I am very excited to announce I have been selected as one of the top 100 teachers in America by GOLF Magazine! 

Press Release:

GOLF Magazine has released its biennial list of America’s Top 100 Teachers in America for 2017-2018. New members and the complete list will appear in the March 2017 print issue, and online at Golf.com the first week of February.

The new members of GOLF Magazine’s Top 100 Teachers in America for 2017-2018 are:

• Dale Abraham, PGA (Bighorn G.C., Palm Desert, Calif.)
• Martin Chuck, PGA (Tour Striker, Inc., Gilbert, Ariz.)
• Tim Cooke, PGA (The Golf Learning Center at Sea Pines Resort, Hilton Head Island, S.C.)
• Debbie Doniger, LPGA (GlenArbor G.C., Bedford Hills, N.Y.)
• John Dunigan, PGA (White Manor C.C., Malvern, Pa.)
• Mark Durland, PGA (Durland Golf School at Naples Grand, Naples, Fla.)
• Michael Hunt, PGA (Bayonne G.C., Bayonne, N.J.)
• Michael Jacobs, PGA (X Golf School at Rock Hill C.C., Manorville, N.Y.)
• Jeff Leishman, CPGA (The Dye Preserve, Jupiter, Fla.)
• Susie Meyers, PGA, LPGA (Ventana Canyon Golf & Racquet Club, Tucson, Ariz.)
• Joe Plecker, PGA (The Elkridge Club, Baltimore, Ariz.)
• Tony Ruggiero (The C.C. of Mobile, Mobile, Ala.)
• Kevin Sprecher, PGA (Sleepy Hollow C.C., Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.)
• Jason Sutton, PGA (Carmel C.C., Charlotte, N.C.)
• Gary Weir, PGA (Westchester C.C., Rye, N.Y.)

Since its inception in 1991, GOLF Magazine’s Top Teachers in America ranking has become the industry standard for teaching excellence due to the diligent selection process that GOLF Magazine employs to assemble the list.

“Every two years the Credential and Selection committees dedicate a lot of time and research to recognize the golf industry’s best teachers by naming them to our Top 100 list,” said David DeNunzio, Managing Editor for Instruction for GOLF Magazine. “These individuals have been selected because of their commitment to broaden the appeal of golf by helping their students understand and enjoy the game.”

Candidates for GOLF Magazine’s Top 100 Teachers in America list are selected from nominees submitted by the PGA, LPGA, United States Golf Teachers Federation, top industry executives and GOLF Magazine readers. More than 250 nominations on average are accepted from the country’s 25,000 instruction professionals. Each nominee must complete a thorough questionnaire developed in conjunction with Dr. Robert Christina, professor emeritus of the University of North Carolina—Greensboro School of Health and Human Performance.

The applications are screened against fifteen baseline criteria recommended by the Top 100 Teachers Credentials Committee and are then examined and ranked by a group comprised of 15 active and former Top 100 Teachers. Final recommendations are then made by a separate Selection Committee, comprised of GOLF Magazine’s instruction editors, established Top 100 Teachers and alumni, and invited World Golf Teachers Hall of Fame members. The recommendations of the Selection Committee are submitted to GOLF Magazine for the final decision.

The Top 100 list is the only national golf instructor roster that combines outside academic and PGA Professional peer review. In addition, candidates are judged on their willingness to give back to the game and to the PGA and LPGA through one of the following: apprentice education, member continued education, research or lesson programs.

What people are saying about Golf from Point A

Point A is about having the same process every time. At Point A you have the same thoughts each time, not caring where the ball goes and then reacting the same way every time. Accepting the shot for what it is, always being positive and reacting in a positive manner. Point A has allowed me to take a lot of the stress away. I have been 6 over after 5 holes and then shot even par the rest of the way because I stuck with Point A.
L.P., High School Golf Team

My son shared the philosophy of his Point A golf lessons with me. I love the idea of living in the moment and focusing on the things that you can control, rather than the things that you can’t! I’ve found this to be very helpful in my business and life in general. Also, my son’s golf game is improving nicely as he incorporates playing from Point A into his game.
Lisa Frank, President and CEO, The Lisa Frank Company

Point A allows me to not be so helter-skelter when I am on the golf course. I have a plan that I can fall beck on and if I get off track I just go back to Point A. If I had a bad hole, I remind myself to be at Point A, it’s like starting over again. I feel more in control of me.
Rick Edwards, 22 Handicap

Now that I am aware of playing Golf from Point A and staying in the moment, I am acutely aware of how my playing partners totally destroy their games with all of their negative talk and expectations. I hear them say, “Well, this is going to be a double.” And sure enough it is. Or “Oh no, I don’t want to three putt like the last hole.” It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and they don’t even see it!!
Bill Staisor, 8 handicap, age 74

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Golf from Point A is helping golfers of all skill levels. Order your copy here.

I’ve been helping golfers with their games for so many years now it’s hard to count. I have assisted beginners in learning the game, 20 handicappers improve, high school golfers earn a place to play in college, young professionals secure their Tour cards and have even advised and guided Tour players as they achieved their first PGA Tour wins.

