That's teaching one on one right. If you can take a student and relate
to something that they did well in the past as far as golf, and
relate that to the golf swing, you get so much more performance right off
the bat with mechanics, so that piece of the puzzle is super important.
And also how they learn. People learn so differently. You know, if
you have a visual learner and you're teaching them how to feel to swing in
the backswing, that might not necessarily be great for them. So yes,
it's mechanics, but you have to know so much more how to get through
to the student, How can they learn best and how can they learn fastest?
To get out to the golf course. Hi, this is Brian Jerryshano
from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and I play at acting golf course.
This is Golf Smarter number nine hundred and forty Miracles happen on the golf course
using grounded golf with author Terri Fox. This is Golf Smarter sharing story these
tips and insights from great golf minds to help you lower your score and raise
your golf IQ. Here's your host, Fred Green bocome to the Golf Smarter
podcast. Tara. Hi, Fred, it's really nice to be here.
Thanks for having me today. I'm excited about talking about your book. I
get it. I get excited every week because I love having these golf conversations.
But you've got a great book because your book is you know, you're
you're a golf instructor, but you really love the mental part of the game.
I do. I think it's the piece, the missing piece for every
golfer. You know, it's there's so many books that have been written about
it by incredible authors. And if people knew more in the beginning, when
they start how important the mental game is, I think that we're going to
start seeing a shift of how people learn moving forward. But what I guess
the reference point is people watching golf on TV and they're going you know,
they're seeing the physical, they don't get the mental aspect, especially especially on
the PGA Tour where it's the grind. I mean that that I can't even
conceive of the pressure and the drain that it is for professional level, just
knowing what I know about being a recreational golfer, I think you're right.
I don't know. Have you seen that new series that come out that's just
come out. I guess a series two A Full Swing. Do you watch
that since I've already finished it. It was incredible. I love that series.
Yeah, it's on Netflix's no one's seen it Full Swing. You got
to check it out. It is incredible And I think it's episode three of
season two where they really when they start working with with the golf psychologists,
starts working with Wyndham Clark and they can really start seeing the differences and where
his game goes. And I mean if that's just on the PGA level,
I mean it can it can really improve somebody. But even just on an
everyday golfer. I mean the improvement, the amount of improvement in the score
and just peace on the golf course, making the round a little bit more
enjoyable. Is there's there's so much to that piece. Yeah. And when
people even on the pro level. Yeah, the resistance to getting help mentally,
we saw that. The struggling we saw that, and it's that's common
I think with golf in general. I mean, if we we should know
how to fix it is that mindset. But really life is not about knowing
everything right. It's about getting people to give information so that we can get
better as people, especially as golfers. Right, So I think that we'll
start seeing a bit of a turn there once. Once people will actually see
the difference when you start focusing on the mental game and also being grounded what
I write about as well, the whole, the whole piece of the puzzle
really comes together. It's the glue that keeps everything together where mechanics meets performance
right. Right, So the book is called Grounded Golf Steady Performance under Pressure,
and then it might in my mind in parentheses it says for women.
But as I'm reading this, I'm going, what's the for women part in
there? I mean, I understood you why you do that, because if
it just said steady performance under pressure, women may not look at it right
because it's like, oh, they're not talking to me. But so I
understand that you put for women because I can only suppose that it's really a
different kind of game for men and women. Yeah, it is. It's
the reasoning behind that primarily is because it was written from a female voice.
I wanted to And you're absolutely right. The guys that I have that do
read it, they read their wives copies. They're like, what that's for
me? That's completely relatable. You know, it is for the female golfer,
but it is for the everyday, it's for professionals, it's for whatever.
