Instruction
Using Trackman has made me LESS technical as a teacher
Early in my teaching career, I was told that in order to a successful instructor I had to have great communication skills and possess a talent to describe a highly complex motion in an understandable way to my students. In the 20 years that I’ve been teaching golf, the technologies that instructors now have available to them have only made that lesson more important.
My goal for the swing and its “repair” is to make it as simple as possible for the golfers to understand, whether it is in the articles I write or the lessons I give to my clients. The goal of every teacher is to bridge the gap between giving the student too much information and just the right amount.
With the advent of systems like Trackman and FlightScope, golf instructors are now armed with an enormous amount of data to help them understand what is happening to the Nth degree. While having this information at our fingertips is awesome, it can also cause problems for less experienced teachers. I know from experience that whenever I have more data on hand, it can be very easy to give golfers more information than what is necessary. However, I will tell you that when a teacher truly understands the correlations within the data, it can help instructors make their lessons less technical than ever.
With anything new, there is always a learning curve. But over time, anyone who studies can learn to dissect all the data and assimilate it into his or her teaching style. People tend to criticize what they don’t understand, and using the latest technology will test you in the beginning. But I promise, once you have the “aha” moment, you will be on your way to doing things on the lesson tee in a much more efficient way than ever before.
Years ago, when there was only video, teachers tended to become too position focused, and I think that has carried over to the current crop of young teachers using club and ball flight analyzers. They tend to focus only on pleasing the machine, and sometimes try to force their students into achieving the perfect numbers associated with tour players. While it’s nice to try and copy what better do, it is not the ONLY way a golfer can be successful. Using club and ball flight analyzers in this manner will easily boggle the minds of even the smartest of students.
Above: Justin Rose uses video and Trackman to improve his swing with instructor Sean Foley.
So how do you use club and ball flight analyzers in the best way possible?
In the past, I was overcritical of positions that I thought I saw on camera that might influence factors like the club’s swing direction or the club’s face angle at impact. Now that I can actually see the club’s true path and the face-to-path relationship, I have found myself less focused on what things look like and more focused on what the swing actually produces consistently from the stroke pattern side. No longer do I obsess over things like a student “picking up the club” on the backswing if the downstroke plane is within certain parameters at impact. Often, when I let golfers have some freedom to do what it is natural to them, they achieve a “fix” that is much easier to implement in both the short and long term. There are exceptions to the rules, but generally if I see a decent player whose path and face are under control to some consistent degree, I’m not overly concerned how they got there.
So what do I do if golfer’s angle of attack is a touch down with the driver? As long as the player produces ample distance for the desired level of play and has adequate ball control from side to side, then the player will be fine. What some teachers forget is that the numbers only support or refute what the player is feeling, and are there to give the teacher feedback while making a swing change. The more I understand the data, the better I will get at fixing the one thing that will affect the other seven categories that are a touch off. Find the cause and the effects will take care of themselves.
Over time, instructors will find that they are not so worried about idiosyncrasies shown on video, but more focused on the one simple piece of the “data pie” that will fix it all. From there, it is all about how the player can improve his path, angle of attack, dynamic loft or whatever you as the teacher decide is in the student’s own best way. The best teachers use Trackman or FlightScope in a way that helps players learn through self-discovery. They don’t try to fix every single data point individually, because that makes things way too complicated.
Teachers need video in order to audit positions. They also need club and ball flight analyzers in order to audit the things they cannot see with video. The secret is putting the two mediums together to offer a “fix” for each student regardless of ability level. Use technology to fix the causes, not the effects of a golfer’s swing, and I bet that your students will play better and look forward to more lessons.
Read More Tom Stickney II : What Flightscope and Trackman can tell you (and me)
The LPGA Tour is kicking off its 2026 season this week at Lake Nona Golf and Country Club in Orlando, and the pros are dealing with something most Florida golfers rarely face: freezing temperatures.
“It’s colder here than in the UK at the minute, which is a first,” said England’s Charley Hull during Wednesday’s media day at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions.
