Rinker’s Golf Tips Henry Brunton Top 100 Teacher November 16th. Henry Brunton is one of the most recognizable names in Canadian golf and is one of the world’s leading golf coaches and educators. He is a PGA of Canada Master Professional and the only Canadian listed among GOLF Magazine’s Top 100 Teachers in America. He has a passion for developing elite junior golfers and many of his juniors have gone on to college on golf scholarships. Henry said he knew early on, around 19 years of age, that he enjoyed teaching and helping people get better. So following his passion he went to the University of Ottawa and did projects and research on golf. Henry has an Academy in Toronto at Eagles Nest in the summertime where he has five PGA professional coaches, and their primary focus is junior golf. They use an indoor dome in the winter time. There are 45 high school kids in their “Strive For Excellence Program” who are very strong players who want to be collegiate players. 15 kids are in their “High Performance Program” and they come down to the PGA Learning Center in Port St. Lucie, Florida to train. They also have a “New Competitor Program” for 6-8th graders which has 60 kids in that program.
I asked Henry how the kids get started in their programs and it starts with age and their number one focus is that it has to be fun. Mistakes are going to happen, learn how to control the golf ball, emotions, and thought process, and of course learn how to play golf. Equipment has to be fitted, fitness and nutrition are components, and Henry’s team maps out a plan for each junior so that they can achieve their goals. The coaches also go to golf tournaments, walk the fairways, and make game plans for tournament play. Henry said there is a tremendous epidemic where people think if their kids are early specializers, only one sport early, they are going to be the best players at the pro level. Research says this is dangerous with burnout, psychological problems, and the chance of injury goes up as well. Athletes are learning skills best by running, jumping, throwing, balance coordination, and striking things naturally and normally in a lot of different sports in the sampling years 5-12 years of age with 5-7 sports. At 12-13 years of age, this will get narrowed down to two sports, and around the age of 16 that will get narrowed to one sport that they specialize in and the coaching aligns with that. This is the normal pathway to elite athletes. Obviously there are outliers to this but let children love whatever sport they are going to love. Research shows that ice hockey, table tennis, badminton, and billiards are the best sports for golfers.
We talked about collegiate golf and the landscape is more complex with worldwide competition and kids and parents need to start planning around 8th grade. Henry has a website, www.collegegolfplacement.com that helps families find the right situation that matches up with their goals and dreams. The Trackman Combine is now a more valuable recruiting tool and kind of an SAT test for collegiate golfers. Henry Brunton and Rick Jensen are on the TPI Advisory Board and they have a program www.CertifiedGolfCoach.com that is helping instructors take their game to the next level. To reach Henry you can email him at Henry@HenryBrunton.com.