It's just kind of my step in the door. I didn't want to
step on any toes when I was writing it. It is from you know,
my personal perspective and intuition, and you know, energy work does take
a little bit of an open mind, if that makes sense. So that's
the piece where I'm kind of starting to enter the arena and then we'll see
where it goes from there. And I'm really sensitive to criticisms, so I
was like, oh my gosh, if I'm on Golf Digest and they're saying,
you know, I just wanted to protect myself a little bit. Yeah,
well, I'm not going to criticize. So you're okay there, But
you don't come to golf instruction from the mental side of the game. That's
not where you you're a golf instructor LPGA side, right, Yeah, that's
absolutely right. So I've been teaching, fortunately over twenty six years. I
got introduced to instruction pretty early on in my career after playing for UC Berkeley,
so first warman on scholarship, I will not tell you how long ago
that was. And then for me, I like golf, but my personal
passion is helping others learn this game. That's where I got so much reward
back. So watching other people perform better because of what I was able to
help them with, that that to me was bringing me a lot of joy
and happiness. So that I always knew right away that that that I wanted
to be in the instructional piece. And that's why I tell you know,
teenagers and and people that they're like, oh, you know the golf is
golf is I don't like golf. Why I said, you don't have to
like golf, you just have to know how to play it. In the
future, trust me, believe me, you will want to know how to
play this game. So yeah, it's just I even forget what you just
asked me. But I hope I answered the question. So okay, I
forgot too. You know, I was talking about how you came to it
from the play and you didn't. And and as as a golf instructor,
not as a medal coach, that's right. And then so after I played,
was able to teach for a long time. Now, the LPGA has
such a great teaching program. It's just it's amazing with how they are on
the forefront of instruction. And now I'm part of the global education team helping
other people, other instructors learn how to teach and really get the best out
of their students. So yeah, this is from an instructional piece. This
is absolutely how I know how to help people on the course, working a
little bit away from mechanics when you go when you have the mechanics and once
they're set, soon you can get to the play piece as sooner you can
get on the golf course, the more beneficial everything is. And even you
know for my professionals as well, just being on the course and really getting
into what's happening, how you're feeling, and how to get grounded and play
from that ground zero, that neutral piece when you're under pressure. That was
like the most important part. So yes, I came from a player perspective,
very instructional, and now that I'm working on this more intuitive piece to
the puzzle, it has just been a complete game changer for not only myself
but my students as well. That's incredible. Did you actually say I like
golf, but I don't love golf. I don't love golf. I'm not
that person that really golf. I playing golf. I should say I love
to teach, I love to help others. I think that as a junior
golfer there's a piece of burnout stage that unless you're going the distance. I
was that person that hated to practice but was really good on the golf course.
You know, that can only take you so far. And I really
never had that that desire to go professional, and I'm glad I didn't.
I was able to have a family. I've got two teenage girls upstairs.
One's going to college for lacrosse. And yes, they both know how to
play golf. They're not golfers in their space, but they both know how
to play golf quite well. But one of them is lacrosse and the other
one's getting into the cross as well, but was soccer. So and these
pieces are the puzzle. They hear their mom talk all the time, and
you know, getting grounded is a piece of every part of the things that
we do. When Jenny's out on a lacrosse field, or she got her
wisdom teeth pulled yesterday, poor thing, and I said, you know,
make sure you're grounded. Make sure, you're you're in your space. You
know you're being taken care of the you know, just the vision, see
the end results, see yourself walking out of here. Everything's fine. And
sure enough it took the pressure off. She was able to relax and you
can use it in everyday life. Wow, that's great. But you know,
you went to UC Berkeley and that's a pretty academic place, but they
have some some you know, D one sports, so you had to love
it playing, I guess, you know. I mean, you just don't
go to cal thinking that you're going to be a golf instructor. You're there
to compete. I was. I was there to you don't get scholarships.
Yeah, I was on scholarship. I was. It was right when they
first started. I think housy Berkeley was one of the last two when title
nine came through to get on board. There was a Pac ten conference back
in the day, so they were the last Pac ten team. And yeah,
I did. I did enjoy playing. I enjoyed scoring well. But
and it wasn't academic school and it was, but it was my job at
that point, right, So when you're getting when you're on scholarship, it's
not just for fun. You know, you're getting paid to provide some really
good scores, and the pressure is on, and you know it's a lot
to balance. And when you say getting paid, we're putting air quotes and
getting paid, at least in those days scholarships. What I mean, I
don't know you have is your birthday. I don't know what just happened.
I did air quotes and all of a sudden on the video balloon started flying.
Doesn't work for quotes. That was the strangest thing I've ever seen.
All right, listen, I'm gonna try to figure it out. We're going
to take a time out. We'll be back after this. So when did
the epiphany come that you're like, oh, I like to play golf,
but I love to teach. Let's see, my freshman year at UC Berkeley,
we were invited down, a couple of us that were doing well on
the team. We're invited down to be counselors at the Nike Junior Golf camp
down in Pebble Beach. That was not a terrible I know right there.
It was not a terrible summer job. I have to admit it was awesome.
We went down, we stayed at Robert Louis Stevenson and the Nike Junior
golf camps were fantastic. So I helped other juniors get into golf and I
was able to work under a really great mentor. His name was rich Merrick
at the time. I think he was Hank Haney's understudy for quite some time.
But he was fantastics, so we as counselors got during our lunch break,
he would work with us and teach us how to teach other people.
So we're teaching those juniors. I mean, we've all been and we all
know how to play, but there is a different piece of being a player
and actually helping being an instructor and really being able to teach to a student
to get them to understand and make golf relatable for them. So there is
the assumption that play all players can teach golf is a little skewed, we'll
say, and not a lot of players want to teach golf, but there's
definitely if you're doing a student centered golf lesson that becomes really important. And
that's what the LPGA piece is all about, is that if you're in a
class a coming out of the LPGA. LPGA is primarily teaching. It is
showing how to give a student centered swing model lesson. So you are listening
to your student. You're not going up and somebody's going to yell at you
what you're doing or talk to you what you tell you what you're going to
do. It's really about listening to the student, getting to know them one
on one, and then finding out what their long term goal is and how
to make it best for their lessons. So that piece and Rich had a
lot of that, so I was able to kind of I just I loved
it because you know, you can get to know a student, help them
out, and then they become great golfers afterwards. So that's I don't know
how fast forward you want to go, but that's what another piece of how
I love the LPGA program because it is only on teaching. It is there
above and beyond what they what the normal golf lesson looks like, at least
when I was growing up. When I was growing up, he just showed
up and they told you what to do, and he left and you had
to practice, and it was always mechanics, always mechanics, always mechanics.
