Speaker 1: It's the Son of a Butcher podcast. You guys know
Speaker 1: the drill. We come to you every Wednesday. UH. This week.
Speaker 1: UM talked in the past a little bit about kind
Speaker 1: of how I teach and how I give golf lessons.
Speaker 1: But UM, one of the things I mean, as someone
Speaker 1: who has been teaching for you know, well over two
Speaker 1: decades and give golf lessons on a regular basis, wanted
Speaker 1: to talk today about, UM taking a golf lesson. If
Speaker 1: you're looking at taking instruction, UM, what what you should
Speaker 1: be looking for in an instructor, UM, and you as
Speaker 1: the lesson taker, UM, what is kind of your roles
Speaker 1: and your responsibilities? UM. First of all, I think, UM,
Speaker 1: you were, as as golf instructors, were incredibly lucky to
Speaker 1: have people take time, you know, out of their out
Speaker 1: of their lives to come take golf lessons from ructors.
Speaker 1: And certainly it's something that that I take really really seriously. UM.
Speaker 1: I've talked about some of the things that I like
Speaker 1: to do and and the way I give golf lessons. UM.
Speaker 1: So if you're someone that is going to take lessons
Speaker 1: and you're going to, UM look at investing in instruction,
Speaker 1: I mean, first of all, I think it's it's really
Speaker 1: important that if you are going to try UM and
Speaker 1: get better at golf. If if getting better and improving
Speaker 1: your golf is something that is important to you, I
Speaker 1: do think that that taking golf lessons obviously can help that. UM.
Speaker 1: Having said that, I think, UM, if you're looking for
Speaker 1: an instructor, I think it's really important that that you
Speaker 1: as the student, UM, that that you do a little
Speaker 1: bit of homework, a little bit of of due diligence. UM.
Speaker 1: You can find golf lessons, you know, from any any
Speaker 1: range of price. UM. You know you can you can
Speaker 1: find really really cheap golf lessons, and then you can
Speaker 1: go to people and and spend a lot of money.
Speaker 1: And I'm of the belief that that you get what
Speaker 1: you pay for UM. So if you are someone that
Speaker 1: is going to take UM lessons and and and kind
Speaker 1: of go down the route of trying to improve your
Speaker 1: your golf game, UM, I think it's really important for
Speaker 1: for you as the player to have a pretty good
Speaker 1: idea and understanding as to what the problems are and
Speaker 1: what are the areas that you feel like you can
Speaker 1: you can make some gains UM, and that you need
Speaker 1: to improve a lot of times I'll have people come
Speaker 1: and take golf lessons and you're asking questions and it's
Speaker 1: it's a little bit like, uh, it's a little bit
Speaker 1: like pulling teeth. It's a little bit like, Okay, let
Speaker 1: me try and get as much information out of this
Speaker 1: player as I can. And I think a lot of
Speaker 1: times golfers struggle. Um. And I've said this before on
Speaker 1: the pod UM. I think a lot of golfers struggle
Speaker 1: because they've they've played golf for a fairly long period
Speaker 1: of time, and they don't really kind of have a
Speaker 1: good idea of what they're trying to do, um and
Speaker 1: what they need to do to hit really good, consistent
Speaker 1: quality golf shots. UM. So, if I'm going to go
Speaker 1: take a golf lesson, the big thing I would want
Speaker 1: to do is figure out, first of all, what what
Speaker 1: is my price range? How much do I want to
Speaker 1: pay per lesson? Do I wanna take something that's you know,
Speaker 1: kind of quick thirty minute lessons? Do I want to
Speaker 1: take you know, a little bit longer an hour lesson,
Speaker 1: or do I want to take um, you know, a
Speaker 1: more kind of extended to three hours. Do I want
Speaker 1: to take um just one lesson and go work on it.
Speaker 1: Or do I want to find an instructor that has
Speaker 1: um lesson packages. You know, most golf in structures now
Speaker 1: I think do six lessons um. And that is where
Speaker 1: I think a lot of UM significant gains can be
Speaker 1: made in getting a series or a package of lessons,
Speaker 1: because one it's it's it's saying to the instructor if
Speaker 1: you're going to come in and buy, let's say, a
Speaker 1: six lesson package from an instructor, I think what it
Speaker 1: says to the instructor as someone that is an instructor
Speaker 1: is okay, this person is somewhat serious about wanting to
Speaker 1: get better, regardless of what the handicap level is. Obviously,
Speaker 1: if you're a beginning golfer and you're completely new to golf,
Speaker 1: I do think taking a series of golf lessons can
Speaker 1: help you know so that you're you're you're working on
Speaker 1: on things, and you're working on things over a specific
Speaker 1: period of time. So anytime someone wants to come and
Speaker 1: invest um a lot of time with me as an instructor,
Speaker 1: I kind of put them in the bucket of being,
Speaker 1: you know, serious about what they want to try and
Speaker 1: accomplish and what they're trying to do with their golf game. UM.