Even Lydia Ko, who lives at Lake Nona, seemed surprised by the cold snap. “We’re pretty much getting to below zero in celsius here, which maybe in other parts of the country they would be thankful, but when you’re in Florida it is a little bit of a surprise,” she said.
If the world’s best players are adjusting their games for cold weather, recreational golfers should, too. Here’s how to play smart when the mercury drops.
Understand What Cold Does to Your Game
Before you change anything, you need to know what you’re fighting against. Cold air is denser than warm air, which means your ball won’t fly as far. Period.
Hull noticed this immediately during practice rounds at Lake Nona. She mentioned hitting a gap wedge into the 18th hole during a previous win but needing a 4-iron during Tuesday’s practice round. That’s a difference of four or five clubs for the same shot.
Action item: Expect to lose 5-10 yards on every club in your bag when temperatures dip below 50 degrees. Plan accordingly and don’t be stubborn about club selection.
Layer Up Without Restricting Your Swing
Hull admitted she wore three pairs of pants during practice. While that might be extreme for most of us, staying warm is critical to playing well in cold conditions.
Your muscles need warmth to function properly. When you’re cold, your body tightens up and your swing gets shorter and faster. Neither of those things help you hit good golf shots.
Action item: Wear multiple thin layers instead of one bulky jacket. Look for golf-specific cold weather gear that stretches with your swing. Keep hand warmers in your pockets between shots. And don’t forget a good hat because you lose significant body heat through your head.
Take More Club Than You Think You Need
This is where ego gets in the way of good scores. When it’s cold, the ball doesn’t compress as well off the clubface. Combined with denser air, you’re looking at serious distance loss.
The pros at Lake Nona are dealing with a course that measures 6,642 yards but plays much longer this week. If they’re adjusting, you should too.
Action item: Take at least one extra club on every approach shot. In temperatures below 40 degrees, consider taking two extra clubs. It’s better to fly the ball to the back of the green than to come up short in a bunker.
Adjust Your Expectations on the Greens
Cold weather affects putting in ways most golfers don’t consider. The ball is harder and doesn’t roll as smoothly. Your hands are cold, making it harder to feel the putter. And if there’s any moisture on the greens, they’ll be slower than normal.
Ko mentioned that she still sometimes reads the greens wrong at Lake Nona despite being a member for years. Cold weather makes that challenge even tougher.
Action item: Hit putts more firmly than usual. The ball needs extra speed to hold its line on cold greens. Take a few extra practice strokes to get a feel for the speed before you putt.
Embrace the Mental Challenge
Hull said something interesting about cold weather golf: “I like the mental toughness of it.”
That’s the right attitude. Everyone on the course is dealing with the same conditions. The player who stays patient and doesn’t get frustrated by the extra difficulty will come out ahead.
Action item: Lower your expectations by a few strokes. If you normally shoot 85, accept that 90 might be a good score in 40-degree weather. Focus on solid contact and smart decisions rather than perfect shots.
Warm Up Longer and Smarter
This might be the most important tip of all. Cold muscles are tight muscles, and tight muscles get injured easily.
World No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul revealed she’s been protecting a wrist injury that bothered her late last season. Cold weather makes those kinds of injuries more likely if you don’t prepare properly.
Action item: Spend at least 20 minutes warming up before your round. Start with stretching, then hit easy wedge shots before working up to your driver. Keep moving between shots on the course to maintain body heat and flexibility.
The pros at Lake Nona this week will adapt and compete at the highest level despite the cold. You can do the same at your local course by following these tips and keeping a positive attitude.
PGA Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer. You can check out his writing work and learn more about him by visiting BEAGOLFER.golf and OneMoreRollGolf.com. Also, check out “Playing Through” now on R.org, RG.org’s partner site, each Monday.
Editor’s note: Brendon shares his nearly 30 years of experience in the game with GolfWRX readers through his ongoing tip series. He looks forward to providing valuable insights and advice to help golfers improve their game. Stay tuned for more tips!
