Easiest swing in golf, Is it a lack of ability that's stopping you improving?

Is it a lack of ability that's stopping you improving?

Julian has coached golf for some 27 years now and there isn't a swing fault that he hasn't seen. Golfers are built differently and a one fit all methodology is defiantly not the way forward. 

There are some fabulous coaches out there and they have helped produce world beaters but they are not easy to get hold of and probably wouldn't have time to work with the average golfer as they are away so much during a season. 

So who could you seek out that you know is dedicated to his/ her profession? and who you know will make a difference to your golf game? Well in my honest opinion you would look no further than a Positive Impact Golf Coach, there are only 4 in the world and they are so well trained in the art of Golf Improvement that they being contacted by golfers all over the world. 

So what makes them so special?  And what are they doing differently to other Golf Coaches? 

First and foremost they are Totally dedicated, they keep the golf swing as simple as possible; in fact their motto is "We retain the complexity and pass on the Simplicity" 

They fully understand the Golf swing and how the human body is designed to move, they coach 6 Principles and have 3 deadly Don'ts, all of which is under pinned by reduced tension and effort. They get golfers to relax and find their Natural swing. 

They are expert in finding out a persons belief system and what's holding them back. They give golfers simple things to do at home, on the practise area and on the course that Guarantee improvement. 

Brian Sparks, founder of Positive Impact Golf and former PGA instructor put a video on YouTube 5 years ago which has reached over 279,000 people                                           (http://youtu.be/eURbeXGkeCU ) and Julian Mellor also made a video about the Easiest Swing In Golf http://youtu.be/GJAYn3iAOog  they made these videos to show how simple the swing can be. 

Golfers have been put off by the ever growing complexity of the golf swing, they have become frustrated by Teaches asking them to do things that they can't physically do and resort to YouTube to find a solution to their problems, Now we all know that a video can't see your swing but it's a great place to start and that's why they were made. 

If you are looking for that one piece of advice that will transform your swing then I'm afraid you probably won't find it, but if you apply these 6 principles then you will be almost Guaranteed improvement.

. Turning 

. Weightshift 

. Rhythm 

. Balance

. Coordination 

. Souplesse

If by reading this you have been inspired to do something about your golf then please make contact and prepare yourself to be blown away by what you will learn. 

Happy Golfing 

Julian Mellor PGA Professional 

Stoneleigh Deer Park Golf Club 

www.julianmellorgolfschool.co.uk  

How does the easiest swing in golf work ( Positive Impact Golf)

Before I start I would like to ask you a couple quick questions.

If you saw a really nice golf swing what would be some of the words you would use to describe it? 

And I if you saw a really bad swing what might be some of the words you would use to describe that? 

Just take a couple of minutes to have a think...

I'm going to take an estimated guess and say that the nice swing would be described as Easy, Effortless, simple , smooth etc etc. Am I right? 

Now have a think about your swing and does it match any of the above? So let's have a think about some of the things you can do to achieve a nice swing. 

1) Tension- how much tension do you have? Score yourself out of 10. Before I started to apply Positive Impact Golf to my own game I used to be an 8 1/2 or even a 9 and now I am a 2 desperately trying to come down to. Tension doesn't just come from grip pressure it shows up in your arms, shoulder , back  legs and golf swing. 

2) Effort- so many people hit the ball with a lot of Effort yet have little effect on the ball, try reducing your amount of effort and see what happens, I'm certain you'll have better results. 

3) Turning and Weightshift- learn how to do these two things as they are critical to achieving a really nice swing , at the start of this short video it describes how to do it ( http://youtu.be/GJAYn3iAOog ). So many golfer do these two basics poorly and don't enderstand the importance of it. 

4) Rhythm- we all have our own natural rhythm but does that match up in your golf swing? Try being smooth next time you play and watch how effortlesss your shots become.