Speaker 1: So if you're someone that is UM going to to
Speaker 1: take lessons, I think it's important to do your homework.
Speaker 1: I think it's important to look at, uh, the instructor
Speaker 1: that you're going to go take lessons from, UM, what
Speaker 1: type of of presence do they have on social media.
Speaker 1: The reason I say that is it's going to give
Speaker 1: you a good idea. I think now social media allows
Speaker 1: a lot of instructors to kind of tell their story,
Speaker 1: to tell UM, what they like, what they don't like,
Speaker 1: what they believe in the golf swing. And I think
Speaker 1: that's really really important that as a student, you're going
Speaker 1: to someone UM that you have sought out, that that
Speaker 1: there's a reason you've sought them out. Maybe UM, you're
Speaker 1: you're struggling with you're putting, and you're going to work
Speaker 1: with someone that is a putting specific instructor UM and
Speaker 1: they're they're specifically working on putting. Maybe you're going to
Speaker 1: go to kind of a short game guy UM that
Speaker 1: is big into short game, that that has a reputation
Speaker 1: for that, and then you can go to people and
Speaker 1: work on full swing. But I think it's important that
Speaker 1: as the As the student, you have a good idea
Speaker 1: of what the instructor you're choosing does, believes and is
Speaker 1: going to try and get you to to to work
Speaker 1: on UM. There are a lot of players UH that
Speaker 1: want to work with with instructors that UM create power,
Speaker 1: that creates speed. UM. There are instructors UM that players
Speaker 1: want to work with that have UM a system, have
Speaker 1: a kind of specific swing theory, and he's going to
Speaker 1: try and get all of the players that they're working
Speaker 1: with UM to kind of swing the golf club a
Speaker 1: specific way. So, if you have a a style of
Speaker 1: golf swing that you like, if you have positions in
Speaker 1: the golf swing that you're like that you like, I
Speaker 1: think it's important to find an instructor that kind of
Speaker 1: shares those same ideas, beliefs, values in in the golf swing. UM.
Speaker 1: I think you can get a little bit sideways UM
Speaker 1: if you've got specific things that you want to work
Speaker 1: on in your golf swing and you go to an
Speaker 1: instructor that really doesn't kind of believe in those things
Speaker 1: and and really isn't going to help you kind of
Speaker 1: work on those things. There are a lot of instructors
Speaker 1: that have very very specific UM ideas models positions that
Speaker 1: they believe very very strongly UM in the golf swing. UM.
Speaker 1: They believe that putting players in these positions, putting the
Speaker 1: players into a system of swinging the golf club a
Speaker 1: specific way. The instructors do that because they believe that
Speaker 1: that's going to help you as a player get better.
Speaker 1: So as the player, as the student, I think it's
Speaker 1: really important that you kind of get a good overall
Speaker 1: idea of Okay, what is it that I want to
Speaker 1: accomplish in in in taking golf lessons and taking instruction
Speaker 1: and then finding a coach and instructor that fits along
Speaker 1: with the things that that you're trying to work on
Speaker 1: in the golf swing. UM. If you're I think as
Speaker 1: the as the student, you want to take a look
Speaker 1: UM at what kind of players? Uh this instructor that
Speaker 1: you're working with works with? Um? Do they work with
Speaker 1: a lot If you're a beginner, do they work with
Speaker 1: a lot of beginning golfers? Um? If you're an intermediate
Speaker 1: you know player, If you're a mid handicap player, UM,
Speaker 1: what type of mid handicap players is this person work with?
Speaker 1: If you're trying to play competitively? UM? If you're really
Speaker 1: really serious about your golf and you're trying to take
Speaker 1: your golf game and put it on the competitive level,
Speaker 1: whether that's being a competitive junior, competitive amateur, competitive college player, UH,
Speaker 1: a player that's trying to play competitively at the professional level.
Speaker 1: I think you need to then be looking at players
Speaker 1: if you're trying to compete UM. In my opinion, I
Speaker 1: think you need to be looking at players. Are looking
Speaker 1: at coaches and saying, Okay, what is their body of work,
Speaker 1: what are the type of players that they're working with,
Speaker 1: What are the type of players they're working with? Where
Speaker 1: do those up the players play? Do you know if
Speaker 1: you're if you're an amateur, if you're a junior, if
Speaker 1: you're a junior high school golfer, and you want to
Speaker 1: try and get to the next level, and you want
Speaker 1: to try and get to to play Division one division
Speaker 1: to play some sort of college golf, then I think
Speaker 1: it's incumbent upon you as a as a student to
Speaker 1: find an instructor that works with players that are where
Speaker 1: you want to be. UM, that is working with competitive
Speaker 1: juniors and and and ranked juniors either locally or state
Speaker 1: or nationally UM or internationally. UM. I think if you're
Speaker 1: trying to play competitively UM, whatever tour you're trying to
Speaker 1: play on, I think it would be helpful to work
Speaker 1: and seek out an instructor that has worked with players
Speaker 1: on that tour that you want to go to. UM.
