Golf Talk Live - Season 13 Episode 11 | May 22nd, 2025 - Golf Talk Live

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
The following broadcast is brought to you by the I
Golf Sports Network. Golf Talk Live is sponsored by the
I Golf Sports Network and Golf Tips Magazine. Here's Andrew
to tell you more about our sponsors. I Golf Sports
is a live stream broadcast and media production company providing
quality programming designed to attract the golfing enthusiast and Golf Tips,

(00:32):
the game's most in depth instruction magazine, including reviews on
the latest equipment, tips from top teaching professionals, all designed
to help you improve from tee to green. Welcome to
Golf Talk Live with your host Ted Oto Rico. Join
Ted each week as he speaks with some of the
best in golf. This week's special guest will join us

(00:52):
a bit later. But first up is another great discussion
on Coach's Corner, So let's introduce tonight's Coaches Corner Panel.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
All right, good evening, everybody, and welcome to season thirteen
a Golf Talk Live.

Speaker 3 (01:08):
I'm your host, Ted ohto Rico. We've got a great
show for.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
You this evening, and be joined in just a moment
by a very good friend of mine, Alex Fisher, who's
going to be joining me as my guest panelist on
Coach's Corner, and then a little bit later on I'm
I'll be joined once again by golf fitness expert Bob
Foreman as he gives us a few more tips to
get us off on the right track this season when
it comes to our fitness, So we'll talk to him
a little bit later on the broadcast, and then finally

(01:31):
I'll be joined a little bit later still by my
very good featured guest, Justin Carlson. He's the vice president
of sales for the Indoor Golf Shop. He'll be joining
me on the second half of the broadcast, so you
want to make sure you stick around for that. Just
a quick reminder if you want to tune into the broadcast,
if you go to the I Golf Sports YouTube channel,
or you can also find it on Spotify under golf

(01:51):
Talk Live. And if you're interested in just the audio version,
you can go to spreaker dot com or wherever you
listen to podcasts. You can listen to the auto version there.
But if you go to YouTube dot com forward slash
at E golf Sports, all of the broadcasts video broadcasts
are uploaded there every week and there's always a new episode,
and or you can find it on Spotify dot com

(02:12):
and again spreaker dot com for.

Speaker 3 (02:14):
The audio version if you want to listen to that.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
But I'm going to tell you a little bit about
my first guest and then we'll get into our panel
discussion here on Coaches Corner. As I mentioned, his name
is Alex Fisher. He's originally from Nottingham, England. Alex and
his wife Mary settled into Arizona to continue his golfing
career here in the US. In twenty twelve, he was
recognized by Golf Digest as one of America's best young
teachers and a top forty under forty instructors, and in

(02:39):
twenty twenty he was made a top twenty five instructor
with Golf Tips magazine and a contributing editor. He's also
right now you'll find him as the director of instruction
at the Glacier Club in Durango, Colorado. That's where he's
going to spend from May through September of this year,
and then a little bit later on in the season
he'll be heading back down to the Juble JW excuse me,

(02:59):
ca anib'll bat Golf Club in Phoenix. Arizona and he'll
be there from October through April, so you want to
check them in both locations and we'll tell you how
you can reach out to Alex a little bit later
on in this segment. But Alex, welcome to Coach's Corner
and thank you for joining me tonight.

Speaker 4 (03:13):
Hey Ted, thanks for having me always.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
Always happen, And just a quick side note before we
get into discussion. As I mentioned, he's now part of
the Golf Tips Magazine instructional staff, if you will, and
he's been putting some great as I know most of
you who subscribe to the magazine over the last several
years have seen some of his great work, and he's
going to be doing even more great stuff by way
of videos and some other featured articles that are going

(03:36):
to be posted up on Golf tipsmag dot com. We'll
tell you a little bit more about that later on
as well. But Alex, I thought it would be a
great idea to just touch on a little bit about
you before we get into some specifics about the golf
game and swing and things like that, just to give
the audience being this is your first time on the
Coach's Corner segment of the show and just so people

(03:56):
have a better understanding of where you are and how
you got to where you are. So when you look
back over your career, and I think you had mentioned
to me once before that you've been teaching golf now
for I think over twenty years, is that right? Yeah,
so you've been You've been doing this for quite a while.
You got quite a few notches under your belt. Did
you ever imagine when you look back now, that this

(04:18):
is what you were going to be doing? Or was
this something that sort of just came at a at
a certain point in your life that you said, you know,
I might want to give this a try.

Speaker 3 (04:27):
What sort of brought you to where you are now?

Speaker 5 (04:30):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (04:30):
So, I mean I was very blessed to have some
great parents. They gave you every opportunity to be successful
in life. And I think it was always a dream
at the time end up in the US. I always
wanted to be here for some reason. So when I school,
this was trying by succeeds personally, just to start playing competitively.

(04:52):
I've been working in a golf stoppage at golf. I've
been getting along golf a long time, thinking like any
gud aspirations of playing a high level. And it was
as I got older and wise I realized that I was
a little bit.

Speaker 6 (05:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (05:07):
Yeah, I ended up doing I think golf professional Golf
Management program back at the day, it was a pretty
new program at the time. The chance to influence and
we'll take into the US just at a lovel the place.

(05:28):
This is where I wanted to do and feel very
very fortunate, fall at home and yeah, the golf industry,
golf in generals, be h. I get to get to
say that and I get to work every day. Look
at there's a job necessary. It's a great thing to
ought to do for a living.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
Yeah, it's I couldn't agree one hundred percent. And you know,
I think when you when you find something that you're
passionate about and you enjoy and I think, what what
a lot of golf professionals I'm sure you feel the
same way, is uh, you know, being able to teach
this game to others and helping them reach their potential,
whatever level it may be, is very satisfying. I think

(06:08):
as as a golf teach professional and when you get
to particularly your coaching players obviously of all levels, but
particularly when you start getting into some of the more
elite players, whether it be collegiate or even those that
are aspiring to be tour pros. That becomes even more
satisfying when you get to help them along in their
career and help them to reach and achieve some of
their goals. So I think that's fantastic. What do you

(06:31):
when it comes to teaching golf specifically, what do you
enjoy the most? And if there's one thing you could
change about how you teach, what might that be?

Speaker 4 (06:39):
Yeah, so I think I think you kind of touched
on it just then. It sounds cheesy and I think
can any instructure will say this, but just you know,
having having a positive effect on people in general and
making them better. You know, I can teach from eight
to ten Moss of the day in Scotts and that's
eight ten different clients, but ten different friends, and you
get to notice people on a personal level all as

(07:00):
well and in the part of their journey not just
for for golf, but in their life. So I feel
you're very blessed to have that. I have a pretty
botulate love buck of business to have americalan that I
work with that I'm definitely part of their part of
their journey, as I said, But for me, I'm constantly learning.

(07:22):
I'm trying to get better. I think you ever run
into an instructure of things. He knows everything. It's very
certain ways. I think it's very short sighted. So I know,
if not necessarily would say you change anything, that's well
obviously the learning and I'm singing, I mean, yeah, I
think it's important that you're better every day.

Speaker 6 (07:45):
My rat.

Speaker 4 (07:47):
I may have a female lady and teaching so made
this and if she struggled to get to her left side,
and you can explain it ten different ways, maybe we
do the eleventh ways. Ones come up with ways to
keep people and just continue to learn. Bunster.

Speaker 2 (08:07):
Yeah, it's always special too. You know, it's funny that
you say that because I know, working with a lot
of students over the years, there's always been that sort
of aha moment if you will, and you know they
might be out in the practice teap, you know, trying
to work through the process and just not things just
don't seem to be gelling, and then all of a
sudden they'll hit that one shot and everything just seems

(08:27):
to gel and go correct and it's like, Okay, I'll
see you next week kind of thing, and they're excited
to come back. And even though they've maybe struggled for
the first you know, thirty minutes of the lesson, all
of a sudden it sorts to click and they start
to understand what it is you're telling them. And there's
a lot of satisfaction, you know, as as a professional
like yourself, and I've done it for years as well,
and there's just nothing better, I think than being able

(08:51):
to see that expression on their face and just to
share in those moments and and and then.

Speaker 3 (08:56):
Just to be able to build off of that.

