November 27, 2024 • 35 mins
Discover the exciting world of LifeLongGolf, where golf meets wellness and adventure. Owner and founder, Jennifer Hudson, joins Chris to discuss how assessments, personalized coaching during a round, and a focus on overall well-being can transform your game! From understanding your body’s unique strengths to creating a dedicated improvement plan, Jennifer’s approach ensures every golfer can play better, feel better, and enjoy the game for a lifetime! Learn more about Jennifer and LifeLongGolf: @lifelonggolf on instagram Lifelonggolf.com Titleist.com Say Hi to Jennifer at Sankaty Head Golf Club
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome to the golf in this bump spot. I'm your
host Chris Finn and I have a very exciting guest today.
She is the founder and owner of Lifelong Golf. H
three years running golf that ed just best teachers. If
you don't know Jennifer Hudson, you better now know her
because she's here our guest today. She's awesome and Jennifer,
(00:30):
I can't thank you so much for coming hang out
with me today on the pod.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Oh my gosh, Chris, thank you for having me on.
You're you're the foremost expert in your golf in space,
and super respect you and what you do and just
honored to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Thank you so much. And I paid her to say that. Ladies,
Jo don' kid, No, it's a there's I think we
were finny, we were absolually, we were chatting a little
bit before we started recording, and I think there's a
lot of a lot of stuff that we're going to
get to you today for everybody listening. Jennifer does some
pretty amazing stuff around the world. So we're gonna talk
about some amazing ways in places you can learn the
(01:03):
game of golf or talking about obviously her philosophy and
how she approaches teaching. But I thought one of the
things that this is a golf fitness podcast, so I'm
going to talk We'll talk about Finnis for a little
bit at least, But I think one of the interesting
that caught my ear was you said, you know, golf
fitness is mainstream now, you know people it's and it
just always when people say that, I always think back
to like ten twelve years ago when I started and
(01:25):
people would be like, I was literally selling an evaluation
and three follow ups for ninety nine dollars and I
couldn't get a single soul to work with me. And
they were like, and it was because I had They
were like, what do you do? And I was like,
fitness for golf And I'm like, what the Heck's that?
At least at least now they know like what it is.
But you know, I think one of the coolest things
that you brought up that I love to kind of
(01:47):
for you to start expanding on for our listeners and
then we'll kind of go see where the wind takes us.
But you talked about you like to refer to as
golf wellness and not necessarily thinking about it in terms
of just for the professional golfer, but for everyone else
that you may see as a club professional. So I
love how you could expand on that and kind of
how you've gotten to that point.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Yeah, well, I mean as a club professional. The vast
majority of golfers I work with are we could call
them recreational players or dedicated players that sometimes feel like
they're stuck in the twenty to thirty handicap realm for
their almost their entire golf lives. But look, they love golf.
They play three, sometimes even four or five times a week.
This is their main way of being around their friends
(02:29):
and their family. They play in their club championships, maybe
they play with their pros and pro ams, or they're
playing and a lot of team best ball events. Right,
So this is the majority, the heart and soul of
golf really that we're talking about. And really, no matter
where you fall in the age spectrum within that type
of player, I think we've all come to realize that
just general wellness is really important for two things. One,
(02:53):
what you can do with your golf swing, how many
holes of golf you can you know, last without fatigue
through And then justly in your life you know how
good is your balance, how good is your mobility? You
know how how sturdy are you? And how have you
prepared yourself for a life well lived past the age
of fifty or sixty or seventy or whatever that benchmark
(03:14):
number is in front of you. So I think about
you know, the game of golf is a great way
to say physically fit. And then also the challenges that
the golf swing provides really can motivate people who want to,
you know, have an even healthier lifestyle than they might
currently have because you know, your golf pro says, hey,
if you turned your back more and your your golf,
if you turned away from the target more, you'd have
(03:35):
more power. Well, your body has to be able to
do certain things to be able to maybe turn further
away from the target. So you know, I always say
you can only do what your body can do. That
that goes down to, you know, what is your stamina
walking eighteen holes or even riding eighteen holes of golf? Right?
What can your body do to allow you to swing better,
(03:56):
more dependently, more adaptably as you play a game of golf.
So I think you know it is meanstream the idea
now that we need to take care of ourselves in general,
and then how can we take care of ourselves to
be better golfers.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
And I think one of the cool things that I
kind of we also talked about before. Too bad. Too
bad you guys didn't get to hear the conversation before,
because it was great. We'll try to rehash some of
it as much again. You talked about your onboarding process,
and this is one of the things I always ask
when we have golf professionals on just because I'm curious
of of how you you know, the top teachers in
(04:29):
the world, how do you how are you guys incorporating
when somebody comes into you. You're not just the fitness side,
but you know, like golf, Like if somebody comes to
Jennifer Hudson and says, make me better please, Like like
where where where do you start? You know, I'll say
I know where where we start on the physical side,
but I'm very curious where you start. And and maybe
like the decision tree just to help people listening of
(04:52):
understanding like when when does fitness or what their body
can do become something that we address versus you know, hey,
it's good enough and we can get you to where
you want to be, you know, by working on this
other stuff.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Sure, I mean for me, the onboarding process starts with
It doesn't matter if you're a tour player, a collidgick player,
you know you're seventy learning to play golf for the
first time. If you're in front of me, we're going
to be really clear up front, right now, why do
you want to play golf? And right now, what are
your goals in the next six months to one year? Right?
And all of those answers can change over time, our
(05:25):
goals can change, but like I want to understand, like
you know, what makes golf interesting to you? How do
you find joy in it? Or do you not even
know if you like it yet?
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Right?
Speaker 2 (05:34):
And then the second part of the onboarding process that's
really important. It's going to be at least a basic
TPI screen. Right, So for anybody listening that doesn't know
what that is, Titleist Performance Institute has a great I
would say, a simple general range of motion tests that
we can give you know, we'll start with something as
easy as internal external rotation in the rotator cuffs, right,
(05:57):
Like if you have a rotator cuff that's kind of
bust or stiff for some reason and you can't complete
that test, I pretty much will know before I ever
see you swing your first golf swing what your tendencies are.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Might be a little steeping over the top, yeah, exactly,
maybe a little upper body dominance, yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
And the and then the second layer of screening that
I really like to do is what we call bioswing
dynamics screening. And it's, uh, it's kind of hacking your
body to see how your joints are interconnected. So that
right away I'm starting to have a good idea of, say,
what your trail hand grip style should be for club
face control. Right away, I'm having a good understanding of
are you a do you turn mostly on your front
(06:35):
leg around the middle of your feet or towards your
trail leg?
Speaker 1 (06:38):
You know, we got we gotta get we gotta get
deeper into this. That was a big fancy word that
I'm lost on. So everyone everyone listening, So yeah, so
help help us out. So talk about how do you
determine grip? I mean, that's so cool of understanding where
the hand position needs to be.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Can you talk like so, I'm going to show you
explain it. And for those things and we'll put.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
This on YouTube. You guys go to YouTube. You'll see
this on youttube. But I want you to treat me
like a third grader. I am. I am in third grade.
Explain to me what this is, because that's that's I mean,
this is this is cool stuff.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Yeah, so I mean before I even do this, I'm
not the inventor of this bioswinging screen. And Mike Adams
is somebody everybody should kind of follow and get to know,
or EA Tishler or doctor Jim Study. These are brilliant
people that have dived deep into this. So basically, if
you wanted to find out you know, your trail handgrip
trail hand being the hand that's furthest from the target.
(07:29):
I don't know if I can get you in full
screen here, but basically, you put your palms together, you
keep your shoulder still, and then you pull your trail arm.
