Statements like this:

"Now to answer your question about when you are ready. When you can hit 18 greens and every fairway."

Need to be taken within the context of Bertholy's mindset wouldn't you agree? Tom has commented here more than once that B's opinion was that very few ever attain success with his program. Success is relative to one's goals. Otherwise what is the point? Statements like the above also ignore the aspect of behavior style and how it affects the way a person swings and plays the game.

Some players are just much better technicians and strikers of the ball than others and literally can hit every green and every fairway....but they lack the creativity and imagination to be really good at getting the ball in hole. Others, can hit it all over the course and literally just aim down the middle cause they have no idea where the ball is gong to go, except on some days they are lights out. But they can get it up and down "from the parking lot". Neither style is wrong, but if the first type tries to "become more creative, and play the game more by feel", or the second person decides he really "needs to become a better striker of the ball" in order to play better - well pretty much they are just wasting their time trying to focus on those things. We are who we are...

You can send a shy introverted person to all the personal empowerment and Dale Carnegie courses you want to, but at the end of the day, there is only so far those will take him toward "coming out of his shell." An effervescent, enthusiastic "people person" will feel squelched and left out if he is told to "tone it down" some, keep his opinions to himself, and just mind his own business. Both are best served by finding a way they can "be true to themselves". On a long par 5 David Toms lays up to his perfect wedge distance, hits it to four feet and makes the putt to win the tourney. Phil goes for it in two, misses the green left into a bunker, blasts to two feet, and makes the putt to win the tourney. Some would say Toms made the "smart move" by playing safe, and that Phil should have done the same thing - he just got lucky. The reality is they both made the smart move" by playing the hole true to themselves based on who they are - one a "safety first" guy, the other a "go for it" guy. Moving outside of who you are is not advisable in golf or in life. Know thyself!

Now having said all that, each player should strive to have standards of performance that can be found easily by examining all great swings. To that end the Blueprint / Bertholy programs will go a long way toward helping any player style acheive an serviceable swing. After that it is mostly your mental approach that will determine how well you score....and whether or not you are being true to your self.

Never quit til you have a swing you'll never forget!