Set your Goals and Go After Them
It really doesn't matter what level you are playing at now, you can get better. And helping you design that
plan to get better is a good golf coach.
I just attended a Golf Coaching seminar recently for our PGA section. A Mr. Henry Brunton was one of the presenters and he blew us away with some great information from his experiences and anecdotes. For instance the next Olympics in Brazil will include golf and how this is bringing more international attention to the sport and with it better training, science and coaching for athletes in golf.
Mr. Brunton is thought leader in the golf coaching space and has shared his vast coaching experience and details it in this book, High Performance Golf which I highly recommend for anyone with a serious passion to improve.
Mr. Brunton is a Top 100 PGA golf coach and has worked with most of top talent from Canada for the last ten years including Mike Weir, former Masters Champion.
His presentation was essentially bringing all the best practices from other sports into golf and I'm thrilled to share some of these with you.
Here's some important aspects to what a good coach will bring you:
- Help you identify your goals
- Give you a comprehensive physical screen
- Teach strategy and tactics course and game management skills
- Work with you to monitor, measure and reset goals as necessary
- Provide advice and strategies for improving
- Ensure that your equipment and ball is optimally fitted
And then the next steps:
- Teach you how to practice effectively
- Teach mental skills and strategies
- Teach the rules of golf
- Teach competitive skills- event preparation/ game plans
- Help formulate a detailed goal-setting program and training regimen
- Help establish a balanced and challenging competitive schedule
- Collect accurate data from rounds
- Teach proper nutrition and hydration
- Help create a strength training and flexibility regimen
- Communicate openly with the athlete, parents and collegiate coaches
- Encourage and support you on and off the course
Example of a follow-up letter I sent one of my elite junior golfers after nine-hole playing assessment
I enjoyed meeting you and having the opportunity to evaluate your daughter.
Here is my assessment and recommendations:
Strengths- Above average swing speed, confidence on full shots and she enjoys the game
Gaps- Mostly in the scoring zone. I'd like to see her track her putts and average 16 putts or better for nine holes. This will require lag putting practice and getting better at short putts. I told her I'd like to see her be able to make 15 four footers in a row as one of her practice exercises.
I'd like to see you guys sign up for this service that will help her quantify her rounds. From Shot by Shot, you can print out and she can start tracking her nines, http://www.shotbyshot.com/images/scorecard.pdf for us to review. Stats are huge in modern coaching!
Another area in her game for her to improve is for her to take advantage of her length off the tee is to finish with better wedge shots. She needs to learn how to deloft her wedge through impact. To essentially "cover the ball" with her body pivot to create more lag angle through impact. This will give her better compression and distance control.
Looking ahead- I think she can get onto a good college team if she stays motivated, gets good coaching and practices hard.
Suggested coaching program- Two private lessons and two supervised practice sessions a month with other golfers her age. This would be $300 a month.
Our course fully embraces the Youth on Course program ($1 rounds) and we have a great short game practice area and amazing par three course which I'd like to see her playing a lot to fine tune her scoring skills.
Next session- I'd like to bench mark her skills on my radar system at Alameda. This is a combine test of 60 shots and six different clubs. Here's a video describing this bench marking, http://mytrackman.com/public/trackman-combine-intro
Here's a slide show on the Long Term Development Program, http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/tpigreg-264945-parentnightvideo-tpi-junior-golf-parent-workshop-sports-ppt-powerpoint/
Find out more about my golf schools in Napa, www.krismoegolfschools.com
Golf coaching programs in Alameda, www.alamedagolf.com/kris-moe
Call me for more information, 707-529-6458.
