The Ryder Cup matches between the U.S. and Europe begin Friday with the Europeans a heavy favorite to win back the cup. I have to agree with the consensus in that regard. One of the big wild cards of course is whether Tiger has found his game over the last two weeks while continuing his work with Sean Foley. He spoke positively at his news conference today.
The European side looks loaded, but with the glaring exception of Phil Mickelson, the American side is entering the event in pretty good form. Home field advantage to the Europeans though.
On another note, in recent weeks I have been trying to simplify my own golf swing a little bit by simply focusing on what my body is doing during the swing, and forgetting about takeaway positions and the position of my hands at the top. I am trying to swing the arms more behind my body, and then I am trying to be more aggressive with my lower body in the down swing by turning the hips a little more aggressively. The end result has been that I am striking the ball better than I ever have, EVER!
One key test of this swing will come tomorrow. I have not touched a club in a week due to a little time off. I am back at Olney Golf Park tomorrow to practice and give instruction. Normally, I would expect to be a bit off with my ball striking after a little lay off, just due to timing. But, I think I grooved this swing pretty well this time, so we'll see.
Scott Cole
www.onlinegolfswingcoach.com
www.scottcolegolf.com
www.powergolftraining.net
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Furyk wins Tour Championship/Fedex Cup
Jim Furyk likely clinched player of the year honors today with his win in the Tour Championship and Fedex Cup. This is the third win of the year for Furyk, most on tour.
Furyk's win allows me to again bring up the point that you can play great golf with any kind of golf swing, as long as you learn how to hit it solidly, and you can repeat it. Do we want to try and teach Jim Furyk's swing? No. However, Jim's dad is a professional who showed him how to play, and once Jim demonstrated his ability to hit the ball consistently and repeatedly, his father did not see the need to change his swing.
Ideally, I would have liked to see Furyk make some changes to his swing over the long run to try and find some extra distance. And, in certain situations, I see some bad shots come out of the swing when the heat is on. Overall, though, Furyk is one of the game's most consistent players, and he does it with a very unorthodox swing. And, over his entire career, he has worked with one coach, his dad.
It is my view that a good golf coach/instructor is one that can guide the student down the path toward improvement, by getting them to understand the fundamentals, and how the golf swing works. Then, it is a matter of showing the student how to get the most out of their own physical abilities based upon how much time they have to practice.
Scott Cole
www.onlinegolfswingcoach.com
www.scottcolegolf.com
Furyk's win allows me to again bring up the point that you can play great golf with any kind of golf swing, as long as you learn how to hit it solidly, and you can repeat it. Do we want to try and teach Jim Furyk's swing? No. However, Jim's dad is a professional who showed him how to play, and once Jim demonstrated his ability to hit the ball consistently and repeatedly, his father did not see the need to change his swing.
Ideally, I would have liked to see Furyk make some changes to his swing over the long run to try and find some extra distance. And, in certain situations, I see some bad shots come out of the swing when the heat is on. Overall, though, Furyk is one of the game's most consistent players, and he does it with a very unorthodox swing. And, over his entire career, he has worked with one coach, his dad.
It is my view that a good golf coach/instructor is one that can guide the student down the path toward improvement, by getting them to understand the fundamentals, and how the golf swing works. Then, it is a matter of showing the student how to get the most out of their own physical abilities based upon how much time they have to practice.
Scott Cole
www.onlinegolfswingcoach.com
www.scottcolegolf.com
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Golf Swing Models
Over the last 25 years or so, there has been a lot of focus on whether one swing model may work better than others. This is due to the emergence of top instructors such as Jimmy Ballard and David Leadbetter in the 1980's, Butch Harmon and Hank Haney in the 1990's, and now such instructors as Sean Foley, Jim Hardy, and Brian Mogg, among others, in more recent years.