Well, when somebody steps up to the golf tea the practice tea for the
first time trying to get a lesson. They're not there to learn the metal
game though they are mechanics. You're absolutely right. When you're starting out,
it is about the mechanic next piece. But getting to know your student doesn't
stop there, right, So finding out what they've done best in their life.
So, say you've got a mid maybe a forty year old executive or
whoever's coming to your lesson tee and they want to you know, they want
to play better, or maybe they're just starting out. What do you do?
What did you do when you were a kid? What sport did you
play growing up? Well? What you know? Are you music? Did
you play an instrument? Do you know about tempo? Do you know about
you know, anything that can relate to the golf swing? Is I mean,
that's just kind of that's teaching one on one right. If you can
take a student and relate to something that they did well in the past,
as far as golf, and relate that to the golf swing, you get
so much more performance right off the bat with mechanics, so that piece of
the puzzle is super important, and also how they learn. How people learn
so differently. You know, if you have a visual learner and you're teaching
them how to feel the swing and the back swing, that might not necessarily
be great for them. So that piece, Yes, it's mechanics, but
you have to know so much more to how to get through to the student.
How can they learn best and how can they learn fastest? If that
makes sense to get out to the golf course, and even if it's business,
you know, executives, what do you do when you're running a meeting?
Do you run a meeting like without any practice or do you have all
your information beforehand? How much is your data? Like when you are speaking
in front of somebody? You know, what tools do you use? Okay,
well let's use those here? So what do you see? What is
the outcome? What is the ultimate outcome? Now let's move back from there,
and how do we explain that to the student? And the student's part
of the instruction. It's so important that it's not just mechanics. It's mechanics
blended with how that person learns and how can they learn best. So I
think that after twenty six years, that's why I'm not bored. I think
a lot of instructors do get bored. If giving the same lesson every day,
well, I don't think I've given the same lesson every day since I
was you know, maybe twenty or something like that. The every single lesson
that I give is about this puzzle, like, what is the puzzle?
What is this person? Where are they coming from? What is their goal?
How do they learn? What do they do? And how can I
best make this game better for them? And how quickly can we do it?
That? For me, that's my goal is think, Okay, what
can I say here? What is that one nugget one or two max nuggets
that is really going to make a huge difference to their performance on the course
or performance on the on the range if they haven't played before. But so
what what what is the the difference in teachings, say the mental game versus
course management? I mean, you know, because you can't give course management
lessons while you're on the driving range, right, correct, can you?
So you're asking what's the difference between course management and the mental game? Is
that what you're asking? Well? Yeah, teaching teaching, that's that's a
huge difference, isn't it. It is a huge difference, and you can
you can look at it as one piece where I see it all as one
piece. But people that teach you can teach course management without teaching the mental
game. But is it a lot. It's much more. It's much better
if you can combine the two, if you have an instructor that combines both
of them. I mean it is really hard because sometimes the mental game are
more sports psychologists. So you know, it's if you can find a pro
that does this with both of them, that's I mean, it's a total
game changer because it's not just about course strategy, right, it's I mean
you can, okay, you're going to hit it here, and you're going
to hit it here, and you're going to have an outcome, and there's
your goal, and you can do things to prepare with routine and everything,
but what is that missing piece that's going to glue it all together. You
can see your shot and you can be you know, I'm going to do
this with your my swing. I'm going to execute this way. But and
sometimes it works for people, but when you're putting pressure and performance on top
of that, good luck thinking about mechanics and you know, I'm going to
put it here here here. You know, having a plan is huge.
That is that to me is course management, having a plan how to execute
on the course. Mental game is that piece of the glue that puts everything
together, like, Okay, you've got your plan, you've got your routine.
Now how are you going to take all these butterflies and all this doubt
and all this Oh my gosh, there's water and you know, don't hit
it bad. Or you're on the first tee and you're playing with coworkers or
executives and you're saying, I hope I don't embarrass myself, right, I
mean that is that's the biggest way people come to me as I just don't
want to embarrass myself out there. Well, you could have all the mechanics,
you can have all the you know, the core strategy in the world,
but that piece of embarrassment that's hanging out back here, you've got to
we've got to do something with that, and you've got to know what to
think about and how to get beyond that piece because it's always going to be
there, Right, it's there, But where do you put your mental focus?