5) Balance - almost all great golfers have incredible balance, this is another area of the swing that is often overlooked, when you practise pay a lot of attention to your balance. I can guarantee one thing, every great shot you've hit you will have been able to stand in balance admiring it. Try holding your finish until the ball stops rolling as this gives you time to think about Balance. 

6) Soupleness - how supple is your swing? I watch golfers every day and the ones who struggle are the ones who are Tight and Tense, adopting a supple set up and swing will pay dividends , Trust me. 

Don,t take my word for it, go out and apply these simple tips to your game, by all means let me know how you get on and if you have any questions feel free to contact me. 

I'm based at Stoneleigh Deer Park Nr coventry which is easily accessible, members and NON members are more than welcome any time. 

Hope these help and look forward to seeing you again soon 

Happy Golfing 

Julian Mellor Golf School

www.julianmellorgolfschool.co.uk 

Why don't golf lessons work ?

I've been a golf Professional all of my working life and spoke to thousands of golfers over the years, one thing that's always intrigued me is a golfers thinking, why Don't Golf Lessons work? To be brief, it's simple (CONFLICT)  or in the Words of "positive impact golf coaches" belief system. 

 

A secret hidden part of your brain that stops things happening, it's so powerful that it will stop you flying, stop you jumping off a cliff and in all truth keep you alive, but is it stopping you thriving? 

I've given thousands of lessons over the years and the ones who are open minded to change often succeed and the ones who nod their head but walk away saying to themselves that won't work for me never attempt to make a change. This really confused me until I learnt about Belief systems.

But what exactly are they and how can you change? Well, it's simple questioning that highlights them, then it's a matter of convincing a person that they might not be right and proving that there might be another way. 

So how do I do this when coaching somebody? I always start with this question ( if I were a complete beginner and for some reason my set up and grip seemed ok what hints and tip would you give me to help with my swing? ) this generally highlights a persons knowledge of the swing and more importantly gives me an understanding of their belief system. 

commonly, 3 things quoted back to me are " you must keep your head down"  "you have to keep your left arm straight" and " keep your front foot flat on the floor" 

So are they factually true or are they old wives tales? Well the best way to find out is try hitting the ball with your eyes closed, allow your left arm to bend and allow your left ankle to come off the ground in the backswing and see what happens. 

Just because things are always said doesn't mean they are true!! 

A very famous coach once said to me, don't get frustrated get curious. Don't accept something that's always said because in doing so it becomes your belief system and by god that's difficult to change. 

Next time you play golf or visit a driving range be aware of your thoughts, try new things out of curiosity and see what happens. 

If you'd like to chat through this in more detail feel free to call me or send me an email 

Happy golfing 

Julianmellorgolfschool.co.uk

07595 157452

Julianmellorpga@icloud.com

Stoneleigh deer park golf club 

Coventry 

How to discover THE EASIEST SWING IN GOLF

Since becoming a fully Qualified Positive Impact Golf Coach, I would say I've become somewhat of a Senior Golf Specialist. The learning has been incredible and the realisation of asking a senior golfer to move like a younger person is simply unrealistic . 

Traditional golf coaches who don't Specialise in this area could be doing more harm than good with their students. 

So what, you may ask do Positive Impact Golf Coaches do different? 

"We retain the Complexity and pass on the Simplicity" 

Realistically, senior golfers aren't going to practise much, so everything we ask them to do needs to be easy to do, uncomplicated and above all achievable.  

We start with a series of questions that are aimed at understanding a persons belief system, we want understand what maybe holding a golfer back so that the information that follows is impactful. 

One of the biggest killers of a golf swing is TENSION, we must reduce this before any changes can be made, if you score your tension on a scale of 1-10 , 10 being the tightest you can hold a club, you need to be at 5 or under, TENSION causes muscles to shorten thus reducing potential movement. TIGHT muscles move slower and reduce club head speed resulting in an increased amount of effort to hit the ball and tiredness further on in the round.

