Shamrocks and Shanks

My guests for this episode are Andy Matthews and Brian Stolman. Boht Andy and Brian work for a company out of Michigan called Neuropeak Pro, Andy  is Director of golf performance for Neurpoeak Pro and Brian Stolman is a Peak performance coach. 

Now Neuropeak Pro is a company that has been helping people to improve their lives through helping them optimize their brain performance and breathing for quite some time. The reason that we have them on our podcast is many of those same people are athletes playing in some of the best leagues in world sport including NFL. MLB , NHL and of course for our purpose today on Professional Golf Tours around the world. Two clients that might be familiar in the golf world would be Jordan Spieth and Bryson Dechambeau.  The exact reason for having Andy and Brian on the show was to discuss breathing… now yes we all breathe and we all know that its pretty much an essential but the question is how much do we really know about it. Are we breathing the right way for example mouth versus nose breathing. Does how we breathe affect our performance? Should we be breathing slower when under pressure? What’s this fight or flight response everyone talks about?? 

We discuss how athletes in general need to be looking at how they breathe irrelevant of what sport we are really participating in. 

We get into some terms that you might have heard around breathing discussions including Precision breathing training, Heart rate Variability or HRV and how they might be affecting you as a golfer. 

If you are that arrive at the course nervous player who just hopes to hit it well to relax Andy creates some nice ideas about how you can use breathing in your warm ups for your round or even before you get to the course

We then chat about the Ntel belt that Neuropeak Pro use in assessing clients breathing. Its is the first of its kind real time precision breathing device which shows heart rate data and real time respiration data as you train. 

We then move on to the coaches section of our Podcast. So if you are a coach who has been looking at breathing training for your players or even if you have not we chat about how a coach might recognise the need in a player to look at their breathing patterns and how to introduce it to your players. 

We discuss the recent creation of the Neuropeak Pro coach certification. So what does the certification entail and how we can use this for our own education as coaches and indeed what the plans are for enhancing this education for those who perhaps want to deeper dive. 

If you are interested in performing better this will be a really interesting soft introduction to breathing viewed from a scientific and sports perspective. 
To receive a years FREE subscription to the Neuropeak Pro App when purchasing your Ntel belt simply type " STEVEMOORE " in the Apply Coupon tab when purchasing and the FREE year app subscription will be added to your cart. 

Alternatively type copy and paste the link below into your browser and complete your purchase to receive the FREE years app subscription. 

https://www.neuropeakpro.com/product/ntel-belt/ref/SteveMoore/?wt_coupon=SteveMoore

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My guest for this episode is Robbie King. Robbie is a PGA Qualified Teaching Professional at one of Scotland's leading golf resorts, The Carrick Golf Club on Loch Lomond and is quickly becoming one of the premier young golf coaches. Robbie's clients range from newcomers to the game all the way through to Touring professionals so his skills and ability  in dealing with issues of all levels is quite extensive. 

In this pod we start by discussing some of the myths Robbie has encountered during his career in coaching to date, we discuss his process of assessing golf swings and how he might suggest the club golfer at home assesses their own action. 

We chat a bit about improvement in your own game and perhaps starting to remove the sole gaze on technical aspects and focusing more on playing the game so how we learn or practice and some course management strategies. 

IN the coaches section of the Pod we talk about Robbie’s own journey to career development, so what was the incentive to travel to events like Doctors 4 in Virginia , what or whom has been his biggest influence to date in that journey and what are some of the challenges that he has faced as he sought out information from different sources. 

We chat about Robbie's involvement in skill development and on course learning and finally his goals for the future while on this educational journey. 

The hidden sub conscious qualification to be on this podcast has been that I personally have been impressed with your information and feel it would be of benefit for the everyday golfer or other coaches to know. That is in a nut shell is life experience as we can only learn from what we experience however what struck me first when contemplating asking Robbie to be on the show was I knew quite little about what he teaches, what his swing philosophy or his coaching experiences. All I really knew was he had travelled over 3,500 miles from Glasgow to Virginia to spend 3 days learning information to help his players and that really was enough.. I realised very quickly when starting to chat and in this podcast how special, dedicated and talented this young coach is right now and more importantly how bright the future is for him. If you are not following along on his journey I suggest you do. I couldn’t think of anyone more perfect to launch my new series of “ The New Breed” ..

