Author: jasonsutton

I am a P.G.A . Director of Instruction at Carmel Country Club in Charlotte, North Carolina. 2013 Carolinas PGA Teacher of the Year. I am an AimPoint Green Reading Certified Instructior, K-Vest certified, A certified Coutour Putter fitter, D-Plane certified. I am a christian, married with 2 children. I love to flyfish and am an avid runner

Guruism’s and The lighter side of Jason

September 3, 2010

I had a few minutes in between lessons today, which is unusual, so I thought I would write about whatever was on my mind. As I spend another year on the lesson tee, loaded down with sunscreen,, zinc on my nose and a huge hat on my head, fatigue often sets in. I know, I know what you are thinking. Guru, you are in phenomenal shape and you only teach 3000 lesson per year, how can you ever get tired? But after doing this job, which I love with a passion, for 18 years……..Sometimes I get irritable or as we call it at the 5 o’clock hour on a long hot day at the golf school……PUNCHY. For those of you out there that have worked with me and know me, I don’t pull any punches…..I try to call it as I see it! Honesty is what I call it. Sometimes it may be brutal but I feel I owe my students the truth. If your club face is wide open and you are swing over the top and scooping it, It is not going to do any good if I give you fluffy advice or tell you that your swing looks great and that I wouldn’t change anything. I am going to kindly explain that we have some work to do. Just after the initial interview and watching some students warm up, One of the most common questions that I get as we approach the video room is, “GURU, IS THERE ANY HOPE”. My response is always the same, “YES SIR, I SELL HOPE” (At 125.00 hour mind you). So I thought I would give you some of the sayings that I use on the lesson tee to help lighten the mood or relax the student or just plain get my point across. Feel Free to use or repeat when appropriate as I may have stolen it from you or someone you know.You

1.  There are plenty of seats on the plane – if you are working on swing plane.

2. Where is the only place to get off of the plane? The Airport

3.  You couldn’t draw a ball with a pencil – for all you slicers out there (And a pull is not a draw)

4.   Hands and Arms University, enrollment is free.

5.  Student says after making a plane change,”I feel like I am making a loop,”…response: you were already making a loop, just the wrong direction.

6.  It feels unnatural (student making a change), response: I am not in the comfort business….but I promise it will make you better.

7.  You have to feel as if you change it 2 miles to change it 2 inches

8.  Feel is not always real. Do you know what is between the two? A looooooong bridge. My job is to make it shorter

9.  My favorite training aid:”The orange whip” is “The Answer To Cancer”

10.  We must not mistake MOVEMENT for ACHIEVEMENT…..Practice with a purpose

That is enough for now. Throughout the day, myself and the other instructors use a lot of movie quotes………that is for another post. I am late for my next lesson. Talk to you later.

See you on the lesson tee and don’t forget to breathe in a 4 count rhythm,

Guru

Matt “The Kuch” Kuchar wins first FedEx playoff: What can we learn from his one plane/reverse slot swing?

August 30, 2010

Matt Kuchar wins the Barclays Championship in a playoff over Scotland’s Martin Laird. Kuchar makes birdie on the first playoff hole to win and continue outstanding play as he enjoys his best season on tour. Matt has one of the P.G.A. tours most unusual swings and once again I have cued up a slow motion video of Matt’s move in order to educate Guru Nation on how these unusual golf swings work and further highlighting the fact that there is a lot of ways to get it done out there and play great golf. Matt has what we would call a Reverse Slot/One Plane Swing. Let me clarify what I mean by both of these labels and see if I can help you understand some of the terminology behind the two.