We coach 6 main PRINCIPLES and 3 DEADLY DONT'S

The 6 principles are:- 

Turning

Weight shift 

Rhythm 

Coordination 

Balance 

Souplesse 

Let me explain a little bit more about the 6 main principle.

TURNING - quite simply your body turns right and your body turns left if your right handed

WEIGHT SHIFT - form the address position as you turn your weight shifts on to your right side and when you turn in the opposite direction your weight shifts on to your left side.

RHYTHM - We all have our own natural rhythm and we ask our pupils to maintain theirs, being too fast or too slow will affect the rest of the swing,

COORDINATION - this is about coordinating the movement of the club with the movement of the body , if one is too fast or too slow you will struggle to match these two component parts. So commonly golfers don't do the first two things correctly resulting in poor coordination. 

BALANCE - This is so important in the golf swing, next time you hit some shots try holding your finish until the ball stops rolling, this gives you time to be ware of your balance and if you feel you lose yours put yourself back in balance so that your mind knows how this feels, eventually you'll naturally end up in balance. 

SOUPLESSE - this is quite simple suppleness, holding too much tension in your address position will suffocate suppleness , try to remain relaxed during your set up & swing and watch as you see the yards you've lost reappear.  

The 3 DEADLY DONT'S are. 

DON'T KEEP YOUR HEAD DOWN.

DON'T KEEP YOUR LEFT ARM STRAIGHT. ( if your right handed , reverse if your left handed) 

DON'T KEEP YOU FRONT HEEL ON THE GROUND.

One of the most common sayings in the world of golf is "Keep your head down" I believe this has caused more swing faults than any other piece of advice, the art of keeping your head down stops fluent movement in its tracks, I'm going to write a whole blog on this, so you'll fully understand why not to do it and what you should be doing. 

Again another famous saying in the world of golf is "Keep your left arm straight" in order to do this you will automatically create TENSION , and remember tight muscles are short muscles, so many times I've witnessed golfers doing this and become very successful at topping the golf ball, allow your arm to be relaxed, indeed try hitting some balls with a bent left arm and see what happens . 

And finally please don't try and keep your front foot Cemented to the ground, this is not only a bad thing, but it may well cause you to have knee injuries and possible back injuries, there is a thing called the Kinetic chain which starts from the ground up, your ankle is pretty mobile , your knee is fairly stable , your hips are mobile , your lower lumber spine is again fairly stable and your upper spine( T Spine ) is mobile, by allowing your front foot to move freely the Kinetic chain works as it should but if you keep your front foot down your body moves in completely the opposite way to how it should, leading to poor swings and worse still injury.  

I could and will go into more detail on these subjects in future blogs but I wanted to give you a simple understanding of what Positive Impact Golf Coaching is all about. 

So a quick reminder, reduce tension in your set up and swing, allow your body to move freely and please have a quick look at Brian Sparks video so you can see just how easy the Golf Swing can be. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eURbeXGkeCU&sns=em

I hope this Blog inspires you to look at your swing in a different way, and remember you can always improve your swing no matter what your age. If you have any questions on this subject feel free to message me any time. 

Happy Golfing. 😀

Julian Mellor

PGA Professional 

Positive Impact Golf Coach 

www.julianmellorgolfschool.co.uk

07595 157452

Julianmellorpga@icloud.com

http://julianmellorpga.blogspot.co.uk

Ex- PGA Tour Player Brandel Chamblee

Hello, thanks for taking time to read this.               

I wanted to share a video with you and I strongly suggest that you spend 7 minutes watching this video in which Brandel Chamblee, a successful US tour player, talks about his controversial ideas about the modern golf swing and current teaching. Now, where have I heard that before!!

He goes on to talk about the famous Ben Hogan book about the 'Modern Fundamentals of Golf' and, not only do I completely agree with his thoughts ion the subject, but I would go further. Having written a book myself I know what it took to write it and to do all the research required to make it valid and credible. I just can't see how a tour player, and especially one famous for the amount of time he spent practicing, could have devoted so much of his time to writing a book. I know just how some of you will react to this but I doubt that he actually wrote it himself. I believe that he undoubtedly had a lot of input but someone else must have done the major work. Let's see what you think after watching the video here.