In my case, I'm a right handed golfer, my trail
elbow just behind my ribcage. And when I do that,
I'm noticing a couple of things, Like, first of all,
you can see that more or less my elbow doesn't
go past I'm not going way back here. It's not
going past my back, and that if I stand up straight,
(07:51):
my palm is facing the target. It's just straight out
in front of me. So that's how I'm going to
hold the club. But other people when I do that
test will do this. This is in me. Do you
see how this is just tucked under my elbows in
front of my rim page and my palm is more up.
There're gonna be somebody that we want to have a stronger,
more under grip from the trail arm. And then some
(08:12):
people will do this right, their elbow's gonna go way
past and their palm's gonna face the ground. So we're
gonna call that a cover or an on top grip.
So basically what happens is depending on how you're connected, right,
how the universe built you between your rotator cuff, your elbow,
and your wrist tendons, your arm is gonna go back
to straight in a very particular way. So when your
(08:34):
arm goes all the way back to straight, for me,
is going back to straight here, that's what is always
going to return to to deliver the club face to
the target. So for instance, if I grabbed it under, well,
when my arm straightens, where does my palm go right,
goes back to the target. Well, if I gripped it
with a face that was square like this, that's going
to be a very closed club face by the time
my army straightens, so.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
That ball is gonna go a little left, I'm gonna
get it.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
That's gonna go very left right. So that's an example
of trailer and grip tests. And then if I had
a club just over my thighs, if I do it
and I just turn without thinking about it very center
with my weight almost like I'm turning around a pole
between my legs. But some people will naturally do this.
See how I just move more to my trail eg
as somebody where you're going to want to encourage more
(09:18):
lateral motion. And then there are some people that do this,
You're going to want them to use more vertical into
the ground. So it's like, here's the thing where this
is why I start off with goals. You know how
much information we present, what we present and when all
of that is determined based on what the goals are
(09:39):
and what the time is available for practice. All we're
trying to figure out what these screens is, what are
your tendencies, how is your body created. How can we
help you to swing away that becomes easier and more
efficient because you can probably tell I don't believe that
there's one model for all golfers, right, We're all built unique,
(09:59):
we all have to move uniquely. So like what in
my opinion, the golf fitness piece, those screenings and then
also just working on your golf wellness or fitness as
you go along. Those can do two things. One, tell
you what are your green zones? So, for instance, nobody's
ever going to have a perfect golf swing, and nobody's
ever going to hit perfect positions, but there are zones,
(10:22):
ranges of motion that are really going to be productive
for you. So can you stay in your green zones
with your range of motion? And then of course, the
more golf fitness you introduce to yourself, the broader those
green zones become. Right, So you're just trying to understand,
like from the outset, what are your tendencies and how
do you manage those tendencies? And I think for the
(10:42):
average golfer, nobody's going to hit enough balls or play
enough rounds of golf to have a swing that is
that truly eliminates every bad tendency that they have. So
it's really just being about being able to identify what
your tendencies are, being able to identify when they're cropping up,
(11:02):
what those tendencies are that are cropping up, and then
do you have the tools in your toolbox to deal
all those tendencies? And all of those tools in your
toolbox starts with the screening.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
So I mean that's so cool and but like to
your point, it's a lot of information. So and obviously
as the professional and we obviously do a similar thing
like when we have people come in for a physical assessment,
like we're not giving them all the different force data
or you yeah, the glossy eye. They won't remember a
thing you said, and you'll never see them again either.
That's the other piece. So can't help people if they
(11:34):
don't come back. So for you like knowing all of
all the stuff you know and knowing like how do
you determine let's let's use a single digit handicap maybe
high single so eight or nine handicap, you know, club
player place two times a week, like kind of like
your quote unquote stereotypical country club fifty five year old person, right,
(11:57):
Like they're a little bit more time they're trying to
play a little bit like, how do you like as
the professional with all that information in your head and
you're like, oh my god, I got it. There's all
the stuff I could do. How do you decide? Like
this is where we start.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Yeah, I mean what I like to do with my students.
What I would recommend anybody do if they had the
time to do it with their local professional that they're
seeking help from, is have them watch a nine hole
round of golf. Right. So, like a lot of times
people will say, you know, I really want to take
three strokes off my handicaps. So we'll say, okay, well
(12:31):
where do you think you know you're adding strokes to
your your game? And the answers oftentimes are I three
put all the time? Or my driver is never in play?
So as a professional, I try to see all of
my students play on the golf course as quickly as
I possibly can to really assess one, are those actually
(12:51):
the problem areas? Two? You get down to brass taxes
really fast, Like this person has some swing tendencies that
we could do our screetings for, but hey, they also
always aim thirty yards too far to the right, So
like and those are things that are so important that
are going to drive the golf swing in certain directions.
And sometimes the answer is as simple as let's learn
(13:12):
how to aim properly, but you would never find that
out typically on a driving range. So if to that point,
if I didn't have time to watch somebody play nine holes,
I have kind of a series of skills tests that
I'll give them to different targets with different clubs and
different like, hey, let's you know, hit between these two
noodles and you know, five drives. How many drives can
(13:33):
you keep in between the two noodles? So that I
can start to see some of the tendencies that might
happen when somebody's playing golf. So, you know, to answer
your question to get down to what do we need
to tackle? First again, what are your goals? Is it
to hit the ball more solidly? Is it to lose
three strokes on your handicap? Is it to become a
better short game player? That's going to dictate where you start.
(13:54):
And then two, you know, really just the ability to
see somebody play and help them understand what their strengths
and weaknesses are to begin with, because so many people
don't have a clear understanding of even that, so to
create that pathway forward of like what do we need
to improve actually, and then what's the quickest, most efficient
(14:15):
way for us to improve that. So if somebody really
just needs to be better at pitching, chipping and putting,
I don't need to spend time developing their swing speed
right for their driver.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
So probably not a big limitter.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Yeah, so, but but maybe low point control is a
huge issue, or you know, like they can't control where
they bottom out the club for their their chipping and
they're pitching. But it's really just having those assessments on
the front end are so critical. So if your first
golf lesson with a new professional is simply that person
watching you hit eight irons, in my opinion, you're prolonging
(14:52):
the process of improvement because, yeah, you can address a
lot of things just watching somebody swing an eight iron. However,
are you really tackling what needs to be tackled for
their for their goals, for what they want their end
results to be.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
So you don't get to hit eight irons off a
flat lie repeatedly, that's not Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
That's why I would say, like if and I know
it's to get everybody on a golf course. I'm at
a private club on Nantucket at San kd Head. I
have a golf course at my fingertips with a membership, right,
So if I'm teaching at a daily fee two hundred
plus round golf course, I don't always have that luxury,
(15:32):
but I would at least say, you know, try to
have an assessment done off of uneven lies to your
point out of the rough in the fairway from a bunker,
Like how many different types of shots can you create
on the practice facility before you come up with a
game plan.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Well, and I think this is an important point for
everybody listening. And you know, I'm obviously saying it in jest.
We're kind of having fun here, but I think the
important thing for one is, like I just assessed, don't guess, right?
And I think you know, I always preach the on
the physical side. It's like showing up to you know,
for a golf fitness program and Simon just saying, all right, cool,
we're gonna go do some kettlebell work and some bands
(16:07):
and like here's a barbell and like just go, like, well, dude,
how do you know what the heck I need? Like yeah,
they're like, hey, we're gonna do some mobility work. Well
you didn't even testability. What if I'm hyper mobile and
I have no issues at all? Like so I think
that's the It's the same on the golf side, the
technical side, as it is on the you know, on
the fitness side. And so if you do go to
a professional on the on the golf side or on
(16:30):
the fitness side, like you should be assessed before you
know what the heck you're doing. Because my other, my
other frustration that I always have is a number of
people that will come to me and say, like, I
will be on a call and they're like, they're on
a call because their golf game isn't where they want
it to be, right, and they're like, my body is
the problem. And I'll be like, cool, well, what are
you currently doing while I'm doing this is Oh, it's
(16:50):
great though, it's amazing. It's like, I'm like, but dude,
you just failed like all the mobility tests. Your hip
rotation literally is five degrees. It should be forty five.