Speaker 2 (08:58):
So obviously we work with a lot of different people
you've worked with, as you said, many lessons every day,
and a lot of our amateurs we obviously see a
lot of mistakes and and things that they may not
be doing quite the way they need to be doing.
And obviously everybody is different. But what are some of
the more common ones that you've noticed over your career,
What are some of the sort of trending with with

(09:20):
the amateur golfers and and is there a specific way
that you like to address them? How do you how
do you work through that process when you identify some
of the issues that they're having.

Speaker 4 (09:29):
Yeah, I say, when when I look at the lessons,
and obviously a lot of flyers, Yeah, talking the ball,
pressing the ball, and so that's a it's a pretty
common theme. You so communicating things, there's different opinions to

(09:49):
fix those things. A lot of times you're trying to
kind of almost unwhyme frind uh bolts and other overthinking things.
A lot of times we'll get students that are kind
of do thunder the physically. Yeah, And so you know,
to me, the approach I take with other student is
almost like if I'm mentoring, for one, simplify things and

(10:13):
make them from instant well they're what they're doing in
the ball stay, then take ownerships. Also, I think it's
it's important, you know, we can point out what the
problem is. I think anybody can do that, but giving
them giving specific drills to fake that and specific feels
and mentioned fields earlier, but that's it's great to point

(10:33):
out what the problem is. That if you know what
the feeling is, that's.

Speaker 6 (10:40):
That I see.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
Yeah, And there's a lot of as you said, common
threads that you see out there. There's a lot of
obviously typically uh slices of the ball I mean, there
are you know, many of them, and you know there
are certain common elements that that you can identify that
usually isolate what the problem is. But again, when you're
working with so many different body types and things like that,

(11:03):
sometimes you know there's a few extra steps for this
person as opposed to maybe this person over here. So
you know it always and I think that's what makes
it interesting is there's always a you know, part of
the expression, but a mixed bag, if you will, of
what you get to deal with. So that kind of
makes it exciting as well. It's not always the same thing.
I mean, you might get three slicers in a row,
but each one can be uniquely different. Maybe maybe one

(11:24):
is more of a grip issue, maybe another one is posture,
and maybe or another one is a combination of two
or three things. And so you identifying it and then
you know, sort of problem solving it and trying to,
you know, then find the solution that's going to best,
you know.

Speaker 3 (11:39):
Be implemented for them.

Speaker 2 (11:40):
So I think it's always makes it interesting for what
we do as professionals, and I think that's what makes
it fun as well. So you touched on right at
the very beginning, you know about with with so much
changes that and technology is a big one. So there's
been a lot of you know, sort of an onset
of technology and available to not just the coaches, but
also the students out there with uh you know, uh,

(12:03):
you know, miniature launch monitors and things like that that
they can take with them to the golf course. Do
you find it harder to sort of balance how you
teach because you're not just you know, you're learning to
use the equipment. You're being trained on certain equipment that
you use, and some students may have their own equipment
that they're dealing with, you know, in a private session.

(12:24):
But are you finding it challenging at times because you're
trying to focus on certain things maybe they're getting caught
up in the numbers, you know, or something else. And
how do you find that balance? How do you balance
technology with what you're doing and learning and understanding as
a coach to what they're being exposed to maybe through

(12:45):
other online methods or coaching, or what they're you know,
that they're visually seeing on YouTube as an example, So
how do you find that balance and how do you
sort of marriage the two together?

Speaker 4 (12:55):
Yeah, I've been using a part of all and I
definitely did balance that when I got all that I
was actually get on Christmas morning with this really long
quality and start we're wearing you're twelve different strings and
they're looking at all different kinds of numbers and things
like that. You do the bop down as the numbers,

(13:15):
and I think it's your information is a good thing.
That's thing I've learned over the years to kind of
figure that a lot about the sense will use a
launchmoor morest people that really need need it. Yeah, I
think it's important to have a measure something that you
can see something is. But you know, now the consumers

(13:37):
can get these launch mounels themselves, to be honest, I
mean I've had five these these these users, but we
aren't fully understand to use them even there's fully different
is the revenue seeing m HM, even even some of
the best instructures around. So I think it's yeah, I
think it's important to use it when you feel like you.

Speaker 6 (13:59):
Need to do it.

Speaker 4 (14:01):
Even if I'm having my fee running, I may not
tell the studient everything that's every sense thing what their
numbers are. And it's just funny for me to kind
of identify where the busy problem there is are. But
to be honest, I mean you already got a wrong
with your and I I mean you can tell pretty
quickly by looking at somebody what if you is or
at least becoming as a teaching of the able to

(14:23):
develop that nack. Yeah, I think it's it's a good
thing to have. And you see what I know, the
ranges U the PGO and our p g A programs,
there's lap the numbers on a regular basis for the
average golfer. I think it could be careful. I think
it's it's important to me to the numbers. My most
your favorite numbers are based and all the things. You

(14:46):
can look at those three numbers and understand there looking
forward this numbers, I think you can tell a lot
about your golf swing and sometimes other numbers problems may
not be necessarily is important.

Speaker 2 (15:00):
Yeah, And you know there's a lot of there's a
lot of players out there, and I'm talking about amateur
players who and I remember speaking with another fellow pro
one time and he was saying what was really interesting
is he had a new student and the student, you know, insisted,
I want to get on the you know, the track
man or I want to get on this and I
want to see what my numbers are. And you know,

(15:21):
through the conversations, you know, how often do you play? Well,
I might play once a month or once every And
he said, what do you really care about the numbers?
I just like seeing what the numbers are. And you know,
like it's just because they they sometimes especially if they
can hit a decent ball, you know, they like to brag, well,
I you know, my smash factor was this, Or they're
bragging to their buddies and you know, so they're looking
for that edge, and you know a lot of times

(15:41):
again they get caught up in that. And I think
one of the dangers that I've found, and I think
you you touched on it quite well, is you have
to find a balance as a coach that you don't
get too caught up in the technology either because it
is exciting. It's, like you said, just like Christmas opening
a new gift and you're excited about testing it out.
But if you're relying solely on that technology to teach

(16:02):
your lessons and you're not being able to train yourself
to visually see it or hear it or whatever, you know,
approach you're taking. Then you run to the risk that
if that technology is not available, whether it's hours gone
out or what have you, then you're kind of stuck
because you've put all your eggs in one basket and

(16:22):
the students sitting there and it's like, well, we've got
to cancel the lesson today because you know, my track
man's not running or this isn't running. So you have
to find a balance as a coach, and I think
you can sometimes even though it's exciting. I think a
lot of coaches early on, we're spending so much of
their time going through the dynamics of how the equipment
worked with their student that the student just got overwhelmed

(16:46):
because they're not being trained on it as you are.
And so it's exciting to see the numbers, but they
don't need to know all the intricacy. So it's really
more of a tool for you to be able to
better understand what's going on, you know, below the surface.
At the same time, you have to be proficient enough
at what you do to not rely on that technology
one hundred percent of the time. So it's a good

(17:07):
balancing act. I think here's an interesting thing, and I
know that You've probably been been faced with this a
number of times over your career. You know, you've always
got that guy that shows up, you know a few
days before the club championship or some big event he's
excited about and uh, you know, whether it's a match player,
what have you, and he wants to, you know, to

(17:27):
get that last minute lesson and maybe you've got it.

Speaker 3 (17:29):
You're lucky if you get an hour with him, what
would you spend him?

Speaker 2 (17:33):
You know, what would you spend that time doing if
you had a guy comes in he says, Okay, this weekend,
you know, Alex, I've got a big event coming up
or maybe early next week.

Speaker 6 (17:41):
What can you do?

Speaker 3 (17:42):
How can you help my game?

Speaker 2 (17:43):
And what are you going to look at and what
are you going to try to help him with that's
going to give him the best opportunity to have some
fun obviously and and you know, get some good results
in that event.

