Fancy Footwork

At our most recent Coach Camp, I had the opportunity to learn from Kevin Duffy. Kevin is trainer to a number of the world’s best golfers and shared a few of his insightful ideas pertaining to the golf swing. Watch…

Kevin advocates so much more than I’m capable of sharing with you here today, but a few of my take aways were:

1. We should pressure the ground in the golf swing in a similar fashion to when we walk

2. When walking we start with heel contact and pressure then transitions to the mid-foot, the pinkie and finally the big toe

3. In the backswing the trail foot works as if we were walking backwards - big toe, pinkie, mid-foot and then heel

4. The downswing is the opposite of the backswing with the trail foot moving from heel, to mid-foot, to pinkie and finally big toe

This may sound complex, but stand up and give this a try right now! It always amazes me when I do this how my hips rotate beautifully coming into the “strike”.

Here is a before and after image of a student I worked with recently where all we focused on was the sequence of pressure movement under each foot. You’ll not only notice how much more his hips have rotated through impact, but also how much better the arms and club face are positioned.

Give this a try the next time you head for the practice ground and let me know how things worked out.

Thanks for your readership and support in 2018! I can promise more of the same quality of information for 2019. Have a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and may you be blessed in the New Year. Cheers!

Coach Camp London

If you're a coach or a golf professional you may have heard about Coach Camp. If you've been fortunate enough to attend one then you already know what it's about. If you haven't and would like to learn more then this 90 seconds is for you...

When the idea for Coach Camp was hatched I wanted it to be something that made a significant change in the way coaches and professionals helped students improve, operated their business and marketed what they do. It has and always will be "Two days of industry leading coaching information designed to positively enhance the course of your career."

Chuck Cook Teaching at Coach Camp USA

The feature presenters in London will be coaching legend Chuck Cook, putting guru David Orr, biomechanics expert Scott Cowx and myself. We will also have Dr. Scott Lynn share his presentation on ground reaction forces. 

There will be live lessons, Q&A sessions, putting demonstrations and perhaps best of all - the cocktail party on Monday evening where we can get down to the nitty gritty questions you might have. All so that you can be more successful on the lesson tee!

Daily Itinerary

We will be at the Drift Golf Club in East Horsley outside London on September 25 & 26. Our title sponsors: KVEST3D; Swing Catalyst; TrackMan; and True Spec Golf will also have representatives on site. Not only will you be able to see this technology in action, but the company representatives will be able to answer any questions you might have. I hope you take advantage of this opportunity to learn from some of the best in our business.

Register for Coach Camp London HERE

Coach Camp Europe

Wow! What a fantastic ten days. Terri and I have just returned from Coach Camp Europe and we could not have been more pleased with the outcome of each event. After the success of the inaugural Coach Camp in South Carolina in February earlier this year we had received numerous requests from coaches in Europe to put on a similar event over there. We were blessed to have all the original presenters, Dana Dahlquist, Martin Chuck, Joseph Mayo and myself make the trip while managing to add brand guru and content creator extra-ordinaire, Mark Crossfield to the line-up.

On September 20th & 21st we kicked off just outside Brussels at Chateau de la Tournette hosted by teaching professional Alan McLean. There were almost 80 attendees with most of them traveling in from Holland. 

The weather was incredible and the outdoor segments were conducted in warm sunshine on both days. A highlight appeared to be the newly introduced 20-minute quick lessons that each presenter gave to golfers of various handicap levels. Or maybe it was the story Joe Mayo told about a porcupine living inside the head of a driver…

After Belgium we moved on to Dublin, Ireland where, on September 26th & 27th Stephen Ennis hosted us at Roganstown. Here there were 70 attendees with the majority being from the UK and Ireland. We did have two coaches come in from South Africa, a handful from Poland and a return attendee from Russia.

Having had some prior experience with Irish weather I was shocked when the sun came out on the first day. The second day might have been a bit chilly and windy but there was nothing we could complain about.

Each of the presenters was asked to speak on a topic of their choosing:

• Martin Chuck: What I’ve Learned

Martin took us through his approach to giving a lesson and the factors he felt were important in putting the student at ease and developing a relationship

• Dana Dahlquist: Swing Preferences

Dana shared a variety of swing patterns (CP & CF) with the group and spoke about what to look for from certain players

• Joseph Mayo: Trail Shoulder External Rotation

Joe regaled us with the value of trail shoulder rotation in the swing and it’s importance in getting the shaft to lay down correctly.

• Mark Crossfield: Coaching to Your Audience

Mark presented on his business brand and shared a number of valuable points. A highlight was his discussion on ‘exit strategy’ for golf coaches.

• Andrew Rice: What I’ve Learned

My theme explored what can we as coaches can do to make the game easier for all golfers. I presented on the importance of hand path, the face to path relationship and skill development. 

