Speaker 1: Golf Smarter number three hundred and fifty five, published on
Speaker 1: October thirty one, twenty twelve. Trick or Treat.
Speaker 2: Welcome to Golf Smarter Mulligans, your second chance to gain
Speaker 2: insight and advice from the best instructors featured on the
Speaker 2: Golf Smarter podcast. Great Golf Instruction Never gets Old. Our
Speaker 2: interview library features hundreds of hours of game improvement conversations
Speaker 2: like this that are no longer available in any podcast app.
Speaker 3: I've had clients come in and say, you know why
Speaker 3: I should be I practice all the time.
Speaker 4: You know I should be able to repeat this.
Speaker 3: You know I should be able to hit a bunker
Speaker 3: shot or a pitch shot, or hit a t shot.
Speaker 4: Like Tyer Woods. I mean, I had people say that, and.
Speaker 5: I said, you know what if you told about the
Speaker 5: Tyler woodsy punch in the face right now? Why because
Speaker 5: he's one of the world's greatest athletes and he spends
Speaker 5: about five thousand percent more time working on his game.
Speaker 4: Than you, And why in the world would you deserve
Speaker 4: to hit it like Ken? Can we talk about this?
Speaker 3: Worrying on Golf's not about who hits the best, It's
Speaker 3: about who misses it the least people have to understand
Speaker 3: that in a coaching environment, if you're open, you are
Speaker 3: going to perform at a much higher level, and you
Speaker 3: should do that immediately. But to own it and take
Speaker 3: you to the course and stand there with half the
Speaker 3: people in your clut membership looking at you and rip
Speaker 3: it down the fairway just like coaches there. It's not
Speaker 3: going to happen until you deserve to have it happen.
Speaker 3: And that comes through that journey. And that's why golf
Speaker 3: is exciting because it takes a lot of hard work
Speaker 3: to play at a high level.
Speaker 4: It doesn't take a.
Speaker 3: Lot of hard work to experience great ball flight, but
Speaker 3: it takes a lot of hard work to own that
Speaker 3: ball flight.
Speaker 1: Jeff Ritter on his integrated approach to being a better golfer.
Speaker 1: This is Golf Smarter.
Speaker 6: Each week we tap the best minds in golf to
Speaker 6: help lower your scores with tips, drills, insights and advice
Speaker 6: in conversation with course pros, architect authors, players, teaching gurus
Speaker 6: and coaches.
Speaker 1: Here's your host, Fred Green. Welcome to the Golf Smarter podcast.
Speaker 4: Jeff, Hey, Fred, thanks again for having me.
Speaker 1: You're quite welcome. I need to apologize to the audience
Speaker 1: for being a little bit late. I know some people
Speaker 1: like to download this immediately, but I've had some technical issues,
Speaker 1: and strangely enough, this is the fourth time that Jeff
Speaker 1: and I are trying to record. We've recorded two episodes
Speaker 1: already and they disappeared, and so we're trying to get
Speaker 1: so we're really well rehearsed. This is the first time
Speaker 1: we've had a rehearsed Golf Smarter podcast. You ready, I
Speaker 1: am absolutely ready, Yeah, right, exactly, good time. Yeah, sure,
Speaker 1: we're par so, Jeff. One of the things, and we're
Speaker 1: gonna get right to it. I want to talk about
Speaker 1: your approach to integrated your integrated approach to coaching. You
Speaker 1: you bring in so many different elements, not just swing
Speaker 1: mcare annex and I know that technique is a big
Speaker 1: thing for you, but you bring in much more to
Speaker 1: your coaching approach.
Speaker 4: Yeah, thanks, Red.
Speaker 3: The integrated approach is really just trying to create an
Speaker 3: extension of the golf performance aspect of things. I mean,
Speaker 3: my expertise is in the technical aspect of how to
Speaker 3: change or improve your ball flight, you know, from tee
Speaker 3: to green. That's what people come to me for first
Speaker 3: and foremost on a daily basis. The things that I'm
Speaker 3: interested in personally and have been for a long time.
Speaker 4: You go beyond that. I'm really into too, fitness.
Speaker 3: I'm really into the mindset aspect of high performance in sport.
Speaker 3: And I'm also very much into nutrition now because as
Speaker 3: you know, my fiancee came in a row is a
Speaker 3: nutrition coach.
Speaker 4: So all these things.
Speaker 3: That you know I've engaged in on my own over
Speaker 3: time have led their way into my coaching. And what
Speaker 3: I've found is that that technical environment becomes a lot
Speaker 3: more filling and inspiring when you show people not just
Speaker 3: how to hit it a little bit better or putter
Speaker 3: chit better, but you show them how they can incorporate
Speaker 3: some of these other ideas using golf as a vehicle,
Speaker 3: and it doesn't only improve their performance on the course,
Speaker 3: but it also really improves it off the course as well.
Speaker 3: So it's sort of more fulfilling for me and it's
Speaker 3: more fulfilling for them, and it keeps me excited about
Speaker 3: going to work each day and the possibilities that exist
Speaker 3: within this vehicle that we call golf instruction.
Speaker 1: And this past summer, I want to catch up. It's
Speaker 1: been a while since we've spoken, and we'll talk about
Speaker 1: the individual elements of your integrated approach. But I think
Speaker 1: this is going to lead us to that this past summer,
Speaker 1: you were running the Nike Junior golf camps down in Monterey.
Speaker 1: How did that go?
Speaker 3: It was absolutely fantastic. We were there for us six weeks.
Speaker 3: We entirely sold the program out. We had a waiting
Speaker 3: list about sixty kids deep. And you know, it's not
Speaker 3: too bad being down there in Pebble Beach right in
Speaker 3: the middle of the summer, whereas an Arizona sweating my
Speaker 3: butt off.
Speaker 4: So I've been involved with.
Speaker 3: With Nike golf schools and junior camps for about ten
Speaker 3: years now. Actually, all the golf camps and football and basketball, baseball, soccer,
Speaker 3: anything that has a swoosh on it's actually run by
Speaker 3: a company out of San Raphael, near your area.
Speaker 1: Called US Sports are known as San Rafel.
Speaker 4: I guess so right, thanks for the correction.
Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, it's like you don't want to say Frisco.
Speaker 1: You got to call it San Francisco. It's you know,
Speaker 1: when any of you hear is San Raphael, you know
Speaker 1: they're from out of town San Rafel.
Speaker 3: Well, you know I'm from Lancaster, PA, which most people
Speaker 3: think is Lancaster, which is certainly not correct.
Speaker 1: So well and actually in southern California it is Lancaster.
Speaker 4: Yeah, well they're wrong.
Speaker 3: But I've been involved the company for a long time
Speaker 3: and last year around this time, they named me their
Speaker 3: national director of Instruction for the golf schools in the camp.
Speaker 3: So my first order of business was to really try
Speaker 3: and do the best job hossible, trying to run what
Speaker 3: we think is a world class experience, you know, in
Speaker 3: the Pebble Beach area. So you know, we've had kids
Speaker 3: that come from from all over the globe. It was
Speaker 3: so cool to see the kids show up and the
Speaker 3: parents shop, and you know, kids from Korea and China,
Speaker 3: and we had a kid from Russia and a kid
Speaker 3: from from Kuwait. And then I asked the kid from Kuey.
Speaker 3: I said, how in the world did you find this company?
Speaker 7: Said, you know, Google online, Sure, online, but I mean, obviously, uh,
Speaker 7: you know the name Pebble Beach, the area of Pebble Beach,
Speaker 7: it's it's you know, it's it's synonymous with excellence and
Speaker 7: excitement and the best golf in the world.
Speaker 3: So even though we don't actually play Pebble Beach. We
Speaker 3: do play a lot of Pebble Beach properties. We play
Speaker 3: Spanish Bay and Spyglass, and we played Delmani. We also
Speaker 3: take the kids to Poppy Hills, which is not owned
Speaker 3: by the Pebble Beach Company, but it's within that del
Speaker 3: Moni force, so you know, it's great golf. We put
Speaker 3: together one heck of a staff. I was very lucky
Speaker 3: to uh to get so many great coaches to come
Speaker 3: out and work with me, and I think it had
Speaker 3: a lot to do with the fact that the camps
Speaker 3: had a great reputation, but also that area is so
Speaker 3: charged with positive energy and everyone.
Speaker 4: Had a great time with it.
Speaker 1: Amazing. Is this an exclusive camp? I mean, do these
Speaker 1: kids have to try out audition to get involved now?
Speaker 4: Not at all.
Speaker 3: Actually, if they just go to US Sportscamps dot com
Speaker 3: forward slash Golf, they can actually search not only the
Speaker 3: Peddle Beach camps, but up to seventy nine other locations.
Speaker 3: We're run camps like this throughout the country and there's
Speaker 3: different skill levels. We have the regular camps, which are
Speaker 3: open to all abilities ages ten to eighteen, and then
Speaker 3: we have the advance camps in the literary ture. We'd
Speaker 3: like to have the advanced campers be passionate about the game.
Speaker 3: They're going to hit a lot of golf balls, They're
Speaker 3: going to be doing a lot of walking. So if
Speaker 3: they're playing on high school golf teams, if they have
Speaker 3: that mindset towards maybe playing in college someday, it's important
Speaker 3: that they're honest with where they are.
Speaker 4: Because when they show up, they're going to get a
Speaker 4: lot of golf.
Speaker 3: So if there's a parent out there that says, I'm
Speaker 3: just going to put them in the advanced camp so
Speaker 3: much that the instruction is any different, because the coaching
Speaker 3: staff is the same for both weeks, it's just that
Speaker 3: the environment's a lot more more intense. So if your
Speaker 3: child is just getting involved with the game and you
Speaker 3: throw them in there with a bunch of, you know,
Speaker 3: stud high school athletes, they might not have a very.
Speaker 4: Good time because they're going to feel like they're way
Speaker 4: behind the curve.
Speaker 3: So it's just important that you know, kids and parents
Speaker 3: are honest with their ability level and realize that no
Speaker 3: matter what camp they go into, the coaches are the same,
Speaker 3: and the coaches are trained to give the kid exactly
Speaker 3: what they need based on their skill level.
Speaker 1: I love when you mentioned they're honest about what their
Speaker 1: game is. And that is not exclusive to child golfers,
Speaker 1: to young golfers, junior golfers. I would think for all
Speaker 1: of us. Is that something that you do with each
Speaker 1: of your students, You talk about or you try to
Speaker 1: get them to be honest about where their game is.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I try and get them to be honest about
Speaker 3: where it is, but I also try and get them
Speaker 3: to be honest or authentic about where they'd like it
Speaker 3: to go. You know a lot of people they come
Speaker 3: in for a lesson, and you know, only only ten
Speaker 3: percent of golfers, for it, take golf lessness. So's there's
Speaker 3: ninety percent of people that play golf out there that
Speaker 3: are not actively engaging in a coaching environment, whether it
Speaker 3: be in person or online.
Speaker 1: And isn't it only ten percent of golfers ever break
Speaker 1: one hundred.
Speaker 3: I don't know those numbers, but yeah, it's a hard game. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it is very is a very hard game. So every year,
Speaker 3: just as many people that get turned on by the game,
Speaker 3: they get they get turned off by the game. So
Speaker 3: it's really up to us as coaches in an industry
Speaker 3: to get people excited about their games and excited about
Speaker 3: this experience that we call golf, and to find ways
Speaker 3: that make them want to stick with it, and the
Speaker 3: fact that the game is so hard.
Speaker 4: Is a little bit of a challenge, you know.
Speaker 3: I've always kind of liked this idea that if I'm
Speaker 3: going to try something and I'm going to stick with it,
Speaker 3: I want to be mediocre fast, you know what I mean,
Speaker 3: I'm going to put some skis on my feet or
Speaker 3: strap on a snowboard. If I'm falling down the mountain
Speaker 3: all day, then the next day, you know, I'm going
Speaker 3: to figure out something else to do.
Speaker 4: That, you know, is a little bit encouraging. And the
Speaker 4: same thing with golf.
