Better Forever with Hendrik Buhrmann, a 9 time winner on the Sunshine and Asian Tours, as he shares learnings from a lifetime at the highest levels of golf.

Welcome to the latest episode of the Accelerate Golf podcast where we delve deep into the world of golf instruction and player improvement. In today's episode, we're thrilled to host a luminous South African golf legend, Hendrik Buhrmann.

https://www.bdga.co.za/hendrik-buhrmann-golf

Buhrmann, a professional player since 1985, boasts nine titles, including eight on the South African tour and one on the Asian tour. He later transitioned into coaching, running a reputed golf academy at the Eagle Canyon Golf Estate in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The conversation offers a deep dive into Hendrik's golf journey, beginning from his late entry into the game at 16. He exposes the fundamental elements of golf, the role of physical condition, technical skills, and mental strength, and unique AI-like optimization abilities.

Listeners will hugely benefit from Hendrik's insight on facing adversities in the game, seeing obstacles as blessings, and drawing motivation from failures.

Diving deeper into golf, we delve into the complexities of developing expertise as a player and as a coach, and the multitude of factors that contribute to the mastery of the game. We explore the evolution of golfing techniques, the inundation of information from various sources, and the role of technology in learning golf.

We also focus on the selection of a good coach, emphasizing the importance of understanding his philosophy, his role in improving technical skills and mental resilience, and the innovation of subscription model coaching in golf.

Join us for this enlightening discussion with a seasoned player turned coach and hear for yourself the invaluable insights, encouragement, and motivation he offers to all golf enthusiasts.

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Welcome, everyone, to the Accelerate Golf podcast, where we speak with great
players around the world to try to understand how they became so good.
We also speak with people throughout the golf industry to understand the business
of golf and of golf instruction.
Today, we are privileged to have Hendrik Berman, based out of South Africa.

(00:25):
Playing professional turned very well-respected coach who has agreed to join
us and give us all his knowledge from all these years of playing and coaching. So welcome, Hendrik.
Thank you, Bikram. I appreciate that and it's an honor to be on the show. Thank you, Hendrik.
So for the listeners, Hendrik, you turned professional in 1985,

(00:46):
and throughout your career, you won nine titles, eight of them on the South
African tour, one of them on the Asian tour.
You competed and played with Ernie Els and Tief Kusin in several teams.
You actually won the 1994 Wild Coast Classic by beating Ernie Els down the stretch.
We'll drill down into all of that.

(01:08):
But we are really thrilled to have you on the show, Hendrik.
Also, you represented South Africa in the World Cup in 1995 with Ratif Khusin as your partner.
Correct. And you were on the team, which was the precursor to the President's
Cup team in 1995, where you were part of a team and you hold the winning part
against an Australasian team, which included Greg Norman and Vijay Singh.

(01:32):
So you've had quite an accomplished career, Hendrik. Congratulations on that.
Thank you very much. And I'm being blessed to have a great career as a professional
golfer, as well as an amateur golfer.
And I will tell you a little bit more about that just now.
So, Hendrik, just so that our listeners can level set, where are you based right

(01:54):
now and what are you doing currently?
Oh, currently I'm based in Eagle Canyon in Johannesburg, more on the West France
side, the opposite of the airport.
And yeah, I'm actually basically run a golf academy, which, you know,
the golf academy, we actually handle from a very small kids,

(02:14):
which is run that through the ops 36.
I think you're very familiar to the operation 36 program for the young and beginners,
which which is with my other coach, very, very good coach.
And I'm doing mostly the more competitive golfers, juniors and seniors,
and some professionals.
And that's what my passion is. And that's where I'm being based at the moment

(02:37):
and operating here at Eagle Canyon Golf Estate.
Great, Hendrik. So you have a couple of coaches who actually work with you, correct?
Correct, yes. I do have coaches who work with me or under me.
I'll probably more so with me because I see them as equal coaches.

(02:58):
They're also very good. And unfortunately, I'm just being the head of the academy
and own it. But that doesn't make me more special.
That's very humble, Henrik. So why don't we start with your personal golf journey?
What got you into golf? well you know i'm one of those who start like very late
you know this will encourage people who who start late but i have a very let's call it successful.

(03:28):
Sport approach until i become
full-time as a amateur golfer i
only really started when the first time i knew
about golf was when i was 16 years old but i
played you know in south africa we play rugby and cricket
and all other sports and especially the school i
was in in great college in bloomford bank which is

(03:49):
a very sports sporty school you've got
to do some sport i don't care what you do that you're doing something which
we're all done sport doesn't matter what you're doing or what level which i
was exposed to all sports i mean that it got me to that skill of you know hand
eye coordination balance and all those fitness things and stuff like that and

(04:10):
then And I was playing rugby,
and what happened is that I injured my ankle,
and the doctor said, you must take it to the clinic.
You know, but you can't just do nothing. You've got to do something, at least play a gesture.
You've got to do some walking, whatever. I said, I'm going to play golf.
There's a golf team, and I go out, and I said, I'm going to join them because

(04:30):
that looks like a really easy sport.
You know, it's like you just hit the ball and carry on.
Anyway, I went out there, and I really enjoyed it. because I just immediately catch on to it.
And I played with them and I thought, gee, this is not that difficult.
And then I went back to play rugby and then I see now, but I play that sport
better than these other sports. And let me focus on that.

(04:53):
And then it just, well, that's history.
I mean, then I just got into it and I'm just passion full and it's all I want
to do is playing golf from the morning to the night.
And since 17, I took up seriously, like I said, and now every day I went to
practice. And I must be very fortunate by in four years from that,
when I was 21 years old, I was number one in the country amateur.

(05:16):
You know, I was even, I skipped most of the junior golf, very interesting.
And then I just got into an amateur golf.
And one thing I also would say, what I think will encourage a lot of people
in this, one of the biggest lessons I was being motivated by accident or by my situation.

(05:38):
And I was number two in the country.
The year when I was 20 years old and I wasn't chosen for the South African side,
which is I represent South Africa as a professional and as an amateur.
And this is what I said. I wasn't chosen for the team. I was so upset that I
was not chosen for this. Only four people getting in the team.

(05:59):
And I was very upset. But I made a promise to myself.
I'm going to choose myself. I'm going to select me myself.
Myself in the next what's what
i'm going to do i'm going to become the best and then what happened
i was so dedicated and i practiced so hard and
i was so focused and i become number one amateur and
then they obviously chose me and now i was very

(06:21):
thankful to that motivation situation you
know a lot of people can be very sad about it that was
probably one of the the most critical point of
turning in my career which is make me
as successful as i was purely because i
want to do it because nobody choose me but except myself because it's a very

(06:42):
individual sport anyway then i got my spring of colors i went overseas and played
in switzerland and we won obviously and all that kind of stuff and then i came
back and i turned professional and there my career started very Very quick story.
I came up from Bloemfontein to become a professional.
And the night before, I turned professional. You know, those days,

(07:04):
you've got to go meet the commissioner of the tour, Sunshine Tour, as it stands today.
And he wanted to ask you, are you good enough? And you're sitting in there,
one-to-one talk to him and stuff like that.
And the night before, I stayed with people I know very well.
And the next morning, my car was stolen with my clubs, with all my shoes.
And I remember I had a keyhole driver, McGregor keyhole driver.

