Frustrated by trying to hit certain positions and manipulating your body in the golf swing and trying to create the perfect looking swing? Only to find out that your swing really hasn’t changed much and you still are not getting the results your want? Then Shawn Clement might be the perfect instructor for you.
Can Shawn Clement really help my golf game? Yes, his approach is unique and can help with quick results. Below you will find my Shawn Clement review. Towards the end we provide two personal experiences from watching Shawn Clement online instructional videos and give our overall rating on a 5 star scale. In addition we recommend 5 videos to get you started and one bonus video for your kids who might be golfers.
Check out our Recommend Products Page – Read about the products we think are best (Golf Simulators and Enclosures, Golf Balls, Golf Shoes and more).
I break down the Shawn Clement Review into different categories. This will help you decide if his philosophy and approach can help improve your game and see if you agree with our rating.
1 – Swing Approach/Philosophy
2 – Does the Swing Philosophy of Shawn Clement Set Up for Quality Online Instruction
3 – Simplicity of Instruction – Is it Repeatable?
4 – On Screen Personality
5 – Quality and Quantity of the Content
6 – Online Instruction and Support – Further Content and membership
7 – Overall Can Shawn Clement Help My Game?
8 – Personal Experience and Story (2)
1 – Swing Approach/Philosophy of Shawn Clement
The Shawn Clement approach is a non traditional approach in that he doesn’t teach you to get in certain positions in your golf swing. Many of the traditional teachers work to get a golfer in set positions whether that is at p1 all the way through p8.
Many golfers can be bogged down by the focus of p1 through p8 and trying to hit these positions. Shawn Clement’s approach is refreshing and builds on simple concepts and movements. From the Wisdom in Golf Website:
“THERE IS A HUGE DIFFERENCE between positional teaching and learning and TASK AND TARGET BASED teaching and learning. WE HUMANS ARE NOT DEFECTIVE! – we are learning machines. And when you learn, there are no mistakes, just “is or is not”, “doing or not doing” or “on or not on task”.
He works hard to provide many examples of real life movements that relate to the golf swing. Through his Youtube channel he provides many real life examples such as the throwing the club concept, swinging a grass whip, swinging the sword, cutting through the dandelion, or skipping a rock.
His ultimate goal is to utilize your fantastic human body and anatomy to make a natural swing that allows you to work the ball around the course through basic setups and swinging in certain directions. He ultimately wants you to shift your focus from hitting at the ball to to setting the task on the target. The target focus allows a body to move freely and make a natural motion in the golf swing.
He does not work on fixing your swing faults and spends the time and energy on making a natural flowing golf swing. He believes that we are “gravity geniuses” and that the anatomy was built to make a free flowing swing. That we are not defective, but rather have the ability to play golf that is much more natural. Whether one is a beginner or has been golfing for 20 years, there are some major benefits to this approach.
2 – Does the Swing Philosophy of Shawn Clement Set Up for Quality Online Instruction
One of the difficulties with online golf instruction is that it is obviously difficult from a hands on component since the majority of the instruction takes place from watching videos online. An instructor isn’t right by your side to help you get into a certain position or have a certain feeling your golf swing.
With the Shawn Clement approach, the golfer is able to visualize the swing and use feelings that Shawn recommends to reach the ultimately goal of hitting the perfect golf shot. The naturally flowing teaching that occurs with this approach sets up perfectly for online golf instruction. Any approach that is anti positional and has an emphasis on movement will better setup for online golf instruction.
3 – Simplicity of Instruction by Shawn Clement – Is it Repeatable?
Due to the nature of the swing, which is target focused and not based on being in certain positions, I would say definitely. The mindset shift for a golfer that follows the Shawn Clement approach is both liberating and produces some pretty quick results that one can do more often. Shawn does not believe that a golf swing is repeatable, but that we can make certain movements with the right mindset on a regular basis and our body and mind will work together to program what we need to do more often.
It isn’t about going to the range and practicing the positions that other golf instructors might teach. It is more about finding the feeling and the swing thought coupled with the proper setup to hit the shots that you are imagining.
