Page 34 - Golf Champion - March 2020

[ GOLF LESSON ]

Improvement Guaranteed by Mac Powell, Ph.D.

• PGA Master Professional
발전에 대한 보장 • Dean of The National University
Golf Academy

wenty years ago, Tour players didn’t make significant swing make such a dramatic change mid-season. He’s going to success-
Tchanges, and certainly not mid-season. If you’ve been fully make the change, and he’s going to know when he gets there.
watching the PGA Tour this year, you may have noticed the com- He won’t over-correct long term, because he has hours of feed-
mentary about Ricky Fowler, one of the top ranked players in the back every day on where he is in his transformation. Technology
world, making a very noticeable change to his full swing...in sea- has guaranteed his success, but coaching helps too.
son. Basically, working it out on the course at the highest level of
the game. I think that this phenomenon not only highlights how 2. Equipment. Companies like Club Champion and other custom
eager the best players in the world are willing to improve, but also club fitters have allowed players of all ability to optimize their
how much technology and modern coaching have given all of us shots. The infinite number of head and shaft combinations were
the ability to adapt and trust that our efforts will be rewarded. In overwhelming before the technology we must precisely measure
fact, improvement is all but guaranteed. the impact of equipment changes. And, again, we see players on
If you don’t yet have a coach and the technology around you to Tour making equipment changes mid-season, sometimes several
absolutely KNOW what you need to do to get better, know how changes within a season, because of how far we’ve come with
to do it, and know whether you’re making progress, then you re- measuring the impact of technology. If you’re not taking advan-
ally are missing out (and shouldn’t be surprised when the mem- tage of these changes, you’re missing out on a major opportunity
bers of your fourball seem to always get the better of you). Here for improvement.
are some things that every player should have at their disposal
and be using as part of their practice and performance planning. 3. Coaching. Although the PGA has done a tremendous job of
providing the theories for coaching and teaching over the past
1. Launch monitor. Launch monitors have improved so much four decades, coaching really has transformed in the past two
over the last few years that they have transformed coaching and decades. The integration of sport psychology, physiology, sports
improvement. A good launch monitor can tell you a lot about medicine, personal training, and rehabilitation have made any
every shot you hit in a practice session, can graph your shot dis- PGA Professional who is taking their craft seriously immeasur-
persions and tendencies, and can integrate video to help you see ably better. Coaches have a far better understanding of what
just how far you are from optimal shots. What I like most about changes most impact players’ ability to improve, and they have
launch monitors is that you can quickly change habits and pat- an enormous library of resources (videos, teaching summits,
terns with the visual and biofeedback that the launch monitor teaching manuals, and peer networks). If you don’t already have
offers. For instance, if you slice the ball, there’s a good chance a PGA Professional who utilizes technology and all of the re-
your clubface is open to the target and you’re swinging “over the sources available to the modern player, I highly recommend you
top.” Don’t worry, most people do it. However, before most mod- seek one out.
ern technology, we might ask a player to swing more in-to-out
or work to create greater face rotation at impact. And most of In conclusion, if you’re not improving, it is likely because you
the time, the player would give it their best effort, and not even are not taking active advantage of the technology and evolu-
come close to change (let alone find the perfect swing plane and tion of launch monitors, equipment, and instruction. If a golfer
a square clubface at impact). The process of getting feedback, at the top of his game is willing to radically alter his equipment
quantitative feedback, to help integrate what you think you’re or swing while playing for millions of dollars, creating what was
doing, and what you’re actually doing, has given players of ALL previously enormous uncertainty, then surely you can take ad-
abilities tremendous momentum in their improvement - and cre- vantage of the same resources to improve your game a stroke here
ated the confidence that they are moving in the right direction. or a stroke there. I have no doubt that If you use just these three
It has given them a goal against which they can compare their critical resources and actively applying them, your improvement
progress, which is why players like Ricky Fowler are willing to is guaranteed.

32 | GOLF champion