(07:28):
I mean, that was like gold. You know, it's like in those days,
if you had that, it's like a pinnacle of the best driver, you know?
And anyway, I start my professional career with no car, no clubs,
no nothing, nothing. I borrowed clubs.
Went to a school, made it, obviously. And yeah, and then, you know,
short version of how I start playing golf and where I got as a professional.

(07:51):
That's a fascinating story, Hendrik. So, in fact, that early rejection motivated
you to practice harder, make the South African amateur team.
And then finally, on the day before you turned professional,
you got all your golf clubs, all the kits stolen.

(08:11):
But you still managed to go to the qualifying school and make it.
Absolutely. You know, all these obstacles, it's actually blessings.
And I learned it through my career now, especially when I get older,
is when I teach my students this, you know, if they said, oh,
a bad bounce or this or that, I say, you're so blessed to have this,

(08:33):
you know, mistakes is your teacher.
And if you don't see it like this because you're going to get
rejected you're going to get bad bright
and you're going to feel everything is against you all
the time in golf and if you don't see that
as a actually a blessing you know you're going
to struggle to to you know get to your dreams on
and get there because even the best players is far

(08:56):
way more than they actually succeed which says
get used to this fighting get used to that that's actually
a friend and you must be you embraced it and say thank you for
that and what can i learn out of it and if that's probably
one of the most important mindsets you're going
to have and just a quick story back and i you know study
this game especially when i was studying

(09:17):
study high skilled golfers and one of the skilled golfers we're not going to
say tiger and all these guys but i'm going to talk to you about nick price and
i was listening to an interview of him when he lost against i think siri balesteros
course in one of the British Opens,
and he drove down from Scotland to England.

(09:37):
And that trip was probably the turning point for his career,
which he's actually going to make it. And he said it was critically important.
Now, if he probably would have won, he would have never been that successful
career. I mean, see the positives.
You know, don't see the failure as your failure.
See failure as your... And I think that's probably one of the most important

(09:59):
things. And through my career, you know, the mental side is probably me,
the most fascinating part of the game, to be successful.
And I'm going to put it straight here to explain to you how I see it.
You don't mind if I moved on straight onto a little bit of a mindset?

(10:19):
No, please go ahead. This is exactly what we are here for.
This is so important, you know, which is, this is more or less my kind of fundamentals
or understanding what any golfer have to go through.
And especially a competitive golfer from junior to a professional doesn't matter.

(10:40):
You've got to understand a lot of elements of, and I'm not going to go in detail over them.
First of all, there's three main elements is physical, technical, and mental.
Now, in that, there's a lot of things, like a mental side, there's a tactical
side, there's an emotional side, there's a lot of kind of mental aspects in it.

(11:02):
I believe this is actually as a group of factors what is actually important,
which the physical part is very important in a way, which is I'm going to do
it in a set routine to you so that it makes sense to you.
It's always in order, which is like building a house. It's foundation, walls, roof.
Now, to be very successful in a golfer, especially if you're going to play it

(11:27):
from junior to seniors and onwards to professional,
professional is that you've got to be physically in shape these
days there's no doubt you you've got to be really looking after
your body from eating whatever and we're not going to go in
detail you know what that means but next that's got to be
in place first and you're always going to grow everything but that's
first in place then the next is the

(11:47):
technical side you're going to have a sound technique and the.
Most sound technique you have and the question you're probably going
to ask you or ask anybody who will listen ask this
question why do you have to change your golf swing why
do you have a good golf swing and what is a
good golf swing and why must you be on play you know
if you've got to answer those questions because you can't then there's

(12:08):
no purpose for you to change anything if you think your
swing is perfect keep it like this and you don't have to change it
you know but yeah tiger woods was working continuously
on to improve his golf swing and he got to the heights where
he wants to except his body actually didn't
actually allowing to carry on basically in principle we
know that which is we're not going to

(12:29):
go in that in detail but now let's get back to this if the
physical then the technical you've got to be a sound golf swing
you were and what is the sound golf swing as the swing will help you under pressure
to hit the ball more in the middle of the clubface in the order as well half
control your path and then control your clubface angle those three factors control
basically the shape and the outcome of the golf ball. It's simple.

(12:52):
It's again in that order because if you have a perfect path and a perfect club
face but you miss the golf ball, which is the first one, it doesn't matter about
the next two, which is first hit the ball in the middle, then a consistent path,
then the club face angle will be determined by the path.
It's a path inside out. You must have it close so it'll curve back to your target.

(13:14):
Otherwise, the ball is not going to go to your target.
Let's not go detail in the technical side of that. Now, there's this very important
element you have to learn to control in the technical side, which is that is
why you're working your goal swing.
But, I mean, if you answer all these questions as I ask you,
you would have actually come to this point.
Now, otherwise, you'll never work in the goal swing. And then in the goal swing,

(13:37):
there's also a little bit of a, I would say, which is the technical side and
the mental side is tempo and sequence for the technical.
And then it goes to the mental side because that is like the glue, you glue them together.
And you can actually see the physical and the technical stuff as the hardware

(14:02):
and the software of a computer is your mind and your emotional intelligence
and mind control and situations.
I'm not going to go into detail on that. Then all these things work together.
And then the most important thing that a lot of people don't understand is you
can have the best hardware, you can have the best software, you need good data

(14:25):
or let's call it good data from the past, like AI,
which you can take that data from your experience as a junior,
how it feels to hit the draw, how it feels when you're under pressure,
how it feels in adversity.
All those memories which is not bad
which is you fail like i'd start
in the beginning yeah it's your friend it's your

(14:47):
teacher say oh i got nervous first
of all and i hit it right and i hit it the bad shot because i'm
nervous i feel tight look oh my word you've
got to learn this this is so beautiful now that
data is so important to have
your brain full of this data so that you
can use this hardware and software to optimize

(15:09):
your potential now that is why
it's so important to practice a lot play a lot learn a lot and have the mindset
of learning and if you're understanding that that's how your brain and your
ai machine can opera optimize your kind of skill to learn how to manage it and
then you become a good golfer that is basically the blueprint to be.

(15:32):
Being a good golfer. I mean, if I take Tiger Woodson tomorrow and I said to
him, you've got to play left-handed, or let's take anybody,
let's take Brooks Koepka, you've got to play left-handed, I mean,
I don't think he will ever even win the club championship at his club because
his data has all been driven by a right-hand move, not left,
and I don't care how well he knows the game,

(15:54):
he still needs to experience how that data will feel in real life to operate
that kind of a machine of theirs.
Anyway, which is you can't use a Mac and the soft and then Windows and think
these software are going to be compatible automatically.
No, they're not. Anyway, sorry.
That's an overview of my thoughts about really what it takes to be good.

(16:20):
That's fantastic, Henrik. It's very clear and obvious that you spend a great
deal of time thinking deep about the game and how to get better.
In this game and i'm just curious when you were a young professional starting
out on tour did you know all this or this is a culmination of your years of experience,

(16:41):
no this is very interesting no you see and to be honest to you you know let
me try to put it this way no i heard it you know i'm going to say this a famous quote from Ben Hogan.
One of our coaches here, very close to my course was called Koubi Lagrangi and
Koubi Lagrangi is still he's been in the retail business, he was really good professionally.