One Plane Swing – Top teacher Jim Hardy coined this phrase as a certain style of swing. First off, one-plane has nothing to do with the golf club swinging on a particular plane throughout the swing as a lot of golfers (and some teachers) think. The golf swing has many planes. Shaft, hands, arms, shoulders etc. One plane is a reference between the shoulder plane and the left arm plane. When the left arm and the shoulder plane match at the top of the swing it is considered One-Plane, that’s it. When the arm plane is higher than the shoulder plane it is considered Two-Plane (see past post on Carl Pettersen). So as you can easily see, Kuch is a big time one-planer. When the left arm is below the shoulders, I call that a ZERO PLANE (I made that up). Other pros that use this style are former president of one-plane nation, Chad Campbell, and current president : Zack Johnson (because he has won a major). I think this is a great way to swing if you are a chronic over the topper. But I still have one criteria. I don’t like the shaft of the club to get below the right forearm or behind the hands in the takeaway. This can and usually makes the downswing too steep. But there is always the exception to any rule……which leads me to my second point.

THE REVERSE SLOT SWING PATTERN

“The slot is an area of the downswing about half way down where the club shaft is parallel and slightly on top of the original shaft plane”. (depending what camera view you use……post for another time. Every golfer wants to find the slot and the majority of touring pros are there in the downswing. The largest portion of PGA players have a swing pattern where the backswing is outside of the downswing. In Kuchars case, it is reversed…..We call this the REVERSE SLOT SWING PATTERN. He breaks the guru rule and lets his club shaft get lower than his right forearm and couples that with a very low arm plane. So how does he make this work? ALL OF YOU OVER THE TOPPERS (EARMUFFS). Key Move: In order to get the club back in front of him and back into the slot, he must rotate his entire torso (shoulders, chest and hips), very aggressively to the left. If he was too slow with his body, the club would come in too shallow or swing too much inside/out. Kuchar makes this work beautifully as you wouldn’t think this style would work out of the deep rough as he demonstrated in the playoff. Other players that use this style are, J.B. Holmes, Joe Oglvie, Bobby Jones, Sam Snead (going old school on you).  As this post is getting a bit lengthy, I will cut it off and accept any comments. So the moral of the story  is………If you are consistently finding the slot on your downswing, don’t let anyone change your backswing!!!!!

See you on the lesson tee,

Guru

2010 U.S. Amateur at Chambers Bay: Perspective from an avid golfer. A Guest Post from Tom Chambers

August 28, 2010

As the U.S. Am finishes up today at Chambers Bay, I received an excellent email that I wanted to share from one of my students that recently played there. Here is Tom Chambers take on his experience at one of Americas hidden gems. Thanks for the post Tom. I am officially jealous and will put Chambers Bay on my bucket list of places to play. Here is the website: chambersbaygolf.com

Jason,
 
Thought you may enjoy a few stories and maybe a topic for the blog.
 
Last month I had a chance to play at Chambers Bay in the state of Washington. Oh and it also is hosting the 2010 US Amateur currently going on and play host to the US Open in 2015.
 
Since this is the first time I have played a course which is now on TV, I can appreciate what these guys are doing and how tough the course is going to play. Also amazed these guys are that good. I’ve muttered a few times, “He doesn’t stand a chance of making the 20 footer breaking 8 feet going down hill, he’ll be lucky to 3 putt”……….of course, they either cozy it up there tight or make the putt.
 
A little about the course. True links style golf. All the grass is fine fescue (fairways and greens). Sometimes it’s hard to tell where the fairway ends and the greens begin. From what I hear, similar to St Andrews. The course is built entirely on a bed of sand ranging from 10-50 feet deep. So it plays hard and fast. No winter rules and all the rain they get up there, it all drains really fast. The site was an old gravel and sand processing yard so some of the greyish looking sand is from the site. Bunkers all over the place although many are designated as waste areas but it can be hard to tell where the waste area ends and the hazard begins (Learn from Dustin Johnson and play them all as a bunker)
 
A player is not going to spin and zip the ball back. You have to play for a release and in some cases, some 10-15, even 20 yards of release with the longer irons. Pull out the British Open pointers, you will need them. Plenty of 3/4, lower flight  and bump and run type shots.
 
There isn’t a true level lie on the course. Just about every shot will have some sort of undulation. Ball a little above/below the feet or a slight uphill/downhill lie. It’s hard to remember to choke down a little or put a little more bend in the knees. Really, just enough to make it annoying. This is also true on the tee boxes, especially the par 3’s.
 