Speaker 4 (17:53):
Yeah. So I think you know, the key is obviously
asking what's the questions and get that out the word
as quick as you can. From a full things point,
look for the low hanging fruit, what's the what's this
one thing that's going to have the biggest effect on
the sculf swing or his golf shots, and and really
trying to eliminate one mess. If you can eliminate one
side of the golf course, I think that's a that's

(18:14):
a key. So that's a broad look look out from
a full swing standpoint. But even if the full swing
is great and you go into a tournament, well, short
game is so key. I mean, if if we're looking
at about seventy for sevent of your shots being inside
of one hundred yards, there's so many things there that
we could look at if we can be a little
bit better at chipping and pitching, because that's going to

(18:34):
have a positive effect when it comes to your putting.
So there are there some games there as well. I
typically wouldn't get too deep into the weeds when it
comes to the full swing, just trying to kind of
clean up some basic, simpler things. But then we really
just try and kind of touch on some short game
and if any if you have the time, we may
go on golf course and play at least one hole,
and that way I can look to see how the

(18:55):
ideal you're in following situations. But also you know, just
the basic thing alignment. It's a losing how golf is
general struggle like head when it comes to alignment, they
could be threating it. Well, but the path looks great,
the face is great. But if they're eighteen fifteen years
rather their flag and I'm wondering what's going to the right,
you need to I that apply that to them pretty

(19:15):
quickly so that way you can keep an eye on
that as well.

Speaker 2 (19:19):
Yeah, and there's I think there's some basic things that
you can you can certainly do. Again, you have limited time,
even if you're at best situation. You get an hour
with them, certainly a lot of time to look at
some things. And obviously, as you said, ask a lot
of you know, probing questions to draw out of him
or her for that case, you know what it is
that they're they're struggling with. But I think you want

(19:39):
to give them the best opportunity for success, and really
the only way to do that is to look at Okay,
really I look at two things. Is what's going to
give them the best opportunity to score and reduce the
likelihood of big numbers, and that's obviously in the short game.
And then the other thing, which I like you you
mentioned about taking them out if you can out in
the golf course for a hole, maybe even two, and

(20:02):
seeing how they manage themselves during a hole, you know
kind of get how's their course management. Are they just
standing up there and giving it a whack or are
they putting some thought into, you know, picking a target
out and going through their pre shot routine. It's amazing
how many you know players you see where you know,
they'll go through a nice pre shot routine off the
tee and they get in their next shot and they're

(20:22):
just standing over the ball and they're hitting it right away.
They're not going through that routine again. But if you
watch the pros on TV, every single shot they do,
they go through that same routine. And there's the reason
why they do that is they get themselves, their nerves
are settling down. They're you know, thinking about, okay, this
is what I'm this is my target, I'm getting lined up,
I'm going through my process and my routine as it were,

(20:42):
and I'm getting ready to hit the next shot. Where
you see with a lot of amateurs, it's it's very sketchy.
One minute, you know, their routine might be twenty seconds long.
The next minute it's a minute, and you know the
next minute, it might be five seconds and they're hitting
the ball and there's no consistency. So I think that's
great to get them out on the golf courses well
when you have a limited time and just see what
it is they're doing, how what process are they going

(21:04):
through as they navigate their way around that hole, and
maybe give them some guidance there as well.

Speaker 3 (21:10):
Would you would you agree with that?

Speaker 4 (21:11):
Yeah, totally. I think every lesson that I do, there's
one word that pops up every time, consistency. And everybody
wants to be consistent, but you have to have a
routine and execute that same routine over and over again.
It sounds boring that we need to try and make
ourselves a bit pooring golf are possible and do the
same routine over and over and over again. And it's
amazing when I take people out on the golf course.

(21:33):
If you do, say four or five holes, after the
third hole, that routine starts to kind of fall apart
a little bit. And that's a lot of times it's
because the student might be over reactionary towards a bad
shop and starts to kind of thimbling around and kind
of always try try and kind of bond aate things.
But yeah, I think, yeah that magic we're consistency really
were holes around having a solid routine.

Speaker 2 (21:55):
Yeah, I couldn't agree more. And even a post shot routine.
I mean a lot of people forget about that as well.
Sometimes you need to, you know, kind of do a
post shot routine and evaluate what's going on. You don't
want to dwell on things, but you want to evaluate, Okay,
did I execute the shot I wanted and if not,
if it's something that needs to be work on, let's
put that in the you know, the old file manager,
if you will, and we'll deal with that, you know,

(22:16):
next time I'm with my coach or a little bit
after the round or something like that. But so you
want to kind of do a very quick post round
as you're maybe walking to your next shot or to
the next hole. So I think that's just as important
as well, is that you you sort of evaluate where
things are without again getting too far in the weeds.

Speaker 5 (22:33):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (22:34):
Here here's something to Alex that I think you know,
as a coach, you're you're going to be faced with
and that is and and it doesn't matter even if
it's a you know, maybe somebody that's just been playing
for a short period of time or some of our
more season players that have been playing for you a
few years.

Speaker 6 (22:49):
They tend to.

Speaker 2 (22:50):
Develop a lot of bad habits with their golf swing.
And I mean there's a million of them. But do
you focus on making an overall change. I mean, obviously
you're going to go through an Assessment're gonna look at
the whole picture, and or do you just sort of
eliminate the worst of them up front. Let's sort of,
you know, we've identified say three or four or even

(23:11):
five things. Let's deal with the worst of them first
and see how the others fall in line after if
it changes some of them. What's your procedure when you
see somebody that's got you know, that's got some bad habits.

Speaker 4 (23:21):
Yeah, So for me, I really want to start from
impact and work my way backwards. I think it's important
to get players into the right position of impact and
made them understand that they're not trying to return back
to the same position where they started the swing, and
making sure the weights on their front fop, making sure
that it's the clear and give them the chef leading
forward so we can start to compress the ball better

(23:42):
and then really work the way back from from that.
So whether it is a player that's coming here on
the top for if it's a player but it's flipping
and scooping or just not betrayer of the clip face,
if you can get them working on small swings first
and get them compressing, that's a that's a great foundation
to stop from. I don't believe in band aid fixes
because we just don't work. You might get through a

(24:02):
round and it might stick for a little bit, but
it's not going to be there for the main one.
So uh, making sure make sure that we kind of
focus on impact and impact drills and then depending on
how the swing of bolves, working on other specific drills
as well, and making sure that they pally understand how.

Speaker 6 (24:18):
To do it.

Speaker 4 (24:19):
I'm I want people a little bit. People want to
get to the golf course, that their body is not
ready to swing a golf club. The golf swing is
not conducive to how the body moves. So I'll have
a student that may warm up at home and then
drive twenty minutes to the golf course and then needs
to warm up again, but it doesn't it doesn't last.
So we'll talk about how to prepare for a practicisationion

(24:42):
or for a round of golf and make sure that
their body is moving in the right order, the right way,
the right amount, and then from there get into the
specific drills that it may.

Speaker 6 (24:50):
Be working on.

Speaker 3 (24:51):
Yeah, a great point.

Speaker 2 (24:54):
So I wanted to ask you this because this is
something again that that often we get faced with, and
it is a motivation factor, you know, as coaches. And
I think if you if you're able to answer this
and and crack the code as it were, I think
you'll you'll just you know, become one of those coaches

(25:16):
in the stratosphere, because this is one that stumped.

Speaker 6 (25:18):
A lot of them.

Speaker 2 (25:18):
But you know, we work with students, however, whether it's
a thirty minute or an hour lesson or what have you,
or a series of lessons, and they're just not following through.
And again some of it we understand, there's time commitments
and things like that, but they're just not really following
through in between each session. So maybe you're you're let's
say you're dealing with somebody today out in the in

(25:40):
the golf course, and you're going to see them next
week or the week after, and you've given them kind
of an assignment, say Okay, you know, Bob, I want
you to do this over the next you know, week
or two before we get back together again, and then
we'll you know, review it quickly when you come back
and then we'll get into the next phase it or
or you know, make some further adjustments. But one of
the one of the things, as I said it, it's

(26:00):
sometimes hard to do that. Have you found the secret
sauce to motivate players to do that? Because you know
what I'm talking about, it's just some players, I mean
that are really serious about their game will do that.
But there's a lot to what do you do to
motivate players like that and get them excited about doing that?
And as opposed to saying, well, this is a homework
assignment that I'm being given. I'm never liked homework at school,

(26:21):
so I don't want to do this. But you know
what I'm saying, I mean, time is different. I understand
people have a lot of other family commitments in that,
but what do you do do you find ways to
motivate people to want to engage when they're away from
the lesson tea with you?

