Scott had a mentor in Indianapolis that he wasn’t that impressed with because he didn’t say a lot, but his students got better and he helped them quickly. Later Scott could see the mastery of that. Scott’s first big break came when Mike Adams called him to come work for him. Scott was working at the Outback Steakhouse in Ft. Meyers and packed his bags up and headed for Texas. Mike was his biggest influence learning about body types and helping people quick, doing it in a corporate setting. Later Scott worked at PGA National and then at the Nicklaus/Flick Schools back down under. “You pay a guy $1000 for two hours and he tells you two things that fixes you, that’s mastery, that’s what I want to know,” Scott stated. “I’ve paid a lot of money for a lot of information but that’s not going to help you.”

Billy Casper passed away on February 7^th and we reflected on his Hall of Fame career with 51 PGA Tour wins, 3 Majors, and the best ever Ryder Cup record for an American. Billy had no one that he worked with but knew why he missed shots and could correct it on the next shot. Billy used a lot of wrists in his putting and was one of the best ever. I commented that I have helped quite a few people by giving them permission to use their hands and wrists in their putting. According to my friends with 3D, they have yet to measure someone putting who didn’t have any wrist action.

“Going back, with people like you, some other leaders of the industry, 3D is going to show that a lot of things that we have been doing for the last 35 years is actually incorrect and here’s the proof. So people are just going to have to bite the bullet, put their ego at the door, and say ok I was wrong. Research shows that this is what actually happens, and from a technology aspect, that’s where we can use technology to find out what is actually happening. We have to find the information that works the quickest and the best for that person. Your best instructors are trying to learn, always. ” Scott said. Scott Munroe can be reached at his web site www.ScottMunroeGolf.com

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I asked Dr. Rob Neal, why do good putters not accelerate through impact? He said, “If you are trying to accelerate through impact, you’re going to have trouble controlling speed. Ideal is “0” acceleration and putter transfers’ energy to the ball and the putter would slow down afterwards. What we have measured with very good putters is a slight, very small deceleration of the putter just before impact. Not something we would pick up with the eye at all. Just about 20-30 milliseconds before impact where the putter has slightly slowed down. Players have no sense of that but we can have them feel the putter head is coasting through impact. Good putter typically have a shorter follow through than amateurs or poor putters. Good putters definitely keep the body still better, making impact on the putter face more consistent. A quarter inch off center can change the start direction. Putting is extremely precise and a demanding part of the game. Everyone has a little flexion or bowing of the lead hand on the back stroke and a little flexion extension or cupping in the lead wrist on the follow through. Using the hands gives a sense of feel and touch.” He has not measured anyone in putting who did not have some hand and wrist action.

In regard to wedges or pitch shots from around the green, I asked Dr. Neal about what the club face does past impact. Many good players feel and think that they keep the club face open, “but once we get a little speed and movement of the club, it’s not going to stay open. It will close as a function of its inertia. I would say it’s almost impossible, while hitting a perfect pitch shot, to keep the club face from closing or a rotation fashion. Now it might not close as rapidly as a full shot, but it is going to be closing to the target line. It might be a feel they are working on, but it’s not a reality and not staying open.” Dr. Rob Neal can be reached at his web site www.golfbiodynamics.com

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We had another caller ask about face-balanced putters vs toe hang and Mike said, “There is a natural straight back and straight through putting stroke because of the incline of the shaft at address which creates a slight arc. A perfect face rotation would be the putter open four degrees and close four degrees with a six inch follow through. We are not machines and the average college player has a total of 24-28 degrees of rotation where on Tour that is six to twelve degrees.” Face balanced putters will reduce rotation so if you are pulling putts this could help you to make more putts. However, if your putter doesn’t rotate enough, then you need a toe hang putter. Have to get a putter that matches your stroke. “Anytime manipulation is a part of the stroke, we are never going to putt as well as we should.”