First, the greens. Watching a little on the golf channel tonight, I can attest, that 11.5 on the stimp meter may sound slow, but they play a lot faster. If you are not on the correct tier, these guys will be lucky to two putt if it is going down hill. Number 1, 12 (Drivable par 4 if the pin is in the front) and 17 in my opinion can ruin your round if you are not careful. Then add to the fact the greens are made of sand, a little grain of sand can just jump up and knock the ball of line. That may actually be the toughest part, knowing you put a good stroke on the ball and watch it jump left or right just a little and you are left saying what the ???????
 
On the first hole, if the player has a draw in his normal ball flight, he has to stay as far left as possible. Anything left and 99% of the time, the player will be left with a nasty 50 yard blind uphill shot. Twelve is a wicked 4 tier green and if you get lazy, one can easily putt back onto the fairway. For seventeen, if the flag is on the upper right tier, short can be dead as well as long and right. If it is on the lower left tier, nothing really to worry about.
 
Most of the lower holes have some sort of slight elevation change, ranging from a half to a full club up or down the bag. There are some other holes with hug  elevation changes like number 9. A par 3 with about 50-75 feet downhill elevation change. But I can say I hit a 9 iron some 175 yards!!! (normally a 6 iron)
 
Also there are plenty of tee box locations. I’m sure the USGA is going to play with them a lot this week. Somehow they stretched the course another 300-500 yards. Not sure how, I was looking for the tournament tees and couldn’t find them on some holes. They also took away a stroke on 18, which normally plays as a par 5. Today it was playing 511 yards but they can push the tees back and it can reach 550. Can you imagine a 550 yard par 4 finishing hole?!?
 
Very cool course and a must play if one gets to the Seattle area but you better be in shape, walking only.
 
And if you are wondering, I’ve played the course twice 86-90. Killed myself the first 12 holes this time around by playing east coast American golf (Fly it to a realativley soft green). My putting really saved me on the way to the house with six straight one putts.
 
Played another muni the next day. Jefferson Golf Course. Yes the same course that Fred Couples played when he was growing up. Actually saw him before my round when I was on the practice putting green. He was there with the Golf Channel doing a walk down memory lane before the Senior US Open. And shot an 81……….
 
I’ll be in for a tune up soon.
 
Stay well,
 
Tom Chambers

GURU TV – BODY PIVOT AND HOW IT AFFECTS YOUR SWING

August 6, 2010

We have talked a lot about the hands and arms but the engine to the golf swing is the body pivot. How the body moves or doesn’t move will affect how the golf club moves throughout the  swing. The one thing that I didn’t mention in this video is the player that is trying to keep his hips from moving to create torque in the backswing. Here is an fyi. If your hips don’t move, your shoulders will not turn enough to get the  club inside enough to find the plane. I hope you enjoy the vlog and leave a comment if you would like.