(17:06):
He won actually the Australian Open and all that kind of stuff.
You can go back to his history.
And he played with Ben Hogan and he was on the range there in Australia.
He told me the story himself and he's there and he's practicing and Ben Hogan
is a legend and he thought eventually he's going to walk up over them and he's

(17:27):
practicing also. I needed two of them on the reins.
And then he walked up, he put his guts together to have a chat to them and says, Mr.
Hogan, do I disturb you? He says, no, young man.
And he carried on hitting. He says, may I ask you a question? He says, yes.
He says, can I ask you a question about the golf swing, about doing this or that?

(17:49):
He couldn't remember. And then he looks up and he says, young man, go find it in the dirt.
Which is you're going to experience it. I'm not going to give you my secrets.
You're going to go and find it, and you'll solve by hitting golf balls.
There's a lot of message in there. First of all, go and practice and find it.

(18:10):
You know, Hogan says he was practicing eight hours, and then everybody sees
he's practiced eight hours, and then he went to practice 12 hours because he
believes the more he practices, he always will beat them, which is not a bad theory.
Now, you can learn a lot about these old guys saying, but
the bottom line it was there is those days
you got to go find it yourself to answer your

(18:30):
question the modern era is i mean we got
material about every golfer slow motion
super slow motion we can see what
he's saying torments how his behavior we can see how he talks to his caddy on
on the course and how they work out the yardage is i mean all you have to do
these days have a the passion of your mind to learn from the experts.

(18:57):
Now, you know, YouTube is a very good thing. I mean, everybody goes there.
The amateur's going to look at it and find a quick solution,
which doesn't work, which is, thank heaven for YouTube and Facebook and all
these things, because they confuse all the golfers and they come to me and I
fix them and I look much better, which is, that's another story I'll tell you later.
But in principle is, to be a young top player, I mean, you've got to get a good coach.

(19:20):
Take six months to study the best coach what you think can get in your town or online.
I do it online now, which is I coach everybody in the world where they can come to me.
Now, it's easy these days because study who's the best for you.
Look at who's helping you, who can help you to the next level and then make
a commitment and don't make a commitment just two lessons and three lessons.

(19:44):
See, oh, that doesn't work here.
You've got to understand his philosophy, understand what he
wants to do and stick with it at least for two years i mean
if tiger woods can work on one drill for nearly
over a year and a half podrick harrington i
see personally and asking me he got the cover a pink
wood cover always caddy was putting it inside his
his arms to keep his arms together on tour every

(20:06):
time i'm seeing him asian tours africa wherever
he played and he had this kind of a and he
took him on a year probably supposed to two years what
he did this draw for every time he hit the ball on the range how much
longer will it take the average other player and a young
player to learn to develop the skill
which is stick of a pro or somebody you think

(20:27):
is good i mean jack nicholas he used jack rout it was a member of his course
and he helps him all the time and he wasn't really expert but those days there
wasn't cameras like we have he was more his eyes and his feels and says oh you
played well and you did this and whatever whatever it is, hold his head and whatever.
He was an expert of coach, but he was an expert of human understanding and help him when he needs it.

(20:53):
And he was figuring it out himself. Now, you know.
I hope that actually I can explain that to you that I think it's easier these days.
They are just so distracted, the young people, all the social,
let's call it the social interaction, the social proof from their peers that
they are so much distracted and not really focused on what they really have

(21:16):
to do. They have way more other problems.
It's not about the game to get the knowledge, not about what to do.
So it's about how can they commit themselves to do the right thing over and
over, not get bored, to practice the right thing, what you can surge yourself
to what's a really good swing. How can you get the club on playing?

(21:38):
You know, I can go on and on, but it is easier.
But now I think it's as difficult as it was for us, but in a different way.
Okay, so just to carry on on this thread of coaching, and I totally get your
message about about selecting the right coach and then sticking with that coach and his plan,

(21:59):
you kind of came up with an innovation in the golf coaching industry by coming
up with the subscription model.
Because for long, all you had to do as a player was to go take one lesson,
pay for the lesson, and then go practice by yourself.
And whenever you had a question, you had to go get another lesson.
But you kind of came up with this innovation about the subscription model in

(22:23):
golf coaching. Could you talk about that a little bit?
Yeah, you know, I'm not going to take credit that I actually invented it.
You know, a good friend of me is David Lethbetter.
I think he's the godfather of academy for juniors and seniors, if I can call it that.
And he had a guy called Gary Gilchrist. Gary Gilchrist is an African guy.

(22:46):
I used to always call him Zoof.
But I mean, nobody knows him on that. But we as golfers here,
Richard Kaplan, and we played with us here in the Sunshine Tour.
And then he decided to become a coach. And then he went over there to Le Petit.
And he started actually Le Petit's junior academy.
I mean, he was David Le Petit's right-hand man to develop basically a system

(23:09):
of how to have junior academies and how to run it, which is basically,
we just kind of improved and perfected it, I think, these days.
You know a lesson doesn't work i don't
give lessons when juniors competitive juniors come to
me and he says i want to come a lesson or whatever i says sorry i
don't do lessons she's over one i said no i'm building

(23:29):
a relationship you come i will give you
a free evaluation tell you how it works this is how to do i'll give you a couple
of tips i'll show you on camera on my studio or i've got a program and a you
know kind of say a coaching box where i put everybody in and i'll straight away
say and i'll say i'll send this away with you so you can go and study it i'm

(23:50):
not just gonna because you i'm gonna be.
It's going to give you so many data that you're not even going to understand that at that given time.
But go and study it and then go look at these things. You know,
you're coming to the top. Why? Because your sequence is out.
It's not technical. It's sequence.
You know, go to the top. Your hips doesn't start.
Then the first move, if you turn, the hands go high and that's why you're doing

(24:13):
it. Let's just improve that. It's nothing about technical.
That's why I told you that's the stuff that bonds the technical stuff with the
mental stuff and the flow and the tempos. and stuff like that.
I mean, that's one thing that top players all have.
And nobody coached that. I mean, I coached a lot of the tempo,
flow, and sequence. And then that's going to be in sync with your personality.
You know, there's so many details, how you interlink the technical,

(24:37):
the physical, and the mental side of it.
But anyway, you know, come back to this, Ledbetter and Gary,
which is now my academy run like this.
I coach them basically every day and afternoons in a week because I have school.
And I focus a lot on juniors and there's probably a big reason.
I'm going to tell you why.
Juniors is where everything are being made.

(25:00):
I mean, you go study human development, mental and physical,
which is everything in kids from the age of three years old,
basically, we can go before, until about 18.
And then everything is kind of a set, basically. Yes, from there you fine tune everything, reaching.
But that is the most important part for any junior to be successful.

(25:23):
Look at Tiger, look at all these people, even me.
I mean, I was 16 to start, 17, but I was just very fortunate.
I just accelerated in this game and it was made for me, probably customized.
I was lucky. But that is the areas which you really have to focus on as juniors.
And that's what I'm doing now. I'm really in passion for the juniors.

(25:47):
They've got a burning desire to get better. They're young.
I'm setting their minds. I'm teaching good habits.
And those are the things that I'm doing. And luckily, I can do it everywhere
in the world. I can do even physical screening online.
I do technical training online. I monitor them online. I'm talking mentally online.
And I'm doing a mental test, which is what I call a TICE, Yes.

(26:10):
The interpersonal style inventory, which has been probably for 35 years going
on. It's an American product.
It's unbelievable how they concentrate quickly.
It's another three things. It's awareness, conceptually and analytical,
and then obviously focus and execution, if you can see it.

