Entry 25.41

“Motion is lotion.” I’d be very surprised if any of you haven’t heard that before. Most of you probably understand that moving is one of the best things we can do for ourselves. After all, that’s what we are designed to do. We aren’t designed to sit in front of a computer screen playing video games for hours on end or an entire day watching football. Is it going to kill you to do it every once in a while? Of course not. But when that is all you do, day after day, week after week, it begins to take a toll. That toll may happen below the surface, hidden, lurking, waiting years until it manifests itself. For others, it happens a lot quicker. You may be like me acting like you can eat whatever you want to without actually being one of those people who can get away with it. Quite a few of you have noticed that I’ve lost almost thirty pounds since May. For me, it is a combination of moving and what I eat. I love food. I’d much rather be one of those people who can eat a whole pizza and lose weight. Instead, I look at the Krispy Kreme stand as I walk by in Walmart, and the sight of doughnuts adds a couple pounds. One thing that has always worked for me when it came to managing my weight is running. I run a few miles two or three days a week and the scale sighs in relief. But I usually continue to eat what I want. And eventually, little by little, the weight sneaks back up. This summer I decided to really focus on what I’m eating. I also made it a research project to see how my blood sugar levels change throughout the day and how those levels affect how well I score when I get out onto the course. Everyone is completely different in how our blood sugar, insulin and metabolism function, but I figured it would give me a better understanding of what can happen. So, in July, I ordered a continuous glucose monitor and started eating with the goal of keeping my blood sugar in the range the medical world decided was “normal”. The result? Not only did I lose weight, I lost weight and added muscle mass. I haven’t had the craving for a chocolate chip cookie sandwich with buttercream frosting in months (my absolute favorite!). I’m actually eating quite a bit more than I was before I started this journey. I’ve discovered that I can get away with not eating when I play golf, but I score better when I have a Larabar (almost 2 strokes better). One Larabar for nine holes, three for eighteen holes. That’s how I keep my blood sugar stable. As I analyze my round afterwards, I’ve found I’m making better decisions, not necessarily hitting better shots. I’m still running, but I’ve been able to focus more on strength and power work because I don’t have to run as much to keep my weight down. But I also have found a confidence I’m not sure I’ve ever had. Not only do I think I look better, I feel better. What I have done to affect myself physically is bleeding over into my mental and emotional state. Which then makes me want to do even more physically.

After completing the Level 2 Fitness and Power courses from the Titleist Performance Institute (TPI) last year, I decided I wanted to start moving towards performance coaching and not just being a swing coach. Don’t worry, I’m not going to lose my love of teaching the golf swing. In fact, I’ll be spending two full days this week in education working on bettering my skills in that arena. I’ve always tried to view my coaching holistically. In fact, here are a couple sentences that made an appearance on my resume for the first time in 2022 (I have just about every draft of my resume that I’ve written over the last five years): My teaching philosophy extends beyond the physical golf swing to include mental strengthening exercises and emotional control techniques. This holistic approach combined with cutting edge technology helps each individual find the complete golfer inside them. I’ve kept those two sentences at the center of my philosophy. Golf is so much more than a physical game. It’s also mental, emotional, and social. The swing is just one small piece of the game. There is so much more that you need to work on in order to play your best golf. Just like my journey to becoming a better version of myself, you have to focus on all the pieces and not just the one that’s the easiest to do.

I wasn’t planning on making this purposeful push forward for another year or two. It was my short-term goal I set last year, and short-term goals are three-to-five-year goals. So, I’m at least a year and a half ahead of schedule. Things are going to be hectic for a while as I figure out how to balance everything. Because before I was focused on technique work and working the physical, mental, and emotional in on the back end. Now, they are all on the fore front. Please bear with me as I work through it. But what caused me to accelerate my plans? A visit from a new friend a few weeks ago. One of my PGM students did his internship this past year with Peter Egazarian, PGA, a graduate of our program. Peter asked to come down to spend a day with our students, so I put him on the schedule. Peter is on the advisory board of NeuX Technologies. NeuX developed the NX Pro which is an Interactive Neuromuscular Stimulation device. I have some experience with similar devices due to my various injuries. I first used a Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) unit back in 2009 when I was recovering from my left knee surgeries. My therapist used it to help my left leg muscles fire after they hadn’t been used much for months. I still remember how odd it was to see my left upper leg musculature about half the size of my right leg. Back then you really didn’t see these devices available to the public. Now if you go to the PGA Show, there are dozens of different models being peddled on the show floor. When I was in Walter Reed following my last deployment, I was introduced to Alpha-Stim, which on top of being useful for pain management can also help with migraines and some sleep disorders. I’ve used it for those latter two reasons ever since. I never considered trying to weave them into my coaching (besides the fact you can’t with the Alpha-Stim due to its FDA classification). So, I was very apprehensive about the NX Pro. I even told my PGA student I would never use something like that in my coaching. I mean I’m a golf coach, not a therapist. Let’s be real. No M.D. here.