Speaker 1: That's certainly UM one of the reasons why a lot
Speaker 1: of players that play competitively UM seek me out because
Speaker 1: you know, I've spent you know, over two decades working
Speaker 1: you know, on tour all over the world, on the
Speaker 1: European Tour, on the PGA Tour, on the LPGA Tour,
Speaker 1: on the PGA Tour, champions UM Asia Live. I've worked
Speaker 1: with players. One of the things I'm really proud of
Speaker 1: is UM. The players that I've worked with over my
Speaker 1: career from a competitive level has have pretty much one
Speaker 1: UM at every single level and one UM, if if
Speaker 1: my memory is correct, pretty much on every tour. So UM.
Speaker 1: If you're a competitive player and are looking to compete,
Speaker 1: I think it's important that you find an instructor that
Speaker 1: matches kind of where you want to go UM. I
Speaker 1: think it's really important for you as as the student
Speaker 1: to let the instructor kind of know what your UM,
Speaker 1: what your goals are, what UM what the end game is? UM?
Speaker 1: And that's one of the first questions I always ask
Speaker 1: a student is listen, what can I help with? And
Speaker 1: what what is? What is your end game? What is
Speaker 1: the reason why you are coming to to take a
Speaker 1: golf lesson today? UM? What are your goals? UM? One
Speaker 1: of the questions if you're trying to play competitively, UM,
Speaker 1: regardless of what the level is junior golfer, amateur, college,
Speaker 1: you know, the professional level. UH. One of the questions
Speaker 1: I'm always gonna ask is, UM, what's the lowest score
Speaker 1: you've shot in competition this year? And what's the highest
Speaker 1: score you've shot in competition this year? And that can
Speaker 1: sometimes be a fairly significant end and big gap. It
Speaker 1: can be maybe in the sixties on the low end
Speaker 1: and in the high seventies, mid eighties on the high end. UM.
Speaker 1: So I'm always trying to figure out what kind of
Speaker 1: range you have, UM with regards to scoring. Let's take
Speaker 1: a moment to thank for Wellness for supporting the show.
Speaker 1: You guys hear me talk about them every week, and
Speaker 1: that the reason I do that is because I drink
Speaker 1: their coffee every week. I know lots of people are
Speaker 1: focusing on health and Wellness as we start the new year.
Speaker 1: But what I love most about their coffee is that
Speaker 1: there isn't anything artificial and no artificial ingredients sweeteners, creamers
Speaker 1: and all the junk that isn't good for you. It's
Speaker 1: only the good stuff giving you more energy without typical
Speaker 1: crashes you get when a lot of your coffee and
Speaker 1: if you have a lot of sugar in your coffee.
Speaker 1: Give it a try and use the special code c
Speaker 1: H three. That code will get you off your order
Speaker 1: plus free shipping and a free starter kit worth thirty
Speaker 1: dollars when you visit for Wellness dot com slash podcast. Again,
Speaker 1: that's the code c H three at for Wellness dot
Speaker 1: com slash podcast. I think it's important to to explain
Speaker 1: to the instructor. Listen, these are um, these are the
Speaker 1: issues that I'm having. Um, when I play well, I
Speaker 1: hit this type of shot. When I play my best,
Speaker 1: I do these things. I'm always asking players students, um
Speaker 1: that I'm that I'm working with. What what is the
Speaker 1: shape that you're trying to hit? Um? Where is the miss?
Speaker 1: What type of miss do you have? Do you have
Speaker 1: a directional miss meaning the ball is curving too much?
Speaker 1: Do you have a contact miss. Uh, it's the quality
Speaker 1: of stripe between the club and and the ball. Um,
Speaker 1: do you hit the ball thin? Do you hit the
Speaker 1: ball heavy? All of those things, And a lot of
Speaker 1: times when I'm asking those questions to a student, I
Speaker 1: get that kind of you know, dumbfounded look, and and
Speaker 1: it's it's it's almost like the player doesn't know what
Speaker 1: it is they do. So I think it's really important
Speaker 1: that if you're going to take golf lessons, you're able
Speaker 1: to come and say to the instructor, listen, these are
Speaker 1: my goals from a golf standpoint, this is what I
Speaker 1: want to do. I want to try I want to
Speaker 1: break a hundred for the first time, eighty great par
Speaker 1: for the first time. And that's my goal. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm a I'm a twenty handicap. I want to try
Speaker 1: and get down to a team. I want to try
Speaker 1: and get into the teens. I want to become a
Speaker 1: single digit and um, these are also my goals incoming
Speaker 1: and taking a golf lesson from you as the instructor.
