the eye out" of one of your playing partners. Last Saturday you spent the afternoon in the sand trap on the 14th. Time after time year after year you're pathetic but do nothing about IT. You haven't reached your Puke Factor. MOST golfers NEVER do!

90% of Golfers NEVER break 90! They haven't reached their Puke Factor or just don't care. A mere 10% of golfers can break 90? Isn't that enough to gag a maggot? This game is NOT that difficult. The swing only takes two seconds. Too fast to think. The ball sits there until you hit it, unlike tennis or football or basketball where the ball's flies all over the joint. If you can break 90 or 80 or shoot par, good for you. You're a rare breed. I'll bet you'll agree with me that golf is not that difficult, won't you. You will also agree that most golf instruction will make you worse won't you? If you can't break 90, get real mad, go throw up somewhere, and do something about it. Golf's a heck of a lot more fun on the under side of 90.

Jim McLellan
The Anti-Pro/The Maverick

Visit or Return to McGolf Home of the Perfect Golf Swing

Become A Super Putter

Full title: Everything you always wanted to know about becoming a Super Putter but were afraid to Ask.

You've heard the claims . . . Buy this or that product or instruction material and shave 5 strokes, 12 strokes, or 20 strokes from your score card. Send check or Money order to "Bob's Secret to Fabulous Putting," 175 Bull's-eye Road, Pinball, Idaho 13131.

Get ready to get mad if you have invested money in learning how to putt and you still suck. For here my good buddy is a plan, for free, that will make a huge difference in your putting skill. You will discover that the problem isn't the putter it's the puttee.

First you need to fully understand the formula that will produce the putting magic you dream about. The technique is simple. The application requires a degree of dedicated practice. Here is the equation. 10% technique, 90% practice.

Most any grip will work, so pick one that seems comfortable. Pick a stance that seems well balanced for you. Place the ball in the stance that gives you the best results after a little experimentation. Feel like the action of the stroke is coming from the shoulders as per Volume II McLellan Golf DVDs. Keep the head very still, moving only the shoulders, arms and hands as one unit.

Find a putting green where you can putt for several hours. Use 3 or 4 new golf balls, and start with a 3 or 4 foot distance. Begin putting. If you don't make the putt it is because your putts are too short, too long, to the right or to the left. Notice the trend!

Interesting, as you continue to putt you will automatically begin to correct these variables. Keep track of what's going on, notice the trend, and write it down. Notice how after a few minutes you become a much better putter. At the end of an hour you will hardly resemble the putter you were when you started. Swing the putter straight back from the hole and straight to the hole using a silky smooth stroke . . . I like the feeling that the palm of my right hand swings the putter toward the hole.

Feel like you are putting a vintage roller skate wheel (on its edge). Stroke it so it doesn't wobble or tip over!

Practice for 10 to 15 minute intervals and sit down and analyze what's going on. Pick a day when you can spend 3 or 4 hours just practicing putting. You will be a totally different putter at the end of the day and you will definitely see a BIG difference when you tally up your score. Your new skill should help eliminate 3 putting.

Give God deserved credit for building an unbelievable awesome machine that has everything it takes for you to become an incredible golfer/putter. You need NOTHING else than the information found in this article and gobs of practice. Golfers think all they need is more information to play better golf as they sit in their Lazy Boy Recliners and read about IT. Reading about IT, won't make you better. You must take these simple tips and apply them through hours and hours of intelligent/dedicated practice on the putting green. The time invested will put a smile on your face that will be hard to wipe off.

Jim McLellan

The Anti-Pro/The Maverick

Visit or Return to McGolf Home of the Perfect Golf Swing

A Sucker Born Every Minute

P.T. Barnum, (July 5, 1810-April 7, 1891) was an American showman remembered for hoaxes and for founding the circus that became the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

Barnum started as a store-keeper, and he learned haggling, striking a bargain, and using deception to make a sale.

He began as a showman with his purchase and exhibition of a blind and almost completely paralyzed slave woman, Joice Heth, claimed by Barnum to have been the nurse of George Washington, and to be over 160. Barnum followed that with the exhibition of Charles Stratton, the dwarf "General Tom Thumb" ("the Smallest Person that ever Walked Alone") who was then four years of age but passed off as 11. With heavy coaching and natural talent, the boy was taught to imitate people from Hercules to Napoleon. By five, he was drinking wine and by seven smoking cigars for the public's amusement.

An instance of his enterprise was the engagement of Jenny Lind "the "Swedish Nightingale" to sing in America at $1,000 a night for 150 nights, all expenses paid by the entrepreneur in advance - an unprecedented offer. "Jenny Lind mania" was sweeping Europe and she was a favorite of Queen Victoria. She was unpretentious, shy, and devout, and possessed a crystal-clear soprano voice projected with a wistful quality which audiences found touching.