But I went into that Thursday with Ted Lasso ringing in my ears. “Be curious, not judgmental.” I watched, listened, and still tried to convince myself that what I was witnessing was magic or voodoo. But watching a player suddenly being able to make a fuller turn in his backswing than is ever necessary after about three minutes on the NX Pro was undeniable. There was something to this. I watched other players have similar changes. One of my first-year players struggles with tightness and pain from playing high-level baseball growing up. He said for about ten days after his time on the NeuX he felt loose and experienced less pain. Peter told stories about clients he had worked with. Not all of them were the sudden changes I saw. It all depends on how long you’ve been dealing with the issue and how severe the issue is. When I shared my experience with Shelby, she saw opportunity. Not a business opportunity, but the possibility to impact lives. “Imagine what that could do for your PGA HOPE veterans.” She believed in what the NX Pro could do before I did. Just from hearing some stories. I can’t tell you have lucky and thankful I am to her in my life. As hard as I tried to go into that day with Peter curious, something was still in the way. Thankfully she didn’t. We talked about when the best time would be as it was a considerable investment. Again, her wisdom shone. “How many veterans will miss out if you wait?” Ten minutes later my order was confirmed.

A lot of things had to happen prior to Peter’s visit for me to even consider integrating technology like that. I knew I eventually wanted to move toward performance coaching. After finishing those TPI courses, I started looking for my next formal educational step. I found it at the PGA Teaching and Coaching Summit earlier this year. Rick Murphy, a stalwart in the teaching and coaching arena in North Carolina, did a presentation on the Functional Golf System with Dr. Gary Gray, the founder of the Gray Institute. It seemed like the very thing I was looking for. After the PGA Show, I did some more research. The Gray Institute seemed more geared towards physical therapists and athletic trainers rather than golf coaches. I decided to start simple and take their Foundations course. That whet my appetite enough to take the Functional Techniques course. Then I jumped in and earned my certifications in Applied Functional Science and their 3-Dimensional Movement Analysis and Performance System (3DMAPS). It became exactly what I had been looking for. I learned how the physical, biological and behavioral principles are completely intertwined. You can’t deal with one without dealing with the others. I hope my introductory story shed some light on that truth. That is what performance is all about. Google AI defines performance in sports as “a multi-dimensional concept that includes physical attributes like strength and agility, mental resilience, and technique, all focused on achieving optimal results in competition over time.” So, it’s holistic as “the parts of something are interconnected and can be explained only by reference to the whole” (Oxford Languages). There’s a reason my Gray Institute education makes so much sense. It took all the different pieces that I was trying to work on with my players and gave me a system. Without that education and my experiences thus far integrating it into my coaching, I don’t think I would have been ready to even consider adding the NX Pro.

The technology is just a tool. There is a lot of learning that had to take place prior. Call it what you will, but somehow the pieces that were necessary were in place when the opportunity came. Peter calls the NX Pro “a catalyst for change”. It just helps speed things up when it comes to mobility or stress relief that would eventually happen. It sure sped things up for me. I wasn’t planning on moving into performance coaching for a while. Sometimes we feel that we aren’t ready for certain challenges. We want to be sure of success. But here we are. The time is now. The Dynamic Golf Solutions Performance Center is up and running. I don’t just want to work on your swing. I want to prepare you in every facet the game of golf requires you to have. You decide what level you want to be at. Performance coaching isn’t just for elite players. It’s for everyone. Whatever you need to work on, I’m here to help you play the best golf you can. Here to help you have more fun. Here to help make your life better. Let’s do this!