Linear vs non-linear: “One of the first projects that I was involved with, when I really started to move in the direction of being a putting instructor, was that I worked with seven optometrists on the role that the eyes played in aiming a putter,” Mike said. This took a year and a half and they started with a ten foot straight putt because they assumed if they could get a player to aim well on a straight putt, then as they read the break of a putt, there would be no problem for them to aim at the point where they want the ball to start on a breaking putt. One of the first players they worked with was Mark O’Meara and he was one of the best aimers on a straight putt that they had ever seen. However, on a breaking putt, he read 6” of break and aimed 12” to the right on a right to left putt, and did the same thing on a left to right putt. Payne Stewart had exactly the same results as did Stuart Appleby. So the group turned their focus to breaking putts and concluded there were two kinds of players on the PGA Tour; Analytical or left brain players and more freedom players or right brain. Left brain saw straight lines and were linear, and right brain saw curved lines and were non-linear. So O’Meara, Stewart, and Appleby saw their aim point as the end of the putt or stopping 6” to the right of the hole. Non-linear players look at the hole and picture where the ball is going into the cup, say 4:00, with the feel in their body. If non-linear players have a line on their ball and or putter, it actually creates a conflict between that player’s sense of sight, touch, and feel. As a result they get caught up in this conflict and just don’t make as many putts as they should. For linear players it’s ok to have a line on their ball and putter because they see straight lines and there is no conflict. “65% of the population is non-linear with 50% of that group trying to putt in straight lines and struggling. Tour players are 85% non-linear and 70% of that group is trying to use the linear approach. Good putters know which one they are.” Mike Shannon can be reached at the Sea Pines Golf Learning Center at 912-638-5119.

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Butch would say to Claude III, “It’s only what you learn after you think you know everything that really matters.” Butch’s philosophy was that he tried to make things simple and not take too long to help people. Golf is a fairly simple game that confuses smart people. Sometimes instruction can be so technical, an overload of information, and at the end of the day we are trying to get people to hit a ball with a stick and have them enjoy it. It doesn’t have to be difficult. So Claude III learned how simple his dad tried to make things and “when you are working with the best players in the world, you can’t guess what you think might work for them. You have to be right because they are trying to make a living and if I’m wrong, you are going to affect their livelihood,” stated Claude III.

“Players have fingerprints, things that they do in their swings, regardless of how bad they are. They have things in their golf swings that are positive that can help them, and if you change a few things, they can learn to play better golf. Get to the cancer of the golf swing. I’m changing golf swings less these days,” said Claude III. Tiger has had all these coaches and the public thinks they have to over haul their golf swings. There is a time and talent level to be able to accomplish that. Most people don’t have the time so with them don’t try to change massive things. Block practice is very good when you are first learning a skill but golf is a game played in a random fashion. So once you start to execute better shots practice in a random fashion to help you prepare to play your best golf out on the golf course. Claude Harmon can be reached at the Floridian in Palm City, Florida at 772-678-4210

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John ended up going to Ohio State and had a couple of alumni that got involved to help recruit him. Jack Nicklaus wrote a couple of really nice letters and Tom Weiskopf “would give me a call about once a week just to say hello and check in. We would be sitting at the dinner table, the call would come in, my sister would answer the phone, hey John “Tom” is on the phone. I didn’t have any friends named “Tom” and here it is Tom Weiskopf calling me on the phone!”

John Cook has won 11 PGA Tour events, 10 Champion’s Tour events and a U.S. Amateur. The only thing missing is a Major and he has two seconds in regular Majors  and four seconds in Senior Majors. I asked John about the two footer he missed on the 17^th green at Muirfield in 1992, which would have given him a three shot lead.  “One of those things I took for granted. Played good all week, battled back, and had the lead. I hit a beautiful 5-iron into the middle of the green and just burned the edge of the cup for eagle, and it went a foot and a half, two feet by.  No worries, marked it, hit it inside left and as I was reaching to pick it out of the hole, it lipped out. I backed away and went Oh My God, I just missed this putt. Walking off the green my caddie said got one more hole to play, let’s go do this.” John would bogey 18 and Nick Faldo would play the last four holes two under par to win by one.  “I just didn’t finish. That one still hurts.” Look for John Cook on Morning Drive on Golf Channel and the Champion’s Tour in 2015. Hopefully he can win his first major this year.

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Mark would start to play golf at the Mission Viejo Country Club by his home in Southern California where he first took his mom’s clubs to the golf course to hit some balls on the range. His dad would join there and become President and “golf really became my friend. Something I could do without finding a bunch of other guys to hang out with.” 1979 was a breakout year for Mark where he won some college events, was an All-American, and was starting to play better. “The Monterey Peninsula is the prettiest place in the world.” Mark would win the state amateur at Pebble Beach beating Lennie Clements 8 & 7. Later that summer he would beat his good friend John Cook, who was defending, in the U.S. Amateur at Canterbury in Cleveland, Ohio. After trailing 2 down after 4, O’Meara won the next five holes and had a 3 up lead after 9 holes. Mark was 8 up playing the ninth hole, his 27^th, and he thought, “If I lose this, this is going to be the biggest collapse in golf. Wait a minute, let’s keep playing my game. I never thought about winning until that.” Mark would win on 11, 8 & 7.