And that's where the mental game comes in. Right? Interesting, All
right, one more time out? Did I get to what you were?
Did I get you did you did? I appreciate that, Thank you,
that was good. I want to talk about the book and we'll do that
after this break, Darrel, who are your mental game gurus? Who are
your heroes? As far as you know that you like to go, oh,
yeah, I want to incorporate that person's teaching into what I do.
Yeah, I think that it's been a combination of so many I mean,
I've read a lot of mental game books that has just been from Fred Shoemaker
to Bob Rotella to Joseph Parent, you know, the whole piece. And
I'm big into you know, Vision fifty four is a big change for a
lot of a lot of people out on the color. So these people,
I mean are amazing at what they do and I don't. I don't pretend
to be a golf psychologist. I am not one, but I do know
how to help people get to the point where they can perform under pressure,
and I do it a little bit differently, right, So my book's all
a little difference. Got that little little hint of difference as far as where
I think I heard on your podcast when you were talking to mister Zenngolf,
just pin Joe, doctor Joe we're playing at neutral was really important. Right,
You've got the you've got the push pull, you've got here, You've
got neutral, and playing under neutral, as most of every all of these
people talk about, is really important. That's how you get to performance when
you're not playing too excited, you're not playing down, you're playing from a
point of neutral. You know what I'm talking about, right? So performance,
well, for me, it's like how do you get to neutral?
And that for me when I started working with energy and working with my with
my person who's an energist, and she taught me so much, so much
about how to get grounded and how to you know, help others but also
understand what's happening energetically in our world and that we are electromagnetic beings in ourselves.
I think Einstein once he proved that energy was you didn't have to have
mass to have energy is just blue. It's just we just went into a
different space. Right. So the piece of how to get to neutral and
how to get to performance performing under pressure, that piece is what's a little
bit different for me. So there's a lot of meditation that people can do,
that you can do visual visualization. For me, it's grounding. And
this is a technique. I mean there's first of all, there's many techniques
how to ground This has been around four centuries ancient times. These you know,
these from monks to spiritual healers, to intuitives to you know, psychics
if you want to get crazy. But it's it's a piece of using energy,
right, Friend's like, I'm in this is the core. This is
what I've been trying to get me to talk about here, psychics. I
don't see psychics being a crazy concept. But you know, California kids,
So what do I know? Right? You are right with some of myco
So it's that piece that that's a little bit different. That's a lot different
actually. So the energy that works around people. You can feel energy.
You can feel it when you're playing with somebody on the golf course that is
like notoriously slow and you're just like, oh if so it affects you,
right, that effect is part of their energy getting in Like that's that's the
first of all. We need to learn how to keep our energy to ourselves.
And when you do, you know, when you talk to people and
you're feeling drained after that, that's an energy exchange that you're taking on all
their stuff but being able to keep your energy to yourself in order to perform.
And I'm just going to talk from the performance piece and specifically golf because
that's just what I know. I mean, we can do this. I
mean, when you're sitting in traffic and you're so frustrated with the person in
front of you and these crazy moms that are off their kids, that you
know, you when you get grounded and when you get your energy, that
is that's the piece. So I'm going to keep it to the golf course
and performance. So so you're on the eighteenth hole and you've got you know,
crowd, I mean, this is more of the PGA or LPG program,
the crowds of people around you you are going to All you have to
do is you know, hit it up on the green and two put for
power to win or whatever. That that's not easy. And you were right
in saying how these guys perform under pressure is beyond what we know. I
mean, is it's really incredible what they are able to do. However,
if they're not able to do it, we can see that as well.
I mean, that's that's why I think that Tiger was so good back in
the day when he didn't know any better. All he could all that's all
he saw. It was so simple, just hit perform, go, and
then life happens and stuff happens, and then it affects your energy. Right,
So what do you do in that space? And for me, it's
grounding. If your student, if you as a golfer, can get grounded
in your space, meaning you are feeling the earth, your energy is here.
Not I'm worried about three petting and losing this tournament. Not oh my
gosh, I'm going to shoot, you know, my best score ever if
I can just get up and down, not you know, all these pieces
of say the mental game that we try to get beyond, right, that's
where the visualization come in. But I think there's this other part of grounding
where you need to get in your space. You need to keep your energy
rolling at a tempo that's here, and that's coming from not just earth energy,
but also you know, like I have a source I will say source
energy or divine energy. So those who do feel like there is a higher
power out there, no matter what spirituality you are or religion you are,
there's usually a higher power of soor if you're an atheist, I'm not sure
if this show's here for you. But you're just kidding. But there's a
higher power of some sort or energy or or yeah, and you know you
don't have a deity that they believe in. That energy is in your heart,
right in your heart. That's that's where the higher power is. It's
in your absolutely, So you're calling on it and you're you're just asking for
neutrality to perform. You're seeing everything becomes more clear. Right you are coming
in with divine energy that is clear. It's almost like you're the whole path
is just laid out. You can see your shot. You can see you
know what that You can feel the wind because you're not distracted by all this
other stuff. You see what the wind is doing. You can feel your
your swing it so I keep hitting this microphone. Sorry, you're feeling the
swing. You're feeling your tempo. When you are grounded and your energy is
yours and you are pulling it from your place and you're what you you believe
in and also bringing it into earth. It is unbelievable the amount of performance
that can happen. I mean, you will surprise yourself it's like miracles happen
on the golf course. It's incredible getting to that space. And the more
you can ground throughout the day to get in practice of grounding is amazing.