Speaker 1: My goal is to try and change this about my game,
Speaker 1: to try and improve this about my game. UM. I
Speaker 1: also think a lot of times, um, instructors get sideways
Speaker 1: with with with students because I think sometimes UM students
Speaker 1: can have unrealistic expectations of of coming and taking a
Speaker 1: golf lesson. UM. I feel like I'm pretty good at
Speaker 1: giving golf lessons. I feel like I'm pretty good UM
Speaker 1: at instruction. UM. But based off of what I'm working
Speaker 1: with as as an instructor, UM, you know, largely you're
Speaker 1: working around what a player is doing, UM, what a
Speaker 1: player can do, what a player is physically able to do.
Speaker 1: That's another UM part that I think is really important
Speaker 1: for UM people getting lessons to to convey to instructors. Listen,
Speaker 1: this is my health history. UM, I've had these injuries. UM,
Speaker 1: I currently have these injuries. UM. Anytime a player comes
Speaker 1: to me and says that they've got any sort of injuries,
Speaker 1: they've had injuries and past or they've had recent injuries,
Speaker 1: the number one thing I ask is, listen, have you
Speaker 1: been cleared to hit golf balls? Have you been cleared
Speaker 1: by your medical professional, by your doctor, by your physiotherapist,
Speaker 1: whoever is in charge of of your rehab if you're
Speaker 1: if you've been injured, UM, who's in charge of that?
Speaker 1: And UM, are you able and have you been given
Speaker 1: clearance to hit golf balls? Um, you should not anyone
Speaker 1: listening to this this podcast if you're hitting golf balls
Speaker 1: and you're going to the driving range and you're hitting
Speaker 1: off balls for an hour, UM, you should not be
Speaker 1: in pain hitting golf balls. UM. Golf is not a
Speaker 1: contact sport. UM. I was working with the junior the
Speaker 1: other day. UH eleven, twelve year old Jr. UM had
Speaker 1: made that jump from UM playing US kids golf to
Speaker 1: playing regular length UM golf clubs. This this young UM
Speaker 1: kid UM I think he was. He was probably under
Speaker 1: five ft tall UM, and he was playing and had
Speaker 1: been fitted with golf clubs UM that were about a
Speaker 1: half inch longer than the golf clubs that maybe an
Speaker 1: inch to a half inch longer than the golf clubs
Speaker 1: I play with. Yes, they had graphite shafts, UM. But
Speaker 1: the kid was making a golf swing based off of
Speaker 1: the golf club that he was playing. Um. It was
Speaker 1: too long, it was too heavy. Even though he was
Speaker 1: professionally fitted for these clubs, he was playing with effectively
Speaker 1: kids clubs. And he and his and his parents decided
Speaker 1: to get him into regular golf clubs, which is something
Speaker 1: that every young kid wants to do right. Every young
Speaker 1: player doesn't want to play with kids clubs. They want
Speaker 1: to play with real golf clubs. Um. But I was
Speaker 1: watching this kid hit golf balls, and you know, in
Speaker 1: asking him questions, UM, the quality of the strike tended
Speaker 1: to be a bigger issue for him than the direction
Speaker 1: the golf ball was going. So we looked at him
Speaker 1: on video and we could just see that he was
Speaker 1: putting the golf club in a position at the top
Speaker 1: of the back swing. Um, that was very very difficult
Speaker 1: for him to control. The back swing was very very long. Um.
Speaker 1: He had a lot of you know, extending backwards, a
Speaker 1: lot of curvature, UM in his spine, he had a
Speaker 1: lot of you know, his leaning left at the top
Speaker 1: of the back swing. And UM, I looked at his
Speaker 1: golf swing and I and I said to his dad,
Speaker 1: I said, listen, um, we we need to make some
Speaker 1: serious changes here so your son doesn't get hurt. And
Speaker 1: the father said, well, what do you mean. So I
Speaker 1: said to the to the to the junior, I said, listen,
Speaker 1: you're not gonna get in trouble for for saying this,
Speaker 1: but be honest with me when you go practice golf balls.
Speaker 1: Does your back hurt? And you could see the kid,
Speaker 1: you know, made the nervous look to the dad. The
Speaker 1: dad's kind of looking at the kid going, you know,
Speaker 1: you never tell me you're hurt. Um, you never tell
Speaker 1: me you're in pain. Um. And so the father said
Speaker 1: to the son, listen, be honest, or are you in
Speaker 1: pain when you hit golf balls? And the kid shook
Speaker 1: his head and was like, yeah, I'm I'm I'm in
Speaker 1: pain a lot of time. And he showed me exactly
Speaker 1: where the pain is in his in his low back
Speaker 1: and his mid back, and and he said, sometimes, you know,
Speaker 1: if he has a day where he hits a lot
Speaker 1: of golf balls on the weekend, goes and plays golf
Speaker 1: for eighteen holes, Um, he struggles to sleep at night
Speaker 1: because it's back hurt. And the kid's eleven years old,
Speaker 1: and you know, golf should not be hurting his back.
