The Golf Guru Show

As the 2011 PGA Show comes to a close, I wanted to reflect and give my experience from my week in Orlando. For those of you, pros or just avid golfers alike, you must go at least once to see just how massive this things is. I heard on the radio that if you walk all of it, you will have clocked around 10 miles. I walked every bit of it and some of it several times so I definitely got my exercise. I think that this was my best Show that I can remember and I am going to tell you why. As I have posted in some previous blogs, the main reason that I go is to get around people who I find interesting and that I can learn from. The gadgets and products are great and I will get into that but it’s the people you meet and spend time with that make the trip a success. I will break this down diary style since my laptop has currently died and didn’t make the trip or I would have been blogging as I go like my good friend John Graham http://www.johngrahamgolf.com).

Thursday (Day 1): Twitter has definitely made the world smaller and has allowed me to meet some great people along the way. The day started out by meeting up with Jason Helman (jasonhelmangolf.com) my friend and teaching pro from Canada. We walked the show for most of the morning to check out the new gadgets in the world of teaching. We met up with my good friend Derek Radley and his girlfriend Sara Brown (big break star and Rookie LPGA player), We had some lunch with her dad and the commisioner of the Futures tour. It was like walking around with a rock star as everyone recognizes Sara from TV.  After a great meeting with my Callaway rep, Tim Garrett,  to order my new clubs for the year, I ran into Rob LaRosa, Head Professional from Sterling Farms CC. We then made our way over to the Aimpoint booth to meet up with John Graham (@johngrahamgolf). We all walked over to the Swinkey training aid booth to

meet the boys http://swinkey.com and discuss the product and take a few pictures. So day one was just feeling out the location of the stuff we were interested in and meeting a few of the tweeps. After the show is when the good stuff happens if you are there. For those that follow me already know about the TWEETUP. This is a gathering of guys and girls that know each other on twitter. John Graham was nice enough to put it all together so about 30 of us met at Millers Ale house that night. Here is a list of some of the guys that I met:  David Wurzer, Jason Helman, Dan Carraher, Ricky Lee Potts, John Randle, Dennis Sales, Claude Harmon, Joe Hafera, Nick Clearwater, Sean Lalley, Rich Hunt, Todd Halpen, Bobby Siravo, Jamie Donaldson, Mark Sweeney, Bernie Najar, Ralph Perez, Andrew Lewis, Sara Dickson, Kirk Oguri, John Dochety, TJ Yeaton and Mario Bevilacqua. I wish I could have spent more time with everyone but I managed to get an idea of everyone’s teaching philosophies and backgrounds just by observing and listening to their conversations. I apologize for not taking more film as this one would have made a great reality show and surely would have went viral in an hour, but didn’t want to make anyone uncomfortable. I wish I would have taken pics. I was so busy talking that I forgot to eat.  No one got hurt although Doc (John Dochety) almost hit Ralph (gotham golf blog) with a front side chop as they battled over a #4 accumulator discussion. At the end, they hugged it out and we all made it home safe. I thank all of you for being willing to share all of your brilliant golf info so freely as this is what is going to help our industry grow and make us better coaches. It was great to finally put some of the names with the faces (and twitter handles) together. I also got to spend some time with two of my mentors and top 100 teachers, Chuck Evans and Charlie King which was great. I always learn something after spending time with them. I ran into new top 100 inductees, Charlie Sorrell and Mark Steinbauer and congratulated them on their accomplishment.

Friday: The day started with checking out and getting more info on training aids. I know you all are waiting on my reviews so you can run out and buy or hopefully take a lesson from me. I will be doing video reviews as I get to use them in the coming months but here are my list of aids that I found interesting:

1. Swinkey (www.swinkey.com). One of the most versatile aids on the market for sure. I saw many swinkeys in the hands of people walking around the show so I think Todd and the boys did well. I highly recommend this product for any serious golfer who wants to improve. I would do a video review on it but unfortunately I don’t have an aid. I think I will check with Jim McLean and borrow his as I heard he got one for free, (just messing with you Todd). It was great to meet Disco Stu as well, he made his way around the show displaying the product with his cool World Cup jacket on. (great idea by @jasonhelmangolf) This company has a bright future for sure. Right On!

2. The Medicus Vision Stick: (www.medicuscatalogue.com) Endorsed by my good friend Chuck Evans and I look forward to using this one for path and low point training

3. Tour Striker: (www.tourstriker.com) Not a new product but I picked one up because I love the idea of helping players with impact and forward shaft lean. You have probably seen the infomercial on the golf channel.

4. Power Lag + Flat Wrist Pro (www.Powerlagpro.com): This is a devise that fits on your lead wrist and the back of your trail wrist to help feel the correct angle on your downswing. Developed by Sam Shah who invented the pivotpro. I will let you know how this works

5. The Perfect Release: (www.perfectrelease.com) An interesting aid that Martin Hall used on his first show on the Golf Channel. It is a bungee cord that connects your trail arm and the club shaft.

Possible candidates:

1. Drain-O Instant Pro Putting Fix -(http://www.drain-o.com/). A putting path aid made up of two tripods and a curved wire. I did shoot some video on this one. Might get one in the future.

2. Putter Master (www.puttermaster.com): A bar that is positioned across the wrists and helps keep your forearms square.

So the day ended with the an excellent putting seminar with my good friend Todd Sones and he was joined by Mike Shannon, the putting instructor from Sea Island. These two guys and who I learned how to teach putting and I always learn something new when spending some time with them.

Saturday: Last day at the show concluded a great week. I caught up with my new running mate from Ontario, Jason Helman and we caught a couple of short seminars on the main stage. I enjoyed the one with Suzy Whaley and her junior golf program with stations and fitness games that got the kids excited. Definitely the wave of the future of junior golf. Creating young athletes and then teaching them to play golf. I hit some of the new Callaway equipment on the trackman which was pretty cool. It got me excited to get back and play some golf when it warms up. Mr. Helman and I met John Graham and a friend for dinner to spend some more time before the week ended which was cool. I got back to the hotel and thought my night was done and then it happened. I get a call from TJ Yeaton, John Dochety and Mark Walder and we realized that we were staying in the same hotel so we met for drinks. For the rest of the night I was schooled in the world of Mac Ogrady’s MORAD system and some great stories about their experiences as only doc can describe it. You will be hearing from these guys as they are some of the brightest golf swing professors that I have ever met. There is so much more that I could tell you but you will have to get that from me on the lesson or a phone conversation. I want to thank Jason Helman for putting up with me all weekend and John Graham for allowing me to meet so many new friends. Let me know if I can do anything for any of you as I am in debt to you all.  What a great way to kick off the season.

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To work with me at the Dana Rader Golf School call 704-542-7635 or visit our website @ danarader.com

See you on the lesson tee,

Guru