My 5 €:
1. Why do beginners hit slices?
Because they haven't learned how to release the club. The only effort that they can do to square the club is to apply an easy stroke. Other typical efforts are some version of steering and is counter productive.
"Over the top":
2. Why are the images of peoples' swings different from what they imagine?
Feel isn't real. I think someone
has said that mechanics can't be learned by feel.
3. Why can't people take their games to the golf course?
Good question. Part of it is that the driving range game relies on short term muscle memory and repeating the same stroke over and over. Another part is that the computer has a very different approach to the real game than the driving range.
4. Why do people miss a 3(or even shorter)-footer?
Two causes:
a) aiming error. What appears to be a straight line to the hole from address isn't straight.
b) lack of club face control
5. Why can't people swing like Tiger, despite they watch his swing over and over and know exactly what it's like?
Seeing what he's doing - distinguishing cause and effect - is difficult even for the experts. And even though people did know exactly what he was doing it would be hard to replicate. Extremely well educated hands probably has a lot to do with the Tiger magic. I suspect he would be the world no# 1 even with my swing
6. Why do people slip back to their old swings after taking lessons?
I can think of two things:
1) The golf stroke has a cognitive basis -underlying action theories - as every other human effort. We all have our theories of how a good stroke is executed. But people who struggle with their stroke has blind spots and/or conunterproductive swing concepts. When people try to fix their mechanical pattern their underlying understanding of the golf stroke often isn't fixed. The golf stroke is a fragile assembly that needs qualified maintainance regularly. Old faults and fixes will be deployed if the old concepts of causes and actions still rules.
2) When things work OK, most of the personal swing theory is "tacit" to the golfer. It works even though only small fragments are in the concious. We run on a semo-auto pilot. After a swing change there will be conflicting theories inside the golfer. Old habits tends to creep into the semi-auto pilot without the golfer being aware.
7. Why can't people hit it longer with a harder swing?
They can if they have educated hands, body and mind. But the strongest release comes from an automatic trigger that many doesn't know of, and forcing the release will be counterproductive.
8. Why do people hit it into the hazards they try to avoid, but not the target they anticipate?
Because they have an inadequate action theory about how to strike the golf ball, ref 1 and 6.
9. Why can't people repeat their best drives?
Generally the same as above. But more specifically, I think many golfers have issues with the stance, alignment and takeaway that creates inconsistencies.
10. Why do people's practicing swing differ from their real swing?
Because a "beautiful" practice swing can hide important errors in the clubhead / clubface control department. When there's a ball on the line, the hands know that compensation has to be undertaken in the downswing to strike the ball as planned.