Golf Essentials (for Weekend Warriors)

The private club model is changing. In the past, exclusivity and privacy was highly touted. Nowadays, younger generations don't look nearly as favorably on these kinds of policies and clubs in general - of course there are elite exceptions. 

Most golf courses are working harder and harder to attract and retain membership. 

KPI Golf's 85/50 Membership Program was developed by John Brown through his work with Troon Golf and as he build his prior golf course management company - Brown Golf Management. 

The 85/50 program is about engaging your newest members to become your most important evangelists for the club. The sooner you can engage these members in the recruiting process, the more likely you are to succeed. 

By creating a structure where new members are encouraged to invite their friends to experience the club, close rates are greatly increased. It's play on social proofand the natural inclination for people to justify the decisionthey made to join the club. 

It works. 

If you're 20 or 30-something and you don't know how to play golf, you're making a huge career mistake. All the old dudes running companies are retiring and play more golf than any other part of the population right now. It's not going to last forever though. 

When you play golf with someone, you're got a captive audience for 5-6 hours. All these retiring business owners and execs still have all the networks and connections they've accumulated their entire life. You're one fun day away from the keys to the castle. 

Learn to play golf for your career...simple as that. If you're not getting invited to company tournaments, you're missing out on more than a fun day in the sun. You're not in the room and you're not moving up the ladder my friends. 

My good friend Brendon Elliott with Little Linksters Junior Golf invited my wife and I out to play Hammock Beach Resort today. The day was perfect and we learned a few very important things that I though worthy of sharing with you. 

My old friend Jon Jacques is a longtime high school golf coach in Maine. He shares some thoughts on what he's seen out of his players over the years, and what it takes to have some fun at the high school level in most areas of the country. 

The truth is that there is a ton of opportunity for young people to learn the game for free or cheap while they're young. Most programs are trying to get kids to come out for some free golf...and you don't have to be a superstar to crack most high school lineups either. 

Choose the people that you play golf with carefully. If you like hard core games, putting everything out, or gambling, go for it. If you'd rather never keep score or never have to hit out of a bunker, find some people who want to play that way. 

At the end of the day, find people who share your beliefs and your interests and you'll enjoy your time on the golf course a lot more. 

My last couple days here in Orlando is a testament to how much fun it can be to play golf with good people. 

Cheers

So I had a great day playing some golf with some clients today at Shingle Creekhere in Orlando. Great golf course, they recently redesigned their greens and they're super challenging. They're built up with shaved areas all around, so it requires really good quality golf shots to get the ball into position.

I had some good things going on and some simple swing thoughts that I thought I would share with you.  I'm always about minimizing tension in my swing because I think it brings more repeatability and better tempo. Whenever I get squeezed in the club tightly, I know that I lose speed and power as well as consistency. I feel like the tension in my hands and arms are in fact interrupting the physics of the golf swing.

If I'm able to relax my arms and hands, I'm focused more on what my core body is doing to rotate back and through. the arms hands and club just go along for the ride and the club returns back to the ball repeatedly every single time.

To that end, your golf swing begins as a one lever system. It's basically a straight line down your left arm down the shaft of the club. As you swing the club further back, you allow your wrist hinge bringing into play a second lever. This is the most powerful system.

Now, some people who either lack flexibility, or if they get too quick in the transition of their golf swing, their hands and arms collapse towards their body. A bent left elbow in this situation brings a third lever into play.

A three-lever system is nowhere near as powerful as a 2 lever system. Not only that, the circle that the club is traveling on is now smaller, so having lost the radius of our swing there are huge challenges with bringing the club back to the ball repeatedly and solidly.

Today I was just thinking about soft arms and hands, yet maintaining that tool ever structure throughout the entire swing. Hope that helps you guys.

KPI Golf sent out 2 proposals today for 2 different golf courses. One proposal was a response to a 90-page RFP (request for proposal)! Crazy right? 

Whether you're precise with your shot making or not, it's good advice to at least aim precisely. It's the best chance you've got to produce the shot you're hoping for...and to evaluate your results. 

Aiming vaguely or inconsistently is going to seriously limit your rate of improvement. 

Jack always used an intermediate target for every type of shot. He'd pick out something 6-10 feet in front of the ball to aim at...including on the putting green. 

Hope it's super helpful for you. 

So, I had a day full of DATA today...I mean in a good way. 

First, I got myself a Flightscope MEVO to play around with. MEVO is a tiny golf launch monitor...about the size of a deck of cards. You can bring it with you anywhere and set it behind you when you're hitting shots. 

It spits out all sorts of relevant shot data - carry distance, height, club speed, ball speed, smash factor, etc. 

It's gonna make my practice a lot more fun for sure. 

Secondly, lots of cool things happening with KPI Golf Management. We're doing some great work with a golf data firm called Pellucid. The mission is to arm golf course owners with more accurate and timely data to run their businesses effectively. 

Lots of headway today in the data department. Cheers! 

Beginners always feel super intimidated at the golf course. Everyone seems to be experts. They all know how to dress, hit great shots, and have so much fun. Starting out can feel overwhelming. 

I'm here to tell you that nobody feels as comfortable as they look. Everyone deals with the same anxiety, worries, and fear of embarrassment. Golf is hard for everyone...but that doesn't mean it's not a ton of fun. 

I believe it's a matter of perspective. The sooner beginner's own the fact that they're not going to be the best out there for a while, the more fun you'll have. Truth is that if you take a careful look around, all those members aren't hitting nearly as good of shots as they seem. Do some people watching and see for yourself. 

Adjust your expectations, own your beginner-ness, and pick some friends to play with who are going to have some fun no matter what.