Hey Paul
I have been working in Norway as a PGA Professional for just about 3 years now. Norway is a very small population and golf is still very much on the boom here!!!
There most famous golfers are Suzanne Pettersen and Henrik Bjornstad. They are now starting to produce some very good young golfing talents and there is good structures in place to develop them.
I came here to develop my skills as a teaching professional but also to get the chance to work with some young talents and help to develop and attain there goals.
So, my main role here is coaching a very few select elite players and also developing younger kids to bring them through to national level.
I have spent the last year travelling and working mainly with an elite team of players.
When i started to work with them they was very technically minded and had been coached prior to me in a way that i had learnt the game.
Now, for me the way i was coached i got the results that i did not want because i never understaood my job as the golfer!!! Therefore never developed my skills as a golfer.
I could see in these players the same thing was happening! They did not own there own golf swings, they was being given it! They relied heavily on the coach and when something was wrong they would go back and asked to be fixed.
They was never concerned by the ball flight and developing there skills from that, the focus was into positions. The truth of the story is they was LOST!
There results from the previous year was poor in relation to the investment on energy that was being put in!
I really wanted to change this pattern of thought. I wanted them to understand there job and own there own technique that when it went off track they would know how to sort it.
So i started to make them more aware of there job as the golfer. I worked very hard along with the CORE on changing there focus.
Explaining to them how the club worked and making them think how they would like to apply the leading edge of the club to the ball to produce the result required.
Everyday in the off season in practice session we would start by placing a club along the ground and make short swings with the core focusing on how we would like to apply the leading edge to the ball. Once we achieved the correct application we then made the swings longer but kept the focus on applying it in the same way.
We did this until the swing was at its full length, therefore the players had made an understanding change. I also kept there focus on the path and asking them questions such as "is that the corect path to hit the club along the ground square on"?
There focus was now into imagining how to apply one straight line to another. So when it was not the desied application they would instantly know why and how to change that. Not to keep doing the same thing over and over and getting the wrong result!!!
After having a year with them and the core and developing "there muscle of belief" the elite players have had there best season to date.
They all got called up to play for Norway, They all finsihed in the top ten of every national tournament they played in, they have all won this season and all finished in the top ten of the national order of merit.
I would say that this was a successful year.
They all now carry the core with them everywhere they go. They start practice sessions with a club on the floor and spend 5 to 10 minutes a day with the core to make there focus clearer before they start to hit any shots.
The core travels with them to every tournament and has played an important role in there development and success.
The CORE has helped me to make them more aware and also help develop there skills. As a result i have helped them to make steps closer to there dreams!!!!
So once again thanks for producing the core and helping me to make my coaching simpler!!!!
Regards
Mark
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