Ladies and Gentleman 

Robbie King 

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We sit down with Canadian Junior Golfer and D1 College commit Matt Lyons for a very quick chat about his journey into golf, the challenges he has faced along the way and what advice he would give any juniors looking to follow in his footsteps. 

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Alright so welcome to a special edition so to speak of the podcast….. today we are going to be talking equipment and more specifically we are talking equipment with the company that produces the number 1 ball in golf but also has one of the most talked about driver releases in 2023 with the TSR model… Titleist golf balls and golf clubs have long been synonymous with elite performance in golf but I wanted to get more detailed info on why they perform so well, what makes the clubs so popular amongst elite players and what makes the ball #1 ball in golf.. So, I reached out to the team at Titleist Canada and am we set up a podcast with Ryan and Rishi from Titleist…Ryan is the golf club product and marketing manager and rishi is head of ball fitting and player performance..

So we start first with rishi and a little of the history of Titleist and what led to their first ball been produced nearly 80 years ago, we chat why they have the number 1 ball in golf so the process of ball development and quality checks. We discuss their expansive ball fitting process both online and in person and the qualities you perhaps should be focusing on more in your golf ball performance. 

We then give Ryan the platform to talk a little on the development, both reasoning and technical of the TS line and the arrival in 2023 of the TSR model. We discuss club fitting and why it is so important to get the right Titleist club in your hands to maximise performance and we also briefly chat about the short mini series that Titleist have produced called “We go farther “ which pulls the curtain back in a very honest look at the production of the TS Line

We are all trying to get a one up or that slight improvement in our games but sometimes we bypass the most important aspects of ball and club. This is a perspective of that process by the team that live and breathe golf development to make sure when you do tee up a Titleist or put a TSR on a tee deck that the equipment you have is of the utmost quality… 

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My guest for this episode is Steve Astle. Steve is a Top 50 coach from the UK with over 25 years coaching experience and has worked with all level of players from beginners right the way through to tour professionals. He is currently the England girls under 18’s coach as well as a member of the PGA great britian and Ireland coaching team. As well as excelling in the world of coaching Steve is also an industry leader in his golf coaching business where he works with and assists other coaches in their day to day business operations from marketing and advertising, to goal setting based on career aspirations. 

To start this pod we draw on Steve’s immense teaching experience to chat some myths he sees in the golf industry. We chat a little about social media and how the perspective of which you look at it can change the evaluation of good or bad influence. 

We discuss his role with the U 18 England girls team and what perhaps we can draw on as adults from how these young stars of the future go about learning and improving at such a rate. Lastly for the club player we discuss the ever-widening selection of golf coaches due to technology and what criteria might help you select the right coach to help your game. 

When we move into the coaches’ section, we get to chat steve’s current role as a golf coach business consultant. 

Here he talks about some of the bigger mistakes he sees coaches make in their everyday business and as well as some of the qualities he sees in the very successful individuals. He gives us some intro steps to maybe assessing your own coaching business and a look at how exactly he goes about helping coaches create more visibility and in turn more revenue. 

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My guest for this episode is Jonah Oliver. Jonah may be unfamiliar to some of you but is one of the leading sports psychologists in Australia. He has worked with a multitude of elite performers and sports stars from Australian Football League, Formula 1, Soccer and Tennis…. Jonah’s golf connection comes from his work with current British open champion Cam Smith. 

 In this podcast we start by Jonah debunking some of his favourite myths that exist around golf performance. We chat about technology and the great advantages that it provides for coaches and players but perhaps the pathway that it provides lessens the learning for the student and indeed the coach. 

We discuss psychological flexibility which as a broad viewpoint challenges you to remain true to your beliefs as a player even when the environment will challenge you to act differently.

For the coaches we begin the section by chatting about some of the roadblocks that we may be unintentionally placing on or in front of our players. We also look at how coaches can educate themselves more on the skills and the workings of Jonah’s expertise to at least be able to identify the issues in your golfers. 

Lastly, we discuss Cam and the strengths that he has brought to their relationship. What makes him one of the best players in the world and what qualities he possesses that will ensure he remains one of the worlds best players for a long time. 