Speaker 3: If you're missing it and losing balls and it's taking
Speaker 3: you forever and you're just not having a good time
Speaker 3: with it, then why would you come back? So it's
Speaker 3: really up to coaching to be able to reveal to
Speaker 3: people very quickly how good they can actually be. And
Speaker 3: when people start to get a taste of what it's
Speaker 3: like to have success, they want to come back for more.
Speaker 3: And once you do that, you can sort of out
Speaker 3: inline what the journey is going to be like, you know,
Speaker 3: there's never going to be a day when you say, hey,
Speaker 3: I absolutely.
Speaker 4: Have it and you have it forever.
Speaker 3: You see with tour players, you know, one day they
Speaker 3: go out and shoot sixty two.
Speaker 4: The next day they go out and they miss the cut.
Speaker 3: So it's all about embracing the challenge associated with the game.
Speaker 3: But very early on people have to have that taste
Speaker 3: of success. And as it relates to the people that
Speaker 3: are already involved with the game.
Speaker 4: You know, Fred, about.
Speaker 3: About seventy percent of my clients are from from outside
Speaker 3: of Arizona, which is which is an amazing thing.
Speaker 1: And really incredible because you know, there's so many golf
Speaker 1: instructors who are struggling to get any clientele at all,
Speaker 1: let alone have them from out of town. I mean,
Speaker 1: you said only ten percent of golfers take lessons.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And the thing is that a lot of that
Speaker 3: was due to very active in social media, you know,
Speaker 3: as you know, I've got my YouTube channel at almost
Speaker 3: five million views.
Speaker 7: Now.
Speaker 3: Right before we got on the phone, I talked about
Speaker 3: two clients that I've actually secured my services to fly
Speaker 3: to Sydney, Australia and spent about two weeks coaching then
Speaker 3: down there.
Speaker 1: But the thing, did they discover you on YouTube?
Speaker 8: Is that?
Speaker 1: Is that how they found you?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 4: They sure did.
Speaker 3: Wow found me on YouTube and they came out here
Speaker 3: the last two years and spent about a month working
Speaker 3: with me, and then this year they just decided to
Speaker 3: stay in Sydney and offer me a trip out there.
Speaker 3: I've never been before. We had talked about doing something
Speaker 3: special down there, So we're going to go out there
Speaker 3: and coach them up a little bit, get they'm ready
Speaker 3: for the tournament season, but also try and meet some
Speaker 3: of their other fellow tour pros that they work with,
Speaker 3: and also maybe meet some business contact and see if
Speaker 3: we can't do something on more of a regular basis.
Speaker 3: But the thing is that, you know, people have, you know,
Speaker 3: different experiences with coaching, and when somebody gets on an
Speaker 3: airplane to come out to see me, a lot of
Speaker 3: times they're looking at.
Speaker 4: Me as sort of their last resort, so to speak.
Speaker 3: They've been frustrated with the game for whatever reason in
Speaker 3: their local market, they hadn't been able to make that turn,
Speaker 3: so to speak, and they come out to see me
Speaker 3: because they're looking for an answer, you know, and if
Speaker 3: they don't get an answer, their enjoyment for the game
Speaker 3: is probably going to be extinguished.
Speaker 4: You know, so I take a lot of.
Speaker 3: You know, care and time into trying to come up
Speaker 3: with a plan that's going to get them excited about
Speaker 3: their game again. And that comes down to very quickly
Speaker 3: showing someone, you know, how they can hit it better
Speaker 3: than they ever hit it before in a short period
Speaker 3: of time. Or make that one swing change that you
Speaker 3: know they've worked on for years and they hadn't been
Speaker 3: able to change, and all of a sudden, wham, you know,
Speaker 3: in fifteen minutes they see it.
Speaker 7: You know.
Speaker 3: That's the thing that's exciting to me. And once I
Speaker 3: get people believing in themselves, then it's really easy to
Speaker 3: start introducing them to some of these other components that
Speaker 3: we call the integrated approach. You know, so if somebody
Speaker 3: comes back, you know, a year from now and they go,
Speaker 3: you know what, you know, I won my club championship,
Speaker 3: but I also lost twenty pounds. You know, those kind
Speaker 3: of those kinds of things come from, you know, and
Speaker 3: that one experience in the golf performance aspect of things,
Speaker 3: and you know, as it relates to this whole integrated approach,
Speaker 3: it's it's golf performance it's mindset, it's fitness, it's nutrition.
Speaker 3: But people out there have to realize that I'm not
Speaker 3: the mindset expert, and I'm not the fitness expert, and
Speaker 3: I'm not the nutrition expert. I have a team of
Speaker 3: people around me that fill that role. But but my
Speaker 3: whole expertise is golf performance. I'm just using that lesson
Speaker 3: experience that time there to be able to do the
Speaker 3: best I can do to help them make the turn
Speaker 3: with their ball striking. And then from there, if they
Speaker 3: want to dabble and get involved with some of my
Speaker 3: other coaches in my network, as I hope they do,
Speaker 3: then I think that they're primed for an amazing experience.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to hold you to these numbers, but
Speaker 1: when you say only ten percent of golfers take lessons.
Speaker 1: Of that ten percent, how many do you think take
Speaker 1: more than one lesson? I mean, is it a lot like, Oh,
Speaker 1: I'm going on vacation this week, I need a lesson,
Speaker 1: and it's like the only time they ever take a lesson.
Speaker 4: Well, boys, it's hard to say.
Speaker 3: I'm actually a member of this business group called the
Speaker 3: Proponent Group.
Speaker 4: It's actually run by a.
Speaker 3: Gentleman named Lauren Anderson who used to be with a
Speaker 3: golf magazine, Preeer.
Speaker 4: So he throws out.
Speaker 3: These stats all the time to us as members because
Speaker 3: we need to learn about the market that we're dealing
Speaker 3: with as coaches and what opportunities exist. So I don't
Speaker 3: know what that answer is, but after this conversation, I'm
Speaker 3: going to ask him what that is, because you're right,
Speaker 3: some people might go out for that one lesson and
Speaker 3: be totally turned off.
Speaker 4: This is way too hard. I didn't get it. I
Speaker 4: did better before I even showed up.
