Las Vegas Golf Schools
www.GoToGolfSchool.com
Call 1-800-679-2916

THE OVERLOOKED FUNDAMENTAL
The golf swing is first and foremost a motion. No matter how well accomplished someone may be at the static positions of the golf swing, a repeating motion is the cohesion that ties them all together. Since it is, it must adhere to some simple laws of physics…namely the law of inertia and centrifugal force. The law of inertia states that once something is in motion is will stay on its path and in its plane of movement unless an outside force acts upon it. Centrifugal force is simply the outward tug on an object that is rotating around a central point or axis. Take full advantage of these two forces and your golf swing will repeat like a dream, producing your desired results with uncommon and fantastic consistency. Get in the way and you will just as consistently produce results on the other end of the spectrum…completely undesirable. The golfer must in essence give up control to gain control. His muscle tone must be such as to allow these laws of motion to do their magic. Muscle tone is initially set up by the quality of the player’s grip. If the grip is on correctly, then the muscle tone can be quite light. The form of the grip literally creates the grip pressure. (Only for the least strong player’s new to the game might they feel like they have to actually hold on a bit.) This muscular attitude works its way into the arms and shoulders and down into the body, legs and feet. It is a tone that allows the body to move freely and athletically within a frictionless flow with ease, style and grace. It allows for consistency and natural speed. It encourages a natural and individual expression of rhythm and flow. This muscle tone allows for one of the most exhilarating feelings in golf…that of your arms being slightly pulled out of the ir sockets through impact. This is freedom, this is letting it go, and yet paradoxically, this is control. The longest clubs and some specialty shots such as shots from the rough, may need a little more muscle tone, while the shorter shots need a bit less tone indicating more finesse. Most players have a muscle tone tha t is way too hard and often stiff. If on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the muscle tone while watching TV or reading a book and 10 being the hardest and most tense muscles you have ever experienced, then perhaps a 2.2 to 2.5 is appropriate for golf. Most players I see are between 4 and 5. Let is one of the most important words in golf. Letting the swing proceed naturally in not only a great way to play golf with more ease and consistency, but it allows for a path of least resistance for learning because nothing is contrived or contorted. It is easy to help someone whose swing is based on momentum and free movement. This physical attitude helps to influence the proper mental attitude and emotional arousal as well. All will be in order. All will be poised. You will be able to express who you are and eventually who you want to be. May all your swings be free.

Las Vegas Golf Schools
www.GoToGolfSchool.com
Call 1-800-679-2916

HELP ME TO HELP YOU: GOLF INSTRUCTION
I believe that every teacher that has the desire to really help his students improve, teaches and coaches to the best of their abilities. However, that certainly does not mean that all teachers possess the same abilities. No one can teach beyond the level of his/her own understanding. This is why seeking an instructor with high level of playing and teaching experience and expertise is critical to getting the help that you need to really improve.

The best teachers in the world work from an image of the finished product back to the beginning. In my instruction, I ask a lot of questions up front in order to find out what the student’s intent and goals are, what strong beliefs they have about their swings and game, what their perceptions are, previous sports experiences that we may build upon and whether they ha ve any limitations that would keep them from achieving their intentions. I liken myself as a master sculpture who has a blob of clay or big block of granite--the student--to work with and then knows exactly where to first take the first big piece off and then the smaller piece and finally use a chisel, sand paper and finally a brush to reveal the finished product—the student’s goal. The completed project is always in my mind…that is how I know how to help the student…start with the most glaring issues first and work towards the more subtle…from the big picture to the details.

Every student is different. Each one learns in a unique way and each has his own issues to solve and goals to reach. This is the fun of teaching for me. I never know exactly how I am going to help the student achieve their goals but we always get there. Sometimes I come in the front door, sometimes the back, sometimes only the side doors are open, sometimes I have to push the door open and sometimes I just knock and wait for an answer.

So, how can you help me to help you? First, know that you have the power to create your goal. Second, have an open mind and a child like attitude and enthusiasm toward learning. Third, realize the student/teacher relationship is a partnership…be open minded but engage me, be patient but expect results, be positive and keep the finished product in view. Communicate with me as your instructor any new feels, perceptions, thoughts or understandings that you experience along the journey from where you are to where you want to end up. Share these insights no matter how subtle or wacky at times they may seem. For an experienced instructor, anything new you are feeling or thinking about has already been experienced by him and it is a great indicator of where the student is in thought, perception and understanding. This active participation on the part of you as a student gives me, the instructor, greater information on how to formulate and prioritize what I am teaching you and when to introduce something new.

May all your swings be free!

Las Vegas Golf Schools
www.GoToGolfSchool.com
Call 1-800-679-2916

MAXIMIZE YOUR LEARNING: GOLF SCHOOL ESSENTIALS
Before anyone has ever taken their first golf lesson, they have had an idea, an intention or an image of what they think their golf game should look like, feel like and what the results should be like. The student invariably has preconceived images, feels, expectations and thoughts about their swings and games.