Guru

Visualization Skills: How To Get Bubba To Hit First

August 5, 2010

What if you could just think about hitting great golf shots and they would magically happen? Have I got your attention yet? Well, It is not that easy but your mind and your inner vision does have a huge effect on your performance. Mental coaches have really become popular on the PGA Tour and in all sports and for good reason. The ability for the athlete to control their emotions and their mind is what separates the winners from the rest of the field. I am no sports psychologist but have read enough books, talked to enough sports psych docs and worked with enough tour player who work with these guys to be dangerous. I have really tried to improve in this area so that  I can help my players with more than just their golfing skills but assist them in their mental games as well. I will write a book someday and one of my so-called titles was “How To Get Bubba To Hit First”. The first thing that you are asking yourself is “Who Is This Bubba Character?” Great question. Have you ever missed a four-foot putt only to rake it back and make the second one. Have you ever made the worst driver swing in your life, out-of-bounds, re tee and stripe it down the middle? Stand over an easy chip shot, duff it, step up and hole it like you were Phil Mickelson. We have all been there, right? That second guy is pretty good. Well, I want you to meet Bubba! The best player that lies within all of us. The Ranger Rick that stripes it on the range and drives 300 yards to the first tee and hit a drive like it was your first day playing golf. So what has changed and why does Bubba play so well and you don’t? Well, it has nothing to do with your skill because you obviously could do it on the practice tee or the provisional drive after you hit it out-of-bounds. It starts with VISUALIZATION! Have you ever heard of the LAW OF ATTRACTION? The Law of Attraction simply says that you attract into your life whatever you think about.  Your dominant thoughts will find a way to manifest. Golfers are the worst at thinking about the negatives or simply viewing themselves as lower than they are . I talked in some previous posts about “Acting As If”. Before you can act like a better golfer, you must visualize yourself as better golfer or see yourself hitting the shot that you want. I believe that the best players can visualize each shot so vividly that they have trained their mind into thinking that they have already done it…………Bubba gets to hit first. We do it in our careers. We do it in our lives. We set goals and outcomes that we want to achieve for ourselves and our families. So why not our golf games? There is an excercise called a “Vision Board” where you take a piece of poster board and paste pictures of things that you want to achieve or accomplish. They encourage you to look at it every day as you would your goals an visualize yourself doing these things. Golf is such a visual sport and the best players use their eyes  so effectively. Why did Jack Nicklaus take so much time over a putt? Not because he had a lot of swing thoughts. He took time to visualize the putt (in real-time) tracking to the hole, going in, then returning to his putter before he would pull the trigger. That took a long time! Why did Johnny Miller sit in a chair before a tournament, close his eyes and picture himself playing every shot in an entire round before he went to the course……I think he shot 63 in alot of majors in his mind. Visualization or being able to picture the outcome  or shot is one of the first things I teach in developing an effective pre-shot routine. Here are the 3 ways to visualize……find out which one works for you and Bubba will hit first more often.

1.  Seeing the flight of the ball or shot – You are the camera and you picture the ball flight as it was a video game with a white stripe.

2.  Visualize yourself as you stand outside your body – This when you are picturing yourself making the proper swing or short game shot that you want. That is why I think your should always take a video lesson when you are hitting it your best. This way you view what your swing looks like at its best and you can call that image up when you need it.

3.  Picture another Player to help your game – I used to picture Ernie Els’ driver tempo and Tiger Woods short iron swing for excellent results. You can choose your models but this is an effective way to maintain tempo and rhythm in your swing or stroke. It is no coincidence that after you return from a tour event and have watched the best players in the world practice or play, that you suddenly develop effortless tempo and rhythm in your swing….for at least a little while, right.

It worked for King Louis (and the red dot) in the Open Champioship and it can work for you. Work on your visualization skills for your golf and for your life and I can promise that you will start to attract the shots and the things that you want in your life and your golf game…….It has worked for me and I know it will work for you

See you on the lesson tee and don’t forget to breathe as you paint the picture,

Guru

A Guest Blog Post From The Golf Geek: Conviction

July 29, 2010

Not the type that follows a “guilty” verdict, but instead the virtue. Having the courage of one’s convictions is indeed laudable, but perhaps not something a casual observer would identify as a core requirement for a golfer who intends to improve.

Nothing could be further from the truth, as I’m starting to discover. It manifests in so many ways, and even if you’re a confident, determined and positive person, you have to be on guard at all times as the fear and negativity of others can be both pervasive and persuasive.

I recently completed a round with a new playing partner, there had been a space on the board, and we both took advantage. I admire this player- he plays off 13, despite being of senior age, and despite a swing that could be charitably described as idiosyncratic, and a resultant ball flight that, remaining in charitable vein, was a bit of a slice. He golfed his ball in excellent fashion around the course, and had at least 7 up & downs throughout the round. I learned a lot, not least that whatever I think about my swing, it’s not what is currently limiting my scoring. Short game, putting and strategy (I’ve been working on my putting, so this is the correct order of descending importance at time of writing), and forgetting about trying to think technically on the course. I’ve also realised that, while a good looking golf swing would be nice, an effective, repeating and above all predictable swing would be nicer.