And it doesn't take a lot of time. I can ground in seconds,
Like right here, I'm just making sure making sure I'm grounded, to make
sure that I'm getting the message across that I need to. This is again
ancient. It is energy work, is what it's called. You're just working
energy and you're calling on it and you're keeping it to yourself and you're trying
to get yourself in a space of neutrality so that you can perform under pressure
in any sport. But we're talking specifically golf. Yeah, and I think
you just came up with the title of this episode, which is Miracles happen
on the golf course. Miracles happened, right, Miracles happened. But that's
grounded Golf, right, which is the title of the book that's Grounded Golf.
Yeah, but you got to you got to be there to get there.
Yeah, exactly. There's just the piece of doubt that and just instead
of doubt, we're thinking, Okay, we can make this happen. This
miracle can happen. It's gonna happen. We gotta make it. Kid,
you have a wonderful anecdote in the book that I hope you can share with
us about the player who just was totally frazzled and couldn't play. You know
what I'm talking about. I do. It's my first chapter. It is
such it was. You know, of all the people, the Fred Shoemaker,
Bob Jones, and doctor Joe and Robert K. Winter and I can
go on and on by the list of mental coaches that we've had conversations with.
That to me was like, wait a minute, I've never heard that
approach. We've never had that conversation, so please share that story. Sure.
So it was earlier on in my career. I was working as an
assistant pro at that time. I was still teaching, but one of one
of the better players at the club. I should say, I'm not gonna
I did name names, but you know, he came down and I was
in the golf shop. I was starting people off, and he just said,
you know, I did have a good reputation at the time for instruction.
So he came straight to me. He said, Tara, and he
was frazzled. He was like, I was like, who's this guy?
He's like, I can't hit the ball. I was like, what do
you mean you're like a plus two handicap. What do you mean you can't
hit the ball. He's like, Tara, I cannot get the club on
the ball. It is I can't. I'm literally tow top I can't.
You've I've never seen anything like it. I'm he was traumatized. Traumatized,
right, and I think everybody goes through this. You know, I can't
stop shanking, I can't blah blah blah. So we can all relate to
it. So anyways, I said, okay, right, I'll meet you
up there and give me three minutes. I'll meet you up at the range.
Go on up there. I'll don't hit another golf ball, just wait
for me. So I had my coworker just cover the counter and I walked
up there and I said, okay, show me what's happening. And sure
enough, he could not hit the ball. It was top top, top
top. And we're talking somebody who plays daily. He was in a skins
group. I mean they played every day at twelve and it was just it
was amazing what I was seeing in front of my eyes not in a good
way. So and that's when I think I started really intuitively typing tapping into
people. And because for him it was he was completely frazzled. I was
like, Okay, how am I going to get this guy back into his
body first of all, because he's clearly somewhere else, and back, get
his back in his golf swing back, and so you know, I had
him first of all. I just had him swing without a ball several times.
But at that time I was asking him questions, Okay, what happened
this morning? Where did you just come from. Where did you take me
through your morning? What did you eat for breakfast? For goindness sakes,
did you eat breakfast? You know what's happening here. So he's and I
said, just take air swings, air swings. You're not going to hit
a golf ball right now. You're going to tell me exactly what happened.
I said, Well, I got up, I had breakfast, I went
to this meeting. We're trying to buy this property and it's just not going
the way to way. And we just got out of the meeting and it's
and he was in the meeting. That's where he was. He was not
on the golf course. His mind. He was so frustrated with how it
went in the meeting that he brought it to the course with him. And
how many times do we do that? I mean all the time? Right?
And sure enough, his energy that was from the meeting was in his
golf swing physically, in his golf swing, not just mental. I mean
it was affecting him physically. It was shocking. So I said, okay,
so what happened in the meeting? Can you fix it now? No?
But I know what I need to do, Okay, Right, that
meeting is going to be left. And see that. You see your car
over there, it's going to be waiting for you when you get it off
the golf course. That's where it's going to stay. And that's where it's
going to go now once you're here. And at this time, I was,
you know, grounding myself, just really trying to stay calm so I
could help him stay like getting to a calm space, taking some practice swings,
and then once you got his tempo, I said, what did it
feel like when you played your best golf? What was your swing like?