Speaker 1: So I think it's important that, um, you are honest
Speaker 1: with the instructors that you're you're working with and say,
Speaker 1: listen to my it's my injury history. That's what I've
Speaker 1: been dealing with now. And then I think it's important
Speaker 1: to to explain to the instructor. Listen, I've had some
Speaker 1: lessons before. These are the things that I've done. If
Speaker 1: you have had lessons before, Um, these are the things
Speaker 1: I've worked on. Um, they worked, they didn't work. They
Speaker 1: worked for a little while, then they didn't work. And
Speaker 1: these are the reasons why they didn't work. And I
Speaker 1: was unable to stick with him. I think a lot
Speaker 1: of times, UM, students are looking, um, for golfers to
Speaker 1: for instructors to somewhat have a magic bullet, uh, to
Speaker 1: be able to come in take one golf lesson. Boom,
Speaker 1: You're cured and everything's fine. Um, you as the player
Speaker 1: are going to have a d n A, a signature.
Speaker 1: Everybody swinging a golf club kind of has their own
Speaker 1: d n A, their own kind of signature of what
Speaker 1: their swing does. And and so I think students are
Speaker 1: looking at instructors to kind of change these signatures and
Speaker 1: change these patterns. But a lot of times, Um, these
Speaker 1: are very ingrained patterns. They're very ingrained motions. You know,
Speaker 1: sometimes you've been playing golf, you know, ten, fifteen, sometimes
Speaker 1: twenty years, and you're you're working on a lot of
Speaker 1: the same movements, and you're doing a lot of the
Speaker 1: same things. You know. They say that there's the cliche
Speaker 1: that practice makes perfect, but practice can also make permanent.
Speaker 1: So if you do the same thing over and over
Speaker 1: and over again when you do come for a golf
Speaker 1: lesson UM, that might not be a quick fix. It
Speaker 1: might be a situation to where you might need to say, Okay,
Speaker 1: as the instructor, listen, this is what you do. UM,
Speaker 1: we're going to try and change some of this. But UM,
Speaker 1: you know what you do is is is is a
Speaker 1: difficult move, and we're going to try and make some
Speaker 1: changes to help you offset that. But I do think
Speaker 1: at times it's it's it's unrealistic to think that you
Speaker 1: can come in UM and make massive change, just really
Speaker 1: really quick. Now, if you're playing a lot of golf,
Speaker 1: if you're playing UM competitive golf, UM, if you're practicing
Speaker 1: you know, three four or five, six, seven days a week,
Speaker 1: if you're playing two, three, four or five times a week,
Speaker 1: then I think change can be made quicker because you're
Speaker 1: getting in more reps. But you've also got to remember
Speaker 1: that going to a golf lesson UM for the first
Speaker 1: time with a brand new instructor is very much like
Speaker 1: going to a personal trainer and saying, listen, I'm out
Speaker 1: of shape. It's January one. Uh, you know, I'm twenty
Speaker 1: pounds overweight. UM, I want to try and get in shape,
Speaker 1: and I really want to try and lose some weight.
Speaker 1: What they're going to do is they're going to create
Speaker 1: a plan for you. UM. They're going to create a
Speaker 1: series of workouts and things that you can do over
Speaker 1: an extended period of time. Because if you say to
Speaker 1: a physical trainer on January one, January second, listen, i'mds overweight. UM.
Speaker 1: I want to spend you know, basically all day with
Speaker 1: you today, you know, three or four or five six
Speaker 1: hours in the gym working out, doing all this stuff,
Speaker 1: and hopefully I'm gonna be UM, I'm gonna lose weight
Speaker 1: tomorrow and be in shape. Unfortunately, UM, it doesn't work
Speaker 1: like that. So our job as instructors are to try
Speaker 1: and say, two players, listen, Okay, let's figure out a
Speaker 1: way that we could build a better pattern for you
Speaker 1: and try and eliminate some of the things that that
Speaker 1: you do. UM. Not specifically the way I teach. I
Speaker 1: don't basically teach by UM numbers or by systems or theory.
Speaker 1: I I look at what a player does individually, and
Speaker 1: I say, Okay, what can I do to help this player?