Mark would qualify for the PGA Tour in the fall of 1980 with Fred Couples and in 1981 the Bob Hope Classic gave him an exemption. “In those days if you made the cut you were in the next tournament.” Mark would only have to qualify on Monday twice, at L.A. and San Diego which were ironically the two closest tournaments to his home. He made both of them and said, “Earning it the right way is better,” than getting an exemption. “A good process is to get in contention feel what that’s like, maybe not be successful right way, and keep working, keep practicing, work on your weaknesses, and learn how to handle the pressure.”

Putting: Just like Gary Koch, Mark said, “It’s all about speed. Everybody wants to make putts, that’s a given. Getting the feel and speed of the greens helps to eliminate three putting. When you go out to practice, work on speed.” Mark talked about being nervous during the 1998 Masters and said that no one is immune to being scared.  On the 10^th hole in the first round, “I kind of yipped it, shot 74, and putted terrible.” Mark got with Hank Haney after the round and they worked on his set-up and changed some things, but that’s not easy when the greens at Augusta are like the “front hood of your car!” Friday Mark shot 70, made the cut and then on Saturday shot 68 when he was still “not that confident over the putter.” Mark found himself in the final group on Sunday with Fred Couples and walking off the 16^th green he said to his caddie, “That’s as good of a six iron as I can hit. That’s as good of a putt as I can hit,” that missed for birdie. “Give me another ball and I’m going to birdie the last two! I birdied 17 and said on the 18^th green, sooner or later I have to make a putt, so give it your best effort. I hit a good putt and it curled in the left side of the cup and I realized I had won the Masters.” I asked Mark about his relationship with Tiger and if Tiger had helped him to believe in himself and changed his attitude. Mark said, “If Tiger hadn’t come into my life, it certainly might not have happened. He was my little brother for 10 years and we did everything together. I benefited and he did too. Tiger putting the green jacket on me was a dream come true.” Look for Mark O’Meara on the Champion’s Tour in 2015 and the World Golf Hall of Fame Induction ceremony on Monday of the British Open.

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There was another junior that lived about 25 miles from Shreveport named David Toms who was winning everything. Rob met David playing in tournaments where David would play in the city championship in Shreveport. In 1989 Rob moved to Memphis and began instruction in the Mid South. In his mid twenties he started working with David who was now a PGA Tour player and struggling. Rob had watched David play a lot of golf when he was young where everybody thought David was the “Golden Boy, the kid that is going to make it.” Golf had beat David down and he wasn’t quite as confident as he used to be because when he was a kid, “nobody could beat him.” “The confidence I had in David was probably the greatest gift I gave David,” Rob said.

The style of swing and substance of the swing  is what really matters. Ball curves about the club face, path, plane, swing radius, and lag. Changing your style doesn’t always lead you down the right path to change what the ball cares about. Most people have one stroke pattern that works for them. If you go into a bunker and manipulate keeping the club face open, and try to hit shots with the champagne glass on the club face past impact, how are you going to go to the first tee and swing differently where the club face is rotating to square the club face at impact and continuing to close after impact? Even top 20 players in the world think you cut across the ball on a bunker shot with the club face open. That’s not a reliable technique because it’s very hard to control distance even for them. If you make your normal stroke pattern that works for you in the bunker, where the arms and hands are rotating through impact, you don’t have to swing as hard to get the ball from A to B. Rob Akins can be reached at 901-359-4869 or www.akinsgolf.com

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Gary went to the University of Florida, they won the NCAA in 1973, and in 1974 things were very close with Wake Forest with just a par five to play. I asked Gary about that final hole and he said, “I’d like to tell you that I’ve gotten over that, but I probably haven’t.” Gary was playing with and tied with Curtis Strange for the individual title and the Gators were one stroke behind Wake Forest. Gary hit his second shot just through the green and Curtis hit a one-iron 12 feet away. Gary felt like he needed to chip in to give the Gators any chance and he chipped it inside a foot and tapped in for birdie. Curtis proceeded to roll the ball into the cup for an eagle three and Gary said, “I’m almost over it now some 40 years later.”