And I'm like, and you're going to yoga, You're going
to the stretch place, you're going like you're literally spending
ten hours a week on this and you suck and
you're good with it, and they're like, yeah, I'm good.
(17:12):
I'm like, but why, I don't get that. I don't
get that. But I think that a lot of people
don't necessarily think about that in the fitness world or
even in the golf world too. Right, it's like, oh,
it feels good, it feels better, Like what are your scores?
Are they getting better? Are there metrics that you're using?
And I think that's the beauty of what you're explaining.
Is everyone listening. If you go to an instructor and
they don't assass or you go to a fitness person,
(17:33):
they don't assess. Right, It's very simple scientific method, right,
like measure, intervene, reassess, did it get better or not?
If it got better, great, do more. If it didn't
get better, maybe try something different, maybe something needs to
be adjusted whatever.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Maybe yeah, And I would say too, like, you know,
sometimes I think professionals try to give assessments and they
end up with golfers in front of them who are
really impatient, like they just want to get down and
do the work and like, let's go. But here's what
I say to that is if you want to be
as time efficient as possible, because like your time is valuable,
(18:08):
You've got family obligations, work obligations, friend obligations, et cetera.
Will let the professional in front of you go through
a really thorough assessment so that everything you do after
that has purpose in meeting and is quickly getting you
to that end goal. And then a lot of times
the assessments that you go through, like you said, metrics,
(18:28):
like they give you those key metrics to really keep
following well in the game of golf. If you have
a really cool assessment process, that's also a really neat
insight for learning how to practice as well, because practicing
and all those variable situations is way more impactful than
that aight iron on the flat range, for sure.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
So what for the people listening in terms of like
they're trying to track some data, This is a common
topic that always comes up. What would be the like
what sort of assessment in not assessments, but like whether
it's stats on the golf course, launch monitors, whatever, what
sort of stuff do you typically recommend your average golfer?
(19:08):
Right in terms of tracking progress?
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Yeah, I mean average golfer. Easiest thing you can do
on a score card, market up before you get out
there is faraways and regulation right, so on all the holes,
but the par three's like, did you hit the t ball?
Did it go in the fairway? Stay in the fairway?
Doesn't matter if it was a great shot or a
funky looking shot. Right greens in regulation? You know on
(19:30):
a part four, did you get there into a part three?
Did you get there in one? Having said that, if
you're new to golf, do it a little different. It's
a get there in three for a part four, get
there in two for a part three, right, like make
your benchmarks a little bit realistic. My favorite stat, and
I think the most overlooked stat in the amateur world
(19:51):
is proximity. Right, So get used to pacing one yard.
If you don't know what one yard feels like, go
buy a yard stick and practice pacing it and walk
off your first put every single green and you're just
gonna write that down thirty six thirty six feet forty
six feet twenty one feet, and that information is really valuable.
(20:14):
That's telling you how good you are at getting your
approach shots closer. Right, So if you want to take
it to the next level, also write down what club
you use to hit into the green, So like you
can start noticing trends like, hey, with my ad RN,
for some reason, I'm the boss, I'm always inside thirty feet,
but with my pitching wedge, if I'm on the green,
(20:34):
it might be forty feet. Funky things like that happen,
Like it doesn't necessarily the shorter the club. Sure, you
know you should be hitting it a little closer to
the whole because theoretically you're closer to the hole to
begin with. But you'll start realizing that you're very comfortable
with some clubs and for whatever reason, you're not as
comfortable with other clubs. So now you're understanding what you
can be practicing the next time you go out. Also,
(20:55):
a lot of times I'll hear from students like, man,
my my putting stings, and I'm like, well, I think
something's going on with your approach shots or you're chipping,
because like you're either always more than forty feet from
the pin, which is like kind of a three put
stat to begin with, or you know, we can start
telling that, well you're chipping, but you're still you know,
(21:16):
sixteen twenty feet from the pen. So clearly those are
some issue areas as well, So that first put number
is really helpful. And then you know, all about golf
is all about understanding patterns. So if you really kind
of know that you on average, because you kept this
step on average, your first putt is going to be
twenty eight feet from the hole, well, I think that's
(21:36):
a pretty good indicator that you should spend some time
practicing twenty eight to thirty six foot puts, right, and
stop practicing three footers all day on the practice spring
before you go, and you tee up. But you don't know.
It's just like the assessments. That's what stat tracking is.
You don't know what you need help on until you
(21:57):
know what you need help on, and you want you
want that to be as objective as possible. You don't
want that to be an emotional observation, right, Like, man,
my drive sucked, well, why because you didn't hit it
as far? But you hit every fairway in regulation And
maybe it was just like you're chipping and pitching that
actually took your score up that day. I don't know,
Like we internalize things as human beings, not always objectively
(22:20):
or honestly, So that's what the stats are for.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
I think it helps to keep feeling real in check.
And I think I think it's a common saying I
think in the swing, but to your point, it's also
in the stats too. I mean, I can't We had
a member member event this past weekend and like one
of the guys I was playing at the end of
the round was complaining and like, oh, my drives were
all over the place, and I'm literally thinking, I'm like, dude,
you duffed like four chips, Like yeah, I think that
(22:44):
might have been the bigger issue. You didn't lose a
single ball off the tee, but you deft four chips,
Like was it you're driving? I don't know, but hey,
I want to pivot to Lifelong Golf and some of
these places. I think it's always interesting to me, like
the the travel, with the instruction and these experiences. Like
I'm starting to see some more of it, Like we talked,
(23:07):
you talked briefly about it before we jumped on, but
I'm really curious, like how do these how do these work?
Like so is it instruction and play? And I mean,
tell me about it because it sounds it sounds really
really cool.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Yeah. So Life Long Golf started at the peak of
the pandemic. Nice I think I knew I always wanted
to start Lifelong Golf has a variety of different service arms,
but I really wanted to kick off the destination golf
school component of it. And my initial thought was, Okay, well,
(23:40):
let's start this now so we can make our mistakes
on a small stage before we make them on a
big stage. And I was very lucky to discover that
I was never going to have a small stage moment.
Everybody was still ready to travel. We were able to
do it because of our structure, a very safe way,
and we're able to build relationships with some pretty incredible
places very quickly because of the unique situation our country
(24:03):
was in. But what that's evolved to now we do
about six destination golf schools a year between January and May,
and we are everywhere from Greece and cost and Novarena
to Aurora and Guila, which is on Aguila Island. We've
done Casa dea Compo and the Dominican Republic. We've added
(24:23):
Cabot citrus farms this year.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
We've which is a terrible we have to go all
these places.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Yeah, and we've got a Tubac Golf resort in Tucson, Arizona,
and every couple of years, I'm trying to like mix
up the destinations. But the whole idea is, we know
that golfers tend to love to travel. We have an
appreciation for, you know, really neat golf courses. I really
love different cultures and different foods. So there's that component
(24:52):
of it. But these are very dedicated golf improvement game
improvement programs, right, So it's not your typical let's just
go as many holes as golf as we possibly can
every single day, and there's nothing wrong with that. I
highly encourage everybody do in a crazy golf bonanza trip
in their lifetime or several if you can. But it's
a really neat, dedicated experience for myself plus one other
(25:15):
top one hundred teacher take eight people to these really
incredible destinations. So it's a very intimate four to one
student to teacher ratio, and we do half a day
of skill learning and then we have a half a
day of playing where the coaches myself and our other coach.
