The great Walter Hagen, the only person other than Nicklaus to have won more majors than Tiger Woods was once approached by a lady who was trying to be VERY snotty. She said, "You have to be pretty stupid to play that game." His response was, "No, ma'am you don't, but it helps."
I think the point here is that there comes a time as a player where the ONLY thing that matters is whether or not you trust your swing. It matters less what you do with a club than that you do it EVERY time, and that you know when you have done it right and when you have done it wrong.
There is a huge tendency in this country to fail to separate the golf swing from golf. They are SEPARATE games when played at the highest level. If you go to the range, you are supposed to play golf swing, work on things, etc. When you get to the course, the ONLY thing that matters is getting the ball in the hole in the fewest number of strokes. Golf is not a game of intellect, it is a game of feel. We do drills to develop the neuronal patterns required to repeat a motion under pressure. All Couples was saying is that he plays GOLF not GOLF SWING, and that is appropriate for all of us when we are on the course.
The Golf course is not the place to work on your swing, it is the place to PLAY THE GAME.
Merry XMAS everyone,
Fred
ps, most of the people they hire as "experts" for TV commentary don't know any more than most of the teachers out there who can only teach ONE way of hitting a ball. "If you don't do it the way that I do it, it can't possibly work." is a crock, provided you take care of the very basics, otherwise Trevino (one of the best ball strikers of all time) would not have ever won a tournament.