 

I hope you enjoy watching and feel free to make an comments, please share this as the message is so powerful . 

Happy Golfing 

Julian Mellor 

Positive Impact Golf Coach 

Stoneleigh Deer Park Golf Club 

07595 157452

www.julianmellorgolfschool.co.uk

How do I choose a golf Coach or a Golf Teacher?

Is there a difference between a Coach and a Teacher? 

The simple answer is there's a Massive difference, so let's look into this subject a little deeper. 

How do you react when you are told to do something? Would you react differently if you were made aware that doing something different would really benefit you?

You see teaching is mainly one sided, the teacher tells you what to do, where as coaching is a two way thing.

I love this quote " Awerness  Cures , trying fails" 

A great coach will have a whole host of clever questions in his armoury, all to make you think differently and create Awerness. 

Here's a simple example of what a coach will do differently to a teacher..

We know that tension is the killer of golf swings, but how would a coach approach this differently to a teacher? 

Teacher  " you look tense, relax a bit " 

Coach  "if on a scale of 1-10 10 being the most tense you could be what number would you give yourself ? " where abouts in your body do you feel most tense? Can you reduce your tension by 1 or 2? How does this feel now? 

By asking a question it involves the other person and gets them to really think about something, creating that awareness. 

Involving a person is so much more powerful that telling someone what to do. For many years I was a teacher, thinking I was doing a good job when in reality I never made the difference I could have done had I known about coaching at a much younger age, I truly believe that anyone who is trying to help another professionally should learn about coaching, the difference is unbelievable. 

If your reading this and thinking of seeking help, make sure you ask the professional if they are a Teacher or a coach, a teacher won't know the difference but a coach will, and if they reply teacher make your apologies and carry on your search for a coach. 

Please don't take my word for this, do some research, have a look on YouTube for a start and look up Timothy Gallway he is one of the best coaches ever, also Fred Shoemaker the practise of practising and Brian Sparks the easiest swing in golf, Brian doesn't speak on his 4 minute video just demonstrates, you get drawn into the simplicity of the swing and begin to notice all that he does which is coaching genius. These people don't tell you what to do, they simply make you aware so that you can make the changes required.

Becoming a Positive Impact Golf Coach is one of the best decisions of my life, being part of a family of coaches has been a game changer, im now certain that I can help any golfer and its given me so much more confidence. There are a lot of brilliantly clever teachers out there who fully understand their subject but are they able to transfer this knowledge in an enjoyable and understandable way? 

From a personal point of view I sought out a so called brilliant teacher,  I was at a  loss with my swing and everything I tried didn't work, the lesson went on for 2 hours, I hit just 4 balls in that time, I don't think I spoke for more than 5 minutes in total and left feeling confused and useless. The teacher seemed helbent on telling me how much he knew about the swing, but didn't seem to worry if my shots got worse. This too me was not an outcome I had expected, and needless to say I never went back for another lesson. 

If this has made you question things in a different way then I think I've done my job, as always if I can be of any help and you want to ask me a question, please feel free to leave a comment 

Happy Golfing 

Julian Mellor 

PGA Professional 

Positive  Impact Golf Coach 

Stoneleigh Deer Park Golf Club 

Julianmellorpga@icloud.com

07595 157 452

Why is Golf in decline ? How can we reverse it?

I was asked to put my spin on this Question "why is golf in decline ? And how to reverse it ?" 

So here goes, together with 8 friends and colleagues we have been working on a specialised golf website , to make it a success we believe it will be, we've had to do a lot of research and thanks to some amazing help from 5 interns at Coventry University Business School we've now got a much clearer picture about Golf.

Here is a glimpse at one stat we found 

I believe Golf isn't in decline it's just being accessed in a different way. 