Speaker 3: Whereas another segment of the population might have that great
Speaker 3: coaching experience where they want to develop something that's more
Speaker 3: personal and ongoing with more of a game plan.
Speaker 4: And you know we've talked.
Speaker 3: About in the show before that there's two different kinds
Speaker 3: of lessons, right, we said, there's corrective lessons and there's
Speaker 3: developmental lessons. And the corrective lesson is when you know,
Speaker 3: Fred Green shows up on my lesson team when he's
Speaker 3: on vacation and says, you know, hey, Jeff, I am
Speaker 3: slicing it out of balance.
Speaker 4: Can you help me because.
Speaker 3: I had to play the Raven Golf Club Phoenix tomorrow
Speaker 3: and I want to play really well. I've been looking
Speaker 3: forward to this. I mean, that's a corrective lesson and
Speaker 3: one can I get your ball in between the trees.
Speaker 3: The developmental lesson is when you come out and you say, hey, Jeff,
Speaker 3: you know I'm a ten handicap, I want to play
Speaker 3: like a five, or I want to play like a
Speaker 3: stretch or I had this goal to win the club championship.
Speaker 4: You know, that's more of an ongoing relationship.
Speaker 3: So from a coaching perspective, you've got to be able
Speaker 3: to show people the light, you know, very quickly in
Speaker 3: both of those circumstances. Otherwise you're not going to be
Speaker 3: able to get them to number one, enjoy the game
Speaker 3: if it's corrective, or even come back to the game
Speaker 3: if it's developmental.
Speaker 1: What I'm curious to know when when somebody comes to
Speaker 1: you most of the time, are they just saying, I
Speaker 1: just need to be consistent, you know? Is that what happens?
Speaker 1: It's because that's what I hear a lot on the
Speaker 1: golf course. God, if I was only consistent, I'd be
Speaker 1: so much better. It's like, really, you think that's all
Speaker 1: it takes?
Speaker 3: Yeah, Sometimes they say that, and sometimes as you say, well,
Speaker 3: let's just you know, remove the good one and then
Speaker 3: you'll be consistent. We'll just take that nice powerful draw
Speaker 3: out of the mix and then then all will be
Speaker 3: rolling along the ground like like you've been hitting here.
Speaker 3: But you know, sometimes they say that, I mean that
Speaker 3: that's sort of the cliche thing to see because you know,
Speaker 3: they feel like, you know, they have the ability to
Speaker 3: hit quality shots, but they can't do it consistently.
Speaker 4: You know, another thing that happens with my clients a lot.
Speaker 3: I mean, I've been very blessed that the majority of
Speaker 3: my clients, I mean they have what I would call
Speaker 3: a high golf IQ And to me, that means that
Speaker 3: they're they're into the game. They practice multiple times per week,
Speaker 3: they enjoy playing in events at the club. You know,
Speaker 3: they're on YouTube and E golf, DIYED disc magazine. I mean,
Speaker 3: they are they're in it to win it, and they've
Speaker 3: been searching for for something. And you know, because everyone
Speaker 3: has phones now that that have cameras on them, people
Speaker 3: have seen their golf swings and they know what they
Speaker 3: want to work on.
Speaker 4: They just don't know how to how to fix it.
Speaker 3: So when people come to my lessons, a lot of
Speaker 3: times they're in many cases playing with or practicing with
Speaker 3: very good relevant ideas.
Speaker 4: You know, so they're not entirely lost, so to speak.
Speaker 4: It's just that they don't know how to how to
Speaker 4: make that change.
Speaker 3: So in a coaching environment, it's my job to stretch
Speaker 3: the player mentally and physically, uh to the degree that's
Speaker 3: necessary for them that actually make that change. Now, in
Speaker 3: some cases I have to present the entire entire plan
Speaker 3: to it, but it's kind of nice when a client
Speaker 3: comes in and they're halfway there and you show them
Speaker 3: that for them to accomplish their goal, or they're really
Speaker 3: not that far away.
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm gonna throw a curveball in this conversation because
Speaker 1: it occurs to me that and I'm definitely guilty of this.
Speaker 1: How do you know that you have the right coach?
Speaker 1: What is it that we should be looking for or
Speaker 1: how do we find a coach that works for us?
Speaker 3: The way that you know you have the right coach
Speaker 3: is that in that first lesson you should get better immediately.
Speaker 3: And that's putting a lot of pressure on coaches out there,
Speaker 3: But I'm telling you, if you take a golf lesson
Speaker 3: and the coach patch you on the back and says,
Speaker 3: don't worry, Fred, you're going.
Speaker 7: To get it.
Speaker 3: You're not okay, because if you can't do it when
Speaker 3: the coach is there, there's no way you're going to
Speaker 3: figure it out on your right. Now.
Speaker 4: I'm not saying that you have to hit perfect shots,
Speaker 4: but what you have.
Speaker 3: To be able to do is see contact in ball
Speaker 3: flight and results that are that are way different than
Speaker 3: you've had before, and if they're not perfect, in some
Speaker 3: way much much closer to what you're looking for. So
Speaker 3: if your issue is you hit the ball off the
Speaker 3: toe and you take huge dibts and you slice the
Speaker 3: ball to the right every time, if that's your pattern,
Speaker 3: at some point that lesson you should have a shallow,
Speaker 3: a centered hit and a ball that curves the other way.
Speaker 3: You know, if you see that that difference in flight,
Speaker 3: that's more to your liking, you know, then you can
Speaker 3: look at your coach and say, hey, you know you're
Speaker 3: onto something.
Speaker 4: I'm going to go ahead and stick with you in
Speaker 4: the program.
Speaker 3: But if you keep on seeing the same result, it
Speaker 3: means that the game plan is an accurate or the
Speaker 3: coach doesn't know how to stretch your mind and stretch
Speaker 3: your by to the point where you can actually make
Speaker 3: make that change. So I always tell people when they
Speaker 3: come out to my lesson, tee, you have a certain
Speaker 3: level of expectation, but I guarantee you that that my
Speaker 3: expectations of the learning environment and the results we're going
Speaker 3: to get are even higher. So I don't try and
Speaker 3: diminish someone's expectations. I try and increase their expectations, and
Speaker 3: then as a coach, make sure I deliver.