What did you think about what did you do? And when you're working with
a pro that's really really good, they'll be doing the same thing. So
I'm not saying that this is new, but this is what I did at
that time. What did you do show me that golf swing? I never
thought about anything. I thought about my target and I just watched the ball.
I said, great, that's what we're going to do right now.
But you don't have a ball and put its tea in the ground. So
it was really going back. He's like, what am I going back to
grounds there? I said, yes, you're going back to grid. And
within ten minutes, I mean, it seems like you know I'm telling this
story, but it was only within ten minutes. He had his swing back.
So I put a golf ball in front of him, he took his
swing and bam, his swing was back. And he was like and he
just you could just see he just relaxed and he was like, okay,
it didn't disappear. And I said, well what happened. He's like,
I was clearly still in the meeting. I said, yeah, you were.
And that's and it's not just you that does that, that's everybody.
But with a second, you step out onto this range or into this clubhouse
or on the first tee. All your stuff needs to be all your energy,
all your bad energy, good energy. All your stuff needs to be
left in that car. It will be waiting for us when we're off the
course. But in that space you need to we need to really focus on
your swing and your outcome. So sure enough, he teed off with the
with the group. He came in, got the skins. He came in.
I think he had low growth for the day. I think he shot
six or something. I mean, it's just it was really fascinating how that
happened. But it's what we go through, isn't it. Im. I've
had days out there where I couldn't stop slicing. I was like, what
is going on? And then I realized backstory, it was mid terms or
finals or something was on my mind, And it is just it's shocking how
that can really physically affect how we perform. Absolutely, And I think that
you know, we've all had we're like, you feel like I had a
great session on the you know, driving range, warming up, and I
come out here in the first two holes. What is going on? I
can't figure it out, And it's just like, yeah, you've did the
stuff that happened that you brought with you on the course today, it's still
there and you got to leave in the car, It'll be there. I
love that. I love that so much. All Right, I'm going to
take one more break and then we'll be back with Ta Fox, author of
Grounded Golf. Right after this, Daryl, what's the future of golf?
Yeah, I see a shift happening where we're of course, mechanics are important.
I'm not saying they're not. But once you get your mechanics stand to
a point of playability, this is the way we're going to be changing.
Well, if golfers want to get better, and if they want to perform
under pressure, the mental space, the grounding space, the performance place that
needs to be taught much earlier than when it's being taught. So getting with
a pro and everybody is different. Sometimes you'll have two pros, maybe you'll
have a mental of course, you'll have a mental coach and a swing coach.
Sometimes those two can go together. It's not like it's there are only
a few of us, but there will be. I think there will be
more and more moving forward. But if you look at the PGA and LPGA,
they have a team. They have teams out there, and you've got
your swing coach, you've got your shart game coach, you've got your mental
coach, you've got your you know, sports psychologists, you've got your regular
psychologists. The things that all matter, don't you're nutritionists and your nutritionists and
your fitness person. Yet so it is helpful when one person can combine a
couple different spaces, which is good, but that's not always your golf pro
And it's really just what you want, what you're looking for. What is
the long term goal? What is the long term goal? Is the long
term goal? A perfect golf swing, if it is mechanics, stay there
all day, every day. But I can tell you by personal experience,
a perfect golf swing is not going to help you score. No, And
it doesn't exist except for maybe one or two people. Yeah. I just
if you're looking for perfect in anything, you're on the wrong track because it
ain't no perfect playable that's what we're after. Playable life as well. Yeah
life isn't perfect, but if you can make it playable, we're good.
There you go and get it out of the rough in life itself and get
it out of the rough, get it out of the rufe. I want
to pivot a little bit here and talk about the business that you have with
your husband. So the business came about when I was director of instruction over
at Silverada Resort and Spa in northern California. I would take some of my
clients to Ireland each year and they were they loved it and they wanted to
go to Scotland and I hadn't been to Scotland before. Ireland was my jam
for a long time, and so we booked a trip to Scotland and I
used a tour operator who was English and it was great, It was fantastic.
It just happened that this tour operator was best friends with this gentleman named
Alan, and I came in. I flew in a couple days beforehand.
I said, you know, do you want to I was like, how
are we getting our people here? What are we doing? You know,
I'm a little bit of a control person as far as making sure my clients
are taken care of, just like I am on the list and to you,
I just want to make sure everybody's taken care of. So he said,
yeah, just meet us for drinks. I were at the St Andrew's
Golf Club and I was like, okay. I was like, and for
a golfer, right, this is a big deal. I mean, I'm
in Saint Andrew's, the home of golf. I've been invited as a woman
to the Saint Andrew's Golf Club, which is an all men's club. You
don't just meet anybody there, it's you know. So I'm like, okay,
what do I wear? Of course that's what I wan't going to say.