Traditionally people joined golf club , played mostly at that venue, made friends and formed micro communities. The golf club became a central meeting place and a go to environment. All this happened way before current communication was the norm. Back then golfers agreed to meet up next week and stuck to their plans. 

So let's fast forward to 2015, mobile technology and the Internet, how's these 2 things transformed the golfing world? 

Quite simply choice, we can choose where and when we play we can invite friends at the touch of a button , choose the amount we want to pay at a course of our choice, Golf Clubs fight for our business and make it a NO BRAINER not to join theirs because the deals are so fantastic for the consumer, why on earth would the modern Savvy Golfer want a membership weight around their neck? 

Golfers don't need to be loyal anymore, they can get their handicaps on line, track their scores, seek out advice on forums , get the best deals on golfing equipment and have it sent to their home FOC. 

Just because Non Members of golf clubs can't easily be tracked doesn't mean that they are not playing. It's different to how it used to be, unions fees are dropping through the roof and they scream golfs on the decline, when it really isn't ,  clubs have just created a MUNICIPAL culture and the Internet has enabled it to grow. 

Golfers CAN have their cake and eat it.

I love this saying from "FIELD OF DREAMS" if you build it they will come, give golfers a reason to come to your venue and they probably will; but not alone, they will invite their Facebook friends, txt their mates and share in linked in and twitter groups. The golfing world is the smallest it's ever been because of these social media sites, stories are spread to every corner of the world and before you know it's gone viral. 

Once clubs wake up to the power of sharing and do something about it, then their stories will be told, stop being exclusive and become inclusive, welcome the modern golfer into their world and all of a sudden courses will be full again. 

Remember Golfers haven't stopped playing they just do it when they want to, not when you want them too. 

Become open minded to new ideas, and make sure you spread the word preferably not on the notice board stuck in the corner.

These are some of my own thoughts and I'm always happy to share your spin on this story. 

Thanks for reading 

JULIAN MELLOR 

PGA PROFESSIONAL 

Julianmellorpga.blogspot.co.uk

www.julianmellorgolfschool.co.uk

Let it Rain, Let it Rain, Let it rain !!

Whilst living in England is a beautiful place to be in the summer, it's not the best place when the weather starts to turn and the rain seems to come down relentlessly.

Due to the nature of my job it sometimes leaves me with the odd spare hour in which I get time to think about what golfers could be doing if the weather is bad.

I've made a list of different things that you may find helpful, some can be done in your arm chair and some you'll need to stand up for.

To become a rounded golfer you need to work on three key areas, MIND, BODY & TECHNIQUE. I made the fatal mistake when I was younger just to work on technique and didn't realise the added Value of being efficient at the Mind and Body bit.

So here are my simple tips...

There is so much free information available at the touch of a button now, so grab your phone/ tablet and type in "Golf Psychology" and a myriad of things will pop up. Two people who instantly spring to mind are Dr Bob Rotella, and Dr Karl Morris, these two have become very well know on tour and they have produced a wealth of information that will spark some inspiration within you. A good friend of mine Adrian Riddell is also a sports psychologist & his website www.sports-mind.com is well worth a look at.

You see working on your mind set could easily save you shots on the golf course and give you a greater understanding of what might be holding you back. Take time to digest and implement the information.

The next subject you could be looking for is Golf fitness,  a good friend of mine is Luke Perrin who's based in Stratford upon Avon , he's genius at training golfing bodies and works out programmes that fit around you , contact him on Luke.perrin@golfperformanceacademy.co.uk and give me a quick mention. A refined body can only enhance your golfing performance. 

Failing that get on YouTube and research golf training exercises - there are literally thousands on there. Start off gently and build yourself up, just imagine how far forward you'll be by March next year if you make a start now. Set yourself some simple goals and raise the bar once you've reached them, and hey you never know you may just enjoy it.

