Golf Essentials (for Weekend Warriors)

The quickest wins are in your setup and stance - nothing to do with your swing. Most people focus on "in-swing" faults and ignore the "pre-swing". I do the opposite. 

Without good setup and alignment, your swing is doomed. Don't get it mixed up. 

Two things to look at when you're a little rusty: posture and grip. 

Posture: Use a golf club to allow you to feel what a straight spine feels like. Take your stance with a club running along your spine and it'll remind you of what good posture is supposed to be like. 

Grip: This one's simple, but nobody seems to focus on it. If you're slicing, rotate your hands around to the right around the handle of the club. This helps the release of the club, the toe will pass the heel through impact, and you'll hit it left. Once you do this, then work towards the happy medium. 

Always focus on pre-swing before any in-swing stuff guys...it's easier to pull off and you'll see lasting results much quicker. 

https://www.about-golf.org/golf-slump/

I've known Craig for 8 or 9 years now here in Orlando. He's an extremely talented and accomplished videographer and business operator. CSK Creativeis a video production agency boasting clients like Golf Digest, Mercedes, The US Coast Guard, Total Wine and Wakeboarding Magazine.

Craig's shot famous figures like best selling author James Patterson, Jordan Spieth and Ms. Transworld Wake's Amanda Lewis.

In this podcast, I do my best to squeeze as much knowledge out of Craig as I can. He shares a bunch of tips on how to produce better videos using simple equipment like just your iPhone.

We cover a lot, but some major points were:

If you're looking for some video work, or if you have any questions for Craig...I highly recommend reaching out.

Craig Kotilinek

KPI Golf Management owner and business partner John Brown Jr. shares some stories of over 45 years in the golf course ownership and management business. 

It's not always sunshine and lollipops in the golf business! 

This episode is all about me asking you how I can be better. I'm loving doing the podcast thing, and I want it to be 100% about bringing value to the community. 

Let me know what I'm doing right and what I could be doing better. You won't hurt my feelings...that's how improvement happens. 

Cheers and thanks for listening! 

So, some old friends of mine from Maine and from Texas come here to Orlando every winter for a week to play golf and enjoy some sunshine. 

They've been doing it for 30 years. 

Well, last night was the first car accident ever. Fortunately nobody was hurt, but a close call nevertheless. A REALLY close call...and a lesson for all of you on guy golf trips. 

Swing Key:

During the round we played today, I found a little mid-round swing key that really helped. 

It's all setup. 

Basically, I was addressing the ball with my spine too "vertical". Just a touch of extra tilt, or as I think of it, bowing to the ball made a huge difference. 

I felt free to rotate, more powerful, and I was striking the ball consistently on the middle of the club face. 

Listen to the podcast and I hope it helps you out! 

Many don’t realize (myself included) how great a player that Charlie was in his early days. He’s still competing occasionally on PGA Tour Champions as well.

After Q-School one year, he ran into his good friend Gary McCord who told him he should get into television:

Funny story, but sounds like it worked…

So, Charlie’s ending his time at Golf Channel after more than 10 years. He’ll be moving his family back north, closer to where he grew up in South Carolina.

He’ll still do some occasional work with Golf Channel, but mostly some freelance broadcasting.

He’s also taking on a new gig with Golf Tourism Solutions in Myrtle Beach to help reinvigorate that area as a leading golf destination. He’s got some great things to say about Myrtle as a group golf destination…awesome for families, wide variety of golf, beaches, restaurants, live music…and apparently there are some good biscuits up there!

Charlie tells some cool stories about growing up with Kelly in South Carolina and the long odds of the two of them making it in the golf broadcasting business.

He’ll be attending the South Carolina Sports Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in just a few days where Kelly and Charles Warren will be honored. Charlie also makes it clear that he beat her to it, as he was inducted into SC’s Hall a few years back.

Charlies shares a number of stories about his good friends and mentors in the television and golf business.

Although he’ll be stepping down with is move out of state, Charlie serves our local North Florida PGA Section as its Vice President. He shares some insight how he was able to convince his longtime friend Lou Holz to join us as a guest presenter at our most recent annual meeting.

Normally, Coach Holz would charge substantial fees for an hourlong presentation, but Charlie was able to make it happen by calling in a favor and perhaps trading off some Titleist AP3 irons and a custom Notre Dame wedge.

Just a fun chat with one of the best…hope you enjoy the podcast

Country clubs bringing in outside management do so in one of two major ways:

1. They recognize they need help and expertise to help them move forward optimally.

2. A firm offers to inject some capital over time in exchange for ownership stake in the club (equity vs. non-equity).

Problem with number 2 is that over time, when the capital improvement money “comes due”, the members are subject to cost cutting tactics that markedly deteriorate the quality of the experience and the club itself.