I try to vary up who's with me every time
we are coaching you through the round of golf, and
(25:36):
I think that's really unique and great for the students
who are able to come with us, because again, a
lot of times you see your professional on that flat
driving range space. But now we're saying, okay, we just
learned these great skills that morning, and let's help you
implement them as you play during a.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
Round of golf.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
And that curriculum is different every single time. We again
back to assessments, we give some pretty rigorous player surveys
ahead of time to our students. Sometimes we know everybody
who's coming with us, a lot of times we don't,
so we want to get to know everybody as much
as we can before we are there on property. And
then the school curriculum, the skills that we cover, how
(26:16):
we train people, all of that is very customized to
the individuals in front of us. So we have people
that have come on multiple trips and every single time
they're getting something different out of the experience. So, just
like I would try to coach the swing as something
that's tailor made to every person who walks in front
of me, every golf school is curated and tailor made
(26:38):
to the group that's in front of us, and that
keeps it fresh for myself and the coaches, and then,
like I said, anybody who's coming one, two, three, ten times,
they're walking away with different tools every single golf school experience,
and then all of the other things like the crazy
places where we are on the beautiful beaches, and the
crazy epicurean Michelin rated food experiences, like all of that's
(27:01):
just total gravy on top of everything else. So it's
it's been a really fun it's been a really adventure
with lifelong GoF for sure.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
So I think one of the interesting things to me,
Jennifer would be like, on the instructional side, have you
I mean, especially since you're doing this, I mean, you're
one of the few people that I've met that actually
like does coaching on the course, Like obviously in this
sort of an experience set up, is there do you have?
I have a guess, but I'm curious, is there ever
(27:33):
a time where you get the assessments you're going through,
like the instructional stuff, and then you get on the
course and then you just totally want eighty pivot based
on what you're seeing of like, oh my god, that's
not the problem at all.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Most definitely, And that's why the en course coaching piece
I think is so important to help people really get
to their goals quickly. So yeah, there's plenty of times
where I pivot, and I'm like a lot of times,
to be honest with you, it totally comes down to
one of two things. If it's if something unexpected happens
on the golf course, it's like one, their concept of
(28:08):
aiming and body alignment is so off and so different
than what they were doing on the practice facility that
I have to like really address that. And usually that's
a very quick sneak peek for myself as to why
their swing tendencies exist the way they do. And then
number two, and this is the part that's really important
(28:28):
as well for people to develop. You know, we've talked
about developing your body, golf fitness wellness, developing your golf swing,
these cool swing assessments to help us understand how you pivot,
how you should hold the club. But there's this third
really important nugget, and that is the emotional management mental
management side of it. So sometimes you get on the
(28:48):
golf course and you realize, like, wow, this person's biggest
issue is making bad decisions right, wrong club selection, no
pre shot routine poor management of handling shots after they've
hit them right. So I'm a big follower of Vision
fifty four with Lynn Marriott and Pea Nelson, and I've
(29:10):
done a lot of their coaching programming, and so a
lot of times you can actually fix the physical deficits
by focusing on the course management and the mental emotional deficits.
And that's the thing you would never find out in
the practice range.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
So is that, like, so I shouldn't hit a cut
to a back left tucked pin over water that kind
of like that would be an example, and then get
mad about it when it's short ends up in the water.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Yeah, I mean that's definitely the game course management side
of it. Or like sometimes like you know, I'll watch
somebody hit a perfectly okay shot. We know it was
what they were trying to pull off, but like, look,
they're just front center of the green and pins back.
But their self talk is so demoralizing and so negative,
and they beat themselves up so much that they have
like totally ruined their ability to really get focused going
(30:00):
to that next shot. You know, So I always say
you can you're in charge. You can either build yourself
up or you can beat yourself down, but the it's
a skill to know how to choose to build yourself
up instead of beating yourself down. And I think most people, unfortunately,
are way better at beating themselves up or be themselves
(30:20):
down than they are like building themselves up one percent.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
Those are the people that you play for money. You
win more money off.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Of those people, Yeah, for sure. So so those are
the things that on the golf course aim alignment issues
and then that emotional mental management side of it that
those can show up and we immediately switch gears and
go into that sort of sort of thing.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Yeah, so that was the coolest thing. We're looking, as
you said before, having you on and and just seeing
I've never seen a golf trip where it's like it's
that structured of like, hey, we're instructing, Like it's like
you said, it's not a let's go on a cruise
and we're going to play teen holes and then have
dinner and to like it's truly like, hey, let's look
at better golf ones do it in like really beautiful places. Yeah,
(31:03):
that's so cool.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
And what's so fun is that you know a lot
of times we get there are two parts that I
really love one is we'll get a group of people
where if we have eight people, two people have come together,
and then like three people have come together, and then
two singles have showed up, and like these little groups
just don't even know each other at all, but by
the end they are totally best friends. And then six
months down the road, I get this random text message
(31:24):
with like half the school has reassembled itself at somebody's
like invitational Colorado or something, right. And then the other
fun part about it is we get a lot of
like a wide variety of skill levels. Right, so we
might have a zero handicapper but also a thirty handicapper,
but also have fifteen handicappers, like the whole range, and
the beginner golfer is usually the one or the less
(31:46):
experienced players one going I don't want to hold anybody up,
like is this going to be okay for me? The
better golfers typically don't go in with too many concerns,
but you can tell they're looking at the group bes
it's assembled in day one and they're thinking, like, how
is she going to organize this? Yeah, but we have
a really good formula to where everybody feels super comfortable
(32:06):
in their respective we call them learning pods during the
skill building sessions, and then what happens is that when
everybody's on the golf course. Sometimes we try to keep
skill levels with like skill levels, but towards the end
we're always mixing it up, and we find that the
beginner golfers learn a lot from the more experienced golfers,
and the more experienced golfers actually learn a lot about
themselves when they are paired with the lesser experienced golfers
(32:30):
sometimes in the golf course, and they, you know, naturally
want to step in and kind of help them out
a little bit too. So it's interesting to see how
people can collectively learn no matter what their goals are
and what their experience levels are.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
That's so cool. Well, I don't want to take too
much of your time. I know you're busy, so I
really appreciate you coming on. But Jennifer, where can people
learn more about lifelong golf when we just follow you?
What's the best places for them to connect with you? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (32:56):
So the two best places lifelong golf on Instagram. That's
where all of the majority of my lesson content is
swing instruction. I like to think of lifelong Golf on
Instagram like a clearinghouse of information, so I might spotlight
you spotlight Vision fifty four. Like, I just really think
that the coaching world is becoming stronger and stronger because
(33:17):
of how collaborative coaches are becoming, you know, like early
on in the world of teaching, I think it was
a lot of this knowledge is mine and that student
is mine, and I'm going to be threatened if anybody
else is anything different. I'm certainly the opposite side of that.
I really try to give my students some perspective, students
as many resources as they can possibly have to make
(33:39):
golf fun and reach their goals. So Instagram lifelong Golf
is a great space. Lifelongolf dot com is where you
can find out about our golf schools. I will say
we're sold out through May twenty twenty five and all
of our experiences, which is.
Speaker 1 (33:53):
Awesome, good problems.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
Yeah, we will be putting some information about Fall twenty
five and twenty six out there soon. Also a great
space to go for my brand partnerships if you want
to kind of see some of the training aids that
I'm giving my students. Sandiantucket at sancityhead or my golf schools.
Lifelong golf dot com is a great space for that.
(34:14):
So i'd say those are your two main resources right now.
And of course if you're on Tucket in the summers,
come say hi to meet sancityhead awesome.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
Yeah for sure, and we'll put all that every listen to.
All the links will be in the show notes, so
you can grab it there and connect with Jennifer and
go learn how to play some golf.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
It's a pretty much spot, I should say too. My
last third good resource titleist dot com. If you go
to their instructors portal, I'm on there, as are about
twenty other incredibly fabulous instructors from across the world. Any
content on titleist dot com instructors can't go wrong. It's
all awesome.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
Cool well, Jennifer, thank you so much for your time.
It's been a blast avenue on the podcast and can't
wait to have you on again at some point.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
Yeah, Chris, thank you so much. I hope we get
to connect in persons sometime soon.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
Thank you, Yeah, for sure soon. Thanks everyone else for listening.