If most of us are been honest we would concur that if offered some Faustian type contract for a perfect golf swing tomorrow we might very well sign it, the chase to create the unaffectable golf swing, the one that remains ambivalent to feelings or emotions is an ever growing one and that is not to say that the journey is not fun it sure is however when we truly look at what influences our results the most we must concede two factors…Firstly golf is an inconsistent sport on an ever changing environment and secondly how our brain works influences it greatly. Jonah Oliver has dedicated his life to studying human performance and when you listen to this podcast you will feel he is not challenging you to flex your right temporal lobe more or alter your limbic system, he is encouraging you to find yourself, your performance and to remain trusting of that…….one of Jonah’s mantras is he helps people focus on the right things at the right time…. I am hoping the information you find in this podcast will either encapsulate that or lead you to it. 

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My guest for this episode is Mike Kay. Mike is a PT by trade and is fast becoming one of the foremost experts on movement in professional sport as well as becoming one of the foremost choice for PGA Tour Professionals to work with. Mike works with professional athletes across a number of sports ranging from MLB, NBA and of course the PGA tour so is in a very good position to pass along his knowledge of movement and what he looks for when working with the best athletes in the world. 

In this episode we start with some club golfers help with the idea of movement. We look at the perspective of you get what you train for so creating as much exposure to golf movement as possible to offset some of our sedimentary lifestyles. 

We chat about the path and movement of energy through the body in a golf swing and the possible interruptions that can lead to inefficient movement and some potential power leaks and lastly some talk on breathing and perhaps some tasks you can do with breathing and swinging to encourage more timing in the golf swing. 

For the coaches we go a little deeper. we chat about the commonly held belief of the close correlation of baseball movement to golf swings, the connection of body movement and segments in a reflective term to the movement/positioning of the golf club and shaft.

We discuss screening and measurement systems as well as some discussion on rotation, 3D perspective and how coaches can enhance their established skill of swing recognition by teaming up with a PT with skill of movement recognition. 

Rightly or wrongly the individuals you meet or have interactions will have influences on you, as for life to purely be an inside out job would require you to be borderline inhuman. As a golf coach the individuals we chose to help us learn will also quite possibly affect the information you pass on to your clients so there is an onus on a coach to make sure the information we are gathering is from a reliable source.

In my view, Mike Kay is one of the most skilled individuals I have ever come across. His understanding for my lack of awareness on movement from a PT perspective I am sure screens me from knowing the full extent of his knowledge base but he has still managed to transform my perspective on movement in a golf swing. To change someone’s perspective is to change how they think not just what they think and that is something with mass potential.  His dedication to searching, exploring and challenging reflects his understanding of the important role he plays in his clients lives and I feel very blessed to have learned and continue to learn from him….

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This episode’s guest is Stuart Morgan who works with many Tour Players and indeed elite amateurs around the globe in helping them improve their results. Some might label that a performance coach but to be percise Stuarts skills revolve around practicing and the learning side of the equation and in working with the players to get to know them more personally and to analyse their current practice and play patterns to see where improvement can be had so essentially looking at the how of improvement rather than the what. 

In this episode we free wheel somewhat but still have the usual stops along the way in trying to get some information to help all listeners whether club player or coach..

We discuss the club golfers practice efficiency but more from a time perspective and looking over a longer time zone. 

We chat about assessing where you are at first and making a plan to take the next step to improvement and not try to jump straight to step 12. 

There is some discussion on segmented practice and how perhaps attempting a more conjoined learning session could possibly be more beneficial as opposed to wishful transference.

For the coaches I really believe all the information applies as we mix in coaching references form the start. We chat about Stuarts outside influences from other sports realms and some of the insights other sports coaches gave him. 

We look at tech development and AI as it becomes more prevalent and discuss the good and the bad and how coaches should evaluate and research the origin of any new tech before implementing it..

There is the topic of age and expectation of relative improvement and how the time versus change parameter really influences that process. 