(26:30):
That is the three legs for concentration. You see, oh, I didn't concentrate.
Now, a combination of all those three, or one of them was out of sync or not
being present, That is when you didn't concentrate, which is you've got to get
all those things in sync.
And it's critically important during the swing on when and where you're doing
it from the preparation to the end to be successful.

(26:51):
Now, to get back to the junior academy, now, this is the areas what I want to focus on with juniors.
And if I don't get this habits of excellence, this habit of training,
you know, there is so many good players out there in the world.
And I see the best players in the world.
I can tell you, they are in the bug, professional golfers like Ernie Els.

(27:13):
You know, he practiced so hard. It's just unbelievable the practice he put in,
you know. And that will be another 10 minutes to explain to you a couple of
times about how dedicated he is.
And that's Ernie Owls. And I don't know, I'll say,
Tiger Woods that well, but I know Ernie very well because he played in my era

(27:34):
and I was part of it, which is I understand the dedication, how these guys have and how much it takes.
And you've got to give yourself a fair chance to become as good as you can.
And a junior academy is the foundation to have this kind of excellence.
This excellence must come naturally. The top players do not think they practice hard.

(27:57):
I mean, quick story about Vijay. I'm not going to tell the whole story.
He said, I asked him, what's the secret? I'm going to go cutting this whole
story down from five minutes to 30 seconds.
And he said to me, gym is the most important thing.
I says, come on, Vijay, what is this nonsense? You can't talk to me like this.
Now, we're on the driving range at St.

(28:19):
Andrews at the old course there. We play the Daniel Links there,
which is the three courses, which is St.
Andrews and Canoostee and King's Barns.
And this is before I went out, me and James Kingston, we play.
We drove all the way around to Canoostee. That's kind of a 40 minutes.
And we play their practice round. We're coming back to the range.

(28:41):
He's still practicing. and you know it's unbelievable and he said and then I
asked him again he says now tell me it can't be junk.
He says, of course, in Germany, keep going on. It says, but really it's German.
It says, I'm practicing.
I'll go to the gym and get as fit as I can, as strong as I can,
so that I can practice longer hours.
Because the secret is if I'm fresh and working harder longer hours in a focused

(29:05):
practice, I've got to be becoming better.
It says because you're all running against energy, time, and focus.
And it was so wise. I mean, you know, I can just tell you a whole hour just
about this kind kind of a concept, which is how important that is.
And if you ask him, if you practice hard, he says, no, I don't. I must practice harder.

(29:27):
I say, but you can't. I say, yeah, but I try to make more hours.
I try to be more efficient.
I try to be fresher so that, oh, my word, this is what you want to hear.
This is the words you want to get out of champions.
But you've got to teach this to the young juniors from a very early age so that
they have this kind of a mindset, this mind of routine and passion.

(29:49):
And the most important thing for a junior is having fun doing this.
If this is not coming, a burning desire in doing it.
If it's driven by fear or driven by motivation, you lost the game.
It must come from internal motivation.
They've done research on that. That is the holy grail for being successful people.
If you're going to try to motivate people or kids to play or practice, game over.

(30:14):
They must really have a passion. I mean, I read a story about Rory when his
teacher or his coach there in Northern Ireland says he's always the first there
and always the last to leave and they just have fun.
And when he was a young kid or when he was in an academy or group or whatever
it is, that is the words you want to hear.
Now, these days, I can very quickly identify the successful people or kids or

(30:40):
juniors because the way they talk, the way they act, and the way they think,
because that's making them successful.
And do you also think that these days with the advent of social media,
there's a lot more pressure on young minds because they only see the kids who

(31:01):
are very successful on social media.
And sometimes in comparison, I've noticed in junior players that they get a little demotivated.
Have you encountered that? How do you deal with that? Absolutely.
It's unbelievable. You know, some of the students of mine says,
I said, well, you know, you're going to play a tournament now and you're swinging good enough.

(31:24):
Just now work on tempo and rhythm and feel and build a feeling of a thought
so that you can clone a feeling to take.
Because, I mean, I don't know if you, I'm playing professional golf for 30 years
and make my living out of it, which is understand my way of doing it.
And I've been coaching some of the best players and I listen to what they're
saying. and that all kind of works with feelings and emotions and confidence

(31:48):
and stand over that they've got to line up, they've got to feel good and all
that kind of stuff. I'm not going to – there's so many words we can use yet.
But it comes down to a certain language you have with yourself and that's emotions
and thoughts and feelings.
And those things is the language for your body to react, you know, to be tense or not.

(32:09):
Now, these things are so critically important. important.
And now all of a sudden this student says, no, no, no, no. But I looked at my
swing and it doesn't look good.
I said, well, do you want to have a good swing or you want to play good as you can in tournament?
No, no, no. I want to have a good swing. I don't want the people look at my
swing and say, it's not a good swing.

(32:30):
Oh my word. I said, you're missing the point here.
You know, and that's all coming from social media.
It comes always, everybody see, everybody perform how their swing looks.
And I don't want to perform and win or do well if I don't look good or whatever it is. It's nonsense.
You think Mo Norman or you think Jim Furyk or another guy from India,

(32:53):
which is not that well-known, but he won good tournaments, Jeev Makasingh.
And then you get Tawun Warachan. I mean, he's a Thai golfer.
He still won the most tournaments on our Asian tour. He took a lot of trophies away from me.
But anyway, it's like Ernie Ellison. if it wasn't for tiger any would have probably
won 10 tournaments or majors or 20 or whatever,

(33:16):
then vijay between vijay and ernie and phil those guys would have won tons of more if it wasn't for,
tiger woods which you know will be different it's the same as what i said like
corn water john just come back to him i mean just go and google this guy he
just really played in the masters.
He's a fantastic golfer, but so dedicated, so practiced so hard.

(33:38):
But I think his goal swing was his weakest part, and that's why he probably
didn't get to the stages where he wants to.
But he had all the other stuff dedicated. Every morning, 6 o'clock at a golf
course, 6 o'clock back, if he didn't play tournament.
That's the stuff you want to hear from. And if you study the best players and
you study these things, you will see it. Not the social media.

(34:00):
Not what worried people think about you. you don't think about this.
The top players really do not worry about it.
I mean, remember Dustin Johnson when he three-putted from five foot or whatever
it is, that one when I think Jordan Spieth won.
Spieth won at that tournament and everybody was sad when they go driving back

(34:22):
and he sits in a van and everybody dead quiet and he says, what's wrong with
all of you? Why are you so quiet?
We feel sorry for you. We don't want to say something. You just three-putted and lost the US Open.
So big deal. it's just a game, it's just a tournament,
I probably will win next year it's no big deal, you know let's get going,
let's be happy go look at the record, he did win the next year,

(34:43):
anyway did he worry about what social media think about it?
You think what he say, if you look at what he say and Kuka say and.
Bryson DeChambeau they have to really concentrate in not saying the wrong things
in social media, because I didn't care about it actually, I didn't care what
other other people think about them.
Oh, your swing looks like this. I don't care. I don't even worry about those things, you know.

(35:08):
Which is social media is a great thing for entertainment for people,
but it could be very dangerous for the juniors or somebody who want to be,
if they're not being kind of social proof,
have the will, which is, it's actually nonsense.
The quicker you can learn that, the better for yourself as a good golfer.

(35:29):
So you coach a lot of top professionals. And like you said, initially,
you know, the winning percentage, even for the best players,
is less than 10%. So they win maybe one out of every 10 tournaments, the best players.
Some players go their entire careers without winning.
How do you deal with that as a playing professional?