We had a caller ask about how to get more speed in his swing and Gary said that flexibility is one of the biggest keys and he has been doing Pilates for 7-8 years. Stretching and keeping the joints where they can move keeps the body lean and strong. Secondly watching what you eat and the portions that you eat is another key to well being.

Gary talked about Rory McIlroy and how he’s ok hitting just one shape shot when he plays, which is a high draw, even on holes that would call for a fade. Find a shot that you can play and stick with it. Jack Nicklaus did pretty well with a high fade. Got to go with what you are confident with and the more confident you are, the better you will play. Good course management is not doing more than what you can do. Even the tour pros are more conservative around the greens because their worst shot will be better than their worst shot trying to get too cute. Lastly Gary talked about keys to putting and he said he’s a firm believer in being able to control distance. “I have a sense of feel as to what the length of the stroke I need and the effort level. If you can’t control distance it’s going to be very hard to read greens, they go hand in hand,” he stated. A good putting drill is to lay the flagstick 18” behind the hole and hit some ten footers that get to the hole but don’t hit the flagstick. Don’t worry about making the putt. “I still do that drill today. It’s amazing how many putts go in if the speed is correct.” Watch for Gary Koch on NBC and Golf Channel in 2015.

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I asked Anne how she got in to teaching and she said, “I had no trouble dragging training aids out to the practice tee. I was working on my swing plane and used to travel and check as luggage a big wedge pillow that was waterproof. I was in Columbus, Ohio practicing and up walks Annette Deluca. She says, hey, what are you doing with that thing?  You look like you’re swinging pretty well. Annette I tend to be a little under the plane so I bring the pillow out and it keeps me on track. She says man that’s what I’m working on. Can I borrow that thing?” After some begging Anne gave her a mini-lesson and told her to put it her locker after she was done. The next day on the range here comes Annette and Anne is thinking ut oh…Annette says hey I shot 66, can I borrow that pillow again? Annette wins the tournament so Anne felt a small sense of satisfaction that she helped someone win. After that tournament a few players started to come up to Anne and ask for help with their game. Anne realized she had an eye for things and enjoyed helping people.

Anne said the putting yips actually occur in other professions and sports. Surgeons, neural and dental doctors, people with fine motor skills under stress will run into the yips. We have even seen it with a catcher for the Yankees who couldn’t throw the ball back to the mound. Anne believes it starts with poor technique and she starting getting the yips with poor aim. They even have a name for it; neurological focal hand dystonia. I, Larry Rinker, got out of the yips the first time by changing my goal and how I evaluated things. Success for me was a smooth stroke and the ball rolled nicely. The second time I got out of the yips I putted looking at the hole like Jordan Speith does inside of four feet. Anne said, “Doing a new motor pattern, or changing your grip, creates a new neural pathway that isn’t fried like the yipping pathway.” Anne Cain can be reached at www.AnneCainGolf.com

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One of the first Top 100 Teachers that John got to work with was Dr. T.J. Tomasi. John said that T.J. is one of the brightest minds in golf, and he taught him the value of communication, choreographing a lesson, and building a blue print for students. T.J. also told him, “Concepts cue motor behavior,” and a big part of golf instruction is to give students the correct concepts for their game. A lot of misconceptions in the golf swing. We had a caller call in and ask about “keeping his head still” and John said, “That’s the number one misconception in golf. David Duval, Annika, and Stenson all move. Allow yourself to be free and athletic. Half of our job is the clear up misconceptions.  It’s a team effort for the instructor to figure out what works for you and that can’t happen in one or two hours of instruction. Build a game plan and stick with it. Have to put in the time to get to the next step. Little mini-practice sessions are great even if they are just 15-30 minutes.”

John also worked with Jim McLean and three things that he learned from Jim were (1) As a teacher really keeping an eye on the path and club face, (2) Not trying to be a strict method teacher and appreciating the idiosyncrasies among golfers. Tour players have their own swings, and (3) Build a system as a teacher that is going to be both good for the recreational golfer as well as the Tour Player. “Have to teach people to play the game. Develop kids as golfers so they can manage the golf course and get the ball in the hole. Have games and contests for juniors to help them develop skills,” John said. John has a successful  junior program in the summertime with 150 juniors at the Aronimink Golf Club and he is also the Director of Instruction at the Quail Valley Country Club in Vero Beach, Florida during the wintertime. For more information on John visit his web site at www.JohnBierkan.com

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