Speaker 4 (26:34):
Well? Yeah, well, I think the cheesy term is. I
think it's a goal without a plan is a dream.
And so I mean having coming goals set and realistic
goals as well. I mean if I have somebody that
says to me, I want to draw my score by
ten strokes, and depending on where their handicap is, that
can be pretty easy to do if you're a ninety

(26:54):
shooter down to an eaty shooter. But mapping out the plan, yeah,
what is a journey to be to take off those
ten strokes? It's great to have that goal and wanted
to know you schools, but having a common kind of
plan put together with the student of how we're going
to do that. Can we movele away some putting here
and chipping there, and can we start in some fairways

(27:15):
work more consistently. I think that's that's an important thing.
And make sure that you're both on the same page
when it comes to that. But to me, as you said,
you know, everybody's busy, everybody's golf is supposed to be fun.
And yeah, sometimes people say goals that they're just not

(27:37):
realistic unless the're about to retire the time to do
it well, saving a couple of weeks downward, and we'll
talk about her, what do you do for the last
two is like, you know, I thought about going to
the driveway, said refer to, but they didn't go and

(27:58):
very responsible for that. When you're talking about okay, this
is this is what you're all you will have to
figure out a way, whether if it's got or it's
getting chipping in the backyard, something that you can do.
You don't have to be at the driving range to
get what are the things you can do? I think
that's that's a good thing to do that on the

(28:20):
same page you want to go I think I think
that's a really important thing.

Speaker 2 (28:25):
Yeah, I couldn't agree more. And I think finally, you know,
when it when it comes to working with news students,
I think it's important as as a coach or instructor
that you really have that conversation up front to identify
what their goals are and and do that assessment. So
it's not just a matter of seeing where they are
physically in their game, but just saying, Okay, what is

(28:45):
it you want to get out of this or are
you just looking to you know, is a distance that
you're after? Is it a better, you know, more consistent
game overall, or are you just wanting to make it
so that you can have more fun because there's.

Speaker 3 (28:58):
A lot of people that struggle out there, for sure.

Speaker 2 (28:59):
So I'll ex just want to as we get ready
to wrap up here, I just wanted to ask you,
you know, one of the things that you know, as
I know you're familiar with the National Golf Foundation, you know,
one of the things that's always sort of puzzling is
there's so many golfers. They say, according to their statistics,
about fifty percent of all golfers still struggle to break
a hundred. And I'm curious to get your thoughts and

(29:20):
why you think that is, because, I mean, with so
much technology and so much great instruction out there, you know,
why are we still seem to have a tough time
for a lot of golfers out there trying to get
those numbers done.

Speaker 3 (29:31):
What do you think is causing that or what is
it like?

Speaker 7 (29:34):
To me, that's a pretty simple thing to answer there.
It's anally human natures of want to practice the things
you really enjoy. And you know you mentioned about the
golf courses being in better condition and more instruction out there,
which is good and bad because you can get complicting
messages but even equipment now, if you believe in the manufacturers, yeah,
equipment goes further now, but golfers aren't getting better, and

(29:55):
it's just because of their practice tendencies. You tend to
want to practice the things they really enjoy. If looked
into a golf bag, I guarantee the golf club is
going to be the most dirtiest with the shiny st
grip is going to be a seven nine. And when
you think about it realistically, how many times are you
going to hit a seven nine in a round? So
that I'm working with a student that wants to break
a hundred, it sounds kind of cocky on my apartment.

(30:15):
It really isn't that difficult to do if you follow
kind of a very simple system of get on a
par three and two and two part part four, get
on the green in three and two part and part five,
get on the green and four and two part and
take that logical approach, you start to you know, the
student starts to see the progress happen really quickly, and
you know, really to do that, you need to have
one club that you can tee off with. Well it

(30:37):
doesn't have to be a driver, but it's a bonus
if you if you can hit some fairway with or
a driver of sorts, you need one club that you
can get off the ground without a tea in the
middle of the fairway and then kind of have a
really you know, reasonable short game. You know, through chipping
and pitching, your putting is going to improve dramatically. So
I think just taking a logical approach and understanding that,

(30:59):
you know, if you have a little bit of a
structure behind how you practice, and you practice the things
don't necessarily enjoy, you'll see your scales improved quickly.

Speaker 2 (31:07):
Yeah, I couldn't agree more. Well, I want to thank
you first off, Alex for joining me tonight in Coaches Corner.
It's been a pleasure having you on here. And this
was your first panel discussion that you had with me,
and I always look forward to that and I look
forward to having you come back again. But for those
viewers that are going to be tuning into the show
and if they want to reach out to you, and
whether they're going to be in the Colorado area or

(31:30):
right now until a little bit later through the season,
and then you're going to be heading back down to
Camelback in Arizona in the fall. So how can they
reach you or if they want to just get in
touch with you online, what's the best way to contact you?

Speaker 7 (31:44):
Yeah, well, so thank you again for having me and
being easy on me.

Speaker 5 (31:48):
But I really do appreciate that.

Speaker 7 (31:50):
Best way to get hold of me is going to
be through my website, which is ALEXFOSUREPGA dot com. There's
a contact form on there that you can click and
to submit to me.

Speaker 3 (31:59):
Sounds good, and don't forget for those.

Speaker 2 (32:02):
As I mentioned earlier at the top of the show,
if you want to see more of Alex's great work,
you want to go visit Golf tipsmag dot com. You're
going to see a lot more of his uh knowing
articles that he's written, but tips and and also some
great videos that are gonna be coming up, so you
want to check those out as well.

Speaker 3 (32:18):
Go to Golf tipsmag dot com.

Speaker 2 (32:20):
But I'm going to take a quick commercial break, and
when I come back, I'm going to be joined by
this evenings UH fitness guest Bob Forman is gonna be
talking about some of the ways that we can get
you into shape for this season, both physically and UH
and mentally as well.

Speaker 3 (32:32):
We'll talk a little bit about that, but I'll be
right back.

Speaker 2 (33:20):
Welcome back, everybody, and I'm excited now to bring on
my next guest, Certified golf fitness professional Bob Foreman. Let
me tell you a little bit about him and then
we'll get going into our fitness segment. He's the former
director of Fitness and Wellness for the Congressional Country Club
in Bethesda, Maryland. He's internationally known as a leader in

(33:40):
the field of golf fitness and his programs have been
recognized multiple years from twenty one to twenty twenty three
by the Golf Fitness Association of America. And he ohs
excuse me, holds a Master of Science degree in Exercise
Physiology and as a certified golf Fitness instructor through TPI
or Titlist Performance Institute, and he's the thirtified personal trainer

(34:00):
through the American College of Sports Medicine. Bob, welcome back.
We're going to cover a lot of stuff tonight, or
a few things this week, and then we'll get to
pick up on the next episode as well some of
the other stuff. But this is going to be fitness
must have for a better golf swing. Everybody wants a
better golf swing. But we've got to get ourselves in shape.

(34:21):
And now that we're getting into our warmer season and
a lot of golfers out there are able to get
out and start swinging a golf club, we want to
make sure they're in tiptop state before they do so,
So let's talk about the first point we're going to
get to. We're going to get through a few of these,
won't get through them all tonight, but we'll pick it
up on the next show.

Speaker 6 (34:41):
So we want to find balance between our test and
upper body muscle and have sort of what you call
a neutral fine at address angle. So give us an
explanation of what exactly does that mean for those that
are not certified golf fitness professionals.

Speaker 5 (34:58):
Yeah, well, this is kind of an epid I think
these days in golf is what's called the sea posture.

Speaker 6 (35:03):
You know, it's a.

Speaker 5 (35:04):
Boeing of the spine at address when the golfer standing
over the ball. And it's more prevalent today because of
the technology computers, handheld games. Every dentist I work with
pretty much has sea posture because of the position that
the body is placed in most of the day and

(35:25):
the body will adapt to that position. And when you're
hunched over a computer or a patient, you know, you're
kind of rounded in the shoulders. So what happens is
you shorten or tighten these muscles across the front part
of the chest and you elongate and you weaken the
muscles in the upper back called the rumboids, so the

(35:45):
shoulder blades tend to flare out and allows that rounding
of the shoulder and the golf swing, like I say,
it shows up as the sea posture, which is not
a good thing because it will limit your backswings, so
it may detract from distance that you would like to
see in your golf shots. They can't also cause things

(36:06):
like the golfer going into what's called a reverse spine
where their spine angle is now leaning back towards the
target versus staying away from the target, and that just
doesn't set the golfer up well to initiate the downswing
in the proper sequence. So a lot of things can
go wrong with you know, this imbalance that is very

(36:27):
prevalent today and we talked about it over the past
few weeks. You know, exercises that you can do basically,
you know, you want to stretch the tightness. So you
want to get into an exercise that will stretch the
muscles across the front part of the chest and shoulders.
Then you want to strengthen those rumboids in the upper back.
So yeah, very prevalent and like I say, easy to fix.