It's been awesome having you with us. Appreciate you hanging out.
Hopefully we diffused a few myths, and maybe some of
you ticking time bombs. We've stopped you from exploding ultful way,
so thanks as always, guys, and we'll catch you on the
next episode.
Welcome to the golf in this bump spot. I'm your
host Chris Finn and I have a very exciting guest today.
She is the founder and owner of Lifelong Golf. H
three years running golf that ed just best teachers. If
you don't know Jennifer Hudson, you better now know her
because she's here our guest today. She's awesome and Jennifer,
(00:30):
I can't thank you so much for coming hang out
with me today on the pod.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Oh my gosh, Chris, thank you for having me on.
You're you're the foremost expert in your golf in space,
and super respect you and what you do and just
honored to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Thank you so much. And I paid her to say that. Ladies,
Jo don' kid, No, it's a there's I think we
were finny, we were absolually, we were chatting a little
bit before we started recording, and I think there's a
lot of a lot of stuff that we're going to
get to you today for everybody listening. Jennifer does some
pretty amazing stuff around the world. So we're gonna talk
about some amazing ways in places you can learn the
(01:03):
game of golf or talking about obviously her philosophy and
how she approaches teaching. But I thought one of the
things that this is a golf fitness podcast, so I'm
going to talk We'll talk about Finnis for a little
bit at least, But I think one of the interesting
that caught my ear was you said, you know, golf
fitness is mainstream now, you know people it's and it
just always when people say that, I always think back
to like ten twelve years ago when I started and
(01:25):
people would be like, I was literally selling an evaluation
and three follow ups for ninety nine dollars and I
couldn't get a single soul to work with me. And
they were like, and it was because I had They
were like, what do you do? And I was like,
fitness for golf And I'm like, what the Heck's that?
At least at least now they know like what it is.
But you know, I think one of the coolest things
that you brought up that I love to kind of
(01:47):
for you to start expanding on for our listeners and
then we'll kind of go see where the wind takes us.
But you talked about you like to refer to as
golf wellness and not necessarily thinking about it in terms
of just for the professional golfer, but for everyone else
that you may see as a club professional. So I
love how you could expand on that and kind of
how you've gotten to that point.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Yeah, well, I mean as a club professional. The vast
majority of golfers I work with are we could call
them recreational players or dedicated players that sometimes feel like
they're stuck in the twenty to thirty handicap realm for
their almost their entire golf lives. But look, they love golf.
They play three, sometimes even four or five times a week.
This is their main way of being around their friends
(02:29):
and their family. They play in their club championships, maybe
they play with their pros and pro ams, or they're
playing and a lot of team best ball events. Right,
So this is the majority, the heart and soul of
golf really that we're talking about. And really, no matter
where you fall in the age spectrum within that type
of player, I think we've all come to realize that
just general wellness is really important for two things. One,
(02:53):
what you can do with your golf swing, how many
holes of golf you can you know, last without fatigue
through And then justly in your life you know how
good is your balance, how good is your mobility? You
know how how sturdy are you? And how have you
prepared yourself for a life well lived past the age
of fifty or sixty or seventy or whatever that benchmark
(03:14):
number is in front of you. So I think about
you know, the game of golf is a great way
to say physically fit. And then also the challenges that
the golf swing provides really can motivate people who want to,
you know, have an even healthier lifestyle than they might
currently have because you know, your golf pro says, hey,
if you turned your back more and your your golf,
if you turned away from the target more, you'd have
(03:35):
more power. Well, your body has to be able to
do certain things to be able to maybe turn further
away from the target. So you know, I always say
you can only do what your body can do. That
that goes down to, you know, what is your stamina
walking eighteen holes or even riding eighteen holes of golf? Right?
What can your body do to allow you to swing better,
(03:56):
more dependently, more adaptably as you play a game of golf.
So I think you know it is meanstream the idea
now that we need to take care of ourselves in general,
and then how can we take care of ourselves to
be better golfers.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
And I think one of the cool things that I
kind of we also talked about before. Too bad. Too
bad you guys didn't get to hear the conversation before,
because it was great. We'll try to rehash some of
it as much again. You talked about your onboarding process,
and this is one of the things I always ask
when we have golf professionals on just because I'm curious
of of how you you know, the top teachers in
(04:29):
the world, how do you how are you guys incorporating
when somebody comes into you. You're not just the fitness side,
but you know, like golf, Like if somebody comes to
Jennifer Hudson and says, make me better please, Like like
where where where do you start? You know, I'll say
I know where where we start on the physical side,
but I'm very curious where you start. And and maybe
like the decision tree just to help people listening of
(04:52):
understanding like when when does fitness or what their body
can do become something that we address versus you know, hey,
it's good enough and we can get you to where
you want to be, you know, by working on this
other stuff.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Sure, I mean for me, the onboarding process starts with
It doesn't matter if you're a tour player, a collidgick player,
you know you're seventy learning to play golf for the
first time. If you're in front of me, we're going
to be really clear up front, right now, why do
you want to play golf? And right now, what are
your goals in the next six months to one year? Right?
And all of those answers can change over time, our
(05:25):
goals can change, but like I want to understand, like
you know, what makes golf interesting to you? How do
you find joy in it? Or do you not even
know if you like it yet?
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Right?
Speaker 2 (05:34):
And then the second part of the onboarding process that's
really important. It's going to be at least a basic
TPI screen. Right, So for anybody listening that doesn't know
what that is, Titleist Performance Institute has a great I
would say, a simple general range of motion tests that
we can give you know, we'll start with something as
easy as internal external rotation in the rotator cuffs, right,
(05:57):
Like if you have a rotator cuff that's kind of
bust or stiff for some reason and you can't complete
that test, I pretty much will know before I ever
see you swing your first golf swing what your tendencies are.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Might be a little steeping over the top, yeah, exactly,
maybe a little upper body dominance, yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
And the and then the second layer of screening that
I really like to do is what we call bioswing
dynamics screening. And it's, uh, it's kind of hacking your
body to see how your joints are interconnected. So that
right away I'm starting to have a good idea of, say,
what your trail hand grip style should be for club
face control. Right away, I'm having a good understanding of
are you a do you turn mostly on your front
(06:35):
leg around the middle of your feet or towards your
trail leg?
Speaker 1 (06:38):
You know, we got we gotta get we gotta get
deeper into this. That was a big fancy word that
I'm lost on. So everyone everyone listening, So yeah, so
help help us out. So talk about how do you
determine grip? I mean, that's so cool of understanding where
the hand position needs to be.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Can you talk like so, I'm going to show you
explain it. And for those things and we'll put.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
This on YouTube. You guys go to YouTube. You'll see
this on youttube. But I want you to treat me
like a third grader. I am. I am in third grade.
Explain to me what this is, because that's that's I mean,
this is this is cool stuff.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Yeah, so I mean before I even do this, I'm
not the inventor of this bioswinging screen. And Mike Adams
is somebody everybody should kind of follow and get to know,
or EA Tishler or doctor Jim Study. These are brilliant
people that have dived deep into this. So basically, if
you wanted to find out you know, your trail handgrip
trail hand being the hand that's furthest from the target.
(07:29):
I don't know if I can get you in full
screen here, but basically, you put your palms together, you
keep your shoulder still, and then you pull your trail arm.
In my case, I'm a right handed golfer, my trail
elbow just behind my ribcage. And when I do that,
I'm noticing a couple of things, Like, first of all,
you can see that more or less my elbow doesn't
go past I'm not going way back here. It's not
going past my back, and that if I stand up straight,
(07:51):
my palm is facing the target. It's just straight out
in front of me. So that's how I'm going to
hold the club. But other people when I do that
test will do this. This is in me. Do you
see how this is just tucked under my elbows in
front of my rim page and my palm is more up.