Members find that they no longer control the club. This is a far worse circumstance, and is often inescapable.

These 3 wintertime exercises helped me big time coming out of the gates in the spring back when I was in high school. I worked on my putting, chipping and full swing while our family was watching TV...and I won the Maine State Amateur that spring.

Here's what I worked on...

Find some good, true carpet to putt on. The faster the better.

Set yourself up by laying a dime on the ground (the hole), with a book behind at a 45 degree angle, and a few pillows to catch the balls.

Lay an alignment stick on the ground to make sure you're set up on track.

Hit 100 or so putts every night and you'll make some crazy progress in the winter months.

The book works great because it gets the balls out of the way. You can also hit putts at different paces. Nobody says you need to hit the 4-footer like a 4-footer. Hit it like a 20-footer and see if you can hear the dime click each time.

Make sure you set up some pillows to catch the balls. Don't use a lob wedge...more like a 9 or 8-iron.

Lay down that alignment stick again. Hit some basic chip shots into the pillow.

Every once in a while...say every 10th chip, do the coin drill. 

Lay 1 coin about 3 inches behind the ball, and another 3 inches ahead of the ball. The goal is to miss the first coin, strike the ball, and then also strike the 2nd coin. Chips should be hit with a slight descending blow - ball then turf.

This gives you some great feedback to make sure you're doing things right.

I'm not talking about 100% full swings. There's a ton of value in slow motion swinging in a full length mirror.

Check out your posture, and where the club goes throughout your swing. You'll notice what you're doing and how it looks compared to pictures you've seen and the guys playing golf on TV.

It's a great exercise to feel the positions where the club is balanced and how your body reacts.

Most importantly, focus on the lower half of your swing - 9:00 to 3:00. Get this part right and you'll be able to swing as hard as you want and hit the ball straight.

Just a few minutes each night will go a long way toward dominating in the spring...I promise.

I believe that the most successful businesses (golf or non-golf) take care of the most important things first...and at all costs. It's super upsetting to me to see operators ruining perfectly good businesses - especially golf courses - because they get it totally backwards. 

It is our belief at KPI Golf that company culture is of the utmost importance. 

When your teams are turning over frequently, it not only ads costs and reduces performance. It creates lousy work environments and attitudes for future staff members. 

We believe in taking very good care of the staff members that are performing at the highest level.

We also believe that motivators vary for every human being - some like money, others titles, others work/life balance, others upward mobility. 

The trick is that it's always a moving target. People change their priorities as they progress through life. Communication and face-to-face time is the only way to learn what motivates your team. 

Priority #1: Company culture- positive working environment where staff knows and likes working with their colleagues every day. Collaboration is highly encouraged, and nobody is ever disparaged for bringing new ideas to the table. Hiring good people means that you're able to free them up to do what they do best. 

Priority #2: The Customer- Yup, customer comes AFTER your employees. We've turned down deals where we knew that the customer was not going to be a good fit for the teams we had in place. Nothing comes ahead of your brand and your company culture - nothing. 

Priority #3: Personal Interests- This could mean profits for ownership, vacation time, and prideful things. Leadership works for the employees, not the other way around. 

The companies that make this priority shift will win. 

These two putting games are incredible in a lot of ways. First of all, they help make putting practice a lot more interesting. That's a big deal for some of you who find putting super boring. 

The benefits of these two games are many...they help lag putting as well as those testy 4 - 8 footers. You'll simulate real round conditions including a little bit of pressure if you're playing with others or matching your personal best. 

After you hit your first putt on each hole, any putt that doesn't go in the hole gets "pulled back" directly away from the hole 1 putter length (or 3 feet).

This means that even putts that miss by an inch become testy 3 1/2 footers.

Miss your second putt? Pull it back and knock it in. Miss again? Sorry, but keep at it until you hole it out...

Shoot even par in this game and you're REALLY rolling your rock. 

This one is a variation of pull-back where you have a "safety zone". If your approach putt lands in the safety zone, you don't pull it back. You play it from where it lies and tap it in. 

The safety zone is based on hitting a good approach putt - one that has a chance to go in with the proper speed. The zone is defined by any putt that reaches the hole (1 inch short is out)...and stays within your putter length (3 feet) of the hole. Imagine a 3 ft semi-circle behind the hole. 

Safety pull-back is quite a bit easier, but it puts more emphasis on players who are good lag putters. Good lag putts are rewarded with tap-ins, whereas lousy distance control means you're grinding over 5 footers all day long. 

Have fun.