Speaker 1: UM swing the golf club better? And so that's where
Speaker 1: I think, as the student, you've got to look um
Speaker 1: at what your problems are. UM. One of my favorite
Speaker 1: sports to play A UM, I play tennis. UM. I
Speaker 1: love playing tennis. UM. I I read a lot, I
Speaker 1: follow a lot about tennis. UM, I take tennis lessons,
Speaker 1: and UM you know when I look for tennis instructors, UM,
Speaker 1: you know, I do my homework, I look at you
Speaker 1: know what type of players they work with, what type
Speaker 1: of theories they have. UM. You know my back hand
Speaker 1: is not great. My four hands okay, but my back
Speaker 1: hand isn't great. And UM I've been working with with
Speaker 1: the tennis instructor that UM we've done a lot of
Speaker 1: work on on my footwork. UM it has helped me
Speaker 1: improve a lot of my strokes. But UM, I looked
Speaker 1: at a tennis instructor and I kind of knew some
Speaker 1: of the things that that he he did, and that's
Speaker 1: one of the reasons why I chose him. UM. My
Speaker 1: tennis game is a work in progress. Right. I don't
Speaker 1: feel like when I go, UM take a one tennis
Speaker 1: lessons on my ground strokes are immediately going to improve. UM,
Speaker 1: because I do like tennis. I've I've bought a ball machine,
Speaker 1: and so now I go take tennis lessons. Um, I
Speaker 1: go have people that I hit with, but I also
Speaker 1: go and get on the ball machine and work on
Speaker 1: these kind of drills and and footworks um. So UM.
Speaker 1: And I think that always really helps me as as
Speaker 1: a golf instructor to go take, um a lesson in
Speaker 1: another sport from someone else. UM. And it's a sport
Speaker 1: that that I'm interested in. So let's take a short
Speaker 1: break and we will be back right after this. All right,
Speaker 1: let's get back to the interview. I think you have
Speaker 1: to be patient. I think you have to have realistic goals. UM.
Speaker 1: I think you want to try and look at your
Speaker 1: golf swing and changing your golf swing and improving your
Speaker 1: golf swing a little bit like trying to climb Mount Everest. Um,
Speaker 1: You're at the bottom and you're going to try and
Speaker 1: get to the top of a and the highest mountain
Speaker 1: in the world. UM, You're not going to make it
Speaker 1: by starting at the bottom and trying to climb to
Speaker 1: the top. Um, you will fail every single time you
Speaker 1: do that, what you've got to do is you've got
Speaker 1: to get up, get to base camp, get acclimated. Then
Speaker 1: you go to Camp one. Then you can go to
Speaker 1: camp to get acclimated, get comfortable. Then you can go
Speaker 1: to Camp three, get out, then you can go to
Speaker 1: Camp four. So all along the line, you're you're doing
Speaker 1: things in stages. You're doing things to where you can
Speaker 1: you can climb in my mountain, you're trying to get
Speaker 1: up the mountain safely, and you're trying to get up
Speaker 1: the mountain with all of the UM supplies that you need,
Speaker 1: and it's just impossible to do that all in one
Speaker 1: go to just start at the bottom and try and
Speaker 1: climb to the top. So I think it's important that
Speaker 1: as as a student you look at okay, UM, there
Speaker 1: might be some short term issues UM. And I think
Speaker 1: one of the issues that that golfers have is they
Speaker 1: go take golf lessons and UM and then they try
Speaker 1: and take what they're working on in their golf lesson
Speaker 1: straight out onto the golf course. UM. In an ideal world,
Speaker 1: you would have some time time to work on on
Speaker 1: on the changes, work on the things that you're going
Speaker 1: to try and make um, you know, permanent in your
Speaker 1: golf swing. But also you have to also then do
Speaker 1: two separate things. You have to practice golf, which we
Speaker 1: do on the driving range, and then when you go
Speaker 1: play golf, you have to go play golf. You can't
Speaker 1: go out and play golf swing. And I think a
Speaker 1: lot of students that that that that struggle is they
Speaker 1: go they take golf lessons and then what they try
Speaker 1: and do is they try and go out on the
Speaker 1: golf course and they're working on their golf swing. You
Speaker 1: should be doing two things. Should be practicing and when,
Speaker 1: and you should be playing. When you play, you should
Speaker 1: be playing with whatever swing you've got. And if it's
Speaker 1: a work in progress, it's a work in progress. But
Speaker 1: you've still got to be able to go to the
Speaker 1: golf course and try and score and try and play.
Speaker 1: And that is the art of playing and executing. And
Speaker 1: then there is the technical part, the technique, the swing thing.
Speaker 1: You've heard me talk a lot about that if you're
Speaker 1: a regular listen to the pod. The difference between technique
Speaker 1: and execution. Um. And I think a lot of golfers
Speaker 1: as well, UM, they try and do everything. Specifically players
Speaker 1: that are going to compete. They're trying to do everything
Speaker 1: in a vacuum right there, trying to make changes without playing.