These instructors above became popular due to the success of some of their PGA Tour students. Jimmy Ballard worked with Curtis Strange. Leadbetter notably helped Nick Faldo become a dominant player. Butch Harmon worked with Greg Norman in the 1990's and Tiger Woods soon after. Hank Haney gained fame as Mark O'Meara's instructor, than worked with Tiger for six years. Now, the torch has been passed on to these younger instructors.
Throughout this period, we have seen a variety of swing models espoused by these instructors. Jimmy Ballard was noted for emphasizing a bit of a sway in the golf swing to help increase power. Haney brought a new emphasis on the swing plane by taking Ben Hogan's thoughts a little bit further. Harmon is noted for mainly working with a player's strengths and eliminating his weaknesses. Since then, we have also heard of Stack and Tilt, One Plane vs. Two Plane, Natural Golf, Peak Performance, etc.
The question is, are any of these swing models superior to the rest? Unfortunately, I don't believe there is any one particular model that can work for everyone. The reason is simple...every golfer is different! We come in all different shapes and sizes, athletic backgrounds, physical abilities, etc.
The key then is to find a swing that can work for you personally. With that in mind, I believe it is not a good thing for an instructor to simply focus on one particular swing model and try to fit it to all of his students. I believe it is necessary to develop a strong foundation of fundamentals, but ultimately, the instructor must also work with the physical abilities of his students.
Here at Olney Golf Park in Maryland, I have the good fortune to work with PGA instructor and former tour player Jim Estes. Jim is a co-founder of the Salute the Military Golf Foundation. As such, he teaches many military veterans, many whom have physical disabilities due to their service to our country.
Working with these golfers and other folks I have taught previously has helped me immensely in realizing that to be the best instructor possible, it is necessary to identify a golfers strengths and weaknesses, help them learn the fundamentals of the swing, and to improve their body so that they can more easily improve on these fundamentals.
The bottom line is the golfer wants to be in the best position possible at impact, according to their own abilities. As their physical abilities improve, so will their ability to get into this position. No one particular golf swing model will get a golfer in this position any better than the others.
With all this in mind, golfers should strive to find an instructor who has a good grasp of how the body works, how to improve the body to make it work better, and who has a tremendous grasp of the fundamentals of a good golf swing.
Scott Cole
www.scottcolegolf.com
www.onlinegolfswingcoach.com
These instructors above became popular due to the success of some of their PGA Tour students. Jimmy Ballard worked with Curtis Strange. Leadbetter notably helped Nick Faldo become a dominant player. Butch Harmon worked with Greg Norman in the 1990's and Tiger Woods soon after. Hank Haney gained fame as Mark O'Meara's instructor, than worked with Tiger for six years. Now, the torch has been passed on to these younger instructors.
Throughout this period, we have seen a variety of swing models espoused by these instructors. Jimmy Ballard was noted for emphasizing a bit of a sway in the golf swing to help increase power. Haney brought a new emphasis on the swing plane by taking Ben Hogan's thoughts a little bit further. Harmon is noted for mainly working with a player's strengths and eliminating his weaknesses. Since then, we have also heard of Stack and Tilt, One Plane vs. Two Plane, Natural Golf, Peak Performance, etc.
The question is, are any of these swing models superior to the rest? Unfortunately, I don't believe there is any one particular model that can work for everyone. The reason is simple...every golfer is different! We come in all different shapes and sizes, athletic backgrounds, physical abilities, etc.
The key then is to find a swing that can work for you personally. With that in mind, I believe it is not a good thing for an instructor to simply focus on one particular swing model and try to fit it to all of his students. I believe it is necessary to develop a strong foundation of fundamentals, but ultimately, the instructor must also work with the physical abilities of his students.
Here at Olney Golf Park in Maryland, I have the good fortune to work with PGA instructor and former tour player Jim Estes. Jim is a co-founder of the Salute the Military Golf Foundation. As such, he teaches many military veterans, many whom have physical disabilities due to their service to our country.
Working with these golfers and other folks I have taught previously has helped me immensely in realizing that to be the best instructor possible, it is necessary to identify a golfers strengths and weaknesses, help them learn the fundamentals of the swing, and to improve their body so that they can more easily improve on these fundamentals.