Speaker 1: And it's okay if we walk away from a lesson
Speaker 1: that there was no moments of okay, I got it.
Speaker 1: That we should try other coaches.
Speaker 4: Well, I mean people that they shouldn't.
Speaker 1: Worry about hurting their feelings right.
Speaker 3: Well, the thing is when people want to try on
Speaker 3: the coaches if they haven't seen any results, you know,
Speaker 3: and the results could be you know, it looks better.
Speaker 3: You know, I'm not reverse pivoting anymore. I'm finally getting
Speaker 3: my way to my front foot. My swing plane is flatter,
Speaker 3: like I mean, it's got to look better and perform better.
Speaker 4: But you know it's going to be a journey.
Speaker 5: I mean.
Speaker 3: The thing is that I expect people to improve immediately,
Speaker 3: but that doesn't mean that they are going to be
Speaker 3: granted with immediate ownership over the new skill level.
Speaker 8: You know.
Speaker 4: So here's the whole thing.
Speaker 3: I mean, you can change your ball flight right now,
Speaker 3: but to go to the first t and the second
Speaker 3: team and thirteen own that ball flight, I mean that's
Speaker 3: going to take you know, patience, will and discipline. It
Speaker 3: means you've got to go out there and you got
Speaker 3: to put in, put in the time.
Speaker 4: And I've had.
Speaker 3: You know, clients come in and say, you know why
Speaker 3: I should be I practice all the time. You know,
Speaker 3: I should be able to repeat this, you know, I
Speaker 3: should be able to you know, to hit a bunker
Speaker 3: shot or a pitch shot, or hit a t shot
Speaker 3: like Tyer Woods. I mean I have people say that,
Speaker 3: and I say, you know what if you told about
Speaker 3: the Tiger woodsy, you punch you in.
Speaker 4: The face right now.
Speaker 3: Why Because he's one of the world's greatest athletes, and
Speaker 3: he spends about five thousand percent more time working on
Speaker 3: his game then.
Speaker 4: And then you know why in the world would you
Speaker 4: deserve to hit it like him?
Speaker 3: You know, he puts all that time in. So we
Speaker 3: talked about this before. You know, golf's not about who
Speaker 3: hits the best. It's about who misses it the least
Speaker 3: people have to understand that in a coaching environment, if
Speaker 3: you're open, you are going to perform at a much
Speaker 3: higher level, and you should do that immediately.
Speaker 4: But to own it and take it to the core and.
Speaker 3: Stand there with you know, half the people in your
Speaker 3: club membership looking at you, you know, while they're holding
Speaker 3: their mint julips, and rip it down the fairway just
Speaker 3: like coaches there. It's not going to happen until you
Speaker 3: deserve to have it happen. And that comes through that journey.
Speaker 3: And that's why golf is exciting because you know, it
Speaker 3: takes a lot of hard work to play at a
Speaker 3: high level. It doesn't take a lot of hard work
Speaker 3: to experience great ball flight, but it takes a lot
Speaker 3: of hard work.
Speaker 4: To own that ball flight.
Speaker 1: Now, let's get back to the integrated approach and the
Speaker 1: different elements of it that requires more than one lesson
Speaker 1: or does that get all tied together when you meet
Speaker 1: with somebody on that first day.
Speaker 3: Well, I mean when people come out to see me
Speaker 3: for a lesson, they're coming out, you know from my
Speaker 3: time personally, which is dedicated to that area of golf performance,
Speaker 3: which is the technical aspect of what we're trying to
Speaker 3: do in terms of creating.
Speaker 4: A game plan. Now, as they learn more.
Speaker 3: About my brand and what I do, you know, then
Speaker 3: of course they can schedule additional time with a nutritionist,
Speaker 3: or they can schedule time, you know, outside of the
Speaker 3: lesson to go over and work with our fitness team
Speaker 3: or mindset coaches. So you're going to have to be
Speaker 3: willing to commit to spending some time outside of the
Speaker 3: lesson if you want that in person experience. But although
Speaker 3: the writing that I do, the stuff I do on YouTube,
Speaker 3: the stuff that's on my blog, it has valuable points
Speaker 3: of directions, so to.
Speaker 4: Speak, for all of these things. So I want people
Speaker 4: to be able to kind of see.
Speaker 3: What my brand is all about, to be able to
Speaker 3: read something or see something on video and start to
Speaker 3: put it into their lives. And if they really want
Speaker 3: to get deep into it, then of course they can
Speaker 3: engage in that one on one interaction with a part
Speaker 3: of my performance team.
Speaker 1: I recently received an email from you about your new
Speaker 1: initiative called make the Turn, and is this all part
Speaker 1: of your integrated approach and explain it please?
Speaker 4: It is it is make the Turn.
Speaker 3: It's really a it's a high performance lifestyle based initiative,
Speaker 3: you know, to try and get people excited about the
Speaker 3: game and to get people in position to experience you know,
Speaker 3: great success and amazing things. You know, in all these areas.
Speaker 3: Golf performance mindset fits nutrition. So when you make the turn,
Speaker 3: it's when that level of possibility is revealed to you
Speaker 3: and you feel like it's it's attainable. You know, it's
Speaker 3: when people are authentic with their desires. We've used that
Speaker 3: word before, but they realize that those desires are also
Speaker 3: visible and within reach and those sometimes those are you know,
Speaker 3: how we think, you know, throughout the day.
Speaker 4: Sometimes there are the.
Speaker 3: Things that we eat and how they make us make
Speaker 3: us feel. It's how strong and how flexible we are,
Speaker 3: and you know whether or not we like walking around
Speaker 3: or for a joint sort of back hurts. And of
Speaker 3: course then it's going to the golf course and you know,
Speaker 3: being able to see that ball sing through the air
Speaker 3: and hint, the golf ball grade is the amazing feeling,
Speaker 3: you know, and the more you can do that, you know.
Speaker 4: Level of enjoyment, entertainment goes up.