Speaker 1: And I always say to players that are trying to compete,
Speaker 1: you know, they come in and they say, hey, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna try and make some changes. You know, I'm you know,
Speaker 1: trying to get the first stage of of corn Ferry.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to, you know, go to Asian Tour qualifying school,
Speaker 1: so I want to try and make some changes to
Speaker 1: become a better ball striker whatever. And a player will
Speaker 1: come and then they'll say, you know what, I'm just
Speaker 1: now going to shut everything down and work on my game.
Speaker 1: And I'm always like, listen, I think it's important for
Speaker 1: you to work on your game, but I think you
Speaker 1: have to work on your game while you're playing golf.
Speaker 1: You have to be able to do and you have
Speaker 1: to do both. You can't just shut everything down practice
Speaker 1: only and then hope that you're going to go play
Speaker 1: and it's going to be fine. There's a difference between
Speaker 1: playing golf and practicing golf, and I think playing golf
Speaker 1: off is hugely, hugely important, and I think you want
Speaker 1: to try and if you are going through some swing changes,
Speaker 1: if you are going through some some lessons. Um. I
Speaker 1: think it's important that you're able to take a lesson,
Speaker 1: go practice, you know, to three a couple of times,
Speaker 1: maybe go play nine holes, then come back and say
Speaker 1: to the instructor that you're working with, Okay, I came
Speaker 1: for this lesson. These are the things that we worked on.
Speaker 1: I went ahead and did these things and worked on
Speaker 1: these drills and felt like, you know, I was making
Speaker 1: some progress. And then I went and played, and when
Speaker 1: I played, this is what I saw. I saw this contact,
Speaker 1: I saw this shape, I saw this miss. That then
Speaker 1: allows you to to share that with the instructor that
Speaker 1: you're working with, so that they can then say, okay,
Speaker 1: based off of the stuff that we're trying to work
Speaker 1: on in your golf swing, based off of what you
Speaker 1: say is happening in practice, and based off of what
Speaker 1: you tell me is happening in or when you're on
Speaker 1: the golf course, then I can go ahead and say, okay, well,
Speaker 1: these are things that we need to try and continue
Speaker 1: to work on. Maybe we need to add this, maybe
Speaker 1: you need to take a little bit of this away.
Speaker 1: But I do think it's important that you just don't
Speaker 1: shut everything down and just become a practice er, not
Speaker 1: a player. The goal is to play better golf, right,
Speaker 1: But what everybody does is they just spend an enormous
Speaker 1: amount of time solely just on practicing, and they forget
Speaker 1: that part of playing better golf is learning how to
Speaker 1: play on the golf course, and you have to do
Speaker 1: that regardless of what your golf swing looks like. Your
Speaker 1: golf swing is always going to be in a state
Speaker 1: of flux. It's always going to be fluid. There are
Speaker 1: going to be days where you're hitting really good. There's
Speaker 1: going to be days where you're not. But you still
Speaker 1: have to play and have to be able to somewhat
Speaker 1: compete and find a way to shoot a decent score
Speaker 1: with the swing and the technique that you've got. Let's
Speaker 1: take a quick break and we are back. I think
Speaker 1: you want to ask as many questions as you can
Speaker 1: in a golf lesson. Um, you should be asking if
Speaker 1: if if an instructor is telling you to do something
Speaker 1: and it doesn't make sense and you don't understand it, UM,
Speaker 1: don't be embarrassed. Hey, listen, could you explain that better?
Speaker 1: Could you explain that in a different way? Because I
Speaker 1: don't really get what you're trying to get across here.
Speaker 1: I think a lot of times UM students think that
Speaker 1: instructors are going to be you know, get mad or
Speaker 1: feel like you're questioning them. If any instructor that you're
Speaker 1: working with UM doesn't like you asking questions, UM kind
Speaker 1: of makes you feel, you know, somewhat ignorant or belittled
Speaker 1: for asking questions and says, hey, no, no, just just
Speaker 1: do what I tell you to do. You you need
Speaker 1: to walk away from that and not go back UM.
Speaker 1: Any theory, any position, any concept that a coach is
Speaker 1: asking you to do as the play or they should
Speaker 1: be able to draw you a picture, a very specific UM,
Speaker 1: easy to follow, easy for you to understand, a good
Speaker 1: idea of what they want you to do, and you
Speaker 1: should be able to kind of spit that back at them.
