What To
Focus On As
A Player:
RASPBERRY GOLF ACADEMY
Patrick McGuire and other instructors at the
Raspberry Golf Academy use launch monitors,
3-D technology and a team of trainers and
coaches, both mental and physical, to help
golfers improve their all-around game.
swing,” McGuire said. “As a coach, if you’re not
constantly trying to learn new things, you’re
falling behind.”
With a better understanding of body limitations through the improved technology,
McGuire can send his players to chiropractors, trainers or rehabilitators with specific
information about what needs to be adjusted. If a coach is unaware of body limitations, he or she may be asking a player to do
the impossible.
That train of thought led McGuire to the
path of developing a “team,” one that included
mental coaches as well.
Oscar Coetzee, a professor at the University
of Maryland, has become the Raspberry’s
mental guru, and he has added an innovative
new approach to mental training involving
matching players to personality types.
RGA student Kevin McLister, who recently
earned full status on the Asian Tour, said, “I’ve
been seeing Pat for a year and a half and I’ve
seen his coaching style change a ton with the
understanding of Oscar’s personality profiles.
He coaches every player differently now, even
in group settings.”
McGuire believes he was too focused on
his swing as a player, and that carried over
vsga.org
to his early coaching years. Swing improvement is important, but truly progressing
involves having a swing coach who understands modern technology, addressing body
limitations through trainers and overcoming
mental obstacles.
“Better information in the hands of a good
coach is going to make their players better,”
McGuire said.
Transferring new information from a lesson to the golf course and pressure situations
comes down to proper practice. Using the
Raspberry model from McGuire and Coetzee,
it is vital for every player to practice within his
or her own personality.
Some people need to stand on the range
for hours pounding balls following a lesson.
Others need to jump out on the course and
test new skills. Others will hit one shot on the
practice tee with the camera running, and
will watch it back while analyzing every angle.
“Who you are as a person should dictate
how you practice,” McGuire said.
New skills are only ready for pressure situations once they have been tested in practice,
and tested in a way that matches the player. If a
new skill is tested in an uncomfortable manner,
the trust will not be there come crunch time.
BEGINNERS
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