(36:50):
A lot of golfers don't realize they have this posture
unless it's pointed out to them, and you know, it's
something where they can work with their pros or work
with their golf with as professionals to help them correct them.

Speaker 2 (37:04):
And let me just point out too, because this is
something that I think typically in the past was more
prevalent with some of our older or more senior golfers.
But now you're seeing it even in the younger golfers
because of things like computers and and you know, you
have cell phones and and you know, all kinds of
other things that they're they're doing.

Speaker 6 (37:24):
But is that not the case.

Speaker 2 (37:25):
I mean, it was typically something that you know, as
we get older, I mean, our posture just naturally, you know,
we're we're not as physically after in some cases, and
and and you know, so that was something that you
saw a lot more of in our older golfers. But
now you're seeing it even in you know, I see
twenty thirty year olds out in the tea and you know,

(37:45):
the lesson tea and they're slumped over, or see them
you know at their you know, at the mall and
they're slumped over looking at their phones all day long.
And so this is something you're seeing in the younger
generation now too, right.

Speaker 5 (37:56):
Yeah, I mean we got strong thumbs, you know, playing
those games, but yeah, but our postures are horrendous. I
mean it impacts your golf swing, but it can also
impact your health because as you're in that rounded shoulder pasture,
you're crowding out the chest cavity where the heart and
lungs are, so it can detract from their efficiency as well.

Speaker 2 (38:18):
Yeah, and you know, I know there's a lot of things.
We'll talk about that in a bit more detail at
another point, but I know there's a lot of exercise.

Speaker 6 (38:28):
That you can do. I know, you know, even just
you know, pulling back you know, your shoulders. Obviously there's
a correct way.

Speaker 2 (38:35):
To do it, but and just learning to sit up
with a more wrecked posture, if you will, and learning
to sit straight. You know, my mother, I remember when
I was a kid, you used to always say, you know,
sit with your shoulders back, don't you know, sit slumped
over at the dinner table or whatever. And you know, now,
I you know, at the time I thought, oh, you know,
here she goes. But now when I look back, she
was right. And here's another issue that I think a

(38:58):
lot of you know, golfer spaces, and that is their
hip flexers. You know, you talk about having flexibility there
and that helps to prevent a lot of swaying that
and that in that lower back that creates that sort
of s posture, which is something a little bit different.
So talk about what happens here and what typically some
of the problems might arise.

Speaker 5 (39:16):
Yeah, tight hip flexors in sway back in the lower
back tends to be more prevalent in women and in
younger golfers. And what happens when the hip flexers, which
are the muscles mainly thought of as in the front
part of the hip, the hip flexors actually start on
your spine, they come through the hip and they attach

(39:37):
to your thighs. But if you think about that as
being those muscles in the front part of your pip,
when they are tight, they're going to take that hip
bone and rotate it forward, so it'll have like an
anterior tilt of the pip. And what that does is
it takes that normal curve in the lower back and

(39:58):
enhances it. It makes it even more of a curve.
And that's what that swayback is. So it puts a
lot more pressure on the discs than normal and will
wear out the discs faster than normal. And plus you
combine that with the rotation now of the golf swing
and that's just a perfect storm for low back conditions.

(40:19):
Low back eight. You see a lot of unfortunately young
women golfers that have back issues. And the mechanism is
the tight hip flexers that create that muscle and balance
or they should say that misalignment in the spine. And
the reason why more women tend to have it is,
you know, heels. Heels will kind of change your center

(40:41):
of gravity so that you have to actually arch your
back a little bit more so that you don't fall
over on your face. Pregnancy will do that, hot belly,
beer belly will do that. So you know, there are
things that you can do, like again stretching the tightness.
You know, once you identify that your hip flexors are tight,

(41:02):
then you want to get into some exercises that will
help kind of stretch out those hip flexers and get
that hip back into a normal pust.

Speaker 6 (41:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (41:12):
Well then, and you know, while we're on the topic
of lower back injuries, I mean those are things that
are very common, specially in golf. I mean you're generating
a lot of clubhead feet. Yeah, and so hamprings play
a role. Having you know, flexible hampring.

Speaker 6 (41:28):
If they're not, can.

Speaker 2 (41:29):
Play a role in creating some back injury as well. So,
first off, where are ham springs and relate to our body?
And what are some of the issues that it causes
that that affects the lower body, the lower back.

Speaker 6 (41:40):
Brother.

Speaker 5 (41:41):
Yeah, where hip flexors tend to impact more women, hamstrings.
Tight hamstrings tend to impact more men. And the hamstrings
are the muscles in the back of your thigh. And
again they attached to the hip bone from underneath. And
if they're tight, what's going to happen is they'll take
the hip bone and they'll rotate the hit bone backwards.
All right, so you're going to get a postery or

(42:03):
tilt of the hip. Now, what that does is it
takes that normal curve in the lumbar spine. It will
actually straighten it out just a little bit, which you
think would be a good thing. But you don't want
to deviate from that normal curve in the lumbar spine
in the lower back. So if you increase it with
tight hip flexures or you decrease it with tight hamstrings,

(42:27):
either case, you're put more pressure on those discs in
between the vertebrae, and you're gonna wear those discs out fast.
And when you think about how many times you're bending
over to tee up the ball and take the ball
out of the hole, I mean, the ham strings should
allow that hip bone to rotate as you do bend over.
But at some point, tight ham strings are going to say, okay,

(42:50):
that's it. We're not letting you bend anymore. But I
got to reach another foot to get the ball. So
something's got to give, and that's usually going to be
your little back muscles. That's why again number one, you
know load back injuries. Number one is because a lot
of us are predisposed to load back injury and discomfort.

Speaker 6 (43:11):
Yeah, and and again another great point, and and you know, ideally,
and we talked about this a little earlier on in
one of our other segments that we've done early.

Speaker 2 (43:19):
In the season, and we talked about what is an
ideal amount of time to be spending each week exercising
and and I hate you, I hate to even use
the word exercise because everybody seems they hear that they own, God,
I got to do this, but really preparing, you know,
for success out in the golf course. And that's different
than a warm up because that's two different things. I mean,

(43:40):
we're talking about general exercising. Obviously that's going to be
more golf fitness, uh, you know, golf canduce it, and
then there's warming up before we we get out to
you know and play that round. So maybe we could
you know, what ideally amount of time is realistic that
you're going to not only see results, but you're going
to experience some noticeable changes with the body. How much

(44:03):
time per week and how much time in affection if
we're doing correctly, I.

Speaker 5 (44:07):
Mean, that's really dependent upon how tight you are. I mean,
the key is that you're doing it on a consistent
base of stretching that it is right. You know, the
thing with stretching and range of emotion flexibility is you
want to get symmetry back in the body right. You
want the left side to be as loose as the
right side. You want to be able to feel the

(44:29):
same degree of tightness reaching to your right as you
do reaching to your left. Most of us tend to
have a dominant side, a stronger side, a tighter side
based on lifestyle. You know, if you play sports growing up,
Golf itself will create these deficiencies in your body. But
you know having kids, carrying kids on one side of

(44:50):
the body all the time will strengthen that side of
the body more so than the other side. So things
that you do throughout your life are going to create
these muscle deficiencies and these imbalances in your body, which
leads to the misalignments, which leads to the aches and
the pains and the arth frightus and then you're getting
your knee replaced and you're here replace. So stretching on

(45:12):
a regular basis, I mean, if you can do it daily,
that would be fantastic, But you know, most days of
the week, if you can get into a nice and
it doesn't take a whole lot of time, I mean
fifteen minutes, ten to fifteen minutes every day, every other
day and really do wonders in terms of bringing back

(45:32):
that symmetry to the body so that you reduce potential
for injury and you enhance your playing performance.

Speaker 2 (45:40):
Yeah, and I think sometimes too, you know, and you
could certainly advise better. But you know, if if let's
say fifteen, you know, ten to fifteen minutes a day wouldn't.

