I have been recently on my yearly travels gathering new information and increasing my own knowledge for all the coaching to come in the coming season. So here is a little window into where I’ve been, what I’ve done and more importantly what that means for you!
I started two weeks in Orlando Florida USA visiting my putting mentors Frank Thomas and Valarie Melvin at the The Putting Pad. These two coaches are really at the top of there field and probably the worlds leading authority on holistic putting and research.
After getting my own putting stroke revolutionised I started to learn more about the brains ability to calculate distance and gained a far greater understanding about how the brain reacts to a target and performs motor actions.
For my next stop I went to visit Melainey Gunney at Iron Horse Golf Club. This is the home of my swing mentors Mike Bennet and Andy Plummer the renowned PGA Tour Coaches who have just been inducted into the coaches hall of fame. Melainey I their right hand woman and has worked under them for a number of years.
I spent a great day with her, my own swing really got put through its paces. I made some huge changes and improvements of a very short space of time. The whole experience really clarified to me the need to anchor everything down leaving as few a variables as possible in the golf swing. We talked through a number of swing elements which really solidified my understanding of what a great golf swing should look like and the peices involved in creating a truly consistent action.
After a fantastic two week where an aweful lot of golf was played, along side my two good friends and long time clients Chris & Sally Bruce I returned back to England. After only being back a day I was off again, travelling up to manchester to work with my Golf Psychology Mentor and friend Dr Karl Morris. For those of you that are unfamiliar with Karl he is Europes Number 1 Mind Coach working with 4 Major Championship winners. Whilst up there I completed his Mind Factor Certification Course allowing me to join his network of golf mind coaches and qualifying me further in the feild of golf psychology. The course really showed me that golf coaching is more than just working on the right element of the golf swing, its how you structure your practice and measure improvement that is ultimately the most improtant factor for effective change.
So as you can see a very busy month! My passion is golf coaching and teaching, everything I do is to basically improve myself and further my knowledge of the game as a whole. Teaching is like a puzzle, trying to figure out what the right peice is for the individual and there problem is the challenge.
After my latest training and research I am now equipped to do that better than ever, with fresh idea’s making the learning process more simple.
So just remember as your trying to improve as a golfer, I’m always trying to improve as a coach!
I wish you all the very best for 2013 golf season, its going to be exciting for all of us…..