(35:53):
You're making a good living, but you haven't won yet. Is there a frustration which creeps in?
How do you deal with that as a player and as a coach?
Yeah, very good question, Nat, Because, you know, first of all,
to understand how to win, in tennis you only lose 3% and in golf you only win 3%.

(36:14):
Which is, if you're winning three tournaments on a PGA Tour,
you had a fantastic year.
I mean, you know, as you just mentioned.
And I think the number that you're saying, everybody wishes it was that much. It's actually less.
Now, you're going to be struggling to win. And you're going to be really happy if you win.
As a junior, you've got to – sorry, very important for a junior,

(36:40):
when you're young, you've got to learn to play. It doesn't matter what level.
Learn how to win. You've got to play first in your club and win the best junior in your club.
Then you go in the region and then play and win and move on.
You've got to know how it feels to win, and it's not –.

(37:00):
Nothing to win. After a while, you say, oh, it's just another junior tournament.
Every little tournament is a victory for your mind to know how it feels and
how to treat yourself and how people treat you, which is very important.
And as you grow, because as you get professional, and I said that to all my
juniors and my seniors when they turned professional.
They said the other day, they said, yeah, but I'm behind. I must turn pro.

(37:21):
I said, no, no, no, no. I'm not going to mention the names or whatever.
I said, you're not going. You're not ready yet.
You're not good enough. remember when you turn professional
the guys there is from 18 years
old taught until 60 years old i
mean the one guy is now coaching he's playing on the senior tour in europe and
i see just today he's playing another tournament it's co-sanctioned with south

(37:45):
african tour and the european tour and he's lying what's eighth he's something
like you're yeah he's lying eight and And he is 64 years old.
Sorry, not 54 years old. And he competes against it.
Now, you compete against a guy with all the years of experience,
and you just want to go there and have no experience how to win and to grind it out yet.

(38:07):
You're not going to get an opportunity to make the cut. Never mind win a tournament.
Now, if you can't even make the cut, you're not making money,
you're not going to survive, you're going to actually fall off,
and you're actually going to lose your talent, let's call it that way.
It's so important to learn to win early to learn the skill, how it feels to
win I know how it feels, lucky I had that opportunity to win as an amateur and

(38:30):
now I'm a professional let's talk about the coaches.
It's very difficult for people who's never been playing on tour to coach competitive
golfers in the highest level I'm not saying they can't, they've got to be have
some kind of a level to understand because you know.
Most of my juniors or seniors, whatever comes in, that talks about this is,

(38:52):
I feel for you because most of the problems they had, I actually went through my whole career.
I was searching also for the Holy Grail, why I didn't become a major winner.
I mean, that's another topic for another night. I will explain to you why I
haven't been on that level.
And I only realized it very late in my career.
And I must say, for two days, I was crying because I discovered it.

(39:12):
But it was kind of a little late in my career.
But still, now I can pass it on to the next generation.
And wise and that was mentally by the way and i
was that's why i was searching for the mental stuff my whole career that is
why i'm so good at that part because that was my passion
to find it and when i found it i mean i was blown away
how important certain areas is but i'm

(39:33):
going to put this mental side to a bed to a lot of people
understand there was a very famous little clip from
bernard langer the other day about technical
and mental and he says i mean
really it's not a a mental game as a technical if you can't hit the ball
i don't care how good you are mentally you can't play the
game which is a lot of truth in that and that's what i'm trying to

(39:53):
say is about the hardware and the software none of them is more
important each other but i mean one come before the
other one and that's what basically bernard langer was saying there is that
you've got to get hit the ball if you can't hit the ball to think good and have
the right mindset and the right learning mindset you can't complement which
you hardware on his own and software and doesn't help But you've got to get

(40:14):
the hardware before you can put software in the hardware,
which is the golf which is actually the same, which is you as a coach must make
sure that you're actually understanding this process if you want to make somebody really good.
And, you know, don't experiment on juniors, don't experiment on people.
And that's probably you asked earlier, and I probably will answer you the question,
why did I get into coaching? coaching.

(40:37):
The main reason why I got into coaching is because I had a coach,
and I can probably say his name now, his name is Ben, and he's passed away because
I know, and he was experimenting on me.
And early in my career, I paid him a lot of money, and he went somewhere and
he says, I must take it inside, and I took it inside, and it got so bad,

(40:57):
I couldn't even hit the golf ball.
And he said, okay, that doesn't work. Let's take it a little outside side of the line.
And I says, no, thank you. You can't experiment on me.
And then I decided I'm going to be my own coach. And that's probably the biggest
change in my career as a coach by.
Think about don't experiment somebody because this person's life depends on this.

(41:20):
You know, you have a very important role to play as a coach to this junior or
senior because he put his life in your hands. Do not experiment.
And if you do, you explain to him, let's try something here.
I am not 100% sure what will come out.
Then we'll see on that stage, and then we see where you are,

(41:42):
which is luckily I don't experiment and luckily
I don't have to remember what I tell my
juniors or seniors about my technique because I don't
change I have a system and I guarantee it
works because it's a practical work it's like one plus
one is two it's not eleven which is I know you do this got this set of rules
everything above the shoulders got different set of rules this side this side

(42:06):
and that's how law physics works not my opinion about these things and then
I add my my opinion about how to work around the law of physics and balances,
you know, counterbalances and tempos.
And faster you swing, more forces apply.
Then you must pull more. And this must happen. And then your brain must be,

(42:26):
calculate this. This is what you've got to learn.
Now, don't experiment. I don't experiment.
And as a coach, try to learn as much as you can from other coaches who are very successful.
Study them on YouTube. study what they say take
your mind and learn from it because if
some top coach say you've got to move off the

(42:48):
ball i mean i'm just using today example and i'm going
to mention top coach top top he says you've
got to move into the right side and move kind of in here and then he says you
mustn't drive your low off but if you'd move in this side how are they going
to get back onto the ball which is you contradict himself a little bit yeah
you know i'm very technical and very very very sensitive about common sense and things like that.

(43:12):
And it didn't make sense to me, which is the, you know, and then he mentioned
that some people, top players actually move off the ball.
I mean, only people really move off the ball.
Was Curtis Strange. And actually, I copied him many years ago, and that didn't work.
But I hit the ball all right. He was special because he's big and whatever it is in that time.

(43:33):
But then you look at the top players, doesn't move off the ball.
Look at Tiger. Look at Louis Westhizer. As a matter of fact,
he's one of my videos I always use.
How quietly keeping his head is incredible.
A Tiger doesn't move his head with irons, but the driver, yes,
because you have to move up on the back, stay in the back, I can eat up.

(43:53):
That's different, but not irons. Now, but they were explaining irons,
which is it doesn't work.
You know, it's very interesting, which is once again, I'm going to add to my earlier statement.
Make sure that you study the coach who you help. Ask him his fundamentals.
Ask him. And I always tell my students, your goal is to try to embarrass me.

(44:16):
Try to embarrass me in front of my other students. Embarrass me that I don't
know what I'm talking about.
Out take me on about says coach why must i
actually take it one piece away back
and why mustn't i said it early and then says
your butt tell me try to sell embarrass
me i said you've got to take one piece back start of the left side push and

(44:37):
it all move one piece back purely because you've got to you've got to actually
turn early so that you can change over then i'm going to explain to you in detail
and then you tell me this player or this coach or this guy doing this then I
must explain it. Why do you embarrass me?
Because you're going to do me a favor because I, as a coach,
can get better and learn from you by challenging me because you're getting so...