Speaker 6 (45:54):
Even be worth it for some people that are really
time restrict and maybe just.

Speaker 2 (45:57):
Do let's do five, you know, six seven minutes right
now and then maybe later in the day do another
five or so, you know what I mean, when you've
got some free time, so you're splitting it up, so
you're you know, cause you can say, well, I'll get
fifteen minutes out this morning and I'm good for the
rest of the day. But you know, you're doing different
things throughout the course of the day that are going
to tight things back up again. So if you're maybe
doing five minutes in the morning when you're getting up
and loosening up and getting ready for the day, and

(46:19):
then maybe you know, do another five minutes part way
through the day, you know, later in the afternoon or
early evening or something like that, and other things, you know,
maybe going for a good walk, but just doing things
and keeping yourself active throughout the day and not just
sort of rushing to get something done. But everybody can
throw five minutes here and there a lot easier than
trying to, you know, fifteen to twenty minutes to do

(46:40):
some sort of a program. And that's where you know,
a lot of people fall into that trap. Is that
Is that a pretty good assessment?

Speaker 5 (46:46):
Yeah, I mean, the more of the barrier. Anytime you
get a chance to stretch. I mean there are times
during the day that you can just right a stretch. Yeah,
you don't have to necessarily group it all into one
time stand, but yeah, you know, that's the number one
thing that would improve a lot of people's golf game
is just to getting into a little bit of stretching

(47:08):
and being consistent with it. I see it time and
time again, because the number one thing that people need
when I put people through assessments is flexibility, range of motion.
They're all we're all tight, We're all tight.

Speaker 2 (47:21):
Yeah, and again you know, obviously as we get older,
things uh happen more naturally. But but there's things that
we can do to to you know, I mean you're
never going to be, you know, like you were in
your twenties, but you know, you can certainly improve things
dramatically by by keeping active and doing things. But again,
because you're you're wanting to be successful and playing golf,

(47:42):
you've got to make sure that these are exercises that
are going to be conducive. Flexibility, like you said, I mean,
you know, range of more motion is another one you
talked about, and that is, you know, trying to develop
an adequate range of motion, especially with uh, you know,
the mid back, the lats, if you will, and because
people need to have a good shoulder turn, you do
have a good sholder turn, and you create that sort
of torque if you will, between your lower and upper body,

(48:04):
you're gonna be able to generate a little more club
at speed. And there's a lot of people that can't
you know, can't separate the two and so they're not
able to generate any power. And everybody wants to hit
the ball farther. So that's another issue that people face
with is and again that's where the flexibility comes in,
is their lack of that.

Speaker 6 (48:20):
Is that correct?

Speaker 5 (48:22):
Yeah, definitely, most definitely, I mean, you know, like you said,
you know, the tightness will kind of lead to the
proper improper swing faults and stuff like that is going
to wreck your game. So do you take your time
and then and take the time to implement a little
bit of stretching throughout the day and throughout the week. Yeah,

(48:43):
it can make a, like I say, a huge difference
in your gob well.

Speaker 6 (48:47):
And also too, I think Bob is a lot of
players out there young and old because they're not doing
a lot of things like that, and they're not as
physically active as you know, maybe players in the past,
and I'm including obvious the poor players, they're tending to
make more mistakes, you know, because they're not able to

(49:09):
make good contact with the ball. They don't have the flexibility,
they don't have the body structure in order because you
know what people don't realize.

Speaker 2 (49:18):
I mean, you're, you know, the golf swing basically you're
looking at two seconds. I mean you're a second on
the way back and a second on the way through.
I mean that's pretty quick. And you know, if you're
tense and tight and and you know you've got a
death grip on the club. But because your your muscles
are so tense all the time, and you're not in
a good posture, you're not going to be able to
generate any speed, and you're not gonna be able to

(49:39):
get the distance. You're not going to make good contact,
and that creates a whole myriad of bad issues. And
what a lot of people do, and I think you
you've seen this in your career, is they start blaming
the swing mechanics. Well, you know, maybe my grip's not
good and that, and really the culprit might be is, hey,
you're just not in good shape, right.

Speaker 5 (49:57):
Right, right. I mean when TPI came out with all
this stuff back in two thousand and six, you know,
all the studies that they've done and continue to do.
I mean, there are such strong correlations between specific muscle
deficiencies and swing, specific swing falls that impact the efficiency
of the golf swing and distance, like you say, and

(50:20):
injury potential. So getting into a little stretching program done
on a regular basis can impact all three of those areas,
and you know you're on your way to a better game.

Speaker 2 (50:30):
Yeah, And I was just talking about you know, the
next point you had here is you know about that
X factor, And that's.

Speaker 6 (50:35):
Really what I was alluding to.

Speaker 2 (50:36):
Is having that that sort of uh, disassociate the upper
body from the lower body. I mean, I've seen a
lot of players at all levels or all age groups
rather in men and women that.

Speaker 6 (50:49):
Just don't do that.

Speaker 2 (50:50):
I mean that they're you know, there's almost no difference,
or they they end up, you know, in order to
get at the club, you know, up to the top,
they're swinging off to one side and in order to
do that, and then they've now got to sway back
to the other side just to make try to make contact,
and it just creates a whole myriad of problems and
a lot of the as you said, the culprit is

(51:10):
is not that the equipment's bad or that the you
know that the necessary the techniques bad, is that they
can't perform the golf swing in this proper context because
they're out of shape. They're not you know, they don't
have the flexibility.

Speaker 5 (51:23):
Yeah, and you know, and I always kind of use
the the what do you call it. Uh, It's like
if somebody buys a used car, right and they figured, okay,
let me put four new tires on this car, and
it's going to make a car run better, where really
it's the engine and in golf. You know, buying a
new driver or buying the greatest, greatest golf ball is

(51:44):
not going to really change all that much until you
fix the mechanism that's swinging the golf club and hit
that golf ball, and that's the body. So that's that
should be number one.

Speaker 6 (51:56):
Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I know we've got a
lot of other.

Speaker 2 (51:59):
Points, but we're getting close to winding down here in
a moment or two. But I wanted to give you
a few minutes now. I know you've got a great book,
and what I'm.

Speaker 6 (52:07):
Going to do is that I was going to put
the cover up here, but the image didn't come.

Speaker 2 (52:12):
Out as as sharp as I wanted. But I'm going
to have this put up on golf tipsmag dot com
this weekend, so I'll get a little cleaner copy if
I can, of the book jacket. And then I've got
the link at where they can where they can purchase it.
So we'll get that up on this weekend. It's a
time memorial weekend and just head a Father's Day for that.

Speaker 6 (52:31):
But maybe just tell us a little bit about the book,
what's in it, and the name of it. First off,
with the name of it and where they can get it.

Speaker 5 (52:38):
Yeah, the book's called Functional Golf Fitness Training. They can
get it on the book patch. Uh, and it kind
of gets into, uh, you know, all the stuff we're
talking about, the physicality of the golf sling. It can
take them through assessments that they can do on them
their own to determine where their deficiencies are. And then

(53:00):
I kind of demonstrate two or three exercises for each
deficiency that they can do to start to correct those
deficiencies and help their golf game. And there's a chap
there and there about why low back is so prevalent
with golfers. We talked about what we talked about, or
I talk about miles fascio release and massage which is

(53:21):
a big thing nowadays, which we can talk about, you know,
on one session. So it kind of gets into some
of the weeds with all that stuff. So, yeah, the
foot pats is where they can find perfect.

Speaker 2 (53:33):
As I said, we'll get that up on the website
and folpe can I'll make for people have the link
to be able to go and work because I think
it's a great idea and it's something you need, you know,
As I said, we're getting into the early part of
the season. Some folks forking enough to be in the
southeast and even southwest are able to you know, play
pretty much all year round. But some of the golfers

(53:55):
up in the northeast are still experiencing some cooler temperatures.
My previous guest is up in Colorado and they're still
got a little bit of snow up there. So not
saying that out there planned, but there's still a little
bit of snow on the ground, and so they still
got a little ways to go. So now's a good
time to get out there and start working and getting
I mean, you really should have been doing it through
the winter months, but you know, it's never too late
to get out there and start doing things.

Speaker 6 (54:15):
So that's a great way to do it with with
Bob's book.

