Coaches & Mentors

I have a philosophy in life that I try to live by everyday ... Learn from other peoples mistakes so I don't have to make them all myself! Mistakes are definitely opportunities to learn. I feel that if you learn from an event that didn't go as planned it isn't a failure. But why make all the mistakes yourself when others have come before you and made the same mistake?

If you can learn from a coach or mentor or research, you can reach your goals much faster than those that came before you! For example, research in golf has proven that a pre-shot routine performed consistently helps to put us in the best state to hit an effective golf shot. I don't have to experiment on my own and make swings with and without a pre-shot routine and track the results. I'm going to heed the advice of professionals.

About 25 years ago I met an awesome lady who was battling skin cancer. She asked me if I put sunscreen on before going outside and if I reapplied during my round of golf. I assured her that I took those precautions. Then she said, "Make sure you put the sunscreen on the top of your ears." She showed me where the tops of her ears had to be cut off because of the skin cancer. Now this was something I didn't think about. I learned from her experience and started to apply sunscreen to my ears!

Make an effort to learn something everyday from other peoples experiences! Sometimes you'll learn what not to do and other days you'll learn what to do! My other philosophy is to find people who are successful in all areas of their lives and find out what actions that they take each day. We can learn from others mistakes and their success!

Create the life of your dreams by having a coach or mentor to guide you!

Be Positive - Live Positive - Golf Positive

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Clarity on Your Target

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In golf and in life it is essential to have clarity on your end goal. You get what you focus on in life. 

On the golf course be sure to have a specific target for every shot. Often times I’ll ask a player, “What is your target?” and the response is something like “somewhere in play" or “the middle of the fairway” or “the green.” In choosing your target, it’s best to choose a very specific target like, the left edge of the bunker, or the tree behind the green or the flag or a spot on the green to land a chip shot. The more specific the target, the more clarity you’ll have in the shot you plan to execute. 

Also, pick a target that gives you room to be successful. By successful I mean, even if your ball does not go exactly as planned, there is still room to the left and right of the target for your ball to land in a good position. It was Jack Nicholas who said, “I hit 5 or 6 perfect shots per round, the rest are just good misses.” That’s coming from one of the best players to ever step on the links!

Choosing your target is part of your pre-shot routine. 

You may already have a pre-shot and that is fantastic! Be sure to incorporate time to think and plan your shot as well as choosing a target and spot for alignment from behind the ball. 

After all of the decisions are made and you know the exact shot you plan to execute, it’s time to stop thinking and just get aligned and set up and focus on the target, and swing!

Mark Cuban said “stay focussed and believe in yourself and your own ability and judgement.”

Focus on your target ….. Remember, the golf ball is NOT the target!

“What? I’m trying to hit the golf ball, why is that not my target?”  Your target is where you want the ball to go… like the flag, or a tree that is in line with the center of the fairway. Engage with the target, breathe and swing without thoughts.

That is true focus! Your body knows how to swing the golf club, so you don't need swing thoughts during your actual swing, they actually just get in the way! Instead, let the ball just get in the way of your swing. Again, you don’t want to try to hit the golf ball.

Take some time to review your pre shot routine and practice focussing only on the target. If you want to be a more consistent player, you need to be consistent in your preparation.

In life, get crystal clear on your ultimate vision. How much money are you making? What career is perfect for you? What is your fitness level? How much energy, joy, enthusiasm and passion do you feel everyday? What do you imagine for your extraordinary relationship?

Take some time to get clear on your goals in life. Ask yourself, how can I achieve this outcome? Don't allow yourself to make excuses, as the Nike ad says, "Just Do It! Getting clarity and focus is the first step!

Be Positive, Live Positive, Golf Positive

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CORE Triumph! 4-step Strategy for Success

As this year comes to an end and a new year is about to begin take some time to think about all that you have accomplished in 2015. If you didn't reach some of your larger goals, focus on the smaller areas. What did you do in 2015 that makes you feel proud?

A key to growing and succeeding is learning. What can you learn from 2015? What worked and what did not? Give yourself some time to review 2015 and record the valuable lessons.

Now it's time to look forward! This is your time, this is your year to reach your potential and I’ll be right there to coach you all the way!

I will continue to provide you with skills and strategies for success in life and golf! 

We are going to start with my 4-step strategy for success, CORE Triumph! This proven strategy will put you on the path to reach your goals.  CORE Triumph! is an acronym … C for Coach, O for Outcome, R for Reasons, and E is for Execution!

Most successful people have a teacher, mentor or coach.  If you will allow me, I would be honored to be your personal coach … and golf professional!  It is thrilling for me to teach this game of golf! I’ve guided and coached thousands of students … with great success and I’m confident that I can help you reach your goals! 

Using CORE Triumph! - You will have clarity in your goals, the motivation to achieve them and the plan to triumph!   With a just a little time and focus you will reach your outcome! 

You have already done Step one in Core Triumph, you have a coach! Me! I suggest you also find mentors who have succeeded in the area you would like to triumph this year.

Step two in CORE triumph is to know your outcome.  Ask yourself what you want to achieve in golf and / or life.

Almost all successful ventures begin with setting a goal, knowing your outcome, where you want to go!  If you get in your car without knowing your destination you’ll never arrive!! Think about your ideal future and write it down. Is it to make more money, start your own business, get in shape, lose weight, shoot even par, give more to charity ... what do you want in life?

Step three is Reason.  Ask yourself why your vision is important to you!  How will it change your life?  Make your reasons as compelling as possible so you are truly motivated! 

The truth is, to be successful you need to picture your outcome and know your reasons why you want that outcome before you start! 

The fourth step in CORE is the E - Execution!  Write down your plan to reach your outcome. Be specific with your plan with dates and times!

It’s time to execute …. take action …  with Energy! 

CORE Triumph! A proven 4-step strategy for success! Get started! Write down your CORE Triumph! plan for success!!

Make 2016 your best your ever! You can do it!

Live Positive - Be Positive - Golf Positive 

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Attitude of Gratitude

One of the best and easiest ways to have an even happier life is to have an attitude of gratitude!

According to Harvard Health Publications, Harvard Medical School, "gratitude is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness. Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships." Sign me up for all of it!

It's important that you make a conscious effort everyday to be thankful. I found that starting my day with this simple question, "What am I thankful for?" sets me up perfectly. My first answer is always my family and my friends, and then usually my home. Each day I think of different items that I really appreciate like, chairs, electricity, my bed, music and the talented and creative people who invented instruments! I spend about two to five minutes thinking about and visualizing things that I am thankful for and it truly makes me happy. I highly recommend creating this habit for yourself! Start tomorrow morning. When you wake up, before getting out of bed, ask yourself, "What am I thankful for?" One morning my list included toilet paper. Now that's something to be thankful for! Have fun with your list!

You are in charge of your thoughts. Your thoughts will create your emotions. By filling your mind with thoughts of gratitude you will feel happy positive emotions! Say thank you to others as often as possible throughout the day, it will make both you and the recipient feel awesome!

The Harvard Health Publication as revealed that "a study of couples found that individuals who took the time to express gratitude for their partner not only felt more positive toward the other person but also felt more comfortable expressing concerns about their relationship."

Even if you are going through a difficult time, do your best to count your blessings instead of your heartaches.
Thank you for the medicine! Thank you for the support! Thank you that I'm not in the accident that caused all of this traffic! Thank you for the opportunity to learn!

There are times during a round of golf you need to take a moment to look around and think, "I'm thankful that I am on this beautiful golf course today!" It will ease the disappointment of a poor shot.

Make each moment of your life amazing by having an attitude of gratitude!

Be positive, live positive, golf positive!

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Focus on Success

Successful people have razor sharp focus on their goals! In life you get what you focus on which includes your thoughts, actions, dreams and the words you say to yourself! 

I recently had the amazing opportunity to be around and interact with an inspiring and accomplished group of female athletes at the Annual Women's Sports Foundation. The WSF was founded in 1974 by tennis legend, Billie Jean King. It is dedicated to advancing the lives of girls and women through sports and physical activity.

One of the athletes, who I had previously not heard about, caught my attention. She is an extraordinary person who had to overcome tremendous challenges since the day she was born. Tatyana McFadden was born with a disease called Spina Bifida, which is a hole in her spine. She was paralyzed from the waist down. She spent the first six and a half years of her life in an orphanage in Russia, with no access to a wheelchair. Tatyana had some big challenges but she did not see it that way! Tatyana focussed on what was possible and what she wanted to do, not on her limitations. So when wanted to keep up with the other children and play, she figured out a way. Tatyana learned to walk on her hands. She did not accept a limiting belief that she could not play because she could not walk. When there is a will there is a way, and Tatyana found a way.

She was adopted in 1994 by American, Deborah McFadden, then Commissioner of Disabilities for the US Department of Health. Tatyana was thrilled with her new exciting life and all of the opportunities ahead. Unfortunately, her health worsened and her family was told that she may only live a couple more years. The families focus immediately turned to what was possible for Tatyana. They pictured a strong healthy girl who was active and happy!

To gain strength and work towards the dream they could imagine, Tatyana played various sports including wheelchair basketball, swimming, ice hockey and scuba diving. She found her passion, wheelchair racing! Her health improved drastically and she became an incredibly strong world class athlete! Tatyana always rises higher then any challenge presented. She always focusses I her outcome!

Tatyana's debut into the Paralympics was in 2004 when she was just 15 years old and the youngest on Team USA. She won two medals, in 2008 she won four medals, 2012 she added four more including three golds! At the 2013 World Championships she became the first athlete in history to win six gold medals at the same competition. Always looking for the next challenge, Tatyana added another completion to her schedule, she joined the professional marathon circuit. She has won the Chicago, London, Boston and New York marathons and is the first person, able bodied or disabled to with the Grand Slam (4 World Major Marathons in the same year!) She has accomplished it two years in a row and will complete her third Grand Slam if she wins the NYC Marathon November 1.

Not wanting to let a season pass without a race, Tatyana also competes in the Winter Paralympics in cross country skiing. With limited experience, she won a silver medal in 2013.

Tatyana focusses on her goals and ideal outcomes in her life. Then she has the drive and passion to accomplish her goals! I love the quote that points out that the word impossible truly says, "I'm Possible!" 

Pay attention to your thoughts, words and actions. You will get what you focus on, so focus on your ideal outcome and the life you want. Live, breath and dream about your goals! 

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Superhero Performance

Certain players onTeam USA at the Solheim Cup Sunday’s singles matches elevated their performance to another dimension, a superhero level. The US Team was losing 10-6 heading into the 12 singles matches. Team Europe only need 4 points to retain the Solheim Cup, but something in the US players said, “No!”

We certainly had the pleasure of witnessing absolutely amazing golf and a mental focus we all would like to achieve! Let’s examine the peak performance mindset…

The concept of Flow was coined by professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in 1975 as he explained in his book, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. The word Flow is synonymous with ‘being in the zone' or in the ‘Flow channel' or in a state ‘fluid performance'. Superfluidity is the supreme Flow experience. It is an ego-less state of "Super Flow" marked by zero friction (rubbing/slowing), zero viscosity (resistance to flowing) and Superconductivity (zero loss of energy).

Imagine playing a round of golf, or being active in any event or project, and staying out of your own way, and experiencing zero friction?

While researching the concept of peak performance and superfluidity I came across Christopher Bergland, world-class endurance athlete, who has a Guinness World Record for running (153.76-miles in 24 hours on a treadmill) and is the three-time champion of the Triple Ironman, which is a 7.2-mile swim, 336-mile bike, followed by a 78.6-mile run done consecutively. 

Chris explains, “Superfluidity is a state of perfect harmony. When you are so immersed in what you are doing that you completely become one with the task at hand to the point that your ego dissolves you are in a state of Superfluidity.” 

Most of us are in a state of flow while truly focussing on a task, project, or competition. The professional athlete can maintain that state of flow throughout a competition and avoid most negative thoughts, anxiety, fears or doubts or as Csiksgentmihalyi would call it, “friction.”

To reach the absolute peak performance, a superhuman experience, it’s superfluidity! It’s an entirely different level then flow. Chris says, “To achieve this state it is necessary that you ‘let go' and get out of the way of your ego stored in the prefrontal cortex.”

I believe that is exactly what happened to some of our US players after the unsportsman like action of European player, Suzann Petterson. The player’s ‘let go’ and got out of their own way as their focus was on the prize and redemption! 

You probably already know what happened. On the 17th hole of the Saturday afternoon four ball competition between Suzann Pettersen and her partner Charley Hull against Brittany Lincicome and Alison Lee, Pettersen claimed that the 16 inch putt Lee had left for par to tie the hole was not verbally conceded. Lee picked up the ball as Hull was obviously walking off the green towards the next hole and Pettersen was not  in her sight. Although no verbal concessions were made, the actions of the players communicated, ‘That’s good, let’s go to the next hole.” The rules official with the group had no choice but to give the hole to the Europeans, who went on to win the match.

This certainly fired up the American team!

Let’s examine the superfluid play of some of the American players:

Lexi Thompson, US Teams first player out was 7-under par through 14 holes and halved her match.

Morgan Pressel beat the always tough player Catriona Mathew.

Alison Lee was 2 down through 4 holes and then went into superfluid mode, making 3 birdies in a row, then birdied 3 of the last 7 holes to her match.

Gerina Piller was all square through the 9th hole and then birdied 4 of the next 6 holes. On the 18th hole, Piller needed to make a 12 foot par putt to keep the European Team from getting the last 1/2 point they needed to keep the cup! She made that pressure packed putt!

Lizette Salas was 1 down through 11 and then birdied 5 of the next 6 holes to win, 3 & 1.

Angela Stanford was taking on the very intense, Suzann Pettersen in her singles match, and started her round birding 4 of the first 6 holes. With par’s from holes 7-14, Stanford found herself all square, but then she birdied 15 and 16. It seemed fitting that Stanford closed out Pettersen with a par on hole 17, where the earlier incident occurred. 

Cristie Kerr was 3 down after 4 holes but then went to another dimension and birdied 7 out of the next 8 holes!

Michelle Wie’s intensity was evident as I watched her on the first tee preparing for her match! Her peak performance state helped her to birdie 8 of 14 holes, including 5 in a row to defeat Caroline Hewall!

Paula Creamer was the anchor player for the US Team and she proved that she was worthy of that position! She started her round with 5 par’s and then birdied 5 out of the next 8 holes including 3 in row to win 4 & 3 over Sandra Gal.

It was a time that the players became one with the mission and were absorbed into a state of complete concentration and focus on the prize! Many talk about the incident on the 17th green with Pettersen being the fuel that lit the fire and put the US Team players into their superfluid peak performance state. I agree!

Be Positive - Live Positive - Golf Positive

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Say, "YES!" to Opportunities in Life

The email arrived from Nancy Henderson, LPGA Chief Teaching Officer and President of the LPGA Foundation, asking to set up a time to talk. I didn’t know what she wanted to talk about. At the time I was part of the selection process to be on the Golf Channel, so I thought it might be concerning that opportunity. It wasn’t.

On February 27, we had our call. Little did I know, the call was about something much greater then being on the Golf Channel, it was an opportunity to impact the lives of teenage girls in a positive life altering way. Nancy invited me to be the lead LPGA Professional on a new initiative through the Girls Golf Program, an LPGA Leadership Academy! She explained that the goal is to teach leadership skills through golf in a 2-day program. My answer was a resounding, “Yes!”

Our first meeting was set for a month later to begin to design the 2-day program. I was so excited to work with Nancy in creating this extraordinary program for teenage girls! She is an amazing leader and professional who I have admired and respected since meeting her in the early 1990’s.
We sat with a blank piece of paper and began. Nancy asked, “What are the qualities of a great leader?”

Under the leadership of Nancy, theLPGA Leadership Academy for teenage girls was created and initiated. The first Academy was held on August 9 & 10 at Glen Arbor Country Club. This 2-day program was designed to not only teach skills and strategies for leadership but also to shape and develop leadership behaviors in these young women. 

It was amazing to observe the quiet unsure teens who registered on the first day transform into confident, self assured leaders just two days later. The program included both indoor sessions and outdoor stations.

The indoor sessions taught the girls about personality traits, positive self talk, empowering words, body language, how to feel confident, changing limiting beliefs, formula for success, different types of leaders and so much more!

The sponsor of the Leadership Academy, AXA, brought in a panel of very accomplished and impressive female employees to share their success stories. It was very impactful for all of us to hear about their journeys.

One example of an outdoor station is the putting station. Each girl had a partner and one put on a blindfold. The person with the blindfold was not allowed to speak while her partner talked her through a putting challenge. Once that was complete, they would go to another hole where they both had to be quiet, still with one girl wearing a blindfold. The goal in this station was to teach the very important leadership skill of communication.

Other stations were designed to have the girls experience decision making, overcoming obstacles, self confidence, goal setting, analyzing the strategy and re-adjusting if needed and other valuable leadership characteristics. 

As Nancy Henderson says, “Leadership involves living in the state of possibility, making a commitment to a vision and moving that vision into action.” Through Nancy’s leadership, the vision of developing teenage girls into leaders through golf became a reality!
We are thrilled that AXA has committed to sponsoring four LPGA Leadership Academy’s in 2016! 

Be Positive - Live Positive - Golf Positive

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