Brooks Koepka is back on the PGA Tour, and whether you love him or hate him, the guy knows how to win when it matters. After his LIV Golf stint, the five-time major champion returns this week at the Farmers Insurance Open.
What makes Koepka fascinating? He doesn’t fit the mold. His swing isn’t textbook. He doesn’t obsess over mechanics. Yet he’s won three PGA Championships and two U.S. Opens, regularly making it look easier than guys with prettier swings.
So, what can average golfers learn from someone who treats the game so differently? Quite a bit.
Stop Overthinking Every Shot
Koepka describes his approach as “reactionary” rather than mechanical. While most tour pros grind over swing thoughts, Brooks sees the target and hits it. No mental checklist.
This might be the most valuable lesson for weekend golfers who’ve watched too many YouTube swing videos.
How to actually do this:
On the range, hit five balls where you stare at the target for three seconds prior to addressing the ball. Don’t think about grip or stance. Just burn that target into your brain. You’ll be shocked at how pure you hit it when your brain focuses on where the ball is going instead of how you’re swinging.
Next time you play, give yourself a rule: Once you pull the club, you’ve got 15 seconds to hit. Koepka is one of the fastest players on tour because he doesn’t give his brain time to sabotage him.
If you feel tension in your hands at address, you’re trying to control too much. Koepka’s grip pressure is famously light. Loosen up until the club almost feels like it might slip, then add just enough pressure to hold on. That’s your swing thought: soft hands, see the target.
This approach works better under pressure. When you’re standing over that shot with water left and OB right, the last thing you need is a mental checklist. See it, feel it, hit it.
Play to Your Strengths (Even If They’re Not Pretty)
Koepka uses a strong grip that wouldn’t pass muster in some teaching circles. But he’s built his game around what works for him, elite driving distance and recovery skills. He doesn’t try to be someone he’s not.
Here’s how to build your game like Brooks:
Look at your last five rounds and figure out where you’re actually gaining strokes. Bombing it off the tee, but can’t hit greens? Lean into it. Play courses where distance matters more than precision. On tight holes, grip down on your 3-wood instead of trying to thread a driver through a keyhole you’ll miss seven times out of ten.
Koepka knows he can scramble, so he’s not afraid to miss greens. If you’re deadly from 50 to 75 yards, start leaving yourself those distances on the par 5’s instead of going for them in two every time.
Know when to take your medicine. Koepka in the trees at the PGA? He’s punching out to 100 yards, not trying to bend a 6-iron around three oaks. You’re in the rough with a flyer lie and water short? Hit your 8-iron to the middle and move on. That’s not playing scared, that’s playing smart.
Save Your Best for When It Counts
Here’s a wild stat: Koepka’s putting average in majors is often more than a full stroke better per round than in regular events. He elevates when pressure is highest.
How does an amateur tap into that gear? It’s not about trying harder, it’s about caring differently.
Here’s what actually works:
Decide which rounds matter to you. Club championship? Member-guest? That annual trip with college buddies? Circle those dates and treat them differently. Koepka doesn’t care much about regular tour events, but majors? That’s when he locks in.
Two weeks before your big round, change your practice. Stop beating balls mindlessly. Play nine holes in which every shot has consequences. Miss the fairway? Hit from the rough on the next hole too. Three-putt? Twenty push-ups. Koepka’s practice intensity ramps up before majors because he’s rehearsing pressure, not just swings.
Develop a between-shot routine that resets your brain. Koepka is famous for his blank expression after bad shots. Try this: After any shot, take three deep breaths while walking, then find something specific to notice, a tree, a cloud, someone’s shirt. That’s your reset button. By the time you reach your ball, the last shot is gone.
The Bottom Line
Brooks Koepka’s return reminds us there’s no single path to success in golf. His “substance over style” approach proves that results matter more than looking good.
You don’t need a perfect swing; you need a reliable one that holds up under pressure. You don’t need to hit every shot in the book; you need the shots you can count on. And you don’t need to play great every time; you need to play great when it matters.