The last few sentences are all very well, but what do they have to do with conviction? Not a lot, in themselves. But this player, who sets up with all clubs like he’s about to play a forward defensive stroke to an in-swinging yorker and before starting his swing rotates his left hand through 70 degrees to a much “stronger” position, saw fit to critique my swing all of the way around the course. I must admit it amused rather than irked me, as although I started a bit disappointingly I settled into my rhythm and felt happy with my swing. It’s a funny situation after all- one might think that a player with such an individual style might have enough experience of unsolicited swing critique by “Expertise-less Experts”- but no. And he’s by no means the only one, the most voluble or the highest handicapper doing this. Marc Solomon, the uncompromising New Jersey pro behind Golf Made Simple, frequently disparages this, and divides golfers into “players” & “monkeys” ( the former reserved those who have a plan, the others following latest fad or magazine craze like the “Tilt into the Xfactor Stack Square to Toe up”) An amusingly vitriolic rant of his can be found here , with many more here. It takes a strong person to withstand this constant barrage of well intentioned mostly unhelpful advice, and even if we were to stumble across that which we need to improve consistency, we wouldn’t have the requisite faith or conviction and we would be likely to discard it when we’re offered still more advice at the first signs of struggling.

It’s also difficult to maintain the requisite conviction in one’s long-term plan. Golf clubs are full of those who have been at the same level for years, and they don’t want to acknowledge that improvement is possible, as this then reflects poorly on them for not having managed to do it themselves. This is their own judgement; I’m well aware that my interest in golf borders on obsession, and others may not be so driven, or have so many commitments that their weekly round and beer afterward is all the time they can spare. The idea of players they can beat comfortably beating them interferes with their sense of self, and they react with negativity to try to dissuade you from your lofty ambitions.

Conviction is also necessary in practice and preparation. I’ve read a lot about golf, and particularly on how to practice (the answer to this is to practice deep and deliberate practice- see The Game Before the Game and Neil Plimmer’s Open Mind Golf blog and in particular his ideas on driving range practice for long game), but it’s very difficult to do this when everyone around you is doing very different things, and when you’re unconvinced, it affects your motivation & you’re therefore much less likelyto practice. This happened to me when I first started stretching, I wasn’t convinced it was helping until I saw Karen Young. As soon as I had faith, I regained my motivation.

Conviction is therefore necessary, and can be difficult to come by and easy to misplace. I’m countering this by making sure my coaches and mentors are people I hold in high regard who are happy to be consulted, and by resolving never to follow blindly unsolicited advice. In fact, I’m going to pretend Mrs Geek is talking about wall coverings & soft furnishings, which ought to ensure absolutely none of this information will make it into my brain.

I’m hopefully playing again on Saturday, so normal service should be resumed! Let me know if you enjoyed this, and whether more like this to supplemnent my round reports would interest you.

Posted by The Golf Geek at 15:27
 
Thank you for your outstanding blog post “Golf Geek”. He is one of my good friends from the UK and can be found on twitter @The_Golf_Geek@twitter.com.  To read more from the Geeks blog go to http://thegolfgeek.blogspot.com
 
Let me know if you want to see more of these guest posts or if you want to be a guest blogger…..contact me at jasonsuttn@aol.com
 
See you on the lesson tee,
 
Guru

Alan White: Guest Blogger and Member Of Guru Nation

July 28, 2010

I thought I would do something different for this follow-up post on MISCONCEPTIONITIS. We have a guest poster today. Alan is one of my students that has been working hard on his game and has improved a lot. I thought I would share his thoughts on an experience that he had that might help you guys out there.  

Guru Nation Heed The Advice.
After a quick chat with the Guru I thought I would share a recent example of the pitfalls of misconceptions. The driver has been my Achilles Heel for quite some time. About 3 months ago we started to focus on my Driver and the GURU quickly found a flaw in my takeaway that had developed over time. While I was able to get away with the flaw on most of my iron play it quickly compounded issues as the clubs got longer……

Great, Thanks GURU now I’m off to the range to practice.

Day one at the range when well-meaning friend shows up. “hey man that backswing looks a lot different remember keep it low, slow and inside on the way back”. So he demonstrates a backswing that could brush a tee placed 5 feet behind the ball. Oh yes you are right my well-meaning friend what WAS I thinking???? I have always heard that, I MUST be doing it wrong.