There're gonna be somebody that we want to have a stronger,
more under grip from the trail arm. And then some
(08:12):
people will do this right, their elbow's gonna go way
past and their palm's gonna face the ground. So we're
gonna call that a cover or an on top grip.
So basically what happens is depending on how you're connected, right,
how the universe built you between your rotator cuff, your elbow,
and your wrist tendons, your arm is gonna go back
to straight in a very particular way. So when your
(08:34):
arm goes all the way back to straight, for me,
is going back to straight here, that's what is always
going to return to to deliver the club face to
the target. So for instance, if I grabbed it under, well,
when my arm straightens, where does my palm go right,
goes back to the target. Well, if I gripped it
with a face that was square like this, that's going
to be a very closed club face by the time
my army straightens, so.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
That ball is gonna go a little left, I'm gonna
get it.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
That's gonna go very left right. So that's an example
of trailer and grip tests. And then if I had
a club just over my thighs, if I do it
and I just turn without thinking about it very center
with my weight almost like I'm turning around a pole
between my legs. But some people will naturally do this.
See how I just move more to my trail eg
as somebody where you're going to want to encourage more
(09:18):
lateral motion. And then there are some people that do this,
You're going to want them to use more vertical into
the ground. So it's like, here's the thing where this
is why I start off with goals. You know how
much information we present, what we present and when all
of that is determined based on what the goals are
(09:39):
and what the time is available for practice. All we're
trying to figure out what these screens is, what are
your tendencies, how is your body created. How can we
help you to swing away that becomes easier and more
efficient because you can probably tell I don't believe that
there's one model for all golfers, right, We're all built unique,
(09:59):
we all have to move uniquely. So like what in
my opinion, the golf fitness piece, those screenings and then
also just working on your golf wellness or fitness as
you go along. Those can do two things. One, tell
you what are your green zones? So, for instance, nobody's
ever going to have a perfect golf swing, and nobody's
ever going to hit perfect positions, but there are zones,
(10:22):
ranges of motion that are really going to be productive
for you. So can you stay in your green zones
with your range of motion? And then of course, the
more golf fitness you introduce to yourself, the broader those
green zones become. Right, So you're just trying to understand,
like from the outset, what are your tendencies and how
do you manage those tendencies? And I think for the
(10:42):
average golfer, nobody's going to hit enough balls or play
enough rounds of golf to have a swing that is
that truly eliminates every bad tendency that they have. So
it's really just being about being able to identify what
your tendencies are, being able to identify when they're cropping up,
(11:02):
what those tendencies are that are cropping up, and then
do you have the tools in your toolbox to deal
all those tendencies? And all of those tools in your
toolbox starts with the screening.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
So I mean that's so cool and but like to
your point, it's a lot of information. So and obviously
as the professional and we obviously do a similar thing
like when we have people come in for a physical assessment,
like we're not giving them all the different force data
or you yeah, the glossy eye. They won't remember a
thing you said, and you'll never see them again either.
That's the other piece. So can't help people if they
(11:34):
don't come back. So for you like knowing all of
all the stuff you know and knowing like how do
you determine let's let's use a single digit handicap maybe
high single so eight or nine handicap, you know, club
player place two times a week, like kind of like
your quote unquote stereotypical country club fifty five year old person, right,
(11:57):
Like they're a little bit more time they're trying to
play a little bit like, how do you like as
the professional with all that information in your head and
you're like, oh my god, I got it. There's all
the stuff I could do. How do you decide? Like
this is where we start.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Yeah, I mean what I like to do with my students.
What I would recommend anybody do if they had the
time to do it with their local professional that they're
seeking help from, is have them watch a nine hole
round of golf. Right. So, like a lot of times
people will say, you know, I really want to take
three strokes off my handicaps. So we'll say, okay, well
(12:31):
where do you think you know you're adding strokes to
your your game? And the answers oftentimes are I three
put all the time? Or my driver is never in play?
So as a professional, I try to see all of
my students play on the golf course as quickly as
I possibly can to really assess one, are those actually
(12:51):
the problem areas? Two? You get down to brass taxes
really fast, Like this person has some swing tendencies that
we could do our screetings for, but hey, they also
always aim thirty yards too far to the right, So
like and those are things that are so important that
are going to drive the golf swing in certain directions.
And sometimes the answer is as simple as let's learn
(13:12):
how to aim properly, but you would never find that
out typically on a driving range. So if to that point,
if I didn't have time to watch somebody play nine holes,
I have kind of a series of skills tests that
I'll give them to different targets with different clubs and
different like, hey, let's you know, hit between these two
noodles and you know, five drives. How many drives can
(13:33):
you keep in between the two noodles? So that I
can start to see some of the tendencies that might
happen when somebody's playing golf. So, you know, to answer
your question to get down to what do we need
to tackle? First again, what are your goals? Is it
to hit the ball more solidly? Is it to lose
three strokes on your handicap? Is it to become a
better short game player? That's going to dictate where you start.
(13:54):
And then two, you know, really just the ability to
see somebody play and help them understand what their strengths
and weaknesses are to begin with, because so many people
don't have a clear understanding of even that, so to
create that pathway forward of like what do we need
to improve actually, and then what's the quickest, most efficient
(14:15):
way for us to improve that. So if somebody really
just needs to be better at pitching, chipping and putting,
I don't need to spend time developing their swing speed
right for their driver.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
So probably not a big limitter.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Yeah, so, but but maybe low point control is a
huge issue, or you know, like they can't control where
they bottom out the club for their their chipping and
they're pitching. But it's really just having those assessments on
the front end are so critical. So if your first
golf lesson with a new professional is simply that person
watching you hit eight irons, in my opinion, you're prolonging
(14:52):
the process of improvement because, yeah, you can address a
lot of things just watching somebody swing an eight iron. However,
are you really tackling what needs to be tackled for
their for their goals, for what they want their end
results to be.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
So you don't get to hit eight irons off a
flat lie repeatedly, that's not Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
That's why I would say, like if and I know
it's to get everybody on a golf course. I'm at
a private club on Nantucket at San kd Head. I
have a golf course at my fingertips with a membership, right,
So if I'm teaching at a daily fee two hundred
plus round golf course, I don't always have that luxury,
(15:32):
but I would at least say, you know, try to
have an assessment done off of uneven lies to your
point out of the rough in the fairway from a bunker,
Like how many different types of shots can you create
on the practice facility before you come up with a
game plan.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Well, and I think this is an important point for
everybody listening. And you know, I'm obviously saying it in jest.
We're kind of having fun here, but I think the
important thing for one is, like I just assessed, don't guess, right?
And I think you know, I always preach the on
the physical side. It's like showing up to you know,
for a golf fitness program and Simon just saying, all right, cool,
we're gonna go do some kettlebell work and some bands
(16:07):
and like here's a barbell and like just go, like, well, dude,
how do you know what the heck I need? Like yeah,
they're like, hey, we're gonna do some mobility work. Well
you didn't even testability. What if I'm hyper mobile and
I have no issues at all? Like so I think
that's the It's the same on the golf side, the
technical side, as it is on the you know, on
the fitness side. And so if you do go to
a professional on the on the golf side or on
(16:30):
the fitness side, like you should be assessed before you
know what the heck you're doing. Because my other, my
other frustration that I always have is a number of
people that will come to me and say, like, I
will be on a call and they're like, they're on
a call because their golf game isn't where they want
it to be, right, and they're like, my body is
the problem. And I'll be like, cool, well, what are
you currently doing while I'm doing this is Oh, it's
(16:50):
great though, it's amazing. It's like, I'm like, but dude,
you just failed like all the mobility tests. Your hip
rotation literally is five degrees. It should be forty five.
And I'm like, and you're going to yoga, You're going
to the stretch place, you're going like you're literally spending
ten hours a week on this and you suck and
you're good with it, and they're like, yeah, I'm good.
