I first agreed with Tiger Woods when he was asked who the G.O.A.T. was – his blunt and direct answer was, “Nicklaus – I’m four majors (then, now three) behind him.”

You have to understand that I don’t have any sort of hatred for TW – I simply abhor the way he has swung from when he was an amateur, because the Modern Golf Swing is garbage.

I consider him the greatest victim of all time (of bogus swing instruction), but at a certain point, he should have begun to look into a more mechanically-sound way of swinging.

I also don’t like the attempted moving of goalposts by his fanatic followers to find other ways to declare him the greatest ever when majors has always been the defining marker.

So, I was in full agreement of his declaration for Nicklaus.

This quote is over 2 years old, but it’s the first time I’ve come across it – I no longer read everything online about golf, so I imagine I just missed it at the time.

But here it is, published on September 23, 2023 in Golf Monthly online by Paul Higham:

Tiger Woods was once the ultimate on-point trendsetter in golf, but it’s sometimes easy to forget that he’s also a traditionalist and is by no means a fan of some of the modern aspects of the game – including YouTube tuition.

The 15-time Major champion is getting back out there following his latest surgery and made an appearance at Liberty National recently in front of an excited audience of fans.

Woods was only chipping and putting, but although his golf game may be rusty his one-liner game remains as sharp as ever, with a razor-like response to the question of his top tip for amateurs.

Without even looking up from his putting stroke, Woods replied: “Don’t watch f****** YouTube.”

If you’ve been reading the blog this year, you’ll know that I wholeheartedly, 100% agree with his statement.

Now, he was obviously referring to the online instructors and not just YouTube on the whole – most of what I learned about the proper way to swing a golf club came from my watching the greats of the Classic Golf Swing era on YouTube, since I wasn’t around to watch them at the time.

And hitting a million balls.

Woods later added, “just go hit balls,” but I would attach a caveat to this – it can and will take years to build a decent golf swing just going to the range and digging it out of the dirt, as Hogan called it.

Even Woods himself, who was a grinder, only caused himself more and more damage the more balls he hit and the harder he tried to “grind it out,” because his techniques, all of them, were mechanically unsound.

My advice would be to find an instructor who teaches a mechanically-sound golf swing – and you’ll know that he does so if he’s not teaching the Modern Golf Swing, first of all, and if the swing doesn’t involve the Flying Foot, the Rolling Ankle or hyperextension of the leading leg.

YouTube Pro – All 3 Of Them Here

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There’s a reason I’ve never tried to be a YouTube or Instagram pro – it is a way to earn money through views and sponsors, but eventually, the earning of the money becomes the most important thing and the quality of your content will inevitably decline.

Failing to find an instructor in your area who fits the bill, then by all means, you can watch the greats on YouTube (just don’t listen to the analysis, which can be very inaccurate), and you can of course come to this humble blog and read my analysis on great swings vs terrible swings and what not to do in order to avoid risking injury.

I can find flaws in even Jack Nicklaus’ swing (sloppy footwork at times, setup at others), but that’s because no one on this earth has a perfect swing – but mechanically-correct and sound are what you’re looking for.

And you can’t go wrong watching him swing, on the average.  At his best, his swing was closest to what I’d call optimal.

Whatever you do, don’t watch guys who don’t have a clue what “mechanically-correct” or “sound” mean, and do not read the comments of the keyboard pros pronouncing horrific technique as “great” or “perfect” or “flawless.”

Virtually anyone with a camera, internet connection and place to hit balls can put stuff up on YouTube.

And the number of views means nothing, as I’ve pointed out clips with millions of views that are catastrophic.

So, yes – I agree with Tiger on this.