How a Struggling Tour Golfer Found His Confidence and His Game

"Each day of training, you realize more and more that this game is not easy, it's a grind, but if you wanna be successful you gotta learn to live it and love it!"

My name is Bradley Johnson, and I'm a PGA golf professional who decided to make a directional change and open my mind to what can be! 

I have been playing the game of golf seriously for the past 11 years as firstly an amateur and then decided to get my PGA accreditation by doing a PGA traineeship in Brisbane, Australia. 

Since playing competitively for prize money as a pro, I have had my ups and downs, and I walked away from the game for a while and went and caddied on the Web.Com tour for a year. 

I came back this year in July and gave myself some serious goals for 2013/14 of gaining a better ranking here in Australia, through traveling to tour school in Melbourne and also trying to get status in South Africa by traveling to the sunshine tour school in January 2014.

I started practicing just as I had done for the last 6 to 7 years, working out things on my own, and getting other pros to video me, and I would have a look every 3 to 4 days if I was not competing. Then I would spend 18 to 20 hours a week 'practicing' on my own. This would consist of 10 hours of short game and wedge work, and 10 hours of long game work. 

It was just the same way as if I operated like a computer, on the same loop week after week!

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I felt like I could compete with it or at-least that's what I told myself. Most of my pro-am results were less than stellar and having a high score average of somewhere in region of 80 was not good for a professional. 

I really started to get frustrated as I knew there was a game there but the lack of consistency both with concentration and the ability to isolate one shot was lacking.

It was not only that, more the sense of panic that was starting to build that I would have to change something in order to feel solid before Q school. 




We always bounce ideas off each other as pros and after having a good chat to two students who have and are attending Pro Tour Golf College they suggested I look into it. I had an in-depth peruse through the website and further chats with the boys and in the end decided to contact David and Lawrie to see what we could do together! 

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I decided that giving myself a semester in the tour golfer program as I thought that it would be a great start to change my practice regimes, my work ethic, my mental skills and anything else that I could soak up. 

The program and the structure from day one has been nothing but empowering for my golf career.

We started with 'hell week' in week one, working on all aspects of my game, getting stats and percentages from putting, short game, long game, sand and trouble shots, the lot! 

It was brand a new experience for me, the structure from day one was very precise and calculated and covered every area of your game. 

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"I came to Pro Tour Golf College with a three month goal of getting a tour card, and I will leave this semester knowing I will play this game regardless of whether I achieve that goal now or three years from now."

It helps you to see your strengths and weaknesses across the board and where the immediate improvements are needed.

Each week you have the knowledge of two seasoned professionals who have experienced all aspects of the game. Coaching, playing, forever learning and staying one step ahead of the curve. 

This program is for the serious amateur that wants to succeed and become a pro tour player. 

My short game and bunker player after structured practice and being dedicated to putting in the hard work and hours is starting to pay off immensely. 

That's just the start of my journey to being a consistent golf professional that can compete on a larger stage, and I want to earn the privilege of being under pressure.

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I thought I had played 'professional golf' for the last 3 years, but I have not played PROFESSIONAL golf until now.

The mental training in Pro Tour Golf College is not delivered by psychologists, and you are not writing down your feelings etc. It's done out on the practice green, on the range and every minute of every practice session. 

I didn't know how to isolate one shot, have a 5 second rule to accept the shot and move on. 

The picture has become a lot clearer after a semester with Lawrie and David. 

Each day of training, you realise more and more that this game is not easy, it's a grind, but if you wanna be successful you gotta learn to live it and love it!


I came to Pro Tour Golf College with a three month goal of getting a tour card, and I will leave this semester knowing I will play this game regardless of whether I achieve that goal now or three years from now. 

They changed my timeline plain and simple!

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Visualizing the golf shot is one of the hardest things to do when you don't have confidence. 
I have learned that confidence stems from competence, you have to train your mind to see the shot, but first you have to have the tools to execute! 

Pro Tour Golf College has given me the tools that I will use for the rest of my career. 

If you feel you cannot play a shot, these guys have every shot in the book! 

Simple effective, small adjustments will show you that you have the capability, just no one has shown you in the past how to play it effectively with competence. 

It mentally gives you a charge when you hit a good one with a slight change and you want to build it so you work and work to build the competency platform!

The 10,000 hours rule does apply to golf, that's dedication to your craft, that's 10,000 real hours. 

PTGC is a place where there are no real swing re builds; it’s about manageable adjustments that allow you to move forward and progress to that next level of competency. 

You see results through structure and hard work!

I am still on my own journey to becoming a more balanced player with better practice methods and better mental loops.

If you are serious about learning skills and structure that WILL increase your ability to score, I could not endorse any other program that I have participated in!

All summed up confidence for me has started to build competence and I know that in months and years to come I will develop consistency because I will stick to the skills these pros have given to me.


Bradley Marcus Johnson - PGA (Aust) 

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