Speaker 3: So just trying to create a platform through this program
Speaker 3: to get people dialed into this whole lifestyle based approach
Speaker 3: to playing well and living well, and I really think
Speaker 3: that they're very closely intertwined, and there's so many opportunities,
Speaker 3: not only in a golf lesson or in a coaching relationship,
Speaker 3: to be able to tap into some of these other
Speaker 3: areas which are really powerful as well. So one of
Speaker 3: the things that we're doing with the Turning Initiative to
Speaker 3: get people really dialed in is we're going to have
Speaker 3: a fifty two week make the Turn Weekend challenge program
Speaker 3: and it's going to be done through Facebook. So once
Speaker 3: we get all the challenges shot and dialed in, people
Speaker 3: be able to go to my Facebook page, which is
Speaker 3: jeffard or Golf, and on Friday, first Friday we start,
Speaker 3: you'll have a performance based.
Speaker 4: Challenge in the area of golf performance.
Speaker 3: The next Friday it will be a mindset challenge, and
Speaker 3: then it goes on to a fittest challenge and then
Speaker 3: a nutrition challenge. So it's basically getting up in the
Speaker 3: morning ford and seeing something in one of these four
Speaker 3: area that's going to give you a sense of purpose
Speaker 3: as you go to the golf course or as you
Speaker 3: move throughout.
Speaker 4: Your day and one of the things with golf.
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, we've been talking about golf for
Speaker 3: a long time, and golf's been in magazines on TV,
Speaker 3: and you know, golf is all.
Speaker 4: Just tips, tips, tips, and you know, as a coach, I.
Speaker 3: Started really getting tired about looking at something that's just
Speaker 3: a tip that doesn't have any kind of purpose or
Speaker 3: movement behind it. So what I'm hoping to accomplish with
Speaker 3: this make the term challenge program is for someone to
Speaker 3: engage in each challenge and then be able to start
Speaker 3: seeing a positive change in their golf game, in their
Speaker 3: thought processes, in their nutrition, in their their waistline, and
Speaker 3: how their body feels, and at the end of the
Speaker 3: year look back and say, Wow, that program got me
Speaker 3: dialed and it was fun to participate in. And not
Speaker 3: only do I play better, but I feel better, I
Speaker 3: think better, and I'm glad that I participated in it.
Speaker 1: I'm intrigued. What is the time commitment your and are
Speaker 1: there report cards? I mean, how does that work? And
Speaker 1: how much are we supposed to be doing each week
Speaker 1: with each challenge?
Speaker 4: Well, it's it's a very low time commitment.
Speaker 3: For example, a golf performance challenge might be as simple
Speaker 3: as if you're going to go to the range on Saturday,
Speaker 3: I want you to go ahead and complete this one
Speaker 3: short game drill for example. Some will be more difficult
Speaker 3: at some mobile bit easier, but it's not something where
Speaker 3: you have to spend all day doing it. It's just
Speaker 3: going out there instead of just whacking balls, you know,
Speaker 3: having some purpose behind what you're doing, and trying to
Speaker 3: create a benchmark for your performance. If it's a fitness
Speaker 3: based challenge, it's going to be something that you can
Speaker 3: hop out of bed and do in your living room.
Speaker 3: I'm not going to require people to go climb a
Speaker 3: mountain or go join a gym or anything like that.
Speaker 3: It's just the idea of creating momentum. And of course
Speaker 3: with nutrition, you know stuff that you can look at
Speaker 3: on a menu and make a choice that's a little
Speaker 3: bit different than what you normally make at.
Speaker 4: Your local clubs.
Speaker 3: So you know, life is all about rating momentum. Anyone
Speaker 3: who's been involved with fitness or running or anything like that,
Speaker 3: you know, once you get a little bit of momentum,
Speaker 3: a little bit of steam in your engine, it's.
Speaker 4: Amazing how much farther you can go.
Speaker 3: So this program is designed to get people started and
Speaker 3: to build momentum slowly over time, so that the sum
Speaker 3: of all the parts, so to speak, lead up to
Speaker 3: a much greater hole which is hopefully exciting and inspiring
Speaker 3: and gets people pumped to.
Speaker 4: Be involved in the game. That's all.
Speaker 3: That's what I'm all about, is helping people get pumped
Speaker 3: about their golf games. And because I've got this great
Speaker 3: team of people around me, you know, we have the
Speaker 3: ability to expand on that influence into these other areas
Speaker 3: as well.
Speaker 1: I'm pumped, I'm ready. And when does this begin? At
Speaker 1: jefferd or Golf. Got jefferd or Golf Facebook page, jefferd
Speaker 1: of Golf Facebook page, and when does when's the first
Speaker 1: challenge being issued?
Speaker 4: I'm hoping it's going to be out.
Speaker 3: I don't want to get the deadline here too close
Speaker 3: because we've got the holidays coming up. But I've been
Speaker 3: actively doing some video in some writing and putting the
Speaker 3: challenges together.
Speaker 4: So we'll have.
Speaker 3: About thirteen challenges in each category, but I would imagine
Speaker 3: in the next six weeks you'll start seeing them there.
Speaker 3: And one thing people can do is they can just
Speaker 3: go to my Facebook page, which is jeffer Golf. Another
Speaker 3: incentive form is fred, I'm giving away a pain Answer
Speaker 3: driver this month, so going to give away pay Answer driver.
Speaker 3: And it gave away one, We're going to give away
Speaker 3: another one. So all they have to do is like
Speaker 3: the page and they can actually register right there.
Speaker 1: Okay, and wait now, this is what you're talking about
Speaker 1: November twenty twelve this month or October twenty twelve this month.
Speaker 3: Well, actually we're going to give them away multiple months.
Speaker 3: So if somebody enters today and they don't win the
Speaker 3: next driver, they'll be enrolled to actually win either a
Speaker 3: driver beyond that or another prize. They've actually got a
Speaker 3: top secret sweepstakes giveaway in order, which is going to be.
Speaker 4: It's going to be big.
Speaker 1: Fred Am I eligible to it.
Speaker 3: I told you before if you want some one, man,
Speaker 3: I think that would be possible.