(45:02):
In your own mind that you think you know God and you, you know,
you, you, you, sorry, you, you think like God, you think you,
you, you know, everything you don't. I mean, they done research on this.
I mean, you would love this story because like then once I read this article,
they took all the coaches or not all the guys, but all the guys that they did
research from the best players like Butch Harmon, which I think is a fantastic

(45:22):
coach, Butch Harmon and, and, and Lert Lepeter,
which is what he did for the game as well.
You know, All these coaches and beginner coaches and coaches who are just one
or two years in the game, they're just like thousands of coaches.
And I ask them, what do you think, how good coach are you? And then you actually rate yourself.

(45:43):
And then they come to a conclusion, I don't know if you know about this,
is that they find that the best coaches, which is Butch Harmon and the Letbetters
and whatever it is, is not that good.
These other coaches are way better than they are. And what does that tell us?
That tells us the top coaches actually have a mindset, I don't know everything.

(46:05):
I have to learn more. I must understand and still listen to other people and
other people's thoughts and other people's views and see if there's better ways of doing this.
And I have the mindset of learning from other people that I can still learn and I still can improve.
And the other guy says, no, I know everything. Listen to me,
I know everything, which was a very interesting kind of a...

(46:27):
But it's logic it's logic very logic the less you know the more you think you
know and that's dangerous.
That's very very interesting actually I did not know about that survey but it's
fascinating to know that if you have an open mind even the best coaches feel
like they don't know enough and they're open to input,

(46:47):
oh, you're never going to master this game. Because there's so many different things.
If you look at the calculations of players and the swings, you're never going
to, even you get people, you swing the same.
Let's call it, let's go. In early days, I remember Butch was coaching Tiger Woods and Adam Scott.

(47:09):
And then I says, oh, but then, you know, you coach Adam Scott the same.
Yes, I do. Same fundamentals.
But they don't look the same. Even though you can miles away say,
oh, there's Tiger, there's Rory or there's Adam Scott, nobody can look the same.
What the top coaches try to do is using your body to optimize the swing in such

(47:34):
a way so that it's on plane.
Let's call it on plane. A lot of people have different opinions about it.
I'm not going to discuss that with you. to be on plane so that the club can
more consistent into the goal ball to hit the ball in the middle of the club,
consistent path and consistent club face angle for your shape.
Now, that is why you're working to get a good goal swing. That is a good goal swing.

(47:58):
And if you can do these things, three things in principle,
obviously there's another three things after that for short and long,
which is first the first three and then the loft of the club,
up, then the angle of attack, and then lastly, the speed or the club.
Now, there's a couple of other factors, but that's the main ones.
The first three is basically the shape and direction.

(48:20):
And the other top, the bottom three I just mentioned in that order is basically
the short and long where the ball goes.
Yeah, there's the three things, you know, it's all the three things of the path
and the club face angle, but it was a lot to do with how you actually can manage yourself 12.
To control all these elements from the technical side, the mental side,

(48:43):
to concentrate correctly, bring in the right information, process it,
choose the right club, then focus to do it.
You know, we can go on and on about it. You know, the big thing is the top players and the top coaches.
And I explained to you how important it is for you to have a mindset of learning as a top coach.

(49:04):
Coach, as I explained to you, how important the top coaches value this point
and how important it is to have an open mindset of just learning to get better
because everybody, you know.
Think they have the right thing.
And it's important to feel confidence about yourself, but have a system for

(49:25):
a coach so that he teaches students the right things for the help for the student.
What is good for the student?
I mean, even today, I said, once again, one of my students, he went away to
another town or the academy and whatever it is, a school there.
And I saw him today and he was kind of a feel like, you know,
he dropped me or stuff. I says, please, I'm so happy for you.

(49:49):
Go and learn. Go and learn new things. Go and see what they tell you. Go and learn.
And I'm so happy for you. It's not about me. It's about you to give you the best opportunity.
And I said, once again, to another guy, I says, you know what?
It's all about you. If you succeed, I'm happy. I'm really happy.
My sole purpose as a coach, my love of the game as a coach, to see you succeed

(50:11):
because I know how it feels. I know I feel the success.
But at the same time, I know the loneliness to get there. I understand your pains.
I know how you're going through. It's not easy to become the best player in
the world. It's not as rosy as everybody thinks. I only see the winners.
You don't see the guys when they struggle and down there. day.
And I like to walk the talk with you, and I walk the road with you,

(50:34):
the suffering, the pain.
I mean, just the other day I had a student, he played badly the first round.
We went through the entire kind of mental process through the fear factors he had.
He feared he was scared of playing not good, and he tried to steer it.
The moment he played off decent, he tried to steer it and to protect it.
You know, all this, I'm not going to try to get you. But that was an hour and

(50:55):
a half just going through this detail. and it comes down to his fear.
He tried to not disappoint his parents and he doesn't want to do this.
And then he tried too hard and he put himself under pressure.
These things is what you have to share with your knowledge with these guys.
And fortunately, I've been there. Luckily, I can talk the talk because I've

(51:16):
been on tour. I've seen how the best players perform and when they struggle.
I was with people, myself, I'm
probably the best student of understanding how it
works because I fail a lot and you know
I didn't get to play and win a major but I
got a better record than Tiger in the majors I played in three majors
and I made all three cuts which is he doesn't have 100% record making cuts but

(51:40):
well it's a claim for fame my side but I mean you know this is the stuff you
know we as coaches have responsibilities and you know what it's it's so nice
to teach people people this.
And luckily, like I said, I was there. I know how it feels.
And the toughest thing I find as a coach is the communication skill of the communication

(52:04):
language I have to have to talk to them at the right time to marry their expectations,
marry where they are.
Because, you know, even the top coach the other day, our coach,
he won the World of Merit in Europe and and stuff.
He said, but you didn't tell me this.
I said, come on. Come on, James.

(52:26):
Oh, my word. Let me show you. I've got it. Yeah, I told you.
Yeah, but it wasn't the same.
I said, but at that given time, and he'd been playing this game for a living
for many years and successful,
which, you know, all of a sudden you've got to meet the person at the right
time for the right information so that it actually makes a difference to his
game to grow because you've got to be in sync with where he is at that given time.

(52:52):
And I think that's a tougher skill. to be
really good as a coach i would love to
but there's no there's no there's no course to do this
this is you learn that inner ability to
to understand other human on their
level but you also got to understand what he's going through or maybe he doesn't
know the knowledge how can you get this knowledge across to him to tell him

(53:14):
what's going to happen and then i know he's going to burn his fingers i says
you're going to touch that you're going to burn you know what a kid do he touched
it he burns it and he cries says why didn't you tell me i said i'll tell you
but you You didn't tell me the right way.
I didn't really, I didn't assume it that like that, which is this is the kind
of a difficultness we as coaches have to, to share with.

(53:35):
And I think that's probably a skill you only learn through time.
You know, if you read the book, what is this?
What is the book called now again? I don't know.
It's a mind book. I'll get in his name now.
And it says there so clearly, if you want to choose a coach,
you know, 10 to 1, you actually look at the older guy,

(53:58):
it will be better for you than the younger guy, which is nothing wrong with
the young, but purely because he's more wise.
And that makes a difference because the older bro, if he's been coaching for
many years and play on tour, that's important thing. you know that this guy
has been in the game and he's still in the game for a long time,
which he must know something.
And through that, you develop your skill.

