By Jim Grosjean
One might well wonder how a young girl from Queens, New York, who had very little access to any green grass golf courses, grew up to become one of Golf Digest’s 50 Best Teachers in America for 2024-2025. Her parents weren’t golfers. Her father was a Russian immigrant from Venezuela who became a corporate chef and instilled a focus and passion in his daughter to follow her dreams. Her mother grew up in Connecticut and delighted in giving Erika all the opportunities that her parents never had.
After being exposed to sports, music, and New York culture, golf somehow became Erika’s main love. She did have natural athletic talent and through hard work, developed into a very good player. She was lucky to meet PGA member Frank Darby, who became her first mentor and recommended that Erika read “Swing the Clubhead” by Ernest Jones, a book that became very influential to the development of Erika’s teaching philosophy.
Erika was a good amateur golfer, but professional golf was out of reach. Early on she discovered a passion for teaching and she had an insatiable desire to learn everything about the golf swing.
Her interest in simplifying the swing led to many opportunities to teach privately, run golf schools, and climb the ladder of recognition by her peers. That includes being named the Number 1 Teacher in Virginia and 50 Best in America.
Erika also found time to write a book entitled “A True Swing.” It could be described as the golf swing in simple terms and pictures, but it’s actually a very comprehensive look at a free-flowing swing that’s hiding in all of us. Never one to get stuck in the past, she is now writing a new book that will update some of her ideas from the original book, published in 2017.
Erika has made countless training videos on her own, as well as with other like-minded golf professionals. Together with Andrew Rice, and Adam Bazalgette they formed GolfFanatics.com which displayed their instructional videos and golf schools. Golf Fanatics was eventually sold to Performance Golf, one of the leaders in instructional videos, plus golf schools with renowned teachers.
One of those videos entitled, “Hands- Free Swing” caught my attention and led me to discover Erika’s ‘True Swing’ philosophy.
Once a steady golfer with a single digit handicap, I had recently lost distance and consistent accuracy combined with mishits, shanks, and chili-dips. I tried to go back to basics by watching videos, reading articles, and even resorted to taking lessons, but nothing seemed to work, until I came across the “hands-free” video. Much of what I was doing wrong had to do with manipulating my hands, the opposite of a hands-free swing. I was on the road to recovery, but I was still too mechanical to see great results.
After some frustrating weeks went by, I came across another Larkin video about the Pendulum Swing. Taking this lesson to heart helped rid me of 99% of the 37 swing thoughts that plagued me and suddenly, I regained distance that I had not seen in years. It seemed miraculous!
Needless to say, I am now an Erika Larkin devotee and recommend that you look at Erika’s YouTube page, https://www.youtube.com/@larkingolf, for swing tips. For even more comprehensive learning visit, erikalarkin.com for information about her two and three-day retreats, online lessons, or private lessons at Creighton Farms Club in Aldie, Virginia.