I have been associated with golf for decades now and the average level of play around the world has not improved significantly during that time. Why? I certainly see an improvement in the top tier of golfers. Why are the average golfers and beginning golfers not even coming close to playing and expressing a game that is up to his or her potential?

The answer is that the ability to improve your golf game springs from becoming informed on how to become a great learner. One maximizes his learning by firstly, seeing their game, their swing, their putting, the scores they want to shoot etc. as already being accomplished. This means that the student accepts that as they allow themselves to become absorbed in the steps of the learning process, then their goal fulfillment is already achieved…act as if it is already done. A child like enthusiasm and anticipation of the hope and wonder of your success is vital. Leave your ego behind. As a model, use a current or past player to visualize rhythm and general swing expression. Secondly, seek out help from a highly qualified source. Someone who has had playing and teaching experience coupled with a love and passion for teaching is ideal. Thirdly, work into your game the most basic things first. Master the grip, stance, posture, ball location and alignment. Once the student has achieved a correct and repeating starting position, he may then move on to the finishing position, meaning; 100% of your weight on your left foot (for a right hander), your knees, hips, shoulders and eyes facing the target on a full swing, up on the toe of the right foot and the grip in the same relationship as it was at address. Think classic golf silhouette. Only at this point should anyone put any real thought into the loading and unloading motions which can then be harmonized within the student’s unique and repeating rhythm and speed. Remember, take away even what may appear to be the smallest successes from each session and focus on those. Stay patient during this critical process because once the fundamentals are assured, the fun of learning golf really takes off!

Lastly, organize your approach to understanding and improvement like one of the greatest thinkers and achievers of all time. Leonardo da Vinci organized his thoughts on any new subject he was considering by starting with a core or basic understanding in the center of his page of thought and worked away from that. If confusion or difficulty occurs go back to the core, then increase your basic understand ing and branch out away again to more subtle and/or dependent concepts, but always as an off shoot of the most fundamental truths. Continue to upgrade your understanding, your visualization and your intention of your desired outcome. All I ask of my students is to come to me as great learners, and I’ll be a great teacher and coach and together we will accomplish anything that you intend to create for yourself with your golf game.

May all your swings be free!

Las Vegas Golf Schools
www.GoToGolfSchool.com
Call 1-800-679-2916

GET IN THERE BALL!
In order to hit the golf ball really well there are prerequisite basics that must be done. However, putting allows for much greater individual expression and freestyle as long as it still produces great and consistent results. Over my years in golf, I have seen some really great putters and they all did it with their own style. I always ask my students that are taking a putting lesson for the first time, “W hat is the one thing that all great putters do in common?” I generally get a variety of answers but rarely do I get that one thing. It is simple…they make putts…the ball goes in—a lot! I also ask, “What kind of a putter do you consider yourself to be?” Great putters will say that they are great putters, even if they are not putting well at the moment. Poor putters generally self assign the labeling of themselves as bad putters purely because they do not see many of their putts going in the hole. The fact that attitude matters in golf is an understatement, but no where is attitude more directly tied to results than in putting.

There certainly are commonalities in technique that all good putters use. The better you putt, the more I would allow you to express your individual style. However, the worse you putt, the more I would encourage you to move toward implementing some common physical characteristics that all good putters exhibit. The most effective things to focus on would be:

1. Get into a posture that allows for your eyes to be over the line that the ball will start out on yet slightly behind the ball.

2. Bend your elbows with relaxed muscle tone a bit at address. Anything that you do in your daily lives that require sensitivity, feel and touch like writing, drawing, or painting is done with bent elbows.

3. Put your hands on the club so that each hand contributes an equal amount of force into the stroke. The palms of the hands will be facing each other or are slightly buttressed (both turned under a bit) with equal pressure around the shaft. The reverse overlap grip provides a good place to start.

4. Allow your natural athletic rhythm to come out in your stroke. Allow the club to move on a natural arc.

5. Keep your lower body pretty still.

Doing all or some of these things will help you to stroke the ball better. But in the end they have very little to do with making putts consistently. To consistently get the ball to go into the hole, one most plug into the universal power of intent that is available to all of us. You must see the outcome before it happens in reality. Use your imagination to see the ball rolling at a speed, on a line and over a period of time so that the end result is what you want…the ball goes in. I have never seen a great putter that doesn’t take the time to read the putt in his mind’s eye and to feel the stroke that he is about to use that matches up to the image. If a putt takes 8 seconds to roll from start to finish, then your eyes should track the image for those 8 seconds. Most amateurs flash feed the read…looking at the putt for a second or two when it is obvious the ball will roll for a much longer time. Your stroke comes out of the imagery, not the other way around.