(17:12):
I'm like, but why, I don't get that. I don't
get that. But I think that a lot of people
don't necessarily think about that in the fitness world or
even in the golf world too. Right, it's like, oh,
it feels good, it feels better, Like what are your scores?
Are they getting better? Are there metrics that you're using?
And I think that's the beauty of what you're explaining.
Is everyone listening. If you go to an instructor and
they don't assass or you go to a fitness person,
(17:33):
they don't assess. Right, It's very simple scientific method, right,
like measure, intervene, reassess, did it get better or not?
If it got better, great, do more. If it didn't
get better, maybe try something different, maybe something needs to
be adjusted whatever.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Maybe yeah, And I would say too, like, you know,
sometimes I think professionals try to give assessments and they
end up with golfers in front of them who are
really impatient, like they just want to get down and
do the work and like, let's go. But here's what
I say to that is if you want to be
as time efficient as possible, because like your time is valuable,
(18:08):
You've got family obligations, work obligations, friend obligations, et cetera.
Will let the professional in front of you go through
a really thorough assessment so that everything you do after
that has purpose in meeting and is quickly getting you
to that end goal. And then a lot of times
the assessments that you go through, like you said, metrics,
(18:28):
like they give you those key metrics to really keep
following well in the game of golf. If you have
a really cool assessment process, that's also a really neat
insight for learning how to practice as well, because practicing
and all those variable situations is way more impactful than
that aight iron on the flat range, for sure.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
So what for the people listening in terms of like
they're trying to track some data, This is a common
topic that always comes up. What would be the like
what sort of assessment in not assessments, but like whether
it's stats on the golf course, launch monitors, whatever, what
sort of stuff do you typically recommend your average golfer?
(19:08):
Right in terms of tracking progress?
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Yeah, I mean average golfer. Easiest thing you can do
on a score card, market up before you get out
there is faraways and regulation right, so on all the holes,
but the par three's like, did you hit the t ball?
Did it go in the fairway? Stay in the fairway?
Doesn't matter if it was a great shot or a
funky looking shot. Right greens in regulation? You know on
(19:30):
a part four, did you get there into a part three?
Did you get there in one? Having said that, if
you're new to golf, do it a little different. It's
a get there in three for a part four, get
there in two for a part three, right, like make
your benchmarks a little bit realistic. My favorite stat, and
I think the most overlooked stat in the amateur world
(19:51):
is proximity. Right, So get used to pacing one yard.
If you don't know what one yard feels like, go
buy a yard stick and practice pacing it and walk
off your first put every single green and you're just
gonna write that down thirty six thirty six feet forty
six feet twenty one feet, and that information is really valuable.
(20:14):
That's telling you how good you are at getting your
approach shots closer. Right, So if you want to take
it to the next level, also write down what club
you use to hit into the green, So like you
can start noticing trends like, hey, with my ad RN,
for some reason, I'm the boss, I'm always inside thirty feet,
but with my pitching wedge, if I'm on the green,
(20:34):
it might be forty feet. Funky things like that happen,
Like it doesn't necessarily the shorter the club. Sure, you
know you should be hitting it a little closer to
the whole because theoretically you're closer to the hole to
begin with. But you'll start realizing that you're very comfortable
with some clubs and for whatever reason, you're not as
comfortable with other clubs. So now you're understanding what you
can be practicing the next time you go out. Also,
(20:55):
a lot of times I'll hear from students like, man,
my my putting stings, and I'm like, well, I think
something's going on with your approach shots or you're chipping,
because like you're either always more than forty feet from
the pin, which is like kind of a three put
stat to begin with, or you know, we can start
telling that, well you're chipping, but you're still you know,
(21:16):
sixteen twenty feet from the pen. So clearly those are
some issue areas as well, So that first put number
is really helpful. And then you know, all about golf
is all about understanding patterns. So if you really kind
of know that you on average, because you kept this
step on average, your first putt is going to be
twenty eight feet from the hole, well, I think that's
(21:36):
a pretty good indicator that you should spend some time
practicing twenty eight to thirty six foot puts, right, and
stop practicing three footers all day on the practice spring
before you go, and you tee up. But you don't know.
It's just like the assessments. That's what stat tracking is.
You don't know what you need help on until you
(21:57):
know what you need help on, and you want you
want that to be as objective as possible. You don't
want that to be an emotional observation, right, Like, man,
my drive sucked, well, why because you didn't hit it
as far? But you hit every fairway in regulation And
maybe it was just like you're chipping and pitching that
actually took your score up that day. I don't know,
Like we internalize things as human beings, not always objectively
(22:20):
or honestly, So that's what the stats are for.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
I think it helps to keep feeling real in check.
And I think I think it's a common saying I
think in the swing, but to your point, it's also
in the stats too. I mean, I can't We had
a member member event this past weekend and like one
of the guys I was playing at the end of
the round was complaining and like, oh, my drives were
all over the place, and I'm literally thinking, I'm like, dude,
you duffed like four chips, Like yeah, I think that
(22:44):
might have been the bigger issue. You didn't lose a
single ball off the tee, but you deft four chips,
Like was it you're driving? I don't know, but hey,
I want to pivot to Lifelong Golf and some of
these places. I think it's always interesting to me, like
the the travel, with the instruction and these experiences. Like
I'm starting to see some more of it, Like we talked,
(23:07):
you talked briefly about it before we jumped on, but
I'm really curious, like how do these how do these work?
Like so is it instruction and play? And I mean,
tell me about it because it sounds it sounds really
really cool.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Yeah. So Life Long Golf started at the peak of
the pandemic. Nice I think I knew I always wanted
to start Lifelong Golf has a variety of different service arms,
but I really wanted to kick off the destination golf
school component of it. And my initial thought was, Okay, well,
(23:40):
let's start this now so we can make our mistakes
on a small stage before we make them on a
big stage. And I was very lucky to discover that
I was never going to have a small stage moment.
Everybody was still ready to travel. We were able to
do it because of our structure, a very safe way,
and we're able to build relationships with some pretty incredible
places very quickly because of the unique situation our country
(24:03):
was in. But what that's evolved to now we do
about six destination golf schools a year between January and May,
and we are everywhere from Greece and cost and Novarena
to Aurora and Guila, which is on Aguila Island. We've
done Casa dea Compo and the Dominican Republic. We've added
(24:23):
Cabot citrus farms this year.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
We've which is a terrible we have to go all
these places.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Yeah, and we've got a Tubac Golf resort in Tucson, Arizona,
and every couple of years, I'm trying to like mix
up the destinations. But the whole idea is, we know
that golfers tend to love to travel. We have an
appreciation for, you know, really neat golf courses. I really
love different cultures and different foods. So there's that component
(24:52):
of it. But these are very dedicated golf improvement game
improvement programs, right, So it's not your typical let's just
go as many holes as golf as we possibly can
every single day, and there's nothing wrong with that. I
highly encourage everybody do in a crazy golf bonanza trip
in their lifetime or several if you can. But it's
a really neat, dedicated experience for myself plus one other
(25:15):
top one hundred teacher take eight people to these really
incredible destinations. So it's a very intimate four to one
student to teacher ratio, and we do half a day
of skill learning and then we have a half a
day of playing where the coaches myself and our other coach.