As I mention in the Podcast Stuart is a person whose name started coming up repeatedly in conversations with very smart people. I believe we share a similar quality in being hungry for the exploration and discovery of ways to help our players more while being ok with the process of both being wrong and learning and being right and learning more. I believe golf coaching is beginning to evolve in larger context with coaches looking to more that golf swing to help their players. For some that search can be daunting in a way that we are fearful that what we find might somehow invalidate all we have held true for so long,,,, for others like Stuart I feel he embraces the journey, the discovery, the learning and that at least in my book truly defines what you should search for in a golf guide to help your game.. 

Ladies and Gentleman 

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In this episode I got to chat to Jake Thurm. Jake is not only one of the smartest coaches in world golf but also one of the busiest as he coordinates success in all age groups of the game and indeed from all levels. From guiding junior players success as a director of the Midwest section and coach of the USA Junior Golf Team to working with many tour players like Kevin Streelman, James Hann , Mark Wilson and indeed Champions Tour players like Tim Petrovic he really covers all the coaching bases.  

 This podcast covers such a wide variety of subjects and we start with Jakes background and some of his thoughts on club golfers and how they can improve both through asking maybe the right questions and also monitoring how they treat themselves on the course. 

We discuss one of Jakes specialized areas in Ground reaction forces and that maybe the goal move of LARGER force creation  that club golfers are looking for is actually the false idol  of grfs and we should be more focused on the sequence…

Lastly for the club players we discuss some distance work that Jake has done with his champions tour players Tim Petrovic which has added some 13mph to his cruising speed which I a am sure we would all like…

 
For the coaches we also go into GRF’s and how Jake educated himself by trial and error and going to the source to get the answers to his questions. Also for the coaches the start of the podcast highlights Jake goals and process as a coach which I found so much clarity in. We chat the standards lessons that Jake learned form his mentors and the attitude to embrace challenges as educational opportunities. 

 Before we start the show….For the most part my guest have been well known to me and indeed their range of accomplishments so I am in a position to guide my guests to discuss and educate us all on experiences I feel are relevant or quote educational opportunities… Halfway through recording this podcast as I learned more about Jake I initially felt I had slightly cheated you all out of a better experience by not directing the questions better or maybe not being prepared enough. When listening back in editing however I realised that perhaps what makes Jake one of the most impressive people to chat too his is passion for what he does. His true love for golf is evident however its his love for people, both coaches and students, that shines throughout his words… perhaps people like Jake who’s goals are like the great Butch Harmon once said to teach people to golf and not golf to people…. Perhaps those individuals are better left with no q notes and no guidance and to just be themselves…

Jake Thurm is one of the most educated, intelligent, well spoken, thoughtful and exciting coaches I have met throughout my years and if you don’t know him you are about too… All the way form Chicago with the #1 draft pick

Ladies and Gentlemen Jake Thurm

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In this episode I got to chat with two good friends of mine who also happen to be two of the smartest coaches in golf right at this time. Rob Failes, who is the Director of player development at Boars Head Golf Club in Virginia and a newcomer to the show Mark Grace who is the owner of Mark Grace Golf and a full time coach in Memphis Tennessee. 

For this podcast I ask Mark and Robbie to chat about how players can really improve long terms as opposed to those quick fixes and indeed we venture in to not only the technical but also the how I terms of the environment you create in your learning. 

We go into some of those common myths in golf and why they might not be as true as you once thought and finally, we chat about patterns/strategies or movements they like to see in players.

For the coaching section we get into their learning over the past few seasons. Who are the people that they are choosing to learn from and why. We also discuss how to explore new information and then how to maybe disseminate it into a coaching situation and lastly, we chat about Doctors 4 which as well as being a coaching education event that is taking place on the 24th and 25th February in Charlottesville  Virginia, in my mind it could be the best coaching education opportunity in 2023. 

As I have mentioned before this podcast has always been filtered by me rightly or wrongly to bringing the people that I feel you can all learn from on here. The idea is to give them the platform and present their information and beliefs and you can all draw your own conclusions. That being said I truly feel very strongly for what Mark and Rob have to say. Their perspective on the golfer instead of the golf swing and on the pre rather than the reactionary gives us all a different view point on what really is propelling the golf swing and what really is the most efficient path to improvement. I can’t thank them enough for giving up their time as they are truly only after one goal and that is to help people understand golf and golfers understand ourselves….

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