Speaker 2 (54:17):
So but Bob, I want to want to thank you
as always, I look forward to having come back in
a couple of weeks. We'll pick up where we left off.
I know there's a lot of other good points as well,
but I appreciate that. I think it's important for us to,
you know, as I said, as a teacher professional, you know,
it's always nice to you know, to be able to
talk about the golf swing and things like that. But
I think this is an equally if not more important

(54:38):
aspect that gets overlooked a lot.

Speaker 6 (54:40):
Affix to Bay amateurs. The pros. I mean, they've got
their you know, their workout trailers and that with them
on tour. And they've got you know, personal you know,
uh instructors and things like that that they can help
fitness instructors that they can work with and get them
in faith. But the average golfer out there doesn't sometimes
know what to do, and so hopefully we can help
them a little bit this season. But I appreciate you

(55:00):
coming on.

Speaker 5 (55:02):
Yeah, and they can also go to the website, you know,
golf Fit Carolina just one F and one T g
O l F I T Carolina dot com. I've got
articles on there, I've got some videos on there, so
there's a lot of good resources there for them to
check it out.

Speaker 6 (55:20):
Sounds good golf there, golf Fit Carolina dot com and uh,
and I think your book is on there as well,
so they can actually, is it not. I believe they
can do that as well. So it is on there,
But as I said, I'll have it up on Golf
tpsmag for this weekend for sure, so you can check
that out there as well. But Bob, thank you very much.

Speaker 2 (55:36):
As always, Hang Pie, I'm going to take another quick
commercial break and when I come back, I'll be speaking
with tonight's feature guests, so I'll hope you stick around.

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Speaker 6 (56:13):
Welcome back, everybody. I'm excited to introduce tonight's Speak your guests.
Let me tell you a little bit about him, and
then we'll get into tonight's interesting dialogue with the vice
president of Sales of the Indoor Golf Shop, Justin Carlson.
Let me tell you a little bit about him. He's
a highly accomplished executive leader with a deep knowledge of
all sales and marketing processes, operations, all sales exec at

(56:35):
top golf technology companies. He has a proven back record
of developing existing relationships and cultivating new business partnerships. Carlson,
who earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Illinois State University,
is experience in collaborating with cross functional teams to develop
and launch new products to current and perspective markets. And
he's currently at the Indoor Golf Shop, and I'm going

(56:57):
to let him tell a little bit about them. But
Carl's sorry, Dustin, welcome to the show.

Speaker 9 (57:02):
Thanks. That was a heck of an intro too.

Speaker 6 (57:04):
I love it so.

Speaker 1 (57:07):
Well.

Speaker 6 (57:07):
I don't know all that I could have done better,
but not bad for a first time. But welcome to
the show. I precint coming on tonight and spending some
time with my audience. So tell us a little bit
about the Indoor Golf Shop. But people are not familiar
with it. Just give us a sort of an overview
of what it's about.

Speaker 9 (57:24):
Sure, So we are the Indoor Golf Shop. We're based
out of Salina, Texas, which is in North Dallas, a booming,
booming area down there. We do everything end to end
in indoor golf simulators. So we do light level manufacturing,
impact screens, enclosures, turf hitting mats. We have an e

(57:44):
commerce site which is shop indoor Golf dot com that
we operate UH, and then we also do UH. We
have a design and installation arm in Home Golf that
we also operate, and that does custom design and installation
for you know, homes that don't want something out of
the box, they want something more specific to their home
to kind of match the decor.

Speaker 6 (58:03):
Uh.

Speaker 9 (58:05):
We have showrooms in Dallas, We have showrooms in Chicago
and in Toronto.

Speaker 6 (58:10):
Oh really, Well, okay, I'm a I'm a Canadian, so
so yeah, so I know.

Speaker 9 (58:17):
I'll be give it more specific, so that makes worse.

Speaker 6 (58:18):
Okay, perfect whereabouts in Mississauga.

Speaker 9 (58:22):
But it's just opposite side of the airport of the
international airport up there.

Speaker 6 (58:27):
Yeah, I know exactly where you're talking about. Where you're
talking about. That's fantastic, that's great. So so that gives
us a little bit of an overview. But what I
wanted to ask you is I remember going several years
back to the PBA, so I go every year. I
didn't make it this past season, but I was there
the year before and probably for quite a few years now.
And I remember not so long ago there was very few, uh,

(58:51):
you know, simulators out there. You didn't really see a lot.
Now you know, you're seeing a lot. So it's become
a very big market. But how is that indoor similar
market really changed, especially in the last five years. How
have you seen it growing and why do you think
it's sort of moved in that direction?

Speaker 9 (59:07):
Sure, I think the technology space and simulators in general
have historically been very, very expensive and out of reach
for the general consumer or you know, kind of that
middle market consumer. COVID really rocket launched this whole industry
and kind of forced people two things, to play golf
and to be indoors. So you can do both of

(59:29):
those with the indoor golf simulator. I've been going to
the PJ Show for the past four or five years,
and I think my first year there were just a
handful of technology companies and simulator things, and now this
past year it's like almost twenty five percent of the
show floor is dedicated to indoor golf simulation and it

(59:50):
will continue to grow. You know, It's been a fantastic
industry to be in, to be a part of, and
to you know, really continue to see it grow well.

Speaker 6 (01:00:00):
And I think too, it's like anything any markets. You know,
when it's first out there, you know, it's price wise,
it's a little bit more you know, costly initially, but
as more and more people get into the market, and
obviously organizations like yourself that have you know, been around
for some time, you're able to be even more competitive
now with with your products matter. And it really kind

(01:00:22):
of seems that now that you know, especially with launch
monitors and and sort of the sin solutions, if you will,
is really now available what I was getting to is
at every price point. So how do you help customers
sort of understand how to optimizecuse me there into a
golf purchase? So how do you help them decide what
it is they really need to do and and and
get the best you know option available.

Speaker 9 (01:00:43):
Yeah, great question. So we really take a consultative approach,
and you know, we have we have an inside sales
team and support team, but really we consider them as
consultants and really working with that that customer to find out.
Number one is how big of a space do they
have that will limit what you can and cannot do
within that space. Then it's it becomes budget, what what

(01:01:07):
really do you want to accomplish with the space? Do
you want to be you know, you want to hone
your game, Do you want to work on skills? Do
you want to just play golf courses? Do you want
to entertain your friends? You know, So we'll kind of
take that and build out a package specifically for them
that's going to fulfill their needs, you know. And at
the end of the day, but budget obviously is a

(01:01:28):
big thing. You could spend as little as a couple
thousand dollars or as much as over one hundred thousand
dollars and anything in between.

Speaker 6 (01:01:34):
And I mean, you touched on something's really interesting because
again you talk about you know, sort of that home
matching that home decor, meaning that you want it to
feel like it's a part of the home and it's
not just something that's sort of lumped into a corner,
into you know, into a room. And now I mean,
you know, as I said, I've been to the show
for several years and you're seeing you know, an onslaught
of demand cave and not take away from the ladies.

(01:01:56):
I know they enjoy their golf too, but of you
seeing you know, this is sort of the new Man
cave for a lot of the you know, the guide
golfers out there, because and and it's it's it's not
just as you pointed out, it's not just for you know,
learning to improve your game or just playing a bunch
of courses. It's it's become an entertainment.

Speaker 5 (01:02:16):
You know.

Speaker 6 (01:02:16):
It's uh, it's now become something where you can invite
some couples over and and actually have a lot of
fun uh and maybe have a few drinks and play
some golf uh and all on your.

Speaker 9 (01:02:27):
Home right exactly. You know, there's there's a lot of
families that you know, the husband plays golf, the kids
maybe play golf. But there's options for like multi sports.
So if you wanted to play bags on it, you
want to play frisbee, you wanted to kick a dodgeball,
you could do that. There's also within different softwares that
the technology companies have. You can swing the golf club,

(01:02:49):
but you're playing like angry birds or you're playing bowling. Okay,
so it's not just going out and playing on a
golf course, which you know, some people enjoy. Some people
may not enjoy that. But if they want to, Yeah,
like you said, have a couple of drinks, you can
do that. But then you could take that space and
you could flex it into a theater room if you could,
you know, put a movie on, you put on the

(01:03:09):
NHL Finals, you could do you know, super Bowl, you
name it, you can do that as well.

