How is the golf ball stopping you improving your golf? BLOG

Is the Golf ball stopping you improving? 

How many times have you heard these sayings? 

"My practise swing is alright I just can't do the same when the balls there" 

"If only I could hit the ball with my practise swing" 

So what changes from your practise swing to when you hit the ball? Quite simply it's the ball, for almost as long as golf has been played I can imagine these immortal words have been said "Keep your HEAD down" is this a good or a bad thing? When golfers make a practise swing the sole focus is not the ball, they swing with freedom without the ball but as soon as its introduced they become fixated with it, stopping flowing movements.

So I'm going to give you a couple of things to try on the practise area, I use them on my clients all the time which produce some amazing results.

1) hit at least 6 shots with your eyes closed.

2) just before you strike the ball allow your eyes to start to look towards the target.

Once we take the ball out of the equation by trying these two simple exercises you'll be amazed at how much freedom you'll have, A lot of people say that it feels like a practise swing when they connect with the ball.

Now if you think this is a bit far fetched get a friend to video your best practise swing and watch how your head and body moves, then video you hitting a shot and see if there is a difference. 

Positive Impact Golf Coaching breaks some of the rules, through years of study we have been able to dispel 3 myths that hold golfers back, they create tension, stop the body moving and worst of all may injure golfers. 

Our 3 Deadly Donts  are,

Don't Keep your head Down ( Allow it to move freely) 

Don't keep your left arm straight ( this creates tension and shortens the muscles in your arm which may lead to you topping the ball) 

Don't keep your left foot flat on the floor. By doing this it breaks the kinetic chain which may lead to injury, allow your ankle to move without resistance.

So my advice to you is simply this, don't become obsessed with the golf ball, allow your body to move freely and above all else swing the club tension free, if you don't find this helps, contact me and come along for a coaching session. Golf doesn't have to be complicated or difficult, once you start hitting the ball with your best golf swing Magic really can happen. 

My YouTube video may help if your struggling 

http://youtu.be/GJAYn3iAOog

Happy Golfing 

Julian Mellor 

Positive Impact Coach 

Stoneleigh Deer Park Golf Club

www.julianmellorgolfschool.co.uk

What's stopping golfers transferring their weight?

What stops golfers transferring their weight? 

I've recently started putting a few videos on YouTube which have grabbed some people's attention. Benson, a seasoned golfer asked how he could stop 30 years of leaning back when he struck his shots , so I made a short video explaining how to shift your weight but more importantly what stops us doing it , here's the link ( http://youtu.be/Njua-mdvw_A ) . 

So often golfers know what they should be doing but don't understand what stops them, commonly it's their belief system. 

Positive Impact Coaches are trained to find out if a golfers belief system is stopping them progressing but more importantly how to change it if needs be. 

I hope you find the video helpful , please feed back to me if I can be of any more assistance to you . 

Happy Golfing 

Julian Mellor 

PGA Professional 

Positive Impact Golf Coach 

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 

Positive Impact Golf Coaching in Coventry, Leamington Spa, Kenilworth, Warwick , warwickshire

Hello, recently I've been asked by a few non members of Stoneleigh Deer Park Golf Club wether or not they can still come to see me for Golf Lessons, the quick and simple answer is YES. I coach golfers from a variety of different locations and all are made to feel very welcome.

Having coaching isn't so much about the location but more about the person you are going to visit and the quality of the tuition you receive. 

If price is an issue then by all means look on line and find the best deals to suit your budget, but if it's quality your looking for then I recommend you look for a PGA Professional who coaches full time as they are fully committed to improving your Golf. I would recommend you research any PGA Professional you visit, have a look on their website ( www.julianmellorgolfschool.co.uk) have a read of their testimonials and about their methodology. 

Positive Impact Golf Coaches are driven to give the best experience possible and we do this in a manner of ways, for instance; we encourage first time visitors to book a 1 hour consultation so that both sides know exactly what they are looking for and not put under pressure to leave after 30 minutes, We coach the " Easiest Swing In Golf" which makes it understandable and easy to apply. After each Lesson we ask people to send us the Key Messages they have taken away so that it's a reminder of what they have learnt and if they miss anything we add to it, We also keep accurate records of each lesson as a reminder for the next time they visit, Above all we give exquisite attention to each and every Client when they visit. 

Typically, I coach people from surrounding areas like COVENTRY, LEAMINGTON SPA, KENILWORTH, WARWICK, STRATFORD ON AVON & NUNEATON, but as of late golfers are traveling from all corners of the U.K. and in July I have a guy flying in from Hong Kong, so the word is spreading about our Coaching Methodology. 

Over 75% of Golfers never take LESSONS which I find a little sad, I know there is loads of free information out there but nothing works as well as having a Professional look at your game. One area of my coaching that has grown considerably is on Course lessons, this , as I say is the TRUTH. Golfers very quickly return back to type when playing and this is when our Professional intervention pays dividends.

Don't take my word for it come and experience it for yourself.

If you've had a bad experience of Golf Lessons don't be put off, try looking for another coach or ask around for recommendations, failing that contact me and let's book you in for a consultation to find out your golfing ambitions. 

If this as been of help I'm pleased. 

Happy golfing 

Kindest regards 

Julian Mellor PGA Professional 

Stoneleigh Deer Park Golf Club 

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

How do I use my golfing instincts.

Learn to use your Golf instincts, natural rhythm and Coordination to play your best golf.

Before I go into detail try this quick exercise!

1. Write down TARGET on a piece of paper.
2. Crumple the piece of paper into a BALL.
3. Choose a target, such as a WASTE PAPER BIN, and throw the ball into it.

Well Done! you have just performed a sequence of tasks requiring complex physical movements and yet I gave you no instructions on how to do this task nor did I give a description of how to move your arms, your shoulders, your hips or any other part of your body, nevertheless, I'm sure you got it somewhere near or in the bin. It was possible to make all the necessary movements to achieve the desired result by using your instinct, coordination and natural rhythm. 

Striking a golf ball doesn't have to be any more complex than that, when learning to play good golf you must call upon and rely on the natural skills you already possess. With the right practice and guidance you can develop the skills required to play great golf.

Do you possess natural instinct?  have you ever found yourself in a tricky situation on a golf course and played a miraculous recovery shot? I bet you never thought about the mechanics of the swing to pull it off! you used your Instinct.

Another example of using your instinct is when your in two minds as to what club to play, I highly recommend you pull them both out and trust yourself as to which one to use, its very rare you'll be wrong.

Some many golfers never use this fifteenth club in their bag and forget to tune into their 6th sense.

Natural Rhythm and Coordination, these following exercises will help you develop your feel for solid contact with the ball and improve your Coordination and Rhythm. I have written these exercises as if your a right handed golfer, so please swap them around if your left handed.

1. Right hand only drill, hit between 10 - 20 short shots (no more than 30 yards) using your right hand only, do it until you feel that the contact with the ball is perfect.
2. Left hand only, repeat the same exercise using your left hand only. After a few attempts, you should notice it is a lot easier using your right hand.
3. Both hands on the club, feet together. hit anything between 20 to 50 balls doing this simple exercise, it should raise your awareness of your natural Rhythm and Coordination be mindful of your balance and hold your finish until the ball finishes rolling.
4. Find the ball drill, using a 7 iron on a short tee, start with your club about 12 inches in front of the ball and make some full swings attempting to hit the ball, then start with the club 12 inches behind the ball and hit the ball with full swing, and finally hover your club 12 inches above the ball and hit the ball with a full swing, this will help your coordination and allow your natural rhythm to shine through, remember all you have to do is find the ball with the club head.
5. Eyes closed drill, set up to the ball as normal and just before you start your swing close your eyes and see if you can make contact with the ball, I recommend you do this with a relaxed swing to start with.

These drills are designed to take away the thinking part of your brain and allow your natural swing to shine through.

When you are on the course recall the feedback and sensations from these exercises (but not how you did exercises or how you got the results). Practice these exercises regularly and remember to keep in touch with your instinctive sense of feel and coordination.

Your Natural swing will always be more reliable than a Technical one when your under pressure on the golf course, the better your Rhythm the more your swing will Coordinate and the more fun you'll have playing.

I hope these tips help your game and as always, if i can be of assistance don't hesitate to get in touch.

Julian Mellor PGA Professional

Positive Impact Golf Coach

Stoneleigh Deer Park Golf Club nr Coventry

www.julianmellorgolfschool.co.uk

julianmellorpga@icloud.com

07595 157 452