He spends a decent amount of time and believes that everyone should be able to work the ball both ways – fade and draw – depending on the layout of the hole and other factors such as wind and pin placement. One does not have to spend 6 months trying to make swing changes and will often find an immediate benefit from the mindset and how it frees the body to move in a natural motion.
Most of us do not want to take 6-12 months to improve in the game of golf and make major swing changes. It took Tiger Woods often times 6-12 months to make a swing change and he was practicing 8-12 hours a day. Here at golfjourney365.com, we want you to enjoy the game of golf daily and enjoy the journey. The Shawn Clement approach will help you with that.
Check out our Recommend Products Page – Read about the products we think are best (Golf Simulators and Enclosures, Golf Balls, Golf Shoes and more).
4 – On Screen Personality
Shawn comes across as a very genuine human being that cares for his listeners. He interacts and answers question on his youtube channel. He appears to have a great passion for helping the average amateur improve and get better. He never comes across as arrogant and is extremely encouraging.
One leaves his video sessions believing that the movement that he is promoting for the golf swing is possible and repeatable. He has worked his daughter into some of his videos and it is pretty neat to seem him interact and help his daughter reach a higher level in her golf game. Recently, I was viewing his series that he created with his daughter and it is impressive on his interactions and his ability to help her improve.
One other quick note is that Shawn will hit golf shots frequently. Many golf instructors on youtube can be hesitate to actually show their game off. Shawn has actually produces different playing vlogs where plays several holes of golf Nothing is better than seeing your instructor put what he teaches to play.
An interesting fact about Shawn is that he is able to play both right handed and left handed at a scratch level. For those of you that are lefty, he will often demonstrate left handed in addition to right handed and has several playing vlogs where he is playing left handed. He truly is a gifted individual, but remains humble and helpful
Looking for something different? Need More Swing Speed? We have two recommendations:
SuperSpeed Golf – Read our Review
SwingMan Golf – Gain 30-40 Yards in 30 Days
5 – Quality and Quantity of the Content by Shawn Clement
He provides a wide range of videos that date back into the past decade. He has been at this for quite a while and has an impressive amount of content on the internet. One part that sticks out as genuine is that as he learns new approaches or modifications to previous videos, he will admit that it is somewhat different and provide greater clarification.
The quality has improved over the years and the videos are done professionally, but still genuine and one gets the sense that he loves the game of golf. As someone that also loves the game of golf, I can appreciate his passion and desire to help others improve. There is nothing better than seeing a light bulb moment for a person you are trying to help.
6 – Online Instruction and Support – Further Content and Wisdom In Golf Membership
He provides three different levels of members from a basic entry point of $4.99 per month to $9.99 per month for his premium offering. With the premium account he will answer any question you submit in 48 hours or less and provides a swing analysis up to once per month.
He also provides EXCLUSIVE audio recordings that you can take to the range and onto the course. Overall, this is a very reasonable cost for the membership and the amount of content and support you can receive. The forum on his site has many of his followers interacting and asking questions about the approach in attempt to support each other.
7 – Overall Can Shawn Clement Help My Game?
Yes, absolutely. So what type of golfer would best benefit from the Shawn Clement approach? In my opinion and experience, if any of the three descriptions below describe you, then Shawn Clement is worth checking out.
- A golfer with an early release
- A golfer that struggles to make solid contact
- A golfer who wants to work the ball both ways
Why a golfer with the early release?
Shawn Clement spends a decent amount of time promoting that you are going to gather the ball and then release it towards the target. “Collect it and feel the release” This would help the golfer who is casting from the top and has the speed in the wrong place.
He also spends time talking about “gathering the sword and then release it” he goes onto explain that “the release happens after.” Many golfers are not able to hold the lag because they are trying to hold the lag. With the Shawn Clement approach, lag will occur when focused on the target and when you train with the different mindsets or thought patterns that he promotes.
Why a golfer that struggles to make solid contact?