Now to your golf game , I teach a brain surgeon and I was asking him about learning and what humans need to make changes, I was very surprised by his answer , humans need 2 things he said, "you need to practise something a thousand times and you need Positive Feed back" without feed back you'll never make the changes, that's why watching videos alone dont work, you need a professional to tell you what's happening . So if your making some swing changes seek out a professional,  better still contact me and let's work on things together. 

I would also recommend you purchase a Swingrite, this is without exception the best training aid on the market , if you stop hitting balls for just a week and swing this I guarantee your swing will improve , when you purchase it, you'll receive a PDF explaining how to use it and all the benefits that go with it , details are on the picture below 

Now here's a novel idea - "Your Garage" - haven't you been looking for an excuse to clear out all that junk you've been hoarding? And turn it into the ultimate practise facility. Imagine if you cleared the floor and put down some green carpet, maybe even paint the walls white and put up a couple of mirrors, print off some posters that inspire you and get some heating in there. You could even put a DVD player in and a TV, now you're talking, you could then watch body training DVDs and participate, watch your most inspiring golf shots videos that keep you focused. Make it your second home this winter.

You see, with a little imagination you could transform your game over the winter! Stop looking outside and feeling sorry for yourself and get motivated. Treat yourself to a Swingrite training AID and remember to tell the family what you intend doing this winter and start NOW.

I hope this blog inspires you to make some changes and please contact me,  I'll happily help with your questions.

So here's to a winter of change!

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Julian Mellor PGA Professional 

Positive Impact Golf Coach

Stoneleigh Deer Park Golf Club 

Julianmellorpga@icloud.com

www.julianmellorgolfschool.co.uk

Julianmellorpga.blogspot.co.uk

Natural swing v technical swing

Hello, thanks for taking time to read my Blog 

Question:- using a few words how would you describe a really nice golf swing? 

Question:- And what words would you use to describe a really bad golf swing? 

"Before you read on just spend a couple of minutes having a good think about these two questions". 

I like you,  have seen thousands of golf swings, some of them very pleasing on the eye and others make you want to look away, some golfers make it look easy and others make it look really difficult. 

When you were describing the two swings which one reminded you of you? 

When describing the really nice swing I would imagine you used words like " EASY, EFFORTLESS, NATURAL, FLOWING, RHYMICAL, BALANCED ETC ETC 

I bet you didn't use phrases like " that is a nice series of positions" , "that swing is on plane" , " the angle of attack was down 5 degrees" , I love the torque in the backswing" , " posture was maintained perfectly through impact". Am I right? 

I have another question for you - if a good swing is all of the words above then why is the golf swing taught as a series of Positions pieced together? does the golf swing have to be technical?

Why does modern teaching insist on making the golf swing more complicated and more and more unnatural ? 

Positive Impact Coaching is far more in tune with a persons natural swing, it is without restriction and allows a persons Talent to shine through.

How do we do that you ask? Firstly we get our clients to become mindful and tune into different  senses, we ask them to hit balls with their eyes closed, we get them to move their feet in a certain way to become aware of weight shift and balance, we encourage them to break the traditions of old, like , keep your head down, left arm straight & keep your left foot solid on the ground throughout the swing. 

We encourage golfers to hit shots without effort to see what happens, reduce tension in their set up and swing, quite simply we allow their natural ability to shine through. 

If reading this it's made you nod your head a few times then I feel I've made my point. 

If Golf equipment has improved so much over the past 40 years, teaching devices have given factual evidence of what happens to your club and ball through impact, body mapping measures precisely what you do when you hit golf balls then why have the handicaps of golfers not fallen in line with all this technology? 

Why? Because modern teaching and technology is too complicated!! 

If you agree with what I've said and would like to bring out your natural swing but don't know how,  please contact me and I'll happily chat through things with you.

Don't be afraid to share this if you've found it helpful.

Julian Mellor

PGA professional

Positive Impact Golf Coach

Stoneleigh Deer Park Golf Club

www.julianmellorgolfschool.co.uk.    

Julianmellorpga@icloud.com

07595 157452