(54:21):
And luckily for me, I played professional golf until I was over 50 years old,
but I was coaching on tour.
I coached one given time on tour, on a sunshine tour.
I had 12 professionals I coached while I'm teeing off myself,
which I run for one to the other one.
Then I only get enough time to hit for my own balls. then I run jump on the

(54:41):
golf course and when I finish I help again in between which is obviously that
didn't last for long but my passion always was coaching and I coached for many
years even while I was playing on Asian Tour a lot of guys called me coach coach
Hendrik you know and because I was.
Before I get to the end of the range I coached three or four people that asked
me advice which is that was always part of my passion to teach my mom was a

(55:05):
teacher my other sister is a teacher you know it's all in the family So many
of our listeners are probably wondering how they can become a student of yours.
So talk to us about if someone from the United States or some other country
wants to become your student, what is the best way for them to go about doing that?

(55:29):
Well they can just they can
start look up my name or they can go to bdga
golf academy or bdga and
i will find the academy or my name or surname and i bet you they will get to
me and contact me my telephone number is there my email is to address is there
send me a message on the website or contact me direct on whatsapp i mean i'm

(55:53):
open for everybody uh you know just Nobody is less or more important.
If you want to be getting your game to a next level, there's space for everybody.
What the beauty about the online and internet is, I can actually,
the right word is probably monetize my time better in a way of I can coach and

(56:16):
give you a great value in 10 minutes or one video because I have made so many
great videos through the years.
If I see you've got a problem with, for instance...
Let's use it, your tempo, your strike. And I can see you battle to strike the ball.
Well, I'll send you some great videos and skills and techniques and drills,

(56:37):
whatever you want to call them, how to actually doing this, which I don't have
to spend an hour, half an hour to sit with you in person to tell you.
I'll get you to study first, understanding this. Then you send me a video again,
and then I'll send it back to you.
And it says, this is better. Your head is better.
I mean, I got a beautiful video. One of my famous videos I made is about an

(56:59):
eagle who's hovering like this, and the whole body is going backwards,
but the head is dead still.
I mean, and it's a long zoom camera, and that bird's eyes is not getting off
the prey, prior down the bottom of their mouth or whatever it is.
Unbelievable, you know? And then I said, this is how still you've got to keep your eyes.

(57:21):
Eyes are so important because that gives you a perception where lines is and everything.
Everything that is what you have to do and then i start
you know with top players in it and whatever oh my
word it's just you know a lot of times i'm watching these videos again
i says oh my word this is great i must keep a remember it
again because you forget about all these great videos you do and then you send
it to him it's it's like i have a library of of youtube videos but it's all

(57:45):
100% directed of the system i'm using to help you to come better and i think
it's you know i'm selecting selecting the videos for you,
if I can call it that way, to do what you have to.
And then, you know, it's for me easy to help. And then anytime,
if you don't get it, you know, send me email, WhatsApp, you can call me even

(58:06):
on my WhatsApp number, it's no problem. And I will get back to you.
And so, you know, 99.9% of the golfers in this planet have not played at a level
which you've experienced and you've coached at that level as well.
So for someone who's a 10 handicap,
you know, maybe middle-aged struggling to get his game, his or her game better.

(58:28):
You are within reach through that BDGA Golf Academy, which is on. Absolutely.
Absolutely. You know, the recipe for a 10 handicap to become a six or five or
single handicap, it's exactly the same.
You know, it's, you know, I'm not going to give you, you know,
you said, oh, I can't get in this position.

(58:49):
Now, I don't want you to get in that position. i'm going to get you just
closer towards a position where you can
control the club phase better that's all i'm going to do and you
know which is the recipe stay the same a matter of fact it's it's it's probably
but much tougher to coach a higher golfer to become good because it's so important

(59:11):
to understand how to help him because you can help him technical and that's
not going to to help him to get better,
which you've got to really been understanding the person's needs and extend
exactly what is his shortfalls and how he wants to do it.
Because you've got to meet him at his expectations to achieve this the quickest way for him.

(59:35):
He might not have time to practice. I'm going to give him a lot
of exercise at home just before he sleeps or
early in the morning just do these tempo swings and
work on this and this is the drills you're doing it don't have to
go hit the balls you don't need to you don't need to go and hit
millions of balls please don't there's a lot of ways
to do this and and my biggest always claim

(59:57):
for fame my swing is if you don't get better you know i'll give you your money
back i mean there's no way i cannot help you and you're not getting better but
you just got a guarantee you're going to do this exercise these drills and these
things if you just do this and bet me you did this and you don't get better
i'll I'll give you your money back because I know it's going to work.
You know, it's a, it's, it's, it's one of those things.

(01:00:17):
I've got to guarantee that because otherwise I'm not in the right game because
I also got to guarantee my work.
And that's sometimes I feel a lot of people must be more so they can guarantee
and not experiment. And then it's a little bit different, you know.
It's like playing a roulette or you're playing blackjack and you play with somebody else's money.
It's so easy to make whatever decisions, but put your own money in there,

(01:00:39):
it's a little different, which is, you know, back yourself a little bit, yeah.
Yeah, yeah. And, you know, golf is an expensive sport and instruction Construction is also expensive.
And a lot of people, like the typical price in the US is more than $100 for a 45-minute lesson.
And a lot of people, that money part holds them back from getting better,

(01:01:03):
even though they end up spending a lot of money on clubs and new balls or what have you.
So it was quite intriguing. intriguing I really
like the subscription idea where you know
I have access to you whenever I need
it without taking another hundred dollars out of
my pocket to answer a question which only took

(01:01:24):
five minutes of your time but I
got a book that 45 minute lesson go to you pay the hundred
dollars for what was a five minute interaction but
if I have a subscription and I can get to you
anytime time with the right you know videos and
i have a system you have a plan and we work
together for three months six months a year and i can

(01:01:44):
see tangible results as a player as a student
i get so much more out of that the expenditure than just taking a one-off lesson
i mean i see that but has that been the barrier for a lot of people to come
to you that it's it's too expensive or Or are you just not good enough of a coach?

(01:02:05):
No, no, I'm not that expensive if you look at it compared to top coaches in
America, especially because in South Africa, we probably got some of the best
coaches here and playing opportunities, which is we're very spoiled in that way.
And people are not willing to pay a lot of money, which is we are comfort to
not being that expensive.

(01:02:26):
We really, really give good value. Just to give you an understanding,
I'm probably one of the most expensive coaches in South Africa,
but I'm probably, let me tell you, I'm kind of not even half expensive to your
average coach because you say $100.
I mean, in my terms, my top, let me tell you exactly how much it is,

(01:02:47):
I'm charging $65 for an hour in person.
And my online coaching is probably, what is that? It all depends. It's double that.
I'm charging $117 around there. No, no, $130.
Sorry, it's up now. $130 for a whole month coaching.

(01:03:09):
I mean, you go to any coach in America, you go for half an hour or whatever it is for that price.
I coach you the whole month, which is not coming down to five minutes.
I mean, I'm going to give you a five-minute lesson today and tomorrow again
and again and again, which is like you don't eat once a month food and then next month again.