Are you the golfer that is always focused on hitting at the ball, but still struggle with solid contact? I believe this makes up a great majority of higher handicap players. Shawn spends many videos where he touches on “clipping the dandelion stem” This thought process helps keep the target as the task and not hitting the ball as the task.
Many people can suffer from a small case of the yips at the bottom of the swing and tense up as they try to “hit the ball.” The Shawn Clement approach gets you focusing on the task of hitting the ball towards the target and as a result you start to “clip the dandelion stem.” Also, the contact clears up and you start to strike the ball solid.
Why a golfer who wants to work the ball both ways?
In many of his videos there is a focus on setting up properly and having checkpoints to ensure you are swinging the club in the right direction to start the ball where you want to. He often times talks about checking the mile maker and if you are swinging in the direction of the intermediate target.
Shawn promotes having the intermediate target a couple of feet away, but ultimately focusing on the task that is target based. He produces several playing vlogs and even more are available on his subscription site, where you will see him work the ball both ways depending on what the shot calls for.
8 – Personal Experience and Story (2)
(1) My father and I have both become big Shawn Clement fans. For years, we both attempted to use more of a Stack and Tilt approach, which can be very positional with a focus on certain body parts moving certain ways. I first discovered Shawn and put some of his main swing thoughts into play and started to focus on the task versus hitting the ball.
While I haven’t struggle for a long time with solid contact, I would often feel myself tense up or try to manipulate certain club paths or face angles at impact, often times resulting in a pull shot or a slight hook When the focus shifted to the target, I started to work the ball 3-8 yards in either direction depending on what the golf hole called for.
(2) My father, as he has aged, has lost some distance and I could sense that he often overswung and his speed was in the wrong place. A saying that Shawn will often use is, “out of the way, out of the way” This is promoting getting your body out of the way on both the backswing and the downswing, thus freeing up your arms to move at a higher speed. If your arms run into your body, your swing will slow down and you will lose your natural tendencies to swing smoothly.
One day as we were golfing on my home golf simulator, I started explaining the Shawn Clement approach and almost instantly he went from hitting his driver 210-215 up to 230-235. He saw about a 20 yard gain, but what caused it? We both believe it was that the speed was now in the right place and he was actually getting a body turn.
Senior golfers can sometimes struggle with getting enough rotation because they are less flexible now. However, with the Shawn Clement approach, you do not need to be very flexible because you are just getting your body out of the way on both the backswing and the downswing.
Read more about our reviews of other online golf instructors. George Gankas, Mike Malaska, Jim Venetos, Monte Scheinblum and more!
How Many Stars for Shawn Clement
I would give Shawn Clement 5 out of 5 stars. Why? His approach is simple and can help you starting today. You don’t need to spend 6 months trying to change your swing to benefit from his approach. A simple swing thought or shifting your focus to the target can pay off almost immediately.
Secondly, his simple approach to working the ball both ways and then using the “mile markers” to ensure you are swinging in the right direction allows for a natural golf swing that produces quality struck shots that setup for a draw or a fade, depending on your preference or what you need for that hole.
My Top 5 Shawn Clement Videos on Youtube and Why
So where should you start in your journey with Shawn Clement? I would recommend the 5 videos below. The first video on weight shift provides a good overview of what the Shawn Clement approach to great golf is. The second video will help you learn the recommended setup to hit both a draw and a fade.
The third video is great for anyone that overthinks their golf swing. The golfer that has paralysis by analysis and is struggling from all of the swing thoughts running through his or her head even in the middle of a golf swing. The fourth video focuses on getting the speed in the right part of the swing (shortly after the ball) and helps the transition that many golfers struggle with. The fifth video will help those that might struggle with the yips around the green or simply want to make more crisp contact when chipping.
I also recommend a BONUS VIDEO for those of you trying to get your kids started in the great game of golf. Enjoy!
My top Recommended Shawn Clement videos:
How to hit a draw and fade:
Overthinking your swing?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R44tTymcHj0u0026t=402s
Stop rushing the downswing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHM9w_Vz12Mu0026t=186s
Help with your short game:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTYnWi0ufbcu0026t=214s
Getting your kids started the right way: