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okay, welcome back to the irish podcast. This week I'm joined by seamus mcmonagall. Seamus, my man, how are you? Yeah, I'm not too bad here.
Speaker 2:Thanks for having me on. Did I get it right?
Speaker 1:I did yeah, you did yeah and that's unusual for me, but I suppose today's episode seamus, we were kind of chatting a little bit about it I suppose, like you and I was kind of saying to you beforehand, the podcast title almost writes itself I suppose, like the Road Less Travelled. You have a very storied early career in golf and then you kind of go away from it a bit and get back into it later in life. But I suppose I let you tell the fine details on it. But I suppose for those tuning in it's going to be a very interesting one. So let's go back to the very start with you, Seamus, first off. So where are you from and when did you take up the game?
Speaker 2:So I'm from Falkara in northwest Donegal and took up the game I guess you know seven, eight years old, but I boxed for a few years and then sort of really sort of went into it then at about 10, 11, I guess.
Speaker 1:OK, and what?
Speaker 2:was your early kind of, your earliest memories of golf? Uh, so early memories would be hitting balls on the beach and balling ass. So my dad, uh, with a little fishing boat, worked there in the summertime and worked with the tides. So you know, you're working early morning and then, uh, if we get a chance, then we'd hit some balls on the beach and then maybe work on the boat again that evening, if we're not going to the bog to cut turf.
Speaker 2:So it was a pretty, you know, typical rural upbringing. But the good thing about it was it really sort of taught myself and my brother Ciarán, uh, you know, when we got to practice, just how lucky we were that we weren't working basically, um, so it was like a, just a, when we got to the beach and stuff it was just a relief that we weren't working. And then my dad was a good golfer. He's a one handicapper, so he would just hit balls on the beach for hours, because there's no practice areas around, and then watching my dad and watching my brother practice and just followed suit. I guess you know.
Speaker 1:A hundred percent. I suppose you learned to strike a ball fairly nice early on.
Speaker 2:Oh, totally no-transcript.
Speaker 1:At what point did you start playing, I suppose, club golf and competition, yeah, so probably around 12, 13.
Speaker 2:I had a good influence with my brother, ciarán. He's a very good player, so he was 15. He was one of the best probably the best boy golfer in Ireland, so he was doing really well. And then, uh, so seeing him been around him was really good, because you know he's keeping you very grounded and when the handicap was coming down you really still didn't think you were that good because he was so good yeah um, and then, uh, you know, started playing boys golf, um, at around sort of 14, 15.
Speaker 2:Then it was like all boys, there was boys, yutes and seniors, so it was a pretty, it was a pretty full on year, it was pretty hectic your location does it lend itself to travelling to golf very easy, so it must have been a bit of a journey, yeah it was tough.
Speaker 2:We were lucky enough now we would. We would get a bus sometimes to Letterkenny and then the Mallins just to pick us up and you know we had to wait for them because they were finishing work. So to get to a tournament pretty much took a whole day. So, yeah, it was tougher. We used to bus it around the country and it was, yeah, like all the tournaments were, you know, always far away from where we were, so it was tough getting to them. But you know, those days were great, it was a lot of fun. I remember going to the island, actually in Cork Okay, and I remember getting a bus to Dublin and then a bus to Cork somewhere and then a taxi Did that all in the one day, played the practice round and played the next day I think it was the Irish, I think it was the Irish Boys was on there and you'd do that for two days and then you would get that all back home. Then it was all wrapped up in like three days, you know.
Speaker 1:So I'm guessing you're leaving fairly early. You're probably like busing from there to Dublin and down. You're probably talking eight hours on buses.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'd be in Dublin around, you know, 12 o'clock and then another three, four hours up to Cork and then a taxi. So yeah, that was typical, you know, but it was good fun, you know, you're so young, it was just like so enjoyable, you know.
Speaker 1:And it's almost something that's kind of getting lost. I suppose, like with golfing, like because I've just spoke other people as well, I suppose that like wouldn't have been dropped to tournaments as much and it was like it was normal to kind of head off in a bus or head off in a train and stay in digs of a house up there of a member or whatever you sleep under a snooker table.
Speaker 2:I remember, yeah, go into a tournament once in palm again, because palm again, least um families from the town. So we would have been around O'Fanahy a lot and I remember him telling me always get a bus to a tournament, because when it comes to the last couple of holes and you've got you know putts to make the cut, he says you will, you will try everything to get them putts. Or you're going on a bus for five hours, yeah, yeah, which. And it totally made sense, because if you're thinking you know your dad's going to come and pick you up or your mom's going to pick you up, you're going to be a little bit soft. You're just going to make that phone call. And it was great advice because there was loads of times I was in that situation and it kind of hardened you up a bit because you know, you know, like nowadays you can't, kids can't really do that, it's too dangerous. Yeah, you know. So they do have that uh, comfort blanket of just calling the dad to come pick me up.
Speaker 1:Dad, it didn't go well today, you know, which can be a wee bit softer sometimes you know, as you said, I suppose it's not as safe around the place as it was. We would have been a bit freer as kids. I suppose you kind of just went off and done what you done, like you went out when it was bright and you came home when it was dark boys stuff, seamus. So like at what point do you kind of, I suppose, like having to have the dedication to get a boss and while it might have been a break from work and kind of being around all that stuff, like so like there must have been a point. You're kind of going I'm fairly decent at this that I'm kind of willing to give up my whole day on a boss like yeah, well, you know I started doing well and the boys tournament was pretty much right away like my first Ulster boys.
Speaker 2:I got to the semi-final so I kind of knew I was decent and you know my dad was uh, sort of kept telling me look at, you're doing well and you haven't even had any coaching. And then kind of had a breakthrough year when I was about 17 or 18. I finished third in the order of merit behind Michael Hoey was first, graham McDoe was second and then I was third and you know, did well in a lot of the senior tournaments and then got on the irish panel. Okay, and this is, I guess, where it set me up for my whole coaching experience because I was like a young kid that basically was very natural and probably had a couple of lessons of don patterson in my life not a wide lot and don would be into sort of cupping your wrist a bit, yeah, sort of opening the club face and clothes like phil nicholson kind of style, and worked really well for me and because I could really turn the club face over sometimes and put it down in the wind. So that's the kind of way I play. It got on the anyway. Got on the irish panel went over to lacala and the coach there at the time then seen my swing and he was like no, no, no, that's not what the all the top players do. They all bow the wrist. Okay, because I think david toms was the swing at the time. And then you know, you're young and you're naive and you think you should listen to this to get better. Yeah, he flattened out my wrist and as soon as he flattened my wrist, just the ball went off the planet. And then, uh, so I went from a closed club face to an open club face and then just started hitting the ball all over the place and you're only there for a few days and the next thing you're back at home and you're not chatting to him and he's giving you this advice.
Speaker 2:And then I didn't really know what I did in the first place. I had nobody to get me back to it, and then I went out of a great year and then the following year, then I missed every single cut and then, over the next couple of years, started working with coaches, and so it was this constant could the coach get me back? But what the coaches? All they were trying to do was put their imprint on me of like what I would call their golf swing and and then it was just back and forth all the time and I was still do well in tournaments. But it was a real struggle to get. You know. My like the talent was kind of taught out of me, yeah, and so it was very technical and, like my brother used to say, I couldn't even hit the other fairway. I was getting that wild. You know, I remember playing east of Ireland and missing every single fairway and still going around and like one under par. Okay, but it was a real struggle.
Speaker 1:So it was that for a couple of years, going from someone that has almost just seized the game, like there's not a lot of thought and like kind of how you, how you do it, to like then having to become technical through that kind of experience. So like what does that do in terms of shaping you as a, as a golfer and it's later on in your pga stuff?
Speaker 2:well, you know, what happened then was when I sort of got to about 23, 24, basically all of the coaching made me give up golf because coaching was making me so technical that I couldn't actually play anymore. Yeah, so frustrating. So I, what I did then was I basically I packed it in at 23 and because the coaching had just sort of ruined me and and then I said that's enough and I had to get away. So I headed off traveling around the world. Uh, went to Australia, uh, went to New York, bartended New York, bartended Miami, went back up to New York, worked in a bricklayer by trade. So I was doing a bit of bricklaying and it was kind of all over the place.
Speaker 2:And then at about, I suppose, 20, I was 25, 26. And then I was like I don't want to be a bricklayer, I don't want to be a bartender. You know, could I go back and do the PGA? And then I just just thought, and I was over in New York and a bar and I was just thinking if I go back home, could I become a better coach than what I was coached. And you know, at a tough time in school too, I was dyslexic in school. So pretty much at that stage. My whole life had been bad teachers and bad coaching, yeah. So then I was like, okay, I wonder, if I went back home with my empathy towards all of this, could I actually become a good coach? So I was like, okay, let's go back home and do the PGA.
Speaker 1:So that's what kind of led me into the PGA then Okay, Well, before we get there, there must be one or two good stories from bartending in New York.
Speaker 2:I don't know if I can say them on the podcast.
Speaker 1:Make it for over 18s. What's that I?
Speaker 2:can say them on the podcast, make it for over 18s. Like what's that? I can make it for over 18s. Ah no, look it's. You know, new York was a great time. I bartended there for a year and I was down in Miami then for spring break. That was mental. And then back to New York again. So I was there for about three years. I was doing a bit of bricklaying too. You know, it was great fun, but it was too crazy. It was bartending at six in the morning. Yeah, you're just like. You're there partying, you're not playing golf, and I suppose the one thing that kind of you know that got me away from it was the golf, because you end up just basically over there drinking your life away, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So the golf kind of pulled me out of that. I could have been still over there now. You know where the golf kind of was like. Okay, I would rather do something with my life through golf than through bartending or bricklaying, even you know, I suppose bricklaying, like it's definitely not conducive to golf.
Speaker 1:Like I work in the building trade or I did one time as well as a chippy, so like I suppose even like playing golf and kind of going through your apprenticeship and stuff like that must have been.
Speaker 2:That must have brought its own challenges for you as well. Yeah, it did. Yeah, well, I went up to dublin. I left home pretty early, so I was in dublin when I was 18 bricklaying. So I was there in the building and doing my apprenticeship, finishing that up and you're you're making great money.
Speaker 2:And the challenge with the bricklaying was putting in hundreds and hundreds of blocks and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of bricks every day and the tension in your arms yeah so it was so hard then to go and play tournaments and what, and my arms were massive at that time because you know you're young and you're just throwing in blocks and you're trying to get very, um, you know, have good touch and feel with your putter and stuff. But you've got all this tension. And then at all the tension in my head then with all of the coaching. So, yeah, definitely had as challenges at that stage, you know and like as it was going to the states and australia.
Speaker 1:But so like was that almost a case of like the golf just wasn't working because of all of that stuff that was going on, so it was kind of let's get away from it a bit, oh totally I had to get away.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like it was. I just I knew I had to leave ireland because, although, like I was, obviously I was competitive and I was just going to keep playing and I didn't want to keep playing at this sort of lower level when I knew I could play at a higher level. And I tried every coach in Ireland and none of them could help me. So it was like, you know, 24, a bit of money from the bricklaying and I just went down to Australia for a year and partied basically, Not a bad existence for a year.
Speaker 2:But, as you said, like a year, yeah, just before I left, actually, my brother had spent some time with a famous golf coach in america called jimmy ballard, okay, and he just told kieran, just you know my brother, he just gave me a good tip just before I left, which was you know, it's a tip, that's out there a lot. You just put a glove under your left armpit just to stay a bit more connected, yeah, yeah, and so I just went down and I just focused on that one simple thing. And I had plenty of balls.
Speaker 2:When I was in Australia I was practicing, okay, and then within a couple of months down there, I guess, away from all the coaching and just working on something simple, yeah, started hitting the ball a lot better again. And then when that year finished in Australia, I called my other brother. He was in New York and he says come on over to New York, we'll get you some work. Because I didn't want to go back home, because I knew I'd just go straight back into playing tournaments. And you know it just was like I was done with the amateur scene at that stage you know Coming home then.
Speaker 1:So, like you make a decision. Golf has been a part of your life for all of your life and even with all the other stuff going on. So, as you said, like you make a decision to come home, you kind of the career choices that you've made at this point aren't appealing to you as much as they once were. So, like what, what was that conversation with? Like for yourself, like, was it a case of like? It's just, I want to go back at something I love yeah, it was.
Speaker 2:Uh, you know, I just I was looking at the longevity and sort of um bricklaying and knowing that my back was going to give up at some stage, because I could see that and you would know that from the grade that you don't last that long you can make good money but by the time you get to 50, you can't even move. I was already having trouble with my arms. I was getting tennis elbow and golfer's elbow on both of them and then the bartending was just a no-go because of the drinking. I'm not a big drinker anyway, but you know, you're just like and you stick an Irish man in a bar in New York and he will drink.
Speaker 2:You know Exactly, yeah, so I just had to get myself out of them situations and looking for, I guess, into the golf and plus, too, trying to see could I get a job, to see could I be my own boss? Yeah, you know just, could I set up a business? And that's what. That was my plan. And I kind of knew at that time there was not a lot of coaching going on in Donegal. So I kind of had this thought if I do the PGA, there might be some work in Donegal. So that was kind of a plan, I guess.
Speaker 1:So coming back to do the PGA, like you said as well.
Speaker 2:So like, I suppose there's a lot of school work as well, as there is learning there, the other stuff. So, like, how did you start to tackle that? Oh, it was, it was just a nightmare. It was very tough, um, you know, with this dyslexia, and then the you know, the way it's all set up is it's college, it's um assignments, it's exams, and one thing I'm very good at then, though, is I'd be, I was very determined to study.
Speaker 2:So once I started the PG, I just gave it everything. I read every golf book imaginable I got. I ordered all the books, looked at all the top coaching, because, you know, going back to what we talked about earlier, um, when I said, um, I wonder, could I become a good coach? I'm like, if I'm going to become a good coach, I'm going to read absolutely everything. So, um, and because I'm dyslexic, I'd be quite an arty person. You know, I kind of look outside the box, um, because, you know, for a lot of people, not knowing what dyslexia is, like it's, I completely have to look at things completely different, because I don't know how to learn normally. Yeah, so you don't know how to learn normally. You kind of have to find out this pattern of how to learn outside the box.
Speaker 1:So it's uh, it helps you become very creative then when you're and you know, which is great for coaching, because when you're looking at a golf swing, I look at it very differently than just a normal sort of linear person, you know I know like a couple of lads that you coach and stuff, and like me chatting to them a bit as well, and it's like they would say the same thing where you kind of I suppose your coaching style is is yours, but it's very much like like it's what you see, it's what they feel, it's kind of. It's that kind of a mentality, isn't it?
Speaker 2:yeah, 100. Yeah, it's, it's just um, it's going back to what I said earlier too about how the talent was coached out of me. Yeah, when I get these players, that I try, and you know, keep what the talent with them and, uh, you know, not to get overly like I can get technical. I know everything about it, but a lot of times there's no need to be technical, you know, if you, if you do the right thing and explain it simply, then they will pick it up right away, you know, yeah 100.
Speaker 1:I suppose you'll come back then. Like you're going through the pga program, so is your. I don't think your passion for golf ever fully left, but like is it starting to kind of build back up with you again then that you want to be oh?
Speaker 2:yeah, as soon as I came back I was ready to go when I started playing the pro-am circuit right away and, uh, it was good then because they had the pro-am scene was very good. Then they had a thing called the race to mad juliet and they had a lot of sprint events. So you just had to get into the top 30 in the order merit. Yeah, and I remember it was in edmundstown and there was a pro-am uh, the sleeve russell pro-am. It was big money, it was like 60, 70 grand and it was a couple of grand to get into it. And this guy came into the shop and, um shiva is his name, if he's listening, thank you, shiva and he paid for my entry fee into the pro-am and I finished third and I got about I think I got about seven and a half thousand nice um, and that basically, that one tournament got me into the order merit and got me into all the pro-ams right away.
Speaker 2:So, and then I started just playing the pro-ams and I was loving it then because I got my old swing back, so it wasn't technical and I was starting to get the results and play the way that I knew I could have played as a young, amateur, amateur, okay, and then you know, then you're you're around very good players, like you're around david higgins and you're around damien mooney and, and, uh, mcgrane and thornton, so you're what this? Like huge caliber of players. Then you're playing with them and you're learning from them, because ultimately we're all coaches, so we're all looking at what each other's doing and we're trying to pick up going oh, he plays that shot and how do you play it, and then ultimately, then you can go coach.
Speaker 1:That you know yeah, so you mentioned a number of good players there, I suppose, like mcdowell and and the lads there as well in hoey and stuff. Yeah, who's the best player that you would have played with, either as as an amateur or in the pga circuit?
Speaker 2:the best or remy burns yeah yeah, remy burns is the only player that intimidated me because he hit it so straight. Okay, you know he would get on the tee and his famous quote was like you don't have to warm up rolls rice and just get on the tee. No practice swing and just bang. And it was just like. I mean, I guess what it would have been like was when people watch mo norman yeah you know, uh, I've never seen no more normal but they talk about how straight he hit it, like there was no curvature in Remy's ball at all, just dead straight and such a simple wee swing. So I spent a lot of time with Remy. So, yeah, remy, like I said, mcelroy, I played with McDole and Harrington was in front of me in a group in the PGA, so I was right up close to him, played with Thornton, played with Desmet, played with tons of good players, but Remy was just, he was just different class, you know.
Speaker 1:And what are you like? What are you learning from watching these players Looking at it with your coaches head on? So, like as well as you want to improve your own golf, and now you're learning about how to make others also improve away from like the top players.
Speaker 2:Um, yeah, it's a good question. So for me, being such a visual person and and I watch the way that their body moves from their backswing to their follow-through- yeah and what I was doing then was I was always trying to basically look at the way they finished and I could guess the shot.
Speaker 2:So I would just go, okay, he's finishing there, is that a low fade? No, look, and I'm like, yeah, that's a low fade. I'm like, okay, he's finishing there, that's a high fade or a high draw, you know. So I would always be looking at just the way they attack and the way they finish, not so much the backswing, because the backswing doesn't need to be perfect, but yeah, the way they come down, the way they finish, and just try and make it up in my head.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then I would say to myself first, okay, he's hit that shot, and then I would look at the ball flight, because I was looking for the pattern and the swing, um, you know, first, and then sort of the fluidness of that and I suppose, like it does complement your learning style, having them events to play and then kind of see it like I suppose, like, like, as you were saying earlier, like the books wasn't going to be to be on an end all, but like I suppose, as you're learning from reading certain stuff and then you're seeing it on course, like I was, and that's kind of backing up you to theories, yeah, yeah, because, like, you can read all of the books you want, like.
Speaker 2:But basically, you know, you've got to be able to go out there and and hit the shot yourself if you're going to truly understand it. Yeah, you know, if you're going to truly understand how to hit, like a low draw, uh, compress the ball, put out the flight, you know, um, you've got to be able to play it. I think maybe you've got to be able to play it before you teach it yes, definitely like as it was.
Speaker 1:Giving the visual to others is definitely, like, way more beneficial than not being able to do it yeah, 100, yeah.
Speaker 2:So and then you know, spending that time with ramey was really good. I spent the time with ramey when I was an amateur Sutton Golf Club for a couple of years and then. So I spent a lot Remy's, the guy that sort of looked after Remy was from Sutton, his sponsor, and he kind of looked after me a bit then. So like I would go over to like South Carolina in the off season spend two or three weeks with Remy and he was brilliant because he was off the European tour at that stage but he was giving me all the knowledge of how to do your course management. And so that was Remy was a huge influence on my sort of becoming a better player. Yeah, rather than just a ball striker. He was like all into the course management of what Remy would call don't constantly be playing the 100% golf shot. Okay, hit it in your little eight. You know which you hear all of the top players talk about.
Speaker 1:Don't be hitting it full, hit it in half, you know? And how did you find?
Speaker 2:the whole pga training. Uh, it was tough. It was. It was a grind. It was, um, I excelled on the coaching side of it but the sort of business side was tough. The numbers were really challenging for me. I just basically scraped through but then when it came to like my coaching exam, I would get like top marks. So I knew all I had to do was just get through this. And it was tough, I just had to. It was stressful. It was probably the most stressful time of my life trying to get through that because you know your problem with the dyslexia is, you know you kind of forget a lot of stuff quite quick.
Speaker 2:You're forgetting the numbers, you're forgetting what you study. So, look at it, got through it. I had some, had some help getting through with learning, the studying and stuff and learned some great people along the way, and my brother in law, my sister and her husband, liam Jolene. They helped me a lot and through them I met this guy called Gene Meehan who was kind of head of the teacher's union and he was a great influence on me because he was helping me develop my learning style. Okay, you know, to sit down with him and it was only my first second year into it. But he was giving me the confidence that dyslexia means nothing. It's just you've got to find out your learning style. And once I found out my learning style, I was able to take that on board and have confidence going forward with it.
Speaker 1:Then yeah, and I suppose by the time you finished then the business side of it might have been hard for you. But I suppose the ultimate goal is to have a business in that field and you are going to become your own boss and the dream is Donegal. So how do you?
Speaker 2:how do you end up back in on on the motherland and kind of, yeah Well, yeah, during the time in the PGA I sort of would sort of nip up and down whenever we've got a little break and I was doing a little bit of coaching and so started just bit by bit and then when I finished in Edmonstown coaching just headed up to Donegal.
Speaker 2:Now I didn't have much coaching going on at that stage, I was still playing a lot of tournaments, yeah. And so I spent the first year in the summer in Donegal and then I went back to New York to bartend in the winter. Okay, came back home another summer and then went back to New York again and I kind of thought, okay, this is the way you're going to do it. But then I you know it's it's hard to come back and get a new house and everything and I was like again, you can't keep doing this. Yeah. So then on about the third year, started getting busier at the coaching and then got into Letta Kenny Golf Club, then, uh, some of the pro there, and then I got an indoor studio. So that sort of helped me get a bit more work in the wintertime.
Speaker 1:Then yeah, definitely not the most forgiving land to be given lessons outside, like in the winter.
Speaker 2:That's great, you know that's. That's a part of what I like about it, because if you're going to play golf in Ireland, you're going to play in the wind, it's, you know. For me, everybody knows that I don't really go down that route of track man or the route of you know the numbers. I don't number crunch, I take people out in the wind. I see what they're like in the 30 mile an hour wind, because when they go to their Sunday competition they need to know how to play in the 30 mile an hour wind, left or right, with the brains coming from their left shoulder. So that's, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah you kind of got there before I did. But one of the things eddie always kind of says to me about is that, like when you arrive up, there'll be an impact bag and there definitely will be no track man. So yeah, you've never kind of gone down the route of like a lot of technology, have you?
Speaker 2:um, definitely the only technology I use my phone. I just use it for, uh, just to basically record the swing, to show you the stuff we need to work on or the before and after swings and stuff like that. But yeah, that would be pretty much it, because you know I'd use the impact bag. I've got a couple of alignment sticks because, you know, for me TrackMan is great for some things. It's great for custom fitting, it's great for maybe dialing in your numbers for the wedges or when you're really trying to specificate a swing path. But when you go out in a 30 mile an hour wind and it's left or right and you've got to, you know you've got to be able to aim properly, you've got to be able to know what swing path to pick for that, and then track mind just goes out the window, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So I suppose, like as you're in your coaching, that kind of really stick out there um, yeah, so when I think it was my first or second year in the pga, friend of mine rang me, phil ring, and he got a job looking after the uh, the driving range and the irish open the the year shane lowry won it. So he said, look, do you want to come down? There's a job there for the week, just basically picking up golf balls. And I says, perfect, you're going to be around pros. I'm a, you know, I'm. I'm second year in my my PGA.
Speaker 2:So landed down because I'm early Monday morning and I'm on the side of the chipping green and I said I'll just watch a couple of them chip. And the next thing, pete Cowan and Alexander Norton land over right beside me. Okay, and it's just the three of us. Excuse me, the caddy was there too. So I'm there and I'm like, oh my God, and they're not telling me to leave because I'm the guy picking up the golf balls. So that was amazing, because I got to see firsthand one of the top coaches in the world giving a short game lesson. Yeah, and I was just blown away when he was coaching because this stuff wasn't in books. Yeah, still not in books, you know. And then he finished with that and like, even if you look at Alexander Norton now chipping, I can see the same stuff that he's doing when he chips to what he was taught that day.
Speaker 2:Now, maybe he was obviously taught before, but it looked and sounded to me like it was his first lesson because he couldn't do what Pete Cown wanted him to do. Pete Cown was kind of giving out to him. It's not that hard, but what he was doing was hard, you know. So then he would go there and then he went onto the range and he went over to Oliver Wilson and he started teaching Oliver Oliver Wilson and he started teaching Oliver Oliver Wilson some feet work. And I just literally followed him and stood behind him again and just give them golf balls. And then I remember him going over then to chat to all the fable about how to hit wedges.
Speaker 2:And this was in the evening. There was nobody there, just the three of us, and I was just there with my head down, you know, just listening. So it was like three or four days and and, uh, he never noticed me at all and I just shadowed him the whole time and like you could not pay for that, he would never do it anyway. There's no way he would do that. Yeah, and then so that that couple of days had a massive influence on my coaching, because then what, the study, and then seeing it put into practice, like it would have taken me 10 years to figure out through coaching what, what, 10 years to figure out through coaching what, what he was doing, so I could put straight into my coaching from, from the knowledge of playing and studying and, and actually you know, finding my own golf swing back, and so that was a huge influence when I started my coaching and done a goal and what's the biggest thing you took away from that?
Speaker 2:week, the biggest thing on the importance of using your legs. Okay, which is not really taught, you know, it's all swing planes and swing paths which is important, but the importance of understanding how to work your lower body. And then you know, you go and read books and you know I've got Hale Erwin's book and he talked about the feet becoming the steering wheels. He's got a wee, you know, I got Hale Erwin's book and he talked about the feet becoming the steering wheels. He's got a wee, you know, picture in his book and it's a little steering wheel and he called the feet your steering wheels. Yeah, where everybody else would say the hands are the steering wheels. And then Ben Hogan, same thing, talks about how the hips and the legs start the downswing. Yeah, so a lot of this stuff is it is talked about. So a lot of this stuff is it is talked about, but it's normally only talked about with the top players because a lot of the guys they don't understand it, you know.
Speaker 1:A lot of people will talk about kind of like you said earlier, the backswing, getting it into a point and, I suppose, bringing the club down. But the engine of the swing is your legs, like, if you can use the ground correctly, like you're A going to get more distance and B, you're probably going to strike it a lot better.
Speaker 2:Oh, definitely. Well, you're connected to the ground, so if you can use the feet properly, obviously you need a decent upper body swing too with it. But yeah, that's what I started. A lot of my coaching then was through that, because then I would start a lesson and I would just work on short shots with your, with your wedge play and your feet, and then work that up into the full swing.
Speaker 1:You know coaching gets busier then so and I suppose players start traveling up there like um. What would you say is, I suppose, your your greatest attributes early in your your coaching life, that kind of reassure you that you're on the right?
Speaker 2:path. Um, well, eddie called me. When eddie called me, not long after that sort of second year, he was struggling. And you know, when you've got like eddie, you know eddie, he's a very good player, he's trusting me. At this stage I'm not even qualified, um. And he said, look at, I'm really struggling, I'm going to pack it in.
Speaker 2:So started working with eddie then and you know, right away, you know, fix some stuff with them. And I just told eddie, it's going to take a long time, I'm not going to do this quick with you, I'm not going to break you down like the way I was, we're just going to do it bit by bit. And he and eddie's, he said no problem with that. So then, right away, within a year, eddie starts one in tournaments and and then, so that was giving me good confidence. And then, look, a lot of people that I was teaching were doing well. They were, they were, um, you know, doing well in tournaments. And I took a girl I remember Emma Forbes. She's not playing now, which is a pity, but like she came to me and she was like a 22 handicapper and literally, I think within within one year she was off two of a handicap and got on the Ireland team, okay, you know. So I kind of knew at it at an early stage that I was on the right path.
Speaker 1:I just needed to, you know, spend time just to perfect it, you know as you kind of progress through it, like you mentioned, eddie, and kind of he starts winning and you kind of get a bit more, I suppose, confident in yourself. So like, if you're not into the technical side of it, we'd say as much like what's the what's the main part of your coaching, like I suppose, like what do you look um?
Speaker 2:most important thing I kind of look for is what they're doing an impact, so like, I'll like that's what you know. Going back to eddie talking about the impact bag, so yeah, I'll, uh, I'll put the impact bag down, put two sticks in the ground and I'll say right, head into that as hard as you can and I'll see how you understand power. And if you put 100 people there, yeah, 99 will do it wrong and they'll come up out of the bag, the feet will come up off the ground, their left shoulder will open up and they'll come down too steep on it. And that's a relation, then, that you don't understand impact. And so that's the first test I do and not you know, and then within a couple of minutes, I get you to understand impact, and then that's building um proprioception then. And so proprioception is the ability to know where your muscles are and time space through tension. So when you head into the impact bag and it's done properly, you're creating a lot of tension. So the so the mind then can learn really quick because you're you're getting through the proprioception, what's called a sense of force. Yeah, and when you get the sense of force, then you can, your brain can remember it really quick and I will tell you all this before it starts how your brain works.
Speaker 2:And that goes back into my studying and go back into sort of the I guess the when I did go down the rabbit hole of learning. I wanted to learn everything. I want to learn how your brain worked. I want to learn how your you know every muscle in your body worked. Right back to when I say it to you, I can tell you what's going on in your brain before you hit it. So that's what happens. That's the way I started a lesson you hit into the bag, you do it wrong. I tell you what's going to go on in your brain and then I go right and then I show you and I and it stops the whole oh, this is awkward crack. You know it's well awkward. So I try and prepare them to tell them this is going to be awkward, yeah, and if you're not awkward, then you're learning absolutely nothing yeah, like, if you're not, if you're not kind of struggling, I suppose you're not changing, like yeah well, you don't even need to struggle, you'll get results right away.
Speaker 2:I wouldn't say struggle is the right word. Okay, because I'll get you into a position and within a couple of minutes you'll hit better golf shots and dodgy swings.
Speaker 1:you've me online, so on the range where I come up over, but that's because I don't understand the impact 100%.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's not too. You're doing better, like you know. But you know, like I only looked at your swing for about, I'd say, three seconds, I think it was on a story. Yeah, a good job of stopping the follow-through, but you're all upper body.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's bringing you down a bit steep on it and, um, you're not utilizing the lower body, but that would be easy sort of out, you know so I suppose shane was like, as you kind of get into the whole room of coaching and, like you start to build up a client base, how do you manage that then?
Speaker 2:and playing golf as well, um, well, I guess what happened then was I just got way too busy coaching and had to kind of stop playing tournaments because, you know, go back to what you were chatting about earlier, where I live and going to tournaments are just too far away. And then what happened was when I would come back from tournaments and I, my phone would be off the hook and then I'll be like having to do 20 lessons in a day to catch up, catch up and. And then it just came to a head where I played truly pro-am and I remember I finished fourth but they kept me there all day because if you finish the top three you have to stay for the presentation yeah and then I was there at nine o'clock and I had to drive from truly back to don't find ahead that night and I got you know whatever.
Speaker 2:I got two, two in the morning, three in the morning, and I had to teach at nine o'clock and I had a whole day coaching and I was like, once that day was finished, I mean, that's it, I cannot play golf anymore. So, um, then just stopped playing and then I started, I took up surfing, surfing.
Speaker 1:So I suppose your story kind of ebbs and flows with golf in a little bit, and like as the ebbs and flows with golf in and out of it, and like as golf is obviously still in it, like as in a job and a profession, and like something that you're massively passionate about. Talk to me about surfing, because it's not something down here I'd be very familiar with. So, yeah, where did that one come from?
Speaker 2:there's a bit of surf down around Cork, yeah. So took up the surfing my mates and I'm actually in my mate's apartment here that that does, uh, surf. He kind of taught me a lot, um, but I kind of had to fill the void. Like you know, you hear about the footballers that, um, you know, when they finish the football they get quite depressed and because you know nothing to fill the void. So I was so passionate about golf that I was like, okay, I'm just not going to be able to play golf anymore. It's just not viable because and I've got my my passion is in the coaching, but I've got to fill the void a bit and do something. So, um, because I've always done something, so just took up surfing and then, uh, like I'm surfing now you know a good few years surfing, probably 10 years and like you know, I'm decent at it now, yeah, but what it really helps me with is the empathy towards when I coach somebody, because you know I'm doing something that I've only just learned and I'm just getting better at, so I can understand.
Speaker 2:When somebody starts, then I'm like, okay, it takes time, I know what it's like, because a lot of the times golfers you know they pick up, like I can pick up a club and I can hit a draw, I can hit a fade, I can hit low, like literally with my eyes closed, and but it's more the talk back to the amateur. Then, or you know the client that you know it's okay. The talk back to the amateur then, or you know the client that you know it's OK, you're going to struggle. I struggled at the surfing. I have good days at the surfing. I have bad days at the surfing and I can tell a lot of my clients when I go surfing I literally my goal is to get one wave.
Speaker 2:So I'm taking a picture of myself, and obviously I get more than one wave, but you know, that sort of builds, that sort of gap of not playing competitive golf anymore. And then where I live, here too the surf is as good as anywhere in the world and so, uh, you know, my schedule basically revolves around the tides, okay, yeah, yeah, so full circle in the story.
Speaker 1:so, like, your initial journey into golf revolved around ties and now you're teaching ties all to do as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, exactly. Like you know, when I suppose for me, kind of growing up on close to the beach and close to the water, I kind of feel that I'm more comfortable around it. So that's, that's one draw that brought me back to Donegal, uh, was to be close to the ocean and stuff and and uh, yeah, it's a full circle for me with the, with the water.
Speaker 1:I guess, and I suppose, like then, I suppose, like you mentioned the empathy part as well. So like learning a new skill, and particularly learning a new skill kind of I don't know how old you are, so we'll say at 30 or over, in around that kind of bracket um, I suppose it gives you a real insight into, like the struggle of what somebody has to go through to learn that skill like oh, definitely, because what you know, like taking up golf is not that, not that difficult because you know you've got a ball in front of you, but taking up surfing when you're older is very tough.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, you know, just that chat that I can have with somebody to go, that's okay. You know, I I learned to sport lately, um, and then the client normally has kind of understands that or, if you know, I can't really relate to them in the golf sense because I'm hitting balls on the beach for six hours a day when I was eight years old into my hands. So, you know, it's uh, it's having that talk to them and just my own sort of it keeps me grounded. Yeah, you know, to the not get frustrated when somebody's struggling and, uh, you know, and it's just, it's just good for my own head and and going back then to the um, you know, back to the kind of my learning style of just to keep it all fresh and keep it open and when I'm going for a lesson, that I'm not I wouldn't be the kind of person that's constantly bogged down with with golf, golf, golf, golf golf.
Speaker 1:So it's a great break to get away from it yeah, and I suppose the patience of, like I was waiting for that wave, or waiting for that moment, probably transfers to your, your coaching, and waiting for the student to click, or even just explaining to a student that, like I suppose, waiting on the, on the results, like yeah, it's just time.
Speaker 2:That's what I tell everybody. That's all you need is time and, yeah, the patience. And you're, you know a lot of kids camps. I've got five kids academies, 40 kids in each one, 50, you know, maybe 90 kids in lederkenny. So you know, teaching kids can definitely test your pair, your patience, and you know that as a father, yeah, and, and just you know. So that definitely helps me. Um, keep that sort of the groundedness of the two sports and mixing them together.
Speaker 1:You know, yeah, no, it's definitely. I suppose it's a. It's a great pastime to have and I suppose I just said like being able to bring it back to your, your current role.
Speaker 2:So I know that's definitely an interesting one as your, as your journey in coaching continues like yeah, 100, you know it's um, you know, for me too it's it's the crossover of, of going back to when I studied, because I would study a lot of different sports because I'd be, you know, I'm big into like how the body moves. So, yeah, studying like I used to box. So you know, boxing, golfing, surfing, and a lot of them have similar. A lot of them have similarities in how your body moves and back to the impact bag and how your body torques, and so I'm much more aware of looking at all other sports. How a guy kicks a rugby ball, you know, I chatted to a coach about that. Or remember chatting to a guy, a baseball player, about how the body moves and out of all of them, sports, a lot of the things that I'll pick up on is very similar to what I teach in golf and it's just basically how your body moves. Yeah, you know. So I find that interesting for me then, rather than just, you know, watching, reading another golf book, or, you know, I'd never look at YouTube or any of that stuff. That just bores me.
Speaker 2:So I'm kind of trying to be original. It's not even original, I'm just trying to like people do it. I'm just trying to figure out what's the best way for me to coach it. You know so if somebody comes in they're a footballer, I can explain it. If somebody comes in they're a rugby kicker, I can explain it. If somebody comes in they're surfing, I adapt my coaching around that and I'll ask you right away if you're a carpenter, uh, you know, I'll use a lot of analogies of how you swung the hammer and beaver stuff. You know so I try and really work with the client that way of absolutely anything that I can use that you would do in your day in, day out life to help put the coaching you know, yeah, no, I suppose it's just coaching.
Speaker 2:It's just coaching, to be you like yeah, 100, yeah, and that goes back to me then. Just that keeps me fresh, because I find it's original and it's again not copied. It's not, it's just the way you move, you know. So if you were there for a lesson, I'd be talking to you about being a carpenter and about how, the way you'd move a hammer and or, or if you could imagine if I give you a sledgehammer and you hit it into the wall, there's no way you'd open up your body.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You'd keep your body nice and braced until that sledgehammer came into the wall and, plus, you would let the weight of the sledge fall. That's actually a good analogy, yeah. And then you would let the weight of the sledge fall and you would hold on to the weight and at the last second you push it into the wall and you'd keep your body really stable. So right away on that analogy, then you see the way you're going to get in a wee picture in your mind of like, okay, and that's the kind of little insight into how I coach, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, 100%. I suppose that transfers as well. So all these bad golfers like myself. So what would be the one tip that you would give us? To start using the lower body Just as a general?
Speaker 2:I know what it is Well, without seeing anybody would. Basically, the best tip you can do is for you would be swinging the club more to the left, you know, and for a normal golfer would be swinging the club more to the right to stop the sort of the shoulder opening up and swinging across yourself. As soon as you start down, that's what happens the shoulder opens up, you get steep and it goes across you too much. So if you swing the club out to the right a wee bit more, just even in the practice swing, you'll shallow the club a bit more naturally. And you'll see pros do it all the time. You'll see Bryson do it, you see Harrington do it, you see McElroy do it. On the practice swing they'll swing the club head more away from them. Yeah, where you'll see an amateur on the tee box, three golf clubs in the hand swinging flat and then swinging flat in the follow through and just opening up their body too much, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we mentioned Eddie and we mentioned a lab at HAL, so let's put the two of them together. So Eddie qualified for the senior open last year and you got to go over with him and I suppose, full circle from your initial early coaching days, you get to spend a couple of hours with him. I actually didn't, I didn't go over to the. What did he say?
Speaker 2:I didn't go over to that, no, I left. I asked Eddie, did he want me to go over? And he says no, he was kind of comfortable just going over with his family and stuff. Okay yeah, so he no, but he had a great day himself. He was you know Eddie, he's you know Alethabel, and nobody great advice off him, which is just a great guy, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and golf. I suppose golf is good that way where, like you can like people just particularly on the golf course, everyone is like, once you're out there, everyone is there. To kind of, I suppose, one-up a conversation with most people, people and like if they see something they'll try and help or not. Some people shouldn't be trying to help but like, particularly when you go to go golfer, it's always like there's a common bond.
Speaker 2:They're like sometimes it depends on the person. You know, like I would definitely have found, uh, playing the pga. You know some guys you definitely couldn't ask. Okay, you know, if you see them doing something. You definitely could not, you just had to watch them. You just knew don't ask that guy anything. And then other players, like like Remy, would have been very open, you know, to helping everybody. You know you could ask Remy anything. But yeah, no, it's, it's it's kind of 50-50, but you gauge it yourself. You kind of know the person, just not to ask him or some people are just very open towards it, you know.
Speaker 1:So I had another one of your students on the podcast. Actually, I think I put it out yesterday, as me and you were talking, or maybe the day before Ryan Griffin, and we were kind of just chatting about what his 2024 is going to look like and I was kind of asking him what he's going to work on. So I'd be very interested in what your take on. What he should be working on, or what you're planning on working on is yeah, well, with Ryan.
Speaker 2:You know Ryan spends a lot of time in Maynooth now so I don't get to see him that much. So I'll not be able to answer that until Friday morning because we're going for a playing lesson in Port Salon. So you know, I'll chat to him then about, you know, checking his alignment, seeing is he happy with his ball flight, you know, checking how, um, how much it's curving and just, is he happy with everything like that. But it definitely won't be, you know, too technical. I'll have a good chat with him then because, as I said, ryan's kind of in playing mode at the minute. Yeah, so try and stay away from big conversations about technique and stuff like that. And look at, he's doing his thing in Manuth too. He's pretty, you know he's happy. He's working with some guys down there too, you know.
Speaker 1:So yeah, the one thing that me and Ryan discussed is that when I'm behind him going forward, he can hit the ball no higher than 10 feet. So I suppose up and done he got with you on Friday. Can you focus on keeping the ball flight down for me?
Speaker 2:100%. Oh yeah, that's step into my office, that's my specialty. Yeah, when you see, I think Ryan calls it the chippy draw. Yeah, you know. But look at, ryan kind of developed that a bit from my coaching and a bit himself, and then that's what I like about it. That it's not.
Speaker 2:I would always tell you know, don't listen 100% to me, just listen to bits and develop it yourself. You know, and, and like ryan came to me oh man, it must be five years ago now he's a five handicapper just hitting the ball way up in the sky. Okay, he just says he can't keep the ball flight down. And you know, every time I see a player of like ryan's caliber, I just go back to okay, just don't do to this guy what was done to me, and I don't don't teach the talent out of him. Let's just help him, uh, progress, and let's just help him get better, rather than bogging him down with massive tech. Now, if you've got technical problems, you've got to work on them.
Speaker 2:But yeah, you know, ryan was just literally so easy to tidy up. I just taught him how to wedge, um, and then, once I taught him how to hit a wedge, he learned how to separate his upper body from his lower body right away, which brought in that low ball flight which you see, yeah, and when you see, you know the videos, um, of him doing that sort of shorter follow-through. You know, that's a bit of stuff that we worked on and plus, too well, he developed himself and learned to himself. Yeah and uh, tidied up his chipping, tidied up his bunker play, tidied up his putting bit of mental stuff, and literally within a couple of lessons he was off scratch and he was away, and that's it. And to me, ultimately, that's what coaching is about that you don't have to bog it down with massive technical stuff.
Speaker 1:And then, what will you be looking for in the playing lesson? So like what? Have you a checklist here of what you're going to be going out?
Speaker 2:Not really, I mean no, because you're going to got to go. On the weather, you know, yeah, it's looking pretty windy on Friday morning. It's like 30, 35 mile an hour winds. So I'll literally throw the ball down, see, like, for example, if it's a right to left breeze, how far right he's going to aim. Yeah, because he came up to me a couple of years ago and his alignment was way off and so I'm just testing in there to see is he actually hitting it where he aims it? That makes sense, or is he aiming right and pulling across it a bit, um, or is he aiming too far left and opening up his body too much? So that's basically what I'd be checking.
Speaker 2:And then going around, just, you know, I'll throw a ball down in a situation and see, um, like, play that and see will he play in a simple shot or see, will he play a hard shot, you know, and try and, as Ramey, go back to Remy again, as Remy would call it, don't play the 100% golf, go, you know, play in the simple stuff, which Ryan is very good at. So, yeah, you know, I'm pretty sure every situation I put Ryan in he will pick the right shot. So, yeah, that's all we'll be doing, just checking alignment, and I think he's a couple of questions for me and and, uh, you know, ryan, sort of I think he likes that about me that I just keep it clear he knows that he's not going to come up to me and get all that technical stuff and I would never do that leading into a tournament anyway, and that'd be just crazy. So, yeah, that's all we'll be doing. It'll be a lot simpler than you think, but it's very interesting.
Speaker 2:You know, um, like eddie was up there not that long ago and this year I'm sort of teaching eddie to get a wee bit shallower and to get a bit of a draw, and I I put him on a hole, so right to left breeze, and he's aiming 20 yards out of bounds and I'm like, eddie, where are you aiming? He goes, oh, I thought I had to aim out there, and I'm like, no, you have to aim like the middle, and you put your path out there. You know. So you would never see that on the range or you definitely would never see that in a track man or in a studio. Yeah, um. So once he understood that, he was like yeah, no, bother, and the next hole sorted it out, you know. So it's um.
Speaker 1:It's like I said hit it where you aim it. It's definitely, um an interesting conversation, I suppose, like just to hear the background of, I suppose, some of the players I followed around and like I suppose again bringing it back to like the basics of a golf swing is always kind of the basics really.
Speaker 2:Oh, a hundred percent, like if you, if you get your alignment good, which is a lot harder than you think to aim yourself, because you're constantly playing on the wind and you're aiming left and you're aiming right. So if you're good at aiming the golf club, aiming your body, you'll be, you'll be a good player. The problem was, you know, when you're out in the west of ireland and you've got like a 40 mile hour breeze and you're aiming way right and way left, at the end of the four days your alignment's all over the place, so it just goes back to can you set yourself up again? And that's what I do with my alignment sticks and the impact bag is just to test where you're actually aiming and so, like I'll give you an example of your had a lesson there this morning and the guy came in and he was pulling across it. So I got him set up, gave him the target at the 200, and I said, right, close your eyes now, put a stick down at his feet, put a stick down that's in line with the ball.
Speaker 2:And I put a little gate and he was aiming 30 yards, open your eyes and he's aiming 30 yards right. And he was like, oh, open your eyes and he's aiming 30 yards right. And he was like, oh my God, I can't believe that. And he was pulling right across it. So what I did was I just left him there until we actually got hitting through the gate. And then, when he hit through the gate, he was hitting it 40 yards right and I said that's where you're aiming, so now you're hitting it where you aimed yeah.
Speaker 1:I suppose, like it was easy to kind of guess there. I suppose at the end of it like that, you grew up playing golf on a beach in Donegal. When you call a 40-mile-an-hour wind a breeze, yeah.
Speaker 2:That's.
Speaker 1:I suppose and that's like the challenge of playing golf and I think, like you've kind of hit the nail on the head a couple of times here was learning what your tendencies are and then learning to deal with the environment. That would be. One of your key principles is that?
Speaker 2:Oh, definitely yeah, Because you know going to a range and hitting a ball flight dead straight is just so generic. Jack Nicklaus talks about it, about how the young players that come out now just hit the ball so straight that they don't know what to do when they get in the rough. They don't know what to do when it's windy and they don't know what to do when their swing breaks down a wee bit so like, if you look at the, you know the phil nicholson's and the tigers and you know they shape the ball a lot more and they work much more with the wind. You know, yeah and uh. And with trackman. Now again, um, trackman only teaches you how to hit a perfect golf shot. Yeah, because that's all that's the only numbers is going to give you.
Speaker 2:If you drop your swing path a wee bit too shallow and you rotate the club face a bit more, the numbers are not going to be good on track man. And numbers could be great outside in a breeze. You know, yeah, 100 percent, and so it's yes, teaching players how to adapt in the wind and right to left breezes. You know, leaving a club face open, maybe hitting a wee push, maybe rotating the club face a bit more in the wind and right to left breezes, you know, leaving a club face open, maybe hitting a wee push, maybe rotating the club face a bit more in a left to right breeze stuff that I think should be taught, yeah, rather than just constant generic up and down perfect swing, you know learn to play the game learn to play the game, yeah, and then, like, it just goes into the scoring then and that's what I get a lot of results from then is the you know, from the good golfers right up to the 20 handicappers, that a guy the other day texts me first time he broke 90, he's delighted, you know.
Speaker 2:So I get way more satisfaction out of that than than teaching good players, cause good players are easy to teach, but it's taken the beginner to the first time he breaks 90 and the first time he breaks 80. Um and uh. And that guy who broke 90, I was doing impact bag work with him, getting him to understand his body, and I told him to go out and just hit a couple of chip shots, just be aware of where your body's at before you start. And he went out and he, like I, said it was the best round of his life. You know, teaching people how to play golf.
Speaker 1:The decision to come home, get back into the PGA, do it your own way what you've done, I suppose and then these kind of messages like that must make it very worthwhile for you I definitely.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm just trying to be original, if that makes sense. I don't want to I don't follow trends.
Speaker 2:I don't follow. I'm not a follower. You know it would be very sort of. You know that's me and and I have to bring that into my coaching. I'm not, you know, going to know it would be very sort of. You know that's me and I have to bring that into my coaching. I'm not going to copy anybody else's style of coaching and I go back to my own. When I was struggling, it was going to a lesson and somebody bringing up Dave Tom swing, or Camila Vajegas or swing like this guy or swing like Rory or swing like Tiger. I'm like I don't want to swing like me, you know. And so when I get these players, I want to just get them to swing as best as they can. You know, like we all move differently.
Speaker 1:Like. So I suppose, like everybody in the box does, you know, like telling kids to swing like Rory McIlroy is ridiculous.
Speaker 2:Just swing like yourself, yourself, you know. Look at the European tour and the US tour.
Speaker 1:Everybody swings different yeah, like it's something I get asked a lot actually is like what do I see that players do like in common? And it's like none of them swing the same, like at the top level of amateur golf. None of them swing the same. None of them like they don't. They don't do a lot similar, similar, whereas like okay, they all have belief and they all do it a different way and like while there's points in a lot of swings that might look similar, like they get there very differently.
Speaker 2:Like yeah, they would all. We go back to what I was talking about impact. They would come back to a very strong impact position. Yeah, and so they. You know they can might have a weird back swing, but they come back to a very strong impact position through to a very good follow through and they understand how to move their body to hit certain shots. So they're out there playing golf, you know, yeah.
Speaker 1:It's like the saying as well. We're like if you walk the range, you'll hear the good golfers or the better golfers, and it's something I've definitely picked up on in the last couple of years. It's that, it's impact, it's how the club meets, going to be the most important thing in golf.
Speaker 2:yeah and like the stronger the impact position and the stronger the body, the more the shaft lean and, uh, the more compressions on the ball and then the straighter the ball flight, and it's not even just the straight ball flight. You can control the ball flight and do whatever you want. So, yeah, that's kind of what it goes back to in the end up, you know and if someone wants to work with you, seamus, where are you based out of now?
Speaker 2:um. So I teach in Dunfanaghy and Latterkenny Golf Club, and I also teach in Galway Golf Club okay, yeah or not.
Speaker 1:Galway Golf Club. Sorry, great Boy. Great Boy Driving Range excuse me, I'll put your details in the show notes so if anyone wants to get in contact with you again. Seamus, I massively enjoyed that, my man. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you, gary, I hope.