I realize I was destined to be a golf coach because that is what brings me so much joy. It wasn’t always like that though; in fact for 28 years of my life it was really all about me. Just me. I was learning the game and developing myself to play golf at the highest level. I was a determined and tenacious player that had to work twice as hard as all those players that possessed more talent.

It has been a joy and a journey to co-create Golf from Point A. My business partner, Valerie Lazar, has been a catalyst and an inspiration. She has brought so many great insights to this book and her humor, wit and creative knack has helped to make Golf from Point A a unique book about the thinking side of golf. From all of my golf experience and from feedback from others many concepts have evolved and have been applied to the students that entrust me with their games. My teaching philosophy has developed and been honed through the process of putting ideas from thought to paper.

Everything begins in the brain and what a golfer is thinking while playing this game will shape and form their golf stroke, their attitude and their belief system. It truly is your perspective that will make your four-hour journey either heaven or hell. You have the opportunity to change your mind and change your game. What you think, when you think and how you think are powerful determiners of how you will play.

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Our book, Golf from Point A is ready to buy. Click the link to see how you can play golf from Point A!

Golf is an emotional game not just a mechanical game. Don’t get me wrong, your ability to make the different golf strokes is an important part of the game but it is not the whole deal. When it comes to golf, your emotions will have the greatest impact on your performance.

Just look at Dustin Johnson in last year’s US Open. Even with the commotion about the one shot penalty because his ball moved, Dustin never changed his emotions. He had no idea if he was going to be assessed the penalty or not during his final 7 holes of play. He basically said to himself that he couldn’t control what was going to happen so he stayed with his game plan and didn’t worry about the future.

Dustin Johnson at the 2016 US Open

As the golf world was in an emotional state of confusion, anger, doubt and uncertainty, the one person that was going to be assessed the penalty put it out of his mind and went about his business doing the only thing he had control over, his own emotions and what he was going to think about. He stayed emotionally stable until the last putt dropped.

Just ask any golfer about a poor shot or a poor round and they most often will tell you they were uncomfortable, nervous, frustrated, or confused. These emotions affect how the body moves and with such an intricate firing of muscles to create the golf stroke any change in the body will change the golf stroke slightly.

It could be that the hole didn’t set up for them, or their playing partners talked too much or didn’t talk at all or they thought about a future score or the ball just moved. Anything can set a golfer into a tailspin if they don’t know how to gain control over their emotions.

Playing golf at Point A to Point A gives you the same positive process on each stroke and the commitment to give this one stroke 100% of your attention and effort to make it the best it can possibly be.

Just ask professional, Don Littrell, who shot 78-66 in the 49th PGA Professional Championship. His comment after the 66 was that he had a totally different mindset. As Michael Hebron says ,”Mindsets before Skill sets.”

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Creating a Point A mindset can help you manage your emotions and learn how to be in the state of mind that you perform your best. Our book, Golf from Point A can help you achieve that mindset.

Are you looking to make your golf game better? Do you know where to start or what to do or do you get confused with so much information available today in golf’s culture?

Coaching golf is about helping people find what they need to work on so they can make the adjustments necessary to see improvement. The first thing you want to do is to get rid of the confusion in your head. Without a clear direction of what to work on it is easy to wonder what thoughts are good for you and which ones you want to throw away.

The big idea here is that confusion is not a good state of mind no matter what you are trying to do. Trying to do too many things with your golf stroke will only add to confusion. Multitasking reduces efficiency and performance because your brain can only do one thing at a time. When you try to do two things at once, your brain lacks the capacity to perform both tasks successfully. Get rid of all that stuff that is swimming around in your head and quiet your mind by focusing on only one thing.

Give yourself a simple task to do, something that is easy enough for you to do but something that you don’t do regularly and want to work on and make more a part of your routine. It could be something like holding your finish or taking a deep breath. Choose only one thought please! Remember you are getting rid of multitasking!

Decide on one thing to do and allow your self to do that to the best of your ability. Once you have quieted your mind, you may be amazed at how much better your golf stroke becomes just because you are NOT micromanaging it.

Stay focused on your task for a whole round and you will make this part of your game more automatic so you can move on to something else that you want to work on. One thing at a time!

These two things are very important as you develop yourself as a player. In competition it is this trust in yourself that allows you to make good strokes even in the midst of what some would perceive as pressure. If you don’t love yourself, no one else will. Loving yourself allows you to make mistakes from which you can grow.

Falling Forward

A person who loves himself looks at a mistake as falling down but he always falls forward. He brushes off his mistake, he forgets about it and moves on knowing that he will make more mistakes in the future but full of the knowledge that each mistake he makes he will improve and he learns not to do it again. He is ready for the situation with a clear mind, not one cluttered with paralyzing fears. He has learned that the first thing you do about a mistake is to forget about it!

Falling Backward

On the other hand, a person who doesn’t love and trust himself when he falls, he falls backward. Backward meaning he wallows in his ineptitude. He remembers all of his past failures, and he develops the fear that he will always be a failure. If he knows that he will fail he will have the fear of failure and the fear of failure is a self-fulfilling prophecy. He has learned that he should remember his mistakes and if he is careful he won’t make the same mistake in the future.