The bottom line is the golfer wants to be in the best position possible at impact, according to their own abilities. As their physical abilities improve, so will their ability to get into this position. No one particular golf swing model will get a golfer in this position any better than the others.
With all this in mind, golfers should strive to find an instructor who has a good grasp of how the body works, how to improve the body to make it work better, and who has a tremendous grasp of the fundamentals of a good golf swing.
Scott Cole
www.scottcolegolf.com
www.onlinegolfswingcoach.com
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Tiger Woods and Sean Foley Part 2
Ok, for the second time in a couple weeks I've read some remarks online from Sean Foley, trashing Hank Haney's teaching philosophy. He indicates that Tiger was not happy with how he was hitting the ball the last couple years.
Well, let's look at the record. After dumping Butch Harmon in 2002, Woods started under Haney in 2004. In 2005, he wins The Masters and the Open Championship. In 2006, his dad dies, so he misses the cut at the U.S. Open, then wins the Open Championship and PGA. In 2007 he finishes 2nd at Augusta and the U.S. Open, then wins the PGA. In 2008, playing on a bum leg, he wins the U.S. Open. After the win, he does not return to the tour until March 2009. He wins 7 tournaments in 19 starts, won the Fedex Cup, but blew a 54 hole lead for the first time in a major at the PGA. He won all these tournaments in 2009 while learning how to play with a solid knee for the first time in years.
Now, I have seen some good commentary about Sean Foley, but I don't see other instructors publicly dissing another instructor like Foley has with Haney. With that in mind, I can't say I have much respect for the guy.
As for Hank Haney, I have tremendous respect for him. He consistently acknowledges the instructors who helped get him where he is, particularly John Jacobs and Jim Hardy. His senior instructors are extremely loyal to him. Some have been with Hank for over 20 years. And, while he has had success teaching professional golfers, I have seen him work magic with average golfers in as little as 5 minutes. And, I personally have a much greater understanding of the golf swing due to my own lesson with Hank, and due to his instructor program.
Bottom line is Sean Foley should keep his mouth shut. When he has coached two players to major championships like Hank Haney has (Mark O'Meara won two in 1998), then he can start talking. All he has now are a few good young players under his wing, but they have still only won a handful of tournaments among them...about as many as Tiger won in 2009!
Foley should give Hank his due, and Butch Harmon for that matter. Coaching the best player in the world is no easy task, yet both succeeded.
As for Tiger, I really don't understand his need for an active coach anyway. The legends of the game didn't have a coach at their side all season long. The best players grooved their swings on their own, with maybe the occasional review of fundamentals from a mentor or help from a friend. Tiger has said he wants to own his swing like Hogan did. Well, doesn't seem like he has taken those steps yet.
For many of today's tour players, I think having an active coach is just a crutch. As much as they play and practice, they should all be able to get things figured out on their own, with maybe a second pair of eyes helping once in a while. The bottom line is winning, not how pretty your swing looks. But, in this age of huge paychecks, most of them are just comfortable making a living. While there may be many more good players on tour compared to 30 years ago, there aren't as many that know how to win.
Just my two cents.
Scott Cole
www.scottcolegolf.com
www.onlinegolfswingcoach.com
Well, let's look at the record. After dumping Butch Harmon in 2002, Woods started under Haney in 2004. In 2005, he wins The Masters and the Open Championship. In 2006, his dad dies, so he misses the cut at the U.S. Open, then wins the Open Championship and PGA. In 2007 he finishes 2nd at Augusta and the U.S. Open, then wins the PGA. In 2008, playing on a bum leg, he wins the U.S. Open. After the win, he does not return to the tour until March 2009. He wins 7 tournaments in 19 starts, won the Fedex Cup, but blew a 54 hole lead for the first time in a major at the PGA. He won all these tournaments in 2009 while learning how to play with a solid knee for the first time in years.