Late in 1860, the Siamese Twins, Chang and Eng, came out of retirement (they needed more money to send their numerous children to college). The Twins had had a touring career on their own and went to live on a North Carolina plantation with their families and slaves, under the name of "Bunker." They appeared at Barnum's Museum for six weeks.

Also in 1860, Barnum introduced the "man-monkey" William Henry Johnson, a microcephalic black dwarf who spoke a mysterious language created by Barnum.

Barnum was a cleaver con-artist deluxe who made several fortunes fooling people, but he was at least entertaining. The phrase "A Sucker born every minute," would today read, "A Sucker born every second."

Barnum's hoaxes could be a fitting inspiration for today's golf instructors. Any similarities between P.T. Barnum and today's golf instruction super powers is purely intentional.

Historical documentation from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jim McLellan,

Today's Anti-Pro_Maverick

Visit or Return to McGolf Home of the Perfect Golf Swing

Are We There Yet?

The old jalopy has new tires, a full tank of gold (gas), oil change, and is road worthy(for a 10 year old 'bomb.') Rover has a room at the dog hotel and the neighbors will be over to make sure your Persian cat gets fed, watered and loved. Kids have gone to the bathroom (twice)

You take a final look at your checklist. Plenty of toys for the kids, Viagra (the kids will be at the pool), Mom's knitting basket (new grandbaby due in December), hand grippers for Dad (when he gets bored in a traffic jam), maps, Cialus (the kids will be at the movie), golf clubs, golf balls, new putter, mail stopped, night light on, Viagra (the kids are sound sleepers), Mom's books, munchies (don't forget the Captain Crunch) apples, carrots, and other healthy stuff, 12 pack of Snickers, Cialus (kids at the mall), coffee thermos, bottled water, first aid kit, sun screen, swimming gear, and a flashlight so you can see when changing a flat tire_ in a rainstorm_ on the interstate_ at 1:30 a.m.

You pull out of the drive and head down Main Street. From the back seat comes the familiar phrase "Are we there yet"? A quick thought that some people practice birth control rushes through your minds. "Where are we going"? Your wife and you look at each other. We're going to California, you say. Wife says I though we were going to Disneyworld . . . that's in Florida. Tommy wants to go to the beach and Sis had her eye on the hills of West Virginia . . . she plays the fiddle.

So, no plan as to where you are going? How about your golf game? Where are you going? You have the clubs and all the equipment for a round of golf, but you may have no idea what to do when you get there. What is your destination, break 100, 90, 80 or shoot par? Problem is, if you don't know where you're going you will never get there.

How much have you thought about it? Do you wish you could play better or do you actually have a plan to accomplish your particular goal? Have you written your goal down? Shooting a lower score just doesn't magically happen. If you continue to do what you've been doing you will continue to shoot what you've been shooting. How badly do you really want to shoot lower, fix your slice, get more distance, be more consistent, and own one swing that will serve you well into your twilight years.??? Or are you like the family above who is all packed and has not the foggiest notion where they're going?

Jim McLellan

The Anti-Pro The Maverick
Visit or Return to McGolf Home of the Perfect Golf Swing

Walt Disney and The Anti-Pro

There seems to be some confusion as to who is Walt Disney and who is The Anti-Pro!

Walt Disney has made trillions of dollars convincing our innocent youth that a friggin 150 pound rat is real, that a dog named Goofy can talk ( and is__incidentally__ messing around with Mini-Mouse), that fairies live in Anaheim and Orlando, and that the true representation of life can be found at amusement parks named in his honor.

The Anti-Pro is the alter ego of Jim McLellan, who exposes bogus golf instruction, rude golf course personnel, rip off golf schools, golf magazine tips (should read trips as in to stumble) guaranteed to put your game in a tale spin, golf books that will encourage you to sell your clubs on EBay, shell-game con-artistes that will delete your child's college education fund, and the golf industry at large that doesn't care if your golf game gets worse as long as your check doesn't bounce and your credit card clears.

If you are interested in closing your eyes to reality, perhaps you may want to snuggle up to Mr. D's Fantasyworld. If, on the other hand, you have an interest in the other side of the golf instruction coin . . . we are here to provide you with that service, FREE OF CHARGE! IF, for some strange reason, the Anti-Pro's style offends you, don't read it!

Jim McLellan

The Anti-Pro/The Maverick

Visit or Return to McGolf Home of the Perfect Golf Swing