My Coaching Philosophy

The most important thing I do is help people enjoy their golf more. So few golfers I play with seem to get much pleasure from a round of golf. They may start with high expectations, but more often it becomes an ordeal to be overcome, with enjoyment and satisfaction entirely dependent on the score or result. This approach leads to pressure, getting in your own way and frustratingly bad golf. Hopefully I can help you understand how and why this happens, and help you get as much enjoyment and pleasure from the game as possible.

The first thing I help people understand is that learning is something that humans do very well. From the minute we are born we are developing and aquiring new skills.  A child doesn't need to read a book or go to classes to learn how to walk or how to talk. He simply intereracts with what is around him and tries and fails, tries and fails a little better, tries again and again until he gets it.  Unfortunately adults have a habit of overcomplicating the process rather than working with what is a very simple and natural ability we are all born with. That isn't to say that the process cannot be helped by some sympathetic guidance and prompting in the right direction.

The more I learn about the game of golf the more I become convinced of the importance of the basics, the fundamentals, of working with your body, rather than fighting it. If you get your hands on the club correctly, stand to the ball with good balance and posture, and make a good turn back and through, you will play some very nice golf. Golf is a simple game, but not an easy one. The golf swing itself is a simple movement, which unfortunately some people seem to want to make more complicated than it needs to be.

Five years ago I came across Chuck Quinton and his Rotary Swing Model.  The Rotary Swing evolved out of Jim Hardy's concept of the One Plane Swing, but Chuck has developed it into the most bio-mechanically correct swing model currently available. What I love about the Rotary Swing, is that it gives me as a coach, a set of biomechanical laws to work from, just as we have a set of ballistic laws to understand ball flight, and mechanical laws to understand the way the golf club works. Every student is unique, but our joints and muscles are all designed to work the same way. The challenge as a coach is to find the best way to help the individual feel the movement of their golf swing, to learn it, understand it and then to own it.  Chuck has put together a step by step programme to break the movement down into easily learned chunks, so progress is systematic and measurable. 

I want to help my students learn the basics as quickly and easily as possible, so they can enjoying hitting good golf shots straight away. This is why I use the Explanar Golf Training System, especially with beginners. The sooner someone starts hitting good golf shots, the more enjoyment they begin to get from the game. It isnt't about the swing, it's about the shot. In my experience people don't get especially excited about making a great golf swing. They do get a tremendous amount of enjoyment and excitement from hitting a great golf shot.

The next stage is helping a golfer take their best golf from the lesson tee or driving range to the golf course. This is something many club golfers find difficult and frustrating, because it involves a change of mindset. On the practice ground, the focus is on swinging the club. On the course you need to know how to play the game. It means focusing on the short game, putting, and course management as much as the golf swing. I can help you learn key mental skills such as clearing your mind in readiness to hit the shot, visualisation so you can see the shot you want to play before you play it, and simple strategies to control nerves and anxiety, so you don't sabotage yourself when you get into important situations.

Taking your best game to the course and then into competition is the biggest challenge facing the golfer at any level, and one which I have struggled with myself over the past ten years. My Coaching Philosophy flows out of what I have learned over 25 years of playing the game at a high level and guides everything I do in terms of helping other golfers learn and improve their games.

The game of golf and the golf swing, are not the same thing. The swing is a small (but important part) of playing the game. If you would like to know more about the golf swing I teach, and use myself, please follow this link.