Put on a black jacket, black pants, heels, blah blah blah,
walk straight into the Royal and Ancient golf Club. I had no idea
they were having a black tie affair. I said, I think I'm in
the wrong place. I said, oh, no problem, he said,
where do you I'm not going to do a Scottish accent. I'm terrible at
it. What are you looking at? For? Us? At the St
Andrew's Golf Club? Right right over there, that door, right across from
the eighteenth green on the old course. I mean, I'm right here on
the old course. Here's the club. So I walk over, I walk
in, I meet my tour operator and his best friend, who's who was
Alan, and Alan was at that time vice captain of the Saint Andrew's Golf
Club. He took care of our group for Adrian because they were good friends.
So when my group came in, he treated them all the drinks.
He you know, really took care of us during our run. And that
was special for them because they were in a local, local club. Sorry
about my my puglet, here's making some noise. So that was amazing.
And anyway, so I brought another group over later that year. Alan did
the same thing for us, and my first group said, you know,
Tara, this this guy was really great with us. We want to treat
him. He's never been to the States before. Can you make the call
bring him over? I said absolutely, So I call Alan. I said,
listen, you've been invited. If you can come to you know,
the Napa Valley, we would love to have you. And sure enough he
was there a few weeks later. It was the end of the season that
yeah, yeah, it was the Silverado group that wanted to entertain him.
Yeah, it's silverto and I was had a really wonderful I don't ever talk
names about my clients ever, but this one I just will throw it out
there because it had everything to do with how we're together. One of my
time my clients was Thomas Keller at the time, who, as you know,
owns the French Laundry. And I said, Thomas said, I don't
know. I don't know what I'm going to do with this guy Ham.
We're going to kind of entertain He's like Terry, he's playing golf. He's
like, does he eat food? I said, yeah, I'm sure he
eats food. Thomas, he said, bring him to the restaurant and I
said, are you sure. I was like, which one? He said,
whichever one you want. I said, well, that's pretty amazing.
So he made reservations for us at his restaurant and that was Alan and my
first kind of one on one. He flew into San Francisco, brought him
up to NAPA and that was our one on one and after wonderful, incredible
three hour meal, I said, you know, there's just something about this
guy. And I said, listen, you're not allowed to go home until
you have a trip back. I was single at the time, and he
was just amazing. So that was our first date the French Laundry. From
there, it just got better. So we had our connection as the Andrews,
I know it was. It was incredible. They he played golf all
all week and that was our Yeah, that was our first experience. He's
just an incredible, incredible human being. His wife had passed year prior and
he was just on this way. I wasn't sure what he was going to
do, but hit the connection there was really really important. So that's what
came of TMI Golf. My instructional kind of my own travel ended up being
Alan and Saint Andrew and so we brought started bringing groups to Saint Andrew's still
going to Ireland and now we're bringing groups to Portugal and Spain, the Costa
all Soul we do. We're probably going to do southern France soon. So
it's just kind of where we want to go is where we we bring our
people, but we also those who want to bring people and group bring groups
of people. That's where we help best, where we can really create that
personal experience for them. And if it is Saint Andrews or the UK,
you get a local person with you, which Alan knows that town inside and
out. It's really incredible, so and he you know, the UK people
are him in particular. They would always vacation of Portugal, in Spain.
They wouldn't go to Ireland they was too cold there, right, they would
go to other places. So his knowledge of Portugal, of golf in Portugal
and in Costa all soul is amazing as well. So we just play all
his favorite courses and it's it's pretty phenomenal. We make it's fun and it's
fun. Yeah. So if you're thinking of taking a trip to the UK
or Portugal or Spain and want to do a golf trip, it's TMI golf
dot com. That's right, TMI golf dot com. So at least do
your investigation on that one. You got to figure that one out. I
think I'm going to be tapping into that t MII golf dot com next year.
Sometimes absolutely we do still looking forward, we do a lot of because
I do the trips as well. I do a lot of ladies trips as
well, so that's kind of But don't worry if you're a gent Alan still
contast us because Alan does all the trips there. So it's very very fun.
But ladies specifically, if you're a single, I want to go places,
give me a call. Yeah, I'm curious is how often do you
have a group of guys wanting to do a UK golf trip and all bring
their spouses, some bring their spouses or none bring the what's generally what happens
there? Yeah, it depends usually they is that it kind of they call
they have their group of guys that they want to They've been given permission to
go take a guy's golf trip, so that's all they call for. The
ladies will be a little bit more generous, be like, oh honey,
do you want to come on my golf trip? And that was where they
come to the couples, if that makes sense. So all my ladies are
allowed to bring their their significant others if they like. But yeah, it's
it's that's we do it all. We do it all. But the guys
do like to travel Together's funny because my my seventieth birthday will be in summer
of twenty twenty five. Congratulations every year away from that. Wow, Well,
I'm not there yet, so there's nothing. Congratulate me on you and
I still have to text there. As Charles Barkley said, I'm on the
back nine. I just don't know if I'm on ten or eighteen at this
point. It's so funny, right, But my wife recently told me,
she goes, you know what, for your birthday, they're seventieth, why
don't you do a golf trip to the UK with your buddies? And I'm
like, really, yeah, you can go, that's fine. And then
she told one of our friends and the wife said, I'd love to go
on that you want to go? And my wife's like, uh, I
didn't even think of that, And I'm like, don't, don't think about
that because that changes the trip. I mean, I've done golf, you
know, in the United States. I've done golf trips with friends on an
annual basis, and it's just like, uh, I feel it would feel
awful to bring you along because I'm not going to be with you much at
all. You know, even after the round, we're hanging out, we're
laughing, we're you know, we're doing silly things and it's not something I
would do around you. I know. It does go both ways, and
if you do end up bringing her, we keep them very busy. We
keep the significant others if they're non golfers, pretty busy during the day.
