JOHN’s Teaching philosophy

John recognizes that golfers all have different aspirations and time for their golf games. With this in mind, John offers a wide variety of instructional programs designed to cater to everyone’s needs. From beginner to Tour Pro and casual golfer to serious student, John has a lesson plan for you.

The first step for John towards helping you reach your golfing potential is getting to know you. Every one of John’s students goes through an interview and assessment to give John knowledge about their background in golf, their physical abilities or injuries and their goals for their game.

The second step to developing an improvement plan is knowing where your game is right now. To this end, John uses a series of cutting edge assessment tools to pinpoint your present skill levels and physical capabilities.

Thirdly, it’s time to formulate an action plan. The above information, coupled with the student’s available time for practice and play, will combine to form the framework.

The final piece is expert advice in one or all areas of your game that need improving to reach your goals.

Total game approach

John takes pride in his ability to help people become better golfers. His success is a result of a total game focus that recognizes the many facets of the game and offers expert insights in all of them. The key parts of the game are:

Full swing

The most widely taught part of the game, the golf swing is needed to move the ball the large distances required to play today’s courses. To explain John’s approach to teaching the full swing he uses a house as an analogy.

• A golfer needs a strong foundation made up of a good set-up position and a clear understanding of how the club needs to be used through impact. John feels all golfers can improve quickly when they understand the key concepts governing effective contact. The impact goals of a square clubface, proper swing path and solid contact are all readily agreed upon. However, the concepts that control them are misunderstood by the vast majority of golfers.
• The golfer needs a good framework of the swing, comprised of a backswing and forward swing to a balanced finish. There are many motions that combine to make up a backswing and forward swing, body turn and arm swing to name a couple. These topics are better left to your time with John in person. One important note, John strongly believes we al have our best swing and this swing should be built or refined based on our body type physical capabilities.
• Finally, depending on a golfers goals, the swing will be fine tuned to be good enough to deliver the results the player wants. In a house, this would be stainless steel appliances and granite counter tops!

Putting

Putting is arguably is the part of the game with the biggest impact on your score. To become a good putter, John feels you must learn a repeating stroke which allows you to control direction and speed. Most good putters follow a few key fundamentals that deliver these skills. The final step to being a good putter is the ability to “read greens”.

short game

The short game is made up of chipping, pitching, sand play and partial wedge shots. John teaches these shots in 4 steps:

• Good Technique = consistent contact
• Learn ability to control how far the ball flies – FEEL
• Learn how to control how far the ball rolls after it lands – Choosing the correct loft
• Understanding which shot to use from various situations

mental game

The brain is the computer that runs everything. Your brain can be be your most powerful weapon or your biggest enemy. Learning to effectively “run your brain” is key to hitting good golf shots, making good putting strokes, etc. If you don’t effectively run your brain, your physical skills will not be able to come to the surface. It can be said, your performance on any given day is the result of:

YOUR PHYSICAL SKILlS   -   MENTAL INTERFERENCE    +/-   LUCK

course management

Closely linked to the mental game, course management is the ability to put together good game plans and choose appropriate shots based on personal skill level and situation details.

Golf equipment

Regardless of your skill level, to play your best, your clubs must be appropriate for your body type and swing. Many golfers make the mistake of learning a swing before getting custom fitted equipment. You don’t necessarily need expensive clubs but you absolutely need clubs that are sized to you and your game.

Fitness and nutrition

While most golfers aren’t striving to be the next Tiger Woods, they are trying to play better, play more often or play without pain. Your instruction will be based on your physical situation and will either advise you on how to improve your fitness or will take into account your present state to help you learn YOUR best possible swing.

Again, you may not be striving for the PGA Tour but there are some simple things you can do to improve hydration and nutrition that will lead to instant improvement in your performance.

As you have read, there are many parts of the game. With a constant quest for knowledge, John is qualified to provide you with expert instruction in every aspect of the game. Depending on your level of play and aspirations, you may not want or need much of the ideas mentioned above. But, isn’t it nice to know your instructor can provide you with the help if you ever decide you want it? There are very few instructors in North America who can offer you the depth of knowledge that John brings to his lesson tee. Is your game worth it?