Speaker 1: I say that a lot of times. I'll say that
Speaker 1: to a player. Okay, you know, we start off, we're
Speaker 1: working on these things, we're working on these positions, we're
Speaker 1: working on this type of move UM. And then I'll say, okay,
Speaker 1: go ahead and repeat this back to me. Pretend like
Speaker 1: I don't know anything about golf, and you tell me
Speaker 1: what you're working on with your instructor, so you give
Speaker 1: it back to me and talk me through it. And
Speaker 1: I think that opens up that dialogue for you as
Speaker 1: the player and you and and certainly me as the coach,
Speaker 1: to to figure out if there's a disconnect, if what
Speaker 1: I'm saying isn't making sense UM. So I think it's
Speaker 1: important that you have that that good kind of UM
Speaker 1: communication with the instructor you're working on UM. But they
Speaker 1: shouldn't be telling you to do things because that's what
Speaker 1: they're telling you to do, and you shouldn't be asking
Speaker 1: any questions. You should ask as many questions as possible.
Speaker 1: I think it's important if you're going to take lessons
Speaker 1: and you are serious about getting better UM, I would
Speaker 1: keep a lesson journal. I would write down UM everything
Speaker 1: that I was working on UM and take notes and
Speaker 1: and have a really good idea UM. Hopefully you're working
Speaker 1: with an instructor that UM can give you video to
Speaker 1: your golf swing, giving you that video back from the
Speaker 1: lesson with voice notes with voice over. I think that's
Speaker 1: really really in help helpful for for you to have
Speaker 1: a good understanding as as as the player, what you're
Speaker 1: trying to do. But I do think it is important
Speaker 1: as as the student to ask as many questions as possible,
Speaker 1: and like I said, to have realistic expectations to say, Okay, listen,
Speaker 1: I'm going to this instructor for these things. These are
Speaker 1: the things I'm trying to change. These are the ways
Speaker 1: that I'm going to try and get better, UM, say
Speaker 1: to the instructor at the beginning, listen, based off of
Speaker 1: what you see, UM, be honest with me, give me
Speaker 1: a timeline here on. You know how difficult you think
Speaker 1: this is going to be to fix. Um, what are
Speaker 1: some of the things that I can expect along the way? UM,
Speaker 1: So that when I'm not taking a lesson from you,
Speaker 1: what should I expect? UM? What should the miss be?
Speaker 1: What should the good shot be? And I think if
Speaker 1: you have a really good idea as the student of
Speaker 1: what you're trying to do, what you want to do,
Speaker 1: and you have someone that you're working with that can
Speaker 1: draw you a really really clear defined concept and you know,
Speaker 1: plan an outline on the direction you're going to try
Speaker 1: and go, then I think you know you can get
Speaker 1: better as as a student. UM. I think you have
Speaker 1: to be patient, You have to be honest with yourself
Speaker 1: as a student as to what your talent level is, UM,
Speaker 1: if you were, you know, in that average golfer range.
Speaker 1: And to me, the average golfers is pretty much the
Speaker 1: majority of people playing golf that UM. Average golfers to
Speaker 1: me are people that aren't trying to compete. Then they
Speaker 1: might be playing in tournaments at their course, but they're not.
Speaker 1: Their entire life isn't based on the competing part UM.
Speaker 1: And so I think you need to have realistic expectations
Speaker 1: and and say, Okay, if I really want to improve,
Speaker 1: I'm willing maybe to take a couple of steps back.
Speaker 1: I don't think you have to get worse before you
Speaker 1: get better. UM, I don't believe that. I think you
Speaker 1: can get better. I think it just takes time. And
Speaker 1: and if you're willing to devote the time, and you
Speaker 1: have the time to practice and try and embed and
Speaker 1: implement some of the changes that you're working on, then
Speaker 1: I think you can make changes. But UM, you know
Speaker 1: the keys for me, for lesson takers, do your homework.
Speaker 1: Have realistic expectations, UM, Have realistic expectations based off of
Speaker 1: how much you can play, how much you can practice,
Speaker 1: Have realistic expectations based off of UM, what your body
Speaker 1: can and can't do what your ages? What's your flexibility is? UM?
Speaker 1: You know, are you working out, are you moving a
Speaker 1: lot um in a non golf way on a regular basis.
Speaker 1: Those are all things that are going to hinder but
Speaker 1: also help your progression as a player. UM. But like
Speaker 1: I said, UM, I'm very very lucky that people UM
Speaker 1: choose to come take golf lessons from me. I take
Speaker 1: it really really seriously. And if you are going to
Speaker 1: take lessons, like I said, do your homework, UM, figure
Speaker 1: out what you want to try and accomplish, and have
Speaker 1: really really specific to find clear goals as to what
Speaker 1: you want to try and do with your golf swing,
Speaker 1: what you want to try and get out of the
Speaker 1: golf lesson and convey that to the instructor and and
Speaker 1: hopefully there will point you in the right direction. UM.
Speaker 1: Be patient, UM and hopefully UM, some of this information
Speaker 1: helps and and and maybe UM you start thinking about
Speaker 1: taking lessons in a different way. I want to thank
Speaker 1: everybody for listening. Some of a bich comes to you
Speaker 1: every Wednesday. We will see you next week.