The First Week at Pro Tour Golf College

You will work hard at Pro Tour Golf College. The core concept behind the college is to "train to perform," so every bit of energy is devoted to moving the golf ball from one place to another with improvement in mind.
To achieve this outcome we track, test, measure and manage every golf shot hit at the college and carefully scrutinize the results to develop the most suitable plan for improvement. The main ingredients in the Pro Tour Golf College performance mix are high golf stroke volume; strict management of time; varying training intensity and on-going technical improvement.






Day three at PTGC was golf course assessment morning with the guys playing nine holes so we could get an idea of the way they go about constructing a round of golf. Joondalup Dune and Quarrie courses is the original 18 holes and a supreme test of golf from the blue markers and it really tested the guys patience and golf skills.

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After the morning on the golf course we had a debrief session in the clubhouse to discuss the students perceptions of the way they performed on the golf course. Two of the students that are members of the college are in the middle of making minor changes to their golf swing technique which certainly challenged their comfort zone. I made the point of explaining a simple but powerful concept that I wanted them to remember: "When you react you reinforce." Reacting to less than desireable golf shots will reinforce the negative behaviour that you are actually trying to eliminate.

HIGH SPEED VIDEO ANALYSIS
Using high speed video is a great way to help a student to understand an important concept in their golf swing technique and can also be a really good tool for generating confidence.  After the round and debrief we went down to the range to capture their golf swings from two angles simultaneously to create a visual record of changes we will make to their technique over time.

The point we continually make is that your golf score is much more important than how good your golf swing looks.

Our main objective with golf swing technique work is to essentially develop three important factors in their golf swing technique.

1. Start their golf shot on the target line most of the time
   
2. Hit the golf ball out of the centre of the clubface most of the time
3. Reduce the curvature to neutral most of the time
   

"No one every got paid for a pretty golf swing..."

You get paid to shoot consistently low golf scores and this is an important point that we continually make to our students. The students attending the college are at different phases of their development cycle but regardless of where they are they need to develop the low golf score paradigm.

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GOLF SWING TARGETING ASSESSMENT
On Thursday the students hit one hundred and fifty golf shots to targets ranging from 80 metres to 220 metres with two targets for each distance set at a pre-determined diametre. The objective of this training exercise was to measure the accuracy of their golf shots with the different clubs in their bag so we could determine which distances they were confident and competent at and which distances they weren't.



Following is the distance/diametre targetting schedule and the golf strokes they played.
80 - 90 metres at 8m wide ---------------------- 20 golf shots
100 - 110 metres at 10m wide ----------------- 20 golf shots
120 - 130 metres at 12m wide ----------------- 20 golf shots
140 - 150 metres at 14m wide ----------------- 20 golf shots
160 - 170 metres at 16m wide ----------------- 20 golf shots
180 - 190 metres at 18m wide ----------------- 20 golf shots
200 - 210 metres at 20m wide ----------------- 20 golf shots
220 - metres at 22m wide ----------------------- 10 golf shots

TOTAL GOLF SHOTS ASSESSED 150

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PRE-SHOT ROUTINE AND SEGMENT TIME ASSESSMENT
After the PTGC students finished their targetting assessment they hit another fifty golf shots which we measured with a stop watch to determine how consistent their pre-shot routine was. The pre-shot routine focus window is between 10 and 15 seconds and we studied the students as they hit various shots to determine whether their routine would stand up to the pressure of competing. At the same time this was happening David was using one of our K-Vests to get a 3D perspective on their golf swing technique.

The K-Vest system precisely measures swing efficiency and movement patterns in three dimensions. The real-time visual and auditory feedback keeps our PTGC students on track with their technique development because they can monitor and track their progress accurately over time.

TOTAL GOLF SHOTS ASSESSED 60

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SUMMARY OF FIRST WEEK
So let's have a look at the first week (4 Days) of Pro Tour Golf College and the great work the students put into their game.

Monday - Putting Skills Assessment ----------------------- 250 Putts
Tuesday - Greenside Skills Assessment ------------------ 200 Shots
Wednesday - Golf Course Assessment and Video ------ 50 Shots
Thursday - Full-Swing Assessment/PSR/K-Vest ------- 210 Shots
                                                                       Total 710 Golf Shots

We hope you can see that PTGC is for serious amateur and professional golfers who want to work hard and are committed to their goal of lowering their golf score average so they can become competitive golfers on a professional golf tour.

Until next time.

David Milne and Lawrie Montague
P.S Our next semester starts in early July so if you're considering joining PTGC send us an email today.

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