(01:03:32):
You eat every day three meals a day or twice a meal or at least once for 30 days,
ways which is this is how i'm coaching you the same
idea you know you get a little bit better every day
when you get a chance because you need to
ingrain it yourself you've got to practice it so
it becomes second nature i'm not going to go all the fancy words this is how

(01:03:52):
the brain likes to do things otherwise you wake up in the morning and you have
to learn everything your whole life no no the subconscious works like that you
need to repeat things over over time sleep on it your Your brain thinks about
it, then you remember it, and then it moves on.
That is the process of improving and learning, which is at no point you're just
coaching for one lesson for an hour.

(01:04:13):
Or rather taking five-minute lessons as an hour and a half or whatever it might be.
You can't take all that information in. It's just not practical.
So for our listeners out there, we will have links to Hendrik's academy and

(01:04:34):
his online site in the description of the podcast.
So if you like what you hear from Hendrik, you can certainly click on it and
get to Hendrik, speak with him. As you can see, he has a wealth of knowledge.
He's been gracious to give us over an hour of his time.
And as we wrap up and get to the end of the conversation, Hendrik,
I just wanted to ask you about your interactions with Ernie Els,

(01:04:58):
Louis Oosthuizen, Charles Schwartzel, who you coached right before his Masters win.
Can you give us some anecdotes, some interesting tidbits from your interactions
with these players? Sure.
Yeah, you know, you talk about Ernie. I mean, I was a competitor.
I played against him. I was his competitor.
And I never coached him in person for whatever reason.

(01:05:20):
But we were friends and played against each other and know him well.
Yes, I did coach Louis West Asian and help him. I worked on his mental profile just before.
I didn't do a lot, but I went through his kind of a mental profile just before he won the British Open.
Open it's still he's still my best mental profile
what i have from all my students or top students

(01:05:41):
you know work with charles just before he phoned me up and says he struggled
actually i injured myself for one year i couldn't play golf my wrist and he
phoned me up and because i coached him when he was young up and coming guy and
he says oh come help me i couldn't play golf but you know You know,
battler, got to snap hooks and whatever.
And then got him into job work open, you know, and that time helped him.

(01:06:05):
Now I know it's very important just to give him his confidence back,
work on very critical things, you know.
You don't change his golf swing. You just make him good. I know his golf swing because as a kid.
And then I helped him winning that. And then a month later, whatever,
he went, go and same thing, go win a Masters.
But, yeah, then Louis, I can tell you a beautiful story about Louis.
You know, Louis and Charles was there with my house and they come,

(01:06:29):
the young top amateurs and stuff like this, and they stay there in my place
and I help Charles and whatever.
And I've got a golf day and these guys says, please get somebody who can hit
on this one par three because, you know, we need a pro or a good player.
I said, I don't have a pro yet, but I've got a top amateur here.
And I asked Charles, I said, let Louis do it, let Louis do it.

(01:06:51):
And Luistad the whole afternoon hit balls to the par 3 and the 17th at Reimsdorf
golf course and they have a golf day and they can choose his club and whatever
he died on I remember that and he said we come there later he says how you doing
whatever and you know what,
I charge, I say, I'll pay you 500 rand. Now, 500 rand, let me just give you
an understanding in dollars terms is, oh, man, that's $5.

(01:07:20):
No, $50. No, it's not even, it's $25, exact. It's like $25, $25, $28.
$28 for an afternoon and he did it. Can you think I can get him for afternoon
to stand on the road for $28?
That's a beautiful story anyway yeah and you know I coach a lot of other European

(01:07:43):
winners you know I don't want to drop too many names but it's all on my website
and yeah just you know you learn so much from every one of them how they're
doing got great stories from Charles,
and all these guys you know it's it's beautiful it's probably you know what
the fun I had be part of top players and probably my close friends on tour was probably,

(01:08:08):
you know, we're playing for a couple of bucks every time, practice rounds and stuff like that.
You know, it's the memories I probably, yeah, the wins were great.
But that kind of close friendship with really top players, we all have one thing
in mind to be as good as we can.
That just that, can I say, that winning mindset, that competitive mindset,

(01:08:31):
everything you want to win everybody, you know it's it's something special
it's probably what i miss the most is that competitive friendship of
of my professional peers i mean that's special so
as we close i wanted to touch upon your
1994 wild coast classic win where you were coming out stretch and ernie hills

(01:08:51):
was that was a year before he won the u.s open so he was already a top player
at that time oh yes yeah so So talk to us about that moment in time when you were playing,
trying to close out the tournament with some great players right behind you,
breathing down your neck.
What were the feelings and emotions you had? How did you manage those?

(01:09:13):
Well, I can, you know, you can remember these things clearly.
You know, one thing I think top players always remember these things very well.
And it's very associated with emotions. And it is a special emotions.
It's not like, you know, cry emotions. It's emotions of what you're doing.
And I remember all the shots I played in the last round.
I can actually go through and probably try to explain to you in detail every shot.

(01:09:38):
I mean, you know, how long that's going to take. But it was special.
You know he was there chasing me and the
wind was pumping i mean one of those days the wind was blowing
so hard i was the only person to play on
the path for the day just to give you indication how when
the wind was blowing but anyway he was close to me and at the 16th he hit it

(01:09:59):
in the water and i'll make birdie or something like that and it was kind of
all over but and there was a hell of a relief coming up the last and anyway
won that and then the next That was the end of the year,
and the first tournament the next year was playing at George at Fancourt,
a very famous kind of a resort there,
and still is one of the best in the country.

(01:10:21):
Beautiful weather, lovely place, and I have an academy there as well.
And this time, I was at the last hole, and I'm on a downslope,
par 5, and I can go for a downslope cut on the green, and I was two behind him playing that hole.
And I decide, no, it's kind of a, it's, it's, it's no one. I just laid it up,

(01:10:45):
you know, think back about it. Did I make a right decision?
Yes, because he had a beautiful eight iron for his second. He was,
you know, Ernie was always long and straight and he biddied that anyway.
Or I biddied it also and there was no difference or whatever.
But anyway, I can remember that clearly when Denny beat me and he says, oh, I'll beat you now.
Well, anyway, we never say anything about Ernie. He was just,

(01:11:06):
what a fantastic ambassador we have.
And we salute him and thanks for what he did for us as golfers and professionals.
So Hendrik, the joy and the love for the game comes through with every word you speak.
You know, I can sense it. I think the listeners can sense it.
The joy, the respect you have for the game.
It's been a privilege to have you on the podcast.

(01:11:29):
I'll let you have the last word as we part to the millions of golfers out there.
What do you have to say in parting?
Well, you know, I will say this. This is very simple.
You want to play golf to enjoy it. And the simple way how to enjoy it is playing better golf.

(01:11:49):
And to play better golf is you've got to get a little bit more knowledge about
yourself and understand the fundamentals, what it's like, how to play better golf.
And if you have that mindset of understanding and not trying to look for a quick fix,
rather understanding how it works, like give a man a fishing rod,

(01:12:13):
Don't give him a fish so they can fish for life,
which is have a philosophy of learning from your coach or from somebody so that
you can be better forever, not just for one tip here or tip there.
They're trying to understand how to play better golf.
And that's so deep from the mental side to the technical side.

(01:12:37):
See what you can do to be a better golfer, to have more fun and enjoy the game
with your fellow golfers.
That is wonderful. I think that phrase you just used, better forever,
with Coach Hendrik Berman, it's been a privilege, sir. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Vikram. I appreciate that. Thanks for having me.