Now, I have seen some good commentary about Sean Foley, but I don't see other instructors publicly dissing another instructor like Foley has with Haney. With that in mind, I can't say I have much respect for the guy.
As for Hank Haney, I have tremendous respect for him. He consistently acknowledges the instructors who helped get him where he is, particularly John Jacobs and Jim Hardy. His senior instructors are extremely loyal to him. Some have been with Hank for over 20 years. And, while he has had success teaching professional golfers, I have seen him work magic with average golfers in as little as 5 minutes. And, I personally have a much greater understanding of the golf swing due to my own lesson with Hank, and due to his instructor program.
Bottom line is Sean Foley should keep his mouth shut. When he has coached two players to major championships like Hank Haney has (Mark O'Meara won two in 1998), then he can start talking. All he has now are a few good young players under his wing, but they have still only won a handful of tournaments among them...about as many as Tiger won in 2009!
Foley should give Hank his due, and Butch Harmon for that matter. Coaching the best player in the world is no easy task, yet both succeeded.
As for Tiger, I really don't understand his need for an active coach anyway. The legends of the game didn't have a coach at their side all season long. The best players grooved their swings on their own, with maybe the occasional review of fundamentals from a mentor or help from a friend. Tiger has said he wants to own his swing like Hogan did. Well, doesn't seem like he has taken those steps yet.
For many of today's tour players, I think having an active coach is just a crutch. As much as they play and practice, they should all be able to get things figured out on their own, with maybe a second pair of eyes helping once in a while. The bottom line is winning, not how pretty your swing looks. But, in this age of huge paychecks, most of them are just comfortable making a living. While there may be many more good players on tour compared to 30 years ago, there aren't as many that know how to win.
Just my two cents.
Scott Cole
www.scottcolegolf.com
www.onlinegolfswingcoach.com
Monday, September 13, 2010
Tiger Woods and Sean Foley
It looks like Tiger is about to make it official that Sean Foley is his new golf swing coach. I can understand that he is making this move after his split with Hank Haney. However, I felt that Hank certainly received a lot more criticism than he deserved. All you have to do is look at Tiger's track record from 2005 to 2009 and see that Hank made a difference for the better with Tiger. Tiger and his caddie Steve Williams acknowledged that his distance control and ability to shape shots certainly improved under Hank. After major knee surgery and a nine month layoff, Tiger won 7 times in 2009 with 17 top tens out of 19 events, and the Fedex Cup title. Obviously though, he tuned Hank out starting at Augusta, and I am convinced it is because his friends, Hunter Mahan and Sean O'Hair had gotten into his ear about Sean Foley while he was taking time off after his scandal.
But, here is my thinking. Coaches like Foley and the Stack and Tilt guys, and One Plane/Two Plane Swing coach Jim Hardy are simply just marketers. The general fundamentals of the golf swing are the same. Ultimately, it is up to the individual golfer to identify what works for them, and then take ownership of their golf swing.
I find it humorous that a guy like Hunter Mahan touts Foley's methods as "science." As if it were possible to turn a human being into a robot swinging a golf club! Mahan has all of three tour wins in his young career. He is almost 28. Tiger won four consecutive majors at the age of 24. Nicklaus had won quite a few majors before he was 28 as well. How many events has O'Hair won?
Sure, O'Hair, Mahan, Stephen Ames and Justin Rose, all Foley students, are pretty good golfers. But, I would take Mickelson, Westwood, Harrington, Els, etc., over these guys any day. Maybe they have a lot more wins in them under Foley, but it won't be because of the coach. Great players find a way to win even when they are not hitting it their best.
In this day and age, it is clear too many golfers are trying to find that magic potion. I equate this to my time trading in the financial markets. All the newbie traders and millionaire wannabes, myself included, were trying to find that Holy Grail of trading systems. Golfers are a similar breed.
Great golf takes hard work and practice. The great golfers all work extremely hard at their craft. Players like Woods, Vijay Singh and Ben Hogan are all known for their work ethic. You see that in all sports.