Welcome back, Brooks. Thanks for the reminder that golf is ultimately about getting the ball in the hole, not winning style points.
PGA Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer. You can check out his writing work and learn more about him by visiting BEAGOLFER.golf and OneMoreRollGolf.com. Also, check out “Playing Through” now on R.org, RG.org’s partner site, each Monday.
Editor’s note: Brendon shares his nearly 30 years of experience in the game with GolfWRX readers through his ongoing tip series. He looks forward to providing valuable insights and advice to help golfers improve their game. Stay tuned for more tips!
Blades Brown made a big impression last week in the California desert, and not just because he’s only 18. He put up numbers that would catch any weekend golfer’s attention. Most of us won’t hit 317-yard drives or find 86% of our greens in regulation, but there’s a lot to learn from how Brown managed his game at The American Express.
Here are three practical lessons from his performance that you can use on your own course this weekend.
Step 1: Give Priority to Accuracy Over Distance Off The Tee
Brown’s driving stats are impressive. He averaged almost 318 yards off the tee, ranking 12th in the field. More importantly, he hit 76.79% of his fairways, tying for fourth place in the tournament.
Think about that ratio for a second. Brown could have swung harder, chased more distance and tried to overpower the course. Instead, he played smart golf and kept his ball in play.
Your Action Item: Next time you’re on the tee box, ask yourself a simple question before pulling the driver. Do you need maximum distance here, or do you need to be in the fairway? If there’s trouble lurking or the hole doesn’t demand every yard you can muster, take something off your swing. Grip down an inch. Make a three-quarter swing. Do whatever it takes to find the short grass. Brown’s approach illustrates that fairways lead to greens, and greens lead to birdies. He made 22 of them last week, along with an eagle.
The math is simple. When you’re hitting three out of every four fairways like Brown did, you’re giving yourself legitimate looks at the green with your approach shots. That’s when scoring happens.
Step 2: Commit To Hitting More Greens
This is where Brown really separated himself. He hit 62 of 72 greens in regulation, an 86.11% clip that tied for first in the entire field. Read that again. An 18-year-old kid tied for the lead in one of the most important ball-striking statistics in professional golf.
How did he do it? By keeping his ball in the fairway (see Step 1) and giving himself clean looks with mid-irons and wedges.
Your Action Item: Start tracking your greens in regulation. You don’t need a fancy app or a statistics degree. Just mark down whether you hit the green in the regulation number of strokes. Par 3s in one shot. Par 4s in two shots. Par 5s in three shots.
Once you know your baseline, set a goal to improve it by 10%. If you’re currently hitting five greens per round, aim for six. The beauty of this approach is that it forces you to think strategically about club selection and shot shape. Brown’s strokes gained approach number was positive (0.179), meaning he was better than the field average. You don’t need to be perfect. You just need to be on the dance floor more often.
When you hit more greens, you eliminate the need for heroic short game shots. Brown only had to scramble 10 times all week, and he got up and down 70% of the time. That’s solid, but the real story is that he rarely put himself in scrambling situations to begin with.
Step 3: Minimize Mistakes And Stay Patient
Here’s the stat that jumps off the page: Brown made only three bogeys all week. Three. In four rounds of professional golf against the best players in the world.
He also made just one double bogey. That kind of clean card doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when you play within yourself, avoid the big miss and trust that pars are never bad scores.
Your Action Item: Before your next round, decide that you’re going to play boring golf. No hero shots over water. No driver on tight holes just because you can. No aggressive pins when there’s a safe side of the green.
Brown’s performance shows us that consistency beats flash every single time. He didn’t lead the field in any single strokes gained category, but he was solid across the board. That’s how you post numbers and cash checks.
Give these three steps a try. Your scorecard will thank you.
PGA Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer. You can check out his writing work and learn more about him by visiting BEAGOLFER.golf and OneMoreRollGolf.com. Also, check out “The Starter” now on R.org, RG.org’s partner site, each Monday.
