I got a lot of positive feedback from my report on my first round this year.  So here is my report from round number two.  I played in a scramble at Worthington Mannor with my boss, his wife, and his brother-in-law.  I’ve got good news and bad news.  The good news is that I can still drive the ball as well as anyone.  The bad news is that my putting is rusty – and when I say rusty I mean that I started ONLY one putt on my line over 18 holes.  That’s pretty much unacceptable and will take a little practice this week, but all-in-all I was happy.

So we started on 13, a par 5.  I let everyone hit their drives and then stepped up remembering how it went last round.  If you can’t remember the struggles I had the first round out this year, then flip back to my older posts.  Anyway, I stepped up knowing that I had no swing thought because of my lack of play.  Somewhere in my takeaway I decided, left shoulder down.  The ball finished 320 yards just in the first cut of rough – and I had my swing thought for the day.  I am very analytical and have numerous mental tests done (if you want to take my favorite test, then leave me a message on facebook).  Anyway, I play better with one clear swing thought than with no thought.  It’s how I work and I go with it.  I usually like to pick a thought during warm up to be my “feel” for the day – good thoughts can last me a week or month and I won’t have to find one before I play.  But on Tuesday I didn’t really get to warm up my swing because I was doing a clinic for the event.  Basically I made a mistake of not having a clear thought process walking to the ball; and I got away with it.  Not only did I get away with it, I had my thought for the rest of the day.

With that thought in mind I drove the ball amazingly well.  On 14 (340 yard downhill par 4) I was in the greenside bunker.  On 7 (315 yard par 4) I was on the fringe.  On 10 (310 yard par 4) I hat a lazer to sneak the ball past the water and was a foot off the green.  Then on 11 (303 yard par 4) I was pin high just off the fringe.  I had a bunch of other good drives, but those 4 required distance and direction to get near the green.  What’s really cool, is that I could have told you that I was going to hit the ball well after the second hole.  So no, this wasn’t just a boastful post about how I am the greatest driver of the golf ball alive, it is pointed to help you analyze your own game.

I know my game and swing at this point and I know what it takes for me to play well.  I try my best to recreate that situation every time I play.  For me it is having a clear swing thought from my list.  I have about 10-15 acceptable swing thoughts that all help me control my tendency to early extend/slide.  My swing thoughts don’t jump around for no reason.  I have never worried about my arm or club position at the top of the swing.  It doesn’t fit within my game and it’s requirements.  Take a second and think about how well you know your game.

Do you play better when you care/take it seriously?  Or are you better when you joke around?  Do you play better in the morning or the afternoon?  Do you play better when you have a caddy or when you are helping someone else by telling them your thought process?  Do you do better with a 30 or 90 minute warm up?  Knowing where you stand or taking it shot by shot?
For me, golf fitness is all about being self-aware and attacking your weaknesses.  Greg Rose wrote a quick article a few years ago that I completely agree with.  In the gym you should attack your weaknesses with everything you got.  If you are strong, then take yoga.  If you are gumby then do some deadlifts and get on a strength program.  However, on the golf course I think the opposite is true.  You should continually develope your strengths and simply manage your weeknesses.  There is room to be a great golfer with great ball striking or great short game.   Or you can be an average golfer with good ball striking and a good short game.  Re-read that last sentence, the words were chosen carefully.

Work on your strengths and manage your weaknesses.  I am not going to allow myself to only get one putt online for a round, but I can manage it to where I start 50% online and let my ball striking score for me.  What is going to score for you and what are you just going to manage?

Know your body and know your game and you will be able to reach any goal you want in golf.  Good luck golfers.

Here is how us modern instructors try to present a task.

Me: Alright Jimmy, I need you to go to San Diego, California. Are you scared by that request?
Jimmy: Uh, no. I’ve been there before.
Me: How long will it take you to get there?
Jimmy: Uh, 6 hours by plane.
Me: So when you go over Phoenix you won’t freak out?
Jimmy: No. What does this have to do with anything?