Fast Forward 3 Months and 9,284 range balls……….GURU my Drive is still killing my game what is going on?…..I don’t know Alan lets take a look….. Slice, pull, slice, pull, push, hook….. Alan, I though we talked about working on the backswing last time you were here…..We did GURU watch me brush this tee 5 foot behind the ball…… Alan that is not what we talked about………………………Ahhhhh you are right GURU. Lets start over. This oversight (i.e. stupidity) on my part cost me 3 months and a lot of wasted effort on my road to improvement.

This was on a Wednesday. On Thursday I worked very hard on the range with my notes from the GURU not listening to anyone or anything. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday I shot 4 of my best rounds ever with the Driver doing it’s fair part.

Moral of the story
Be very careful of friendly advice about the golf swing. Remember most people will never break 80.
If you are fortunate enough to be able to get advice from an expert. USE IT…..

See you on the course!!!!

Thanks Alan for that great take. If anyone else wants to do a guest post, please send it to my email address @jasonsuttn@aol.com for review.,

See you on the lesson tee,

Guru

Sticks and Stones Will Break Your Bones But Misconceptions Will Kill Your Game: What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You

July 26, 2010

I was giving a lesson the other day to a first time student and in the process of watching him warm-up, the commentary began at a fever pitch. He would top one or hit it thin…..”Oh, I lifted my head.” He would hit a slice to the right……”Oh, I need to tuck my right arm on my backswing.” Over the years I have learned not to respond right away to these outlandish ideas or misconceptions. It is easy to jump right in and tell the student,”You are wrong or give them the correct answer contradicting everything that they thought they should be doing in their golf swing, but that for one doesn’t make the student feel very good about being with me and too it is just not the time. Golfers typically start golf without much knowledge and direction (with the exception of their buddies or husbands). Let’s face it, there are far more teachers out there than players, which leads us to our problem, MISCONCEPTIONITIS…….defined as – human beings ingesting false information from other humans that have done the same thing. Golf has to be the leading sport of bad information that is passed down through the years…….starting in the late 1800’s. I am a firm believer that it was definitely a teaching pro that coined the phrase “KEEP YOUR HEAD DOWN”, There isn’t another 4 words that have made me more money over the years, that is for sure. Thank you Henry Cotton. So here is my list of common misconceptions that we need to address in the upcoming Guru TV Shows that may be holding you back . If any of these are your swing thoughts, please call 1-800-GURU…….Quickly. So here we go……..

1. Keep your head down – The head must be allowed to move somewhat during the swing. A steady head might be more appropriate. The amateur eyes might see the head raise up but remember it is attached to the body. Maintain a consistent spine angle and let your head follow your ball flight to create freedom in your follow through. Otherwise you will be looking at the ground and still killing worms.

2. Tuck your rear elbow on your backswing – This one started with someone watching Hogan swing. Even he had some space under his right arm in the backswing. Tell Fred Couples, Jack Nicklaus, Angel Cabrera or our recent PGA Tour winner, Carl Pettersen to tuck their right elbow and you will ruin their career. Width in the swing is created with a wide right arm in the takeaway. Save the tucking for the downswing when the swing gets narrow.

3.  Keep your left arm straight – Tension is the one of the most damaging things to a good golf swing and trying to lock your lead arm can cause this very quickly. Comfortably extended is better terminology. Keep it extended but soft. A little bend will not kill you. Once again, width is created by the right arm. If you are collapsing, try pushing out slightly with the rear arm and you will thank me later.

This is enough for you to chew on for the time being. There are so many more that I will discuss and probably do a show about in the near future. My advice to you is to make sure that when you get a tip that it 1) makes sense in a sound golf philosophy and 2) applies to your error tendencies. An educated student should know what these are. If you don’t, please see a reputable teacher/coach that can help you organize and understand your errors and put together a plan to fix them. Until then….. Don’t Forget To Breathe (the best place is when you get ready to take it away)

See you on the lesson tee,

Guru