If they want to do touring, there's tons of castles or lots of things,
so they won't be missing you much. But yeah, there are so
many. Saint Andrews is such a friendly town and you don't even you don't
need much transportation, just walking around and just being there. It's a really
it's a very special place, certainly for myself but most luckily for me.
Yeah, luckily for me. My wife's not looking for just spas and shopping,
although okay it's on the list, but you know, a lot of
hiking, a lot of nature. Yeah, that's a lot of interacting with
locals. That's what she wants to do. That's what we like to do
right when we travel. I love that so great, So tomigolf dot com.
Yeah, and your website for your golf instruction, do you give remote
lessons as well? Yes, I do, Usually you would fly into Las
Vegas. I also do workshops for ground your it's groundeurgolf dot com and or
you can do ton intuitive golf pro dot com. I do both. I
have workshops. I do one on one instruction. We also put to gather
some grounded golf trips, which are fun as well because it in concludes that
space of on the course training. If that makes sense. So making sure
everybody's grounded learning how to ground learning those techniques, It's just it just makes
a huge difference to your game, especially under pressure. Awesome. All right,
So TMI golf dot com, ground your golf dot Com and what was
the third one? Oh? Or Intuitive intuitive golf pro dot com. They're
both the same, ground your Golf or Intuitive golf pro dot Com. They're
both the same. They point to the same space. The travel will be
TMI golf. Okay, and why did you get a second? Was ground
yourgolf dot Com? After the book came out? That was the book for
two different Yeah. Well I wasn't the Intuitive Golf Pro until after that book.
So that's when everybody started coming to me for golf lessons. That meant
that were a little bit deeper. That's where intudo Golf program. But I
don't want several different websites. I just want it's all in one space which
just points to it. Your golf had to be because my publisher was like,
you need a website to take people to, and Grounded Golf was taken,
I think, and stay grounded is a is a coffee. It's a
coffee trademark. I mean it's pretty funny. So yeah, it's ground your
golf, so it's more verb and it's what we do every day when you're
on the course. This is great, Tara Fox, thank you so much
for spending this time with us and getting us grounded in the conversation and in
our minds and in our game. Really appreciate it. Thanks, Thanks Fret,
thanks for having me on. It's a pleasure to be here. And
congratulations your longest running podcast. This is it's amazing what you've done for for
our game, and it's just a pleasure to hear what you have going every
week. It's very exciting. Thank you. Well, thank you too.
Well, it's not the longest running podcast, but I'm pretty sure that Golf
Smarter is the longest running golf podcast now in our nineteenth year. Now,
I just want to let you know that there's a part two of this conversation
with Tara about the TMI Golf Travel Company that is going to be a five
minute episode, or should I say it's a five minute invitation that's going to
be published as a standalone episode immediately after this one, so please don't miss
it. Now. I've mentioned many times how much fun it would be to
play golf together. Besides the golfers who live and visit the San Francisco area
that I've played with, the golf Smarter community has taken two trips together years
ago to Prague and Scottsdale, Arizona, and we had an incredible time.
Well, TMI Golf and golf Smarter are partnering up to give us more opportunities
to play together and check off some of the world's greatest golf courses from our
bucket lists. There is some urgency here as space is limited, but please
click on the next short episode of golf Smarter titled Golf Smarter Adventure Invitation.
You may have noticed in your podcast feed that you're now getting two episodes of
golf Smarter each week. Golf Smarter Mulligans, the best of our archives that
are no longer available anywhere, is now part of your free golf Smarter subscription,
so you'll get a new episode on Tuesdays and the gems from our archives
each Friday. As we've been doing the last couple of years, we're starting
off the new golf season with Tony Manzoni. All episodes between twenty ten to
twenty eighteen, where we were blessed with Tony's instruction before he passed away in
twenty eighteen. In this series, we're talking to Tony about his incredibly effective
single pivot swing as discussed in his book and video of The Law Lost Fundamental.
Thanks go out this week to our newest Golf Smarter Ambassador, Brian Gursano
of Toronto, Canada. Brian chose to receive the free link to Tony Mansoni's
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