In golf, you must master some important fundamentals. After that, you can pretty much swing the golf club any way you like and be successful. While Ben Hogan had a beautiful swing, I recall that Lee Trevino had a pretty successful career as well. Same with Nicklaus, Player and Palmer, all of whom had very different golf swings.
The key is to find a swing that you make that results in a good solid golf shot, and learn to repeat it. That requires a good grip, solid balance, good lower body work, and the ability to get the club on a decent swing plane at impact. Learn how to do this and you will be on your way and it does not require some particular swing model or another.
Scott Cole
www.scottcolegolf.com
www.onlinegolfswingcoach.com
But, here is my thinking. Coaches like Foley and the Stack and Tilt guys, and One Plane/Two Plane Swing coach Jim Hardy are simply just marketers. The general fundamentals of the golf swing are the same. Ultimately, it is up to the individual golfer to identify what works for them, and then take ownership of their golf swing.
I find it humorous that a guy like Hunter Mahan touts Foley's methods as "science." As if it were possible to turn a human being into a robot swinging a golf club! Mahan has all of three tour wins in his young career. He is almost 28. Tiger won four consecutive majors at the age of 24. Nicklaus had won quite a few majors before he was 28 as well. How many events has O'Hair won?
Sure, O'Hair, Mahan, Stephen Ames and Justin Rose, all Foley students, are pretty good golfers. But, I would take Mickelson, Westwood, Harrington, Els, etc., over these guys any day. Maybe they have a lot more wins in them under Foley, but it won't be because of the coach. Great players find a way to win even when they are not hitting it their best.
In this day and age, it is clear too many golfers are trying to find that magic potion. I equate this to my time trading in the financial markets. All the newbie traders and millionaire wannabes, myself included, were trying to find that Holy Grail of trading systems. Golfers are a similar breed.
Great golf takes hard work and practice. The great golfers all work extremely hard at their craft. Players like Woods, Vijay Singh and Ben Hogan are all known for their work ethic. You see that in all sports.
In golf, you must master some important fundamentals. After that, you can pretty much swing the golf club any way you like and be successful. While Ben Hogan had a beautiful swing, I recall that Lee Trevino had a pretty successful career as well. Same with Nicklaus, Player and Palmer, all of whom had very different golf swings.
The key is to find a swing that you make that results in a good solid golf shot, and learn to repeat it. That requires a good grip, solid balance, good lower body work, and the ability to get the club on a decent swing plane at impact. Learn how to do this and you will be on your way and it does not require some particular swing model or another.
Scott Cole
www.scottcolegolf.com
www.onlinegolfswingcoach.com
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Golf Clinics
Greetings golfers! I will be conducting a series of clinics on Wednesday afternoon and evenings at Olney Golf Park, starting next week, September 8th.
On Wednesdays, I will be conducting full swing clinics for junior golfers, ages 10 to 17, from 3:30 to 4:30. The cost is $15, plus your range balls. Also on Wednesdays, I will be conducting Vital Signs putting clinics from 5:30 to 6:30. The cost of this clinic is $15.
Next Saturday, September 11th, I will be conducting a Fix Your Slice clinic from 3 pm to 5 pm for $20. This clinic is limited to twelve participants.
To sign up ahead of time, call the Olney Golf Park pro shop at 301-570-6600. See you there!
Scott Cole
www.scottcolegolf.com
On Wednesdays, I will be conducting full swing clinics for junior golfers, ages 10 to 17, from 3:30 to 4:30. The cost is $15, plus your range balls. Also on Wednesdays, I will be conducting Vital Signs putting clinics from 5:30 to 6:30. The cost of this clinic is $15.
Next Saturday, September 11th, I will be conducting a Fix Your Slice clinic from 3 pm to 5 pm for $20. This clinic is limited to twelve participants.
To sign up ahead of time, call the Olney Golf Park pro shop at 301-570-6600. See you there!
Scott Cole
www.scottcolegolf.com
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