Speaker 1: Okay, I don't want to talk about it anymore then,
Speaker 1: so listen, here's what I would like to do. Because
Speaker 1: we've hit our time limit for today because I want
Speaker 1: to get to our score Zone Short Game Academy. But
Speaker 1: here's can you come back? We'll do another episode next week,
Speaker 1: a members only episode, and can I drag out of
Speaker 1: you a couple of these specific fifty two of your
Speaker 1: not all fifty two, but a couple of the make
Speaker 1: the Turn challenges for the next episode. Absolutely awesome. Okay,
Speaker 1: So for Golf Smarter members, you will get to hear
Speaker 1: some of the challenges that Jeff's going to be providing
Speaker 1: over the next fifty two weeks. So when he starts
Speaker 1: and we will speak to Jeff on the next episode
Speaker 1: and get some of these challenges. Okay, Jeffy All right?
Speaker 4: Fred sounds good, can't wait.
Speaker 1: It is time once again for the score Zone Short
Speaker 1: Game Academy with our wedge Guy Terry Kaylor Hi.
Speaker 8: Terry, Hi Bred. How are you doing.
Speaker 1: I'm doing well, thank you. I just want to remind
Speaker 1: all of our listeners that they can participate in this
Speaker 1: segment of the show. If you have a question about
Speaker 1: your short game, we invite you to go to Golfsmarter
Speaker 1: dot com and click on the button that says score
Speaker 1: Zone Short Game Academy and Terry along with his blog
Speaker 1: the wedge Guy dot com. Is that what the u
Speaker 1: r L is for your your blog?
Speaker 8: Yes, yes, it is.
Speaker 1: Okay, so yeah, he even addresses I've been reading the
Speaker 1: Wedge Guy blog and I've seen some of the questions
Speaker 1: that have come up on Golf Smarter on your blog.
Speaker 1: Thank you very much for doing that.
Speaker 8: Well, you know, people have questions. I want to provide
Speaker 8: answers when I can.
Speaker 1: And why not. And we actually have a question today.
Speaker 1: This one comes from longtime Golf Smarter listener and supporter.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Hugh Deandrade out of Summit, New Jersey, and
Speaker 1: he it's a very simple question, but I think it's
Speaker 1: a relevant one because I want this answer as well.
Speaker 1: It is, Terry. You frequently speak of the release. Would
Speaker 1: you please define and explain that term.
Speaker 8: Well, I'd love to, Hugh, thanks for asking, because I
Speaker 8: just out in Las Vegas last week and speaking to
Speaker 8: a group of LPGA teaching professionals and we got into
Speaker 8: a dialogue about proper release of the golf club and
Speaker 8: they all agree this is one of the most misunderstood
Speaker 8: parts of the golf swing. Is this thing we call
Speaker 8: the release of the golf club and the working with
Speaker 8: your short shots and your half swings, your chips and
Speaker 8: pitches is the easiest place to learn the real proper
Speaker 8: move and the release of the hands through impact because
Speaker 8: you're doing everything in slow motion and if you learn
Speaker 8: it and you learn a proper release on your on
Speaker 8: your short pitches and your half wedges. You can then
Speaker 8: migrate that if you will up into your short irons
Speaker 8: and your middle arms and all the way to your driver.
Speaker 8: The release of the golf club when we talk about that,
Speaker 8: is that the way the hands and the golf club
Speaker 8: react through the impact zone, and that that magic moment
Speaker 8: where the hands are moving from just behind the ball
Speaker 8: to a head of the ball, and the clubhead is
Speaker 8: moving from well behind the ball to well in front
Speaker 8: of the ball. It's very hard hard to do without video,
Speaker 8: but I'll give it my best shot. You'll stand and
Speaker 8: your listeners, if you'll take your club, your imaginary grip
Speaker 8: in front of you and you're you're looking right down
Speaker 8: at your thumbs, and if you'll roll it to where
Speaker 8: the club would be pointing dead to the right, so
Speaker 8: the back of your left hand, if you're right handed,
Speaker 8: is facing straight up in the air, and then roll
Speaker 8: it to the left so the back of your right
Speaker 8: hand is facing straight up in the air. That is
Speaker 8: the rotational release that has to happen through impact. It's
Speaker 8: not really an unhinging. And we talk about cocking our
Speaker 8: wrisks and releasing our risks. You're really not changing that
Speaker 8: that break is changing in your swing. But the release
Speaker 8: of the club is this rotational move from right before impact.
Speaker 8: If you will, if you, I mean, everybody, get up
Speaker 8: out of your chair and stand up. And I want
Speaker 8: to show you this because I think if you take
Speaker 8: your hand, your hands like an imaginary golf club, and
Speaker 8: you rotate them to where the back of your left
Speaker 8: hand is facing straight away from you and the club
Speaker 8: is parallel to the ground facing to your right if
Speaker 8: you're a right handed player, and then when you move
Speaker 8: the hands about a foot down the target line, and
Speaker 8: as you do, make a complete one and eighty rotation,
Speaker 8: so that when you move a foot down the target line,
Speaker 8: now your back of your left hand is facing straight
Speaker 8: down and the back of your right hand is now
Speaker 8: facing straight up. Do that back and forth cup. That
Speaker 8: rotational move is the magic move through impact that magnifies
Speaker 8: the power of the golf swing exponentially. It's the most
Speaker 8: it's if they're to me, that was Ben Hogan's secret
Speaker 8: that he never talked about. You heard it here first
Speaker 8: time The wedge Guy reveals Ben Hogan's secret.
Speaker 1: That's the very first time that had Ben Hogan's secret
Speaker 1: has ever been revealed on this show.
Speaker 8: Unbelievable from the wedge guy. So but Hogan talked about
Speaker 8: pronation and supernation and all this, but what he really
Speaker 8: meant is the rotate. And to me again, I said,
Speaker 8: my opinion is this rotation of the hands. And if
Speaker 8: you have a golf club in your hand and you
Speaker 8: do this, watch that I told you. You move your
Speaker 8: hands one foot toward the target from just behind the
Speaker 8: ball to just in front of the ball. But while
Speaker 8: you do it, you do this full one hundred and
Speaker 8: eighty degree rotation. While your hands move afoot, the clubhead
Speaker 8: moves about eight feet and that is a huge magnifier
Speaker 8: of power. It's an accelerator of your hands are moving
Speaker 8: one foot and the clubheads moving eight foot. That's an
Speaker 8: eight to one acceleration factor. And while you're doing that,
Speaker 8: you're rotating your body course, or your hands are rotating
Speaker 8: and they're staying right in front of your chest. And
Speaker 8: you actually release your hands by releasing the body. And
Speaker 8: you don't have to force this rotation, but let it happen.