I think that most people are willing to commit to journey’s (that’s what changing a golf swing is, just ask Charles) as long as they know details about the journey. For whatever reason, golf pro’s typically don’t paint clear journeys. This would be analogous to me telling you that your goal is west. And you are simply waiting for the next instruction via walkie-talkie. Without knowing where you are heading, I’m pretty sure that most reasonable people would start freaking out around St. Louis.

It is important to explain to students – and students, it is important for you to ask if you don’t know – the big picture of what you are doing and how this small change is apart of it. I try to give all my students guidelines for practice, think of these as backup plans. You should have a backup plan for the following:
If I hit it fat, then I should try this.
If I hit it thin, then I should try this.
If I hit it left, then I should try this.
If I hit it right, then I should try this.

That is my minimum for full swing lessons. You will be much more committed to a program if you have some form of plan like above.

I’m impressed by people who can commit to running in a triathlon…just like I’m impressed by people who go through medical school to become a surgeon. It’s a daunting task either way, but they aren’t told just do this forever and eventually you should get there. Furthermore, they know the big picture of why they are doing it and how each part fits in. So if you don’t know the big picture of what you’re working on then ask your pro. Here are a couple questions you could try:

“Why am I keeping my arm straight again? O.K. got it. And if I get this down, then what are we going to work on next week?”

Remember, it is one thing to commit to running a marathon, but don’t be one of those blind fools that started running back and forth across the US in Forest Gump. When it was all said and done, they had no clue what to do next. They just followed Forest. Unlike that movie, in golf you should always know your next move.

Good luck golfers, and if you don’t have a road map for golf, check out our free downloads.

Here’s is a dose of truth!

I was in the my rec center the other day, busting my butt on the Espresso Bikes (which are awesome by the way!) and I watched this “trainer” essentially watch about five minutes of TV while his client worked away on the stupid seated hamstring machine! Do you think that his client was recieving any benefit from his “coaching? HECK NO, I say! It’s fitness people like that that give bad names to “fitness professionals.”

Think of exercise as a drug. It can be prescribed correctly and the result will be the elimination of your sickness, OR it can be mal-presribed and the result can be greater sickness or even death!

So when choosing someone to provide you with an exercise program, specifically a golf fitness program make sure you do your research (just like you would do find a good doctor) to find a qualified golf fitness professional!

Saying that, if we go back up to my first story of the “trainer,” I say that his client was being “prescribed” a bunch of junk for her body! He was prescribing poor “medicine” for that lady’s body, and in the end will negatively affect her at some point in the form of injury, lack of information or worse yet, a poor “physical education!”

In the end, seek those who are qualified professionals to help you with your most important asset, your body! You wouldn’t go to the average doctor on the block, so don’t go to the average “trainer” either! Your body and health is too valuable!

One of the biggest things we struggle with is the fitness industry’s attempt to teach “golf fitness” to the public by those who are clearly unqualified to do so!

If you are working on your game by exercising, PLEASE (and this is us begging you!) NEVER take a class or work with a “personal trainer” who puts you on a machine or machines that “isolate” a muscle!

Here’s the truth- Your body does not learn is isolated environments! It learns and performs complex movement patterns!

Think Primal. Could you ever envision seeing a caveman doing leg extensions or seated hamstring curls to get a leg workout? Ha! It’s actually almost funny, don’t you think?

On the contrary, due to the fact that Mr. Caveman had to hunt, build, and otherwise survive, he was an excellent squatter, lunger, deadlifter, pusher, puller, walker, runner, bender and rotator! As a golfer, or any athlete for that matter, you should be just like him!

Seek those who are qualified TPI professional (www.mytpi.com) as your best option for the best “leader and educater” when it comes to golf fitness…and don’t comprimise!

So in the end, stay tuned her, cause Tyler and I will continue to serve up healthy servings of the truth and provide you with the best the golf fitness world has to offer! And do your best to be a caveman!