Editor’s note: Brendon shares his nearly 30 years of experience in the game with GolfWRX readers through his ongoing tip series. He looks forward to providing valuable insights and advice to help golfers improve their game. Stay tuned for more tips!
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dman
Jan 14, 2014 at 6:20 pm
thanks for posting this! i have been thinking this for some time now. i recently got a lot better, because i finally understood what impact was supposed to feel like. for years i had been seeing instructors that were helping me get in the ‘right positions’, and while this undoubtedly has a purpose, it left me very frustrated as to why i wasn’t getting better with a good looking swinging. at the end of the day, it’s the position of the club at impact that matters! i think lessons should begin with and always refer to what is happening at the bottom of the swing and how that effects the ball. i never understood it until recently, and i was a scratch golfer!
Pebo
Dec 4, 2013 at 7:42 pm
I call my Trackman “The Truth” starting there makes learning simple. Geometry and Physics. Love this article. Video is two dimensions of a three dimension motion. I am old enough to remember when teachers using video were nut cases….. Progress is sometimes slow.
Martin
Dec 4, 2013 at 6:54 pm
Great article! I did a fitting of a new 5wood and I really got good numbers according to the fitter on the trackman. My swingpath (I believe it was) was around 2-3 (he said that was a sign of me coming from the inside) and my face angle was 4-6 (I might be mixing the two datas here, sorry for the confusion) and it produced a nice draw. He said that the launch angle was a little low, I think it was 10-11, but I noticed that the smash factor was really close to 1.50(on the last shot it actually was 1.50). After reading your article I wonder how my low launch still “is the correlation between the club-head speed he or she delivers at impact and the subsequent speed imparted to the ball when the it leaves the club. This gives a rough estimate of how “efficient” a golfer is at impact”. Would be really interesting to hear your opinion on this thing. Really like your articles!
Damon
Dec 4, 2013 at 4:08 pm
Great article! I find with my students on Trackman that using visual markers like alignment sticks to help get a player focused on start lines and using more feel-oriented thoughts helps tremendously with self correcting numbers. It’s such a misconception that Trackman is overly-technical and promotes chasing zeros and perfect numbers. Really refreshing to see an instructor on the same page!
tom stickney
Dec 4, 2013 at 6:48 pm
Thank you for your note!
Scott Anderson
Dec 4, 2013 at 6:56 am
Makes perfect sense…having been self taught I know the relative importance of positions in my swing but I also know that I’ve worked thru a dozen positions during my transition to being a better player and more than one set of positions allowed me to strike the ball properly. Never have totally erased my Furyk. At the top” but I don’t obsess about it anymore because I consistently strike the ball.
Graeme
Dec 3, 2013 at 8:16 am
Fantastic article.
Being position focused and not paying much attention to ball flight is a bad combination.
Ian Pont
Dec 2, 2013 at 4:25 pm
Interesting article that impacts on many sports where coaches use technical feedback to fuel outcome improvements.
What struck me about reading this was that it is HOW you feed the information to a student rather than WHAT information you feed that student, that becomes the most important factor. It isn’t the sheer amount of data analysis that’s vital. Instead, it is a complicit understanding by the coach to interpret the information suitable for the student – and this can only be done with training drills that help the student to actually make impactful changes.
Technique, and thereby the processes of the movement, drive improved skill levels through greater acquisition. However, it is the drills that create the outcome the student seeks.
It is clearly a mistake for any coach to overload a student with information. The information should only ever be enough for the student to ‘buy in’ to the changes needed and how they are achieved.
Paralysis by analysis, is a common fault of coaches who are unable to differentiate what a student needs versus what they want to share. Technology often skews a coach towards unnecessary inputs.
Simply put, develop a process that is robust and teach that. Within that framework, flexibility of student can be applied through benchmarking, rather than by a definitive solution. However, any anomaly doesn’t disprove a framework. It merely underscores the fact that there is sometimes more than one way to get to a great outcome.