Speaker 8: But it's not an unhinging And if you get into
Speaker 8: golf posture, I guess I'm have to get up out
Speaker 8: of my chair like here all the rest of us.
Speaker 8: If you get into golf posture, and you have this
Speaker 8: imaginary glove or real club in your hand, if you'll
Speaker 8: rotate your body in your hands together, but let your
Speaker 8: hands rotate so that the back of your left hand
Speaker 8: is facing straight away from you and away from your body,
Speaker 8: and the club is pointing directly behind backwards down the
Speaker 8: target line, parallel to the ground. So if you can
Speaker 8: and you've maintained this angle between your forms and the
Speaker 8: golf club, and then just pull the heel of your
Speaker 8: left hand from your right thigh across your left thigh,
Speaker 8: and at the same time rotate your hands so that
Speaker 8: the back of your right hand is now facing away
Speaker 8: from you as your hands past your left thigh, and
Speaker 8: do that one hundred and eighty degree rotation of the
Speaker 8: golf club. The hands move a foot, and look how
Speaker 8: far the golf club moves. The golf club moves from
Speaker 8: pointing way back behind you to pointing right down the
Speaker 8: target line. So you've taken this three and a half
Speaker 8: foot golf club, and you've moved your hands a foot,
Speaker 8: and you move that clubhead seven or eight feet there's
Speaker 8: a huge magnification of power there, and that applies in
Speaker 8: every shot in golf. And the hands don't unhinge, the
Speaker 8: hands stay close to your body and doing this so
Speaker 8: that your body core rotation can be faster, which is
Speaker 8: where all your power comes from.
Speaker 1: You know, as we record this, we're in the midst
Speaker 1: of the twenty twelve Major League Baseball postseason, and Terry's
Speaker 1: from Texas. I'm from Bay Area and in my Oakland
Speaker 1: areas kind of beat up on your Rangers and now
Speaker 1: the Giants are doing well as well. But my point
Speaker 1: is that with these super slow mo cameras that Fox
Speaker 1: keeps using, I have noticed that when they show a
Speaker 1: batter swinging the bat to hit the ball, the rotation
Speaker 1: like you're talking about of his hands as the ball
Speaker 1: as the back crosses the plate. Are you talking? Is
Speaker 1: this the same thing?
Speaker 8: It's similar. But if you look at when and as
Speaker 8: all of your viewers watch golf on TV and watch
Speaker 8: the destructional videos, really watch the pros with their short
Speaker 8: clubs because they're moving slower. Everything's happening slower, and you
Speaker 8: have a better chance of seeing it. But when you
Speaker 8: get an opportunity to look down the target line. You'll
Speaker 8: see a lot of times they'll have a camera angle,
Speaker 8: even in the magazines, from behind the golf and looking
Speaker 8: straight behind the golfer down the target line and look
Speaker 8: at the address position and the impact position. If you
Speaker 8: can get fortunate enough to see these with a wedge
Speaker 8: or a short iron in their hands, and their hand
Speaker 8: are hanging. Their arms are hanging straight down from the
Speaker 8: shoulder where the hands are in a very natural position.
Speaker 8: I mean, they're just hanging. They're not pushed out toward
Speaker 8: the ball. And as you take the club back and through,
Speaker 8: you want your hands to come right back through that
Speaker 8: exact position, and so the club has to rotate and
Speaker 8: maintain what I call the magic angle. And looking from
Speaker 8: this position, the arm is hanging straight down, but then
Speaker 8: it goes off at a sixty three or four degree
Speaker 8: li angle to the golf ball, and that's just what
Speaker 8: I call the magic angle, and that angle doesn't get straight. Now,
Speaker 8: the more powerful swing you make, the more the centrifical
Speaker 8: force of your body. Rotation is going to make your
Speaker 8: arms swing away from your body a little bit. But
Speaker 8: if you want to maximize the power of your golf
Speaker 8: swing consciously, think of keeping your hands close to your
Speaker 8: body as you turn through impact and letting those hands
Speaker 8: kind of come across your thighs if you will back
Speaker 8: through their address position, and you will find that you
Speaker 8: can swing easier and hit the ball harder than you
Speaker 8: ever have.
Speaker 1: Phenomenal. Thank you very much. Great explanation. It really clarified
Speaker 1: a lot for me, and now I have something to
Speaker 1: focus on on that that on my short game swing there.
Speaker 1: That's great. Thank you. All right, great question, Hugh, Good job.
Speaker 8: It was very good, Hugh. Thanks for asking that because
Speaker 8: I love talking about this topic. I like showing people
Speaker 8: this because it's the aha moment for most golfers when
Speaker 8: they really understand this concept of release.
Speaker 1: And over the last couple of shows, I'm sure that
Speaker 1: people have realized. And please keep submitting your questions. And
Speaker 1: your question, of course, may be something that's plaguing you
Speaker 1: in your game, but just think about the fact that
Speaker 1: you're not the only one. And the type of questions
Speaker 1: that Terry seems to be responding to are those that
Speaker 1: he knows he hears a lot from a lot of
Speaker 1: different people. So your your question may be about your game,
Speaker 1: but it also could be covering a topic for a
Speaker 1: lot of people. So the little little hint there on
Speaker 1: what to do?
Speaker 8: Do you agree with that, sir exactly? There are millions
Speaker 8: of golfers and there are dozens of problems, so everything,
Speaker 8: every problem somebody has is shared by thousands of other golfers.
Speaker 8: So please ask, please send it in. And there are
Speaker 8: no stupid questions. There are only questions that don't get asked.
Speaker 1: There you go. That's it for today, Terry, Thanks so much.
Speaker 1: We'll talk to you in a couple episodes and hopefully
Speaker 1: it'll be another question that will cover information for all
Speaker 1: of us.
Speaker 8: Well, I look forward to it, Fred, and we'll talk
Speaker 8: to you then.