Criticism

A person that takes on criticism from himself or from others creates a heavy burden. The golf stroke seems heavy and burdensome because he is not playing up to his expectations. When he gets a good shot he says “Well, it is about time.”

The golfer that does not listen to criticism and who does not criticize himself plays the golf strokes one at a time and is surprised every time he gets a good shot because he had no expectations of getting a good shot. He only trusted himself and made the best stroke possible at the time. He was simply doing the best he could at that moment.

When you were a child, did you ever imagine yourself being a superhero and taken on their qualities?

Maybe you felt braver or stronger. When playing golf have you ever pretended to be Jack or Arnie or Tiger or Jordan? By having the intention to take on their personas, your mind can simulate having their confidence and thought processes that you imagine that they have.

Recently in a tournament I imagined that when I was putting, I was Jordan Spieth. Each putt that I had I would imagine how Jordan would think over the putt. How he looks at a putt and how he intended to make the putt. I do not know for sure how Jordan really thinks but I can imagine that Jordan had intention and confidence. By taking on these qualities, to my amazement, I made a lot of putts that tournament.

I loved watching the Fed EX Cup playoffs when Rory made that eagle during his round and the putts on the last playoff hole. I can only guess that Ryan Moore thought about nothing but making that last long par putt and sure enough it went in. Then Rory walked right up and drilled his 14 ½ foot putt right into the center of the cup. With clear intention and no thought of anything else but making the putt, both men accomplished their intentions.

If you want to improve your game give only a thought to what you want and just for fun, pretend you are Arnie, Rory or Ryan and watch your game make progress.

Your state of mind will be a huge determining factor of how you will play your golf game day to day. Learning just a bit about how the brain works may help you manage the way you think.

Our brains are naturally drawn to finding out why we are in the problem that we are in. If you just hit it into the bunker you might have this conversation with yourself, “Ugh, I’m in the bunker. How could I be so stupid to hit it in the bunker? I hate bunkers. I never come out of them well. My golf stroke was so bad, I need to figure out what I did so I won’t do it again. I wonder what my pro told me in the last lesson that actually worked for a little while. What was that — I can’t remember. Oh my, the lip on this bunker is huge, maybe I should just throw it out, no one will see me.” When a problem arises, the brain naturally looks backward or “away” as to why you are here and what a bad problem it is. The brain wants to look at the problem and determine what went wrong. It is easier to think about the problem than projecting and figuring out a future solution.

When you are in an “away” state of mind the chemicals that are released from parts of your brain tend to make you more jittery or negative about things. In an “away” state of mind you are trying to figure out how you got into this situation opposed to trying to find the solution which is a “forward” state of mind.

It takes much more conscious control and energy to begin looking “forward” to seeking a solution. Because the future is anticipatory it is not as easy to think about because it is an imagined future. Realizing this and taking a moment to say to yourself, “I am in this situation, now what am I going to do about it?” will help you focus your attention to where you want your thoughts to be. You want to focus more on where you want to go which is a forward thinking process rather than thinking about what you did wrong to get in the situation.

“Forward” states of mind are thinking about what you WANT to do instead of what you don’t want. Training your thought processes to look forward toward the solution gives you a positive feeling because you are full of hope and the chemicals sent from the brain are “feel good” chemicals such as serotonin and dopamine. Just by thinking forward you may have a much better chance of making good decisions and keeping your body in a calm, collected and confident state of being.

The Point A philosophy is about being 100% for each shot and the world’s best athletes competing in Rio are doing it beautifully.

Point A and USA Beach Volleyball

When watching Kerry Walsh Jennings and April Ross play beach volleyball at the Olympics I recognized Point A at its finest. They are playing one shot at a time. No predicting what the ball will do. As expected there were lots of crazy hits, but the two girls stayed focused on each sho – not reacting two what had just happened nor thinking about the winning. They are really in each moment and not celebrating until it is all over. Point A philosophy is to be 100% for each shot and USA Beach Volleyball did it!
Point A and USA Swimming

Michael Phelps was elected to be the US Swim Team Captain at this years Olympics. He shared with his team that they all have an effect on each other. If you have a complaint or a negative thought – keep it to yourself. The more positive the comments are, the better the energy will be at the Olympics. Point A positivity is about your energy and what you bring to your game.

You are not in control of what happens in life, you are only in control of how you react to it.

Expect the unexpected. Understanding that life does not go in a straight line even though it looks like it does for other people will help you to be prepared for the ups and downs. There are always challenges, roadblocks and what may seem like insurmountable obstacles but when you can shape your attitude you can deal with things in a way that promotes peace inside of yourself.

What will your reaction be?

 

What will your attitude be?

Anna Nordqvist at the 2016 US Women’s Open had to deal with a situation that was life changing. She acted like the class lady she is and even through her frustration and disappointment stood tall.

You can be aware of what is good, even in a difficult situation. Train your mind to seek out thoughts and feelings that make you feel calm, clear minded and confident. You have the power to shape the inner you.