I try to vary up who's with me every time
we are coaching you through the round of golf, and
(25:36):
I think that's really unique and great for the students
who are able to come with us, because again, a
lot of times you see your professional on that flat
driving range space. But now we're saying, okay, we just
learned these great skills that morning, and let's help you
implement them as you play during a.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
Round of golf.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
And that curriculum is different every single time. We again
back to assessments, we give some pretty rigorous player surveys
ahead of time to our students. Sometimes we know everybody
who's coming with us, a lot of times we don't,
so we want to get to know everybody as much
as we can before we are there on property. And
then the school curriculum, the skills that we cover, how
(26:16):
we train people, all of that is very customized to
the individuals in front of us. So we have people
that have come on multiple trips and every single time
they're getting something different out of the experience. So, just
like I would try to coach the swing as something
that's tailor made to every person who walks in front
of me, every golf school is curated and tailor made
(26:38):
to the group that's in front of us, and that
keeps it fresh for myself and the coaches, and then,
like I said, anybody who's coming one, two, three, ten times,
they're walking away with different tools every single golf school experience,
and then all of the other things like the crazy
places where we are on the beautiful beaches, and the
crazy epicurean Michelin rated food experiences, like all of that's
(27:01):
just total gravy on top of everything else. So it's
it's been a really fun it's been a really adventure
with lifelong GoF for sure.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
So I think one of the interesting things to me,
Jennifer would be like, on the instructional side, have you
I mean, especially since you're doing this, I mean, you're
one of the few people that I've met that actually
like does coaching on the course, Like obviously in this
sort of an experience set up, is there do you have?
I have a guess, but I'm curious, is there ever
(27:33):
a time where you get the assessments you're going through,
like the instructional stuff, and then you get on the
course and then you just totally want eighty pivot based
on what you're seeing of like, oh my god, that's
not the problem at all.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Most definitely, And that's why the en course coaching piece
I think is so important to help people really get
to their goals quickly. So yeah, there's plenty of times
where I pivot, and I'm like a lot of times,
to be honest with you, it totally comes down to
one of two things. If it's if something unexpected happens
on the golf course, it's like one, their concept of
(28:08):
aiming and body alignment is so off and so different
than what they were doing on the practice facility that
I have to like really address that. And usually that's
a very quick sneak peek for myself as to why
their swing tendencies exist the way they do. And then
number two, and this is the part that's really important
(28:28):
as well for people to develop. You know, we've talked
about developing your body, golf fitness wellness, developing your golf swing,
these cool swing assessments to help us understand how you pivot,
how you should hold the club. But there's this third
really important nugget, and that is the emotional management mental
management side of it. So sometimes you get on the
(28:48):
golf course and you realize, like, wow, this person's biggest
issue is making bad decisions right, wrong club selection, no
pre shot routine poor management of handling shots after they've
hit them right. So I'm a big follower of Vision
fifty four with Lynn Marriott and Pea Nelson, and I've
(29:10):
done a lot of their coaching programming, and so a
lot of times you can actually fix the physical deficits
by focusing on the course management and the mental emotional deficits.
And that's the thing you would never find out in
the practice range.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
So is that, like, so I shouldn't hit a cut
to a back left tucked pin over water that kind
of like that would be an example, and then get
mad about it when it's short ends up in the water.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Yeah, I mean that's definitely the game course management side
of it. Or like sometimes like you know, I'll watch
somebody hit a perfectly okay shot. We know it was
what they were trying to pull off, but like, look,
they're just front center of the green and pins back.
But their self talk is so demoralizing and so negative,
and they beat themselves up so much that they have
like totally ruined their ability to really get focused going
(30:00):
to that next shot. You know, So I always say
you can you're in charge. You can either build yourself
up or you can beat yourself down, but the it's
a skill to know how to choose to build yourself
up instead of beating yourself down. And I think most people, unfortunately,
are way better at beating themselves up or be themselves
(30:20):
down than they are like building themselves up one percent.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
Those are the people that you play for money. You
win more money off.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Of those people, Yeah, for sure. So so those are
the things that on the golf course aim alignment issues
and then that emotional mental management side of it that
those can show up and we immediately switch gears and
go into that sort of sort of thing.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Yeah, so that was the coolest thing. We're looking, as
you said before, having you on and and just seeing
I've never seen a golf trip where it's like it's
that structured of like, hey, we're instructing, Like it's like
you said, it's not a let's go on a cruise
and we're going to play teen holes and then have
dinner and to like it's truly like, hey, let's look
at better golf ones do it in like really beautiful places. Yeah,
(31:03):
that's so cool.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
And what's so fun is that you know a lot
of times we get there are two parts that I
really love one is we'll get a group of people
where if we have eight people, two people have come together,
and then like three people have come together, and then
two singles have showed up, and like these little groups
just don't even know each other at all, but by
the end they are totally best friends. And then six
months down the road, I get this random text message
(31:24):
with like half the school has reassembled itself at somebody's
like invitational Colorado or something, right. And then the other
fun part about it is we get a lot of
like a wide variety of skill levels. Right, so we
might have a zero handicapper but also a thirty handicapper,
but also have fifteen handicappers, like the whole range, and
the beginner golfer is usually the one or the less
(31:46):
experienced players one going I don't want to hold anybody up,
like is this going to be okay for me? The
better golfers typically don't go in with too many concerns,
but you can tell they're looking at the group bes
it's assembled in day one and they're thinking, like, how
is she going to organize this? Yeah, but we have
a really good formula to where everybody feels super comfortable
(32:06):
in their respective we call them learning pods during the
skill building sessions, and then what happens is that when
everybody's on the golf course. Sometimes we try to keep
skill levels with like skill levels, but towards the end
we're always mixing it up, and we find that the
beginner golfers learn a lot from the more experienced golfers,
and the more experienced golfers actually learn a lot about
themselves when they are paired with the lesser experienced golfers
(32:30):
sometimes in the golf course, and they, you know, naturally
want to step in and kind of help them out
a little bit too. So it's interesting to see how
people can collectively learn no matter what their goals are
and what their experience levels are.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
That's so cool. Well, I don't want to take too
much of your time. I know you're busy, so I
really appreciate you coming on. But Jennifer, where can people
learn more about lifelong golf when we just follow you?
What's the best places for them to connect with you? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (32:56):
So the two best places lifelong golf on Instagram. That's
where all of the majority of my lesson content is
swing instruction. I like to think of lifelong Golf on
Instagram like a clearinghouse of information, so I might spotlight
you spotlight Vision fifty four. Like, I just really think
that the coaching world is becoming stronger and stronger because
(33:17):
of how collaborative coaches are becoming, you know, like early
on in the world of teaching, I think it was
a lot of this knowledge is mine and that student
is mine, and I'm going to be threatened if anybody
else is anything different. I'm certainly the opposite side of that.
I really try to give my students some perspective, students
as many resources as they can possibly have to make
(33:39):
golf fun and reach their goals. So Instagram lifelong Golf
is a great space. Lifelongolf dot com is where you
can find out about our golf schools. I will say
we're sold out through May twenty twenty five and all
of our experiences, which is.
Speaker 1 (33:53):
Awesome, good problems.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
Yeah, we will be putting some information about Fall twenty
five and twenty six out there soon. Also a great
space to go for my brand partnerships if you want
to kind of see some of the training aids that
I'm giving my students. Sandiantucket at sancityhead or my golf schools.
Lifelong golf dot com is a great space for that.
(34:14):
So i'd say those are your two main resources right now.
And of course if you're on Tucket in the summers,
come say hi to meet sancityhead awesome.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
Yeah for sure, and we'll put all that every listen to.
All the links will be in the show notes, so
you can grab it there and connect with Jennifer and
go learn how to play some golf.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
It's a pretty much spot, I should say too. My
last third good resource titleist dot com. If you go
to their instructors portal, I'm on there, as are about
twenty other incredibly fabulous instructors from across the world. Any
content on titleist dot com instructors can't go wrong. It's
all awesome.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
Cool well, Jennifer, thank you so much for your time.
It's been a blast avenue on the podcast and can't
wait to have you on again at some point.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
Yeah, Chris, thank you so much. I hope we get
to connect in persons sometime soon.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
Thank you, Yeah, for sure soon. Thanks everyone else for listening.
It's been awesome having you with us. Appreciate you hanging out.
Hopefully we diffused a few myths, and maybe some of
you ticking time bombs. We've stopped you from exploding ultful way,
so thanks as always, guys, and we'll catch you on the
next episode.
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