Dahlquist and Mayo

As per usual at these events the lunchtime and evening banter was second to none as this seemed to be the perfect opportunity to dig deeper on certain topics and swing elements.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the sponsors of both events, Foresight Europe and SwingCatalyst.  They provided the most incredible crew at each site and I do not stand alone in saying that each of the presenters was impressed with both the technology and support each company provided. In fact Dana Dahlquist purchased a SwingCatalyst.

Thank you to the sponsors, the presenters, the hosts and most of all the coaches who attended. Our objective is to make Coach Camp the premier coaching event in the world and we sincerely appreciate you joining us. It really was a blast!

I am currently working towards setting up a fresh, world-class list of feature presenters for Coach Camp 2017. The event will be held on January 30th and 31st at the Westin Savannah Harbor Resort in Savannah, Georgia. The line-up of feature presenters will be announced the week of October 24th (or sooner!). We will have 100 available spots for attendees this year, so please block off the Monday and Tuesday after the PGA Merchandise Show if you plan on attending. 

See you in Savannah…

Coach Camp Presentations

Coach Camp 2016 was a tremendous success and now you have an opportunity to learn from all the presenters as if you were there. From trending #1 on Twitter to all the rave reviews we've received I believe that whether you're a golfer or coach you will benefit from the information shared in seven plus hours of presentations available here.

The videos are broken into segments but unfortunately do not include Scott Fawcett's presentation as he opted to not include his proprietary information. The cost is $150 and is payable once you have registered at www.coachcampvideo.com.

The topics for each presentation are as follows:

Martin Chuck - Developing Your Teaching Style (59 min)

Dana Dahlquist - The Golf Machine and the "P" System (61 min)

Joseph Mayo - Wrist Angles, Hand Path and Sweet Spot Orientation (56 min)

Andrew Rice - Forward! Information and Tools to Help any Coach and Golfer Improve (52 min)

Live Lesson Golfer Evaluation 1 - In this segment each of the four main presenters evaluate a student and share how they would work to help this golfer improve (25 min)

Live Lesson Golfer Evaluation 2 - In this segment each of the four main presenters continue their evaluation and discuss a plan to move forward (28 min)

Dr. Morris Pickens - How to Practice and Improve Short Game (25 min)

Curious Coaches - Matt Wilson and Corey Lundberg discuss the Coaching Spectrum (47 min)

Business Development - Each of the feature presenters shares their ideas on what they are doing to grow their teaching business. (47 min)

On Range Driver and Wedge Session with Feature Presenters - Here the group discusses their favorite drills and ideas to hit drivers and wedges better. (82 min)

Question and Answer Session - numerous interesting questions along with a fabulous Joe Mayo segment on why it's important to keep the center of mass of the club out of line with the hand path. (68 min)

The videos will give you insight into what some of the top coaches and minds in the game of golf are working on to improve their students performance. They include individual presentations from Martin Chuck, Dana Dahlquist, Joe Mayo and Andrew Rice. Our guest presenters, Dr. Morris Pickens and Matt Wilson and Corey Lundberg from Curious Coaches are also featured. Perhaps one of the most insightful segments is the lesson evaluation each feature presenter did with 10 handicap golfer Karl Deblitz. There are also in depth discussions on wedge and driver play.

I am confident that whether you're  a golfer looking to improve your ball striking or coach looking to advance the quality of your information you will find these presentations to be immensely helpful. One veteran attendee echoed the sentiments of many others when he said, "This was the best education experience I have ever attended!" 

To make your purchase go to www.coachcampvideo.com 

NOTICE

It has come to our attention that privacy protected videos will not currently display properly using the iOS 9.3 system or Safari 9.1 on Mac.  This is a known issue with Apple that was caused by their latest update, and they are currently working to fix it.  On your Mac, you may use a different browser or an earlier version of Safari.  Unfortunately, your iOS device running 9.3 will not be able to display these videos properly until Apple releases a new iOS update.  We apologize for any inconvenience to our iOS 9.3 and Safari 9.1 users, Apple is working to correct the problem.

Coach Camp 2016

I am so excited to get the word out about this coaching event! For professional coaches and teachers only, Coach Camp 2016 will take place at Berkeley Hall in Bluffton, South Carolina on February 22 and 23, 2016. This will be two days of industry leading coaching information designed to positively enhance the course of your career.

The event is being sponsored by True Spec Golf, an innovative custom club-fitting operation that all golf coaches should know about and SwingCatalyst, the premier balance plate and 3D motion plate company in the game today.

Each presenter will be given an opportunity to discuss a topic of their choosing and there will be "panel" style discussions on wedges, driving, how to grow your business and even a lesson where each featured coach will share their thoughts on improving the same golfer. Something different and interesting!

Dinner on the 22nd is going to be special as Dr. Morris Pickens will share a few of his experiences being with Zach Johnson at the Open Championship at St. Andrews earlier this year.

Please be aware that this event is only open to 55 participants. For full details or if you'd like to register go to www.CoachCamp2016.com.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss sponsorship details please contact us HERE

I'm so looking forward to it and I sincerely hope you can attend!