Speaker 6 (01:03:14):
Oh well, that's cool. I was about to say, I
was going to ask you what some of the big
tech breakthroughs that you have And obviously that's the part
of it there or is it's not just limited to golf.
There's a lot of other things gonna be capitalized. But
what has happened? What's in the technology in you know,
ale to say, the last four or five years since
you've been going down to the PVA. So what what
what is it on your end? What are you seeing

(01:03:35):
some of the big breakthrough.

Speaker 9 (01:03:36):
Yeah, we're seeing a lot of just the on course
to off course, the metrics are becoming pretty spot on
to what you see outside is what you're going to
see indoors. Now it does that accuracy, you know, fluctuates
a little bit depending on the technology that you have.
Where the launch monitor is placed, you know, on the floor,

(01:03:57):
behind you, above you, and then what technology they're using,
is it radar technology, photometric, dopplet, you know, all of
that takes into account, but I think the accuracy is
dead near what you're seeing outdoors. And then we're really
seeing a lot of the software really up their game
with four K graphics. So it's the only thing you're

(01:04:20):
missing is the smells and like the wind in the rain, right,
you know that that's really all you're missing, But you
can dial those in within the software and you can
make it as realistic as you want. I personally don't
do that. I want to feel good about myself when
I'm playing indoors. I feel worse outdoors, so I'd rather
feel good indoors. So I think that's what we're starting
to see. And then you're really starting to see a

(01:04:40):
lot of the AI technology get integrated into those software
software platforms with uh swing analysis and things like that.
So we're going to continue to kind of see that
be a bit more acceptable in the software platforms.

Speaker 6 (01:04:53):
You know, you're seeing with a lot of the handheld
technology out there where they can access you know, thousands
of golf courses. Is that similar with with what you
guys are offering as well. I mean it's not just
you know, initially one or two courses. They have options
if they want to maybe not thousands, but if they
want to have multiple courses, if there are different packages
that they can get with it, where basic packages comes

(01:05:15):
with three golf court lists. You know, I'm just trying
to get a general idea of how it works.

Speaker 9 (01:05:19):
Yeah, it really all depends on one which launch or
technology are you going to use. If you use something
like a track Man, they have their own software and
they have plenty of courses, you know, well known courses
that are mapped out and true true to en course feel.

Speaker 4 (01:05:34):
Uh.

Speaker 9 (01:05:34):
Then you'll have things like Unicor they use like a
third party platform and that's going to have hundreds of
golf courses, uh beyond you know, maybe close to a
thousand and growing. And then so it really just depends
on what technology you you end up going with. But
there's so many different software options out there, uh that
are available now.

Speaker 6 (01:05:54):
If you again, depending on what what package you go with,
do you have options let's say get packaged A and
you want to upgrade. Is it a fairly easy upgrade
or do you have to upgrade equipment or do some
situation where made equipment is necessarily or once you purchase,
you know, make the initial purchase, you have options to
upgrade the system or what have you as you go along.

Speaker 9 (01:06:15):
As Yeah, a lot of the software companies are now
starting to go kind of do an annual subscription, so
you can stop or start at any point in time.
For certain softwares, you can go in one technology and
then you can upgrade to a new technology and just
transfer your subscription over. So really, I think that's it's

(01:06:37):
pretty pretty easy to do that because we see a
lot of our customers starting with a lower price point
technology to kind of get into the industry into simulation,
and then a year, two years down the road, they're like, oh,
you know what, that was great, but I want something different.
I need to change so now I can upgrade that technology.

Speaker 6 (01:06:58):
So and that's what I'm getting at, because you know
you're coming in, you're setting things up when we talk
about that in a moment, But give us an idea
of the sort of the overall mission of the indoor
golf shop. What what sort of sets you apart in
this uh, in this environment. Yeah.

Speaker 9 (01:07:10):
So, I mean we have a great set of core
values that really parallel the game of golf.

Speaker 4 (01:07:16):
Uh.

Speaker 9 (01:07:17):
Top top of mind is take care of the customer
always we customer always comes first. That's who you know,
puts food on our plates, That's who keeps the lights on.
That's that's what we do. So we go really go
above and beyond to service our customer. They that we
treat every customer like they are our only customer. We
make sure that everybody from support, sales to operations to shipping,

(01:07:39):
they everything is handled with care. We make sure that
it arrives in time. Over communication is extremely important to
us to make sure that they are happy with their
with their you know, with their purchase, that they're going
to talk nicely about us to their friends when they
have them over.

Speaker 6 (01:07:58):
You know.

Speaker 9 (01:07:59):
The other the other thing is is you know, we
we kind of work as if what was it, just
do it, Just do it's right for the customer. I mean, honestly,
I think that's that's our biggest core value and everything
else kind of goes there. Do just just be great,
like always keep score, do what's right, even when nobody's looking.

(01:08:22):
I mean, that's just kind of like the game of golf.
Don't don't take shortcuts.

Speaker 6 (01:08:26):
Yeah, don't don't be kicking it out of the rough exactly,
you know. And that's a great, a great point justin
because you know, I think for businesses that you know,
there's a lot of great products out there in every market,
but it comes down to customer service. It's okay, once
they've got your product, you know, you know, are they
following up? Are they engaging with you? Are they making

(01:08:46):
sure you know that you're satisfied with the product, not
just you know, immediately post sale, but you know down
the road, are they following up, are they you know,
engaging with you. Are they responding to you know, questions
or concerns that you may have, or or issues that
you know, from time to time to arrive, and particularly
when you're dealing with more of an in home market.
And that's something I wanted to ask you about as well.

(01:09:08):
This is a bit of a game changer for you
because you guys ended up buying in home golf business
and that sort of allows you now you're going and
actually installing through that as well. So it's not just
if you're selling something, somebody else is coming in. You
guys are now sort of a one stop stop. So
that's a big game theater for me.

Speaker 9 (01:09:26):
Right, Yeah, I would say that that really completed kind
of the circle for us. That was our kind of
last piece of the puzzle. You know, we were doing
everything and then we were just shipping it out and
somebody else would install it, so we never really got
to see that final product firsthand unless they set a
picture to us. So now we're really able to be
completely vertically integrated. We control every step of the way

(01:09:49):
from manufacturing through the purchase process to the installation and
then post purchase as well. So it's nice to be
able to kind of handhold that customer throughout that journey
and they become friends of ours. Right, we get Christmas cards,
we get we get cookies, all that stuff. Right, It's
it's cool. We're we for the first time like kind

(01:10:11):
of in my professional career. It's not like I'm selling
at all, like you some a lot of times the
customers are selling us like I need this in my home,
and it's like we will find you way to get
this in your ouse.

Speaker 6 (01:10:23):
Well, and that's the way you want it. Is is
you want to have. It really comes down to sales
is really nothing but more than really relationships and the
more you know, close the relations that you can have
with the customer and and they're confidence in in you know,
what choices you're making and helping them decisions making. And
I always equate it to the reason why I was

(01:10:45):
so curious about that was because you know, now you
see on TV there's a company I think it's called
Anderson Windows, and that's what made me think of it.
It is they they do everything the same as what
you're doing. Is they don't just make the product that
they you know, they manufactured, they sell it to everything.
And you know that's essentially what the indoor golf shop
is doing now as well as you guys are not

(01:11:05):
just producing everything on your end, but you're actually out
installing it. You're seeing the customers, you're getting in touch
with them, and you're seeing the finished product. So you
have a little bit more sense of pride is supposed
to shipping it out the door and letting somebody else
take with it, because that can unfortunately, and I know
you have to sometimes start in that market. But it's
nice when you're able to come full circle and be

(01:11:25):
able to bring that in helme because that is a huge,
huge selling feature.

Speaker 9 (01:11:28):
Yeah, you know, I would say it also helps us
stay in tune with the customer. We can see it
being installed and we can then make changes and just
our products to make sure that we're providing the best
experience for that customer as well. So we can see it,
you know, we're our installers are the last line of
kind of defense for us. They can tell us, well,

(01:11:49):
that looked great on paper, but here's what really happened,
and how can we optimize, How can we make changes,
what improvements can we make? Things like that?

Speaker 6 (01:11:57):
Yeah, and it's important. And again having that rapport with
customers I think is always important, and and their feedback
is important not just in the good times, but also
when when things are not quite right and you need
to make those adjustments. It's good to have that feedback.
And I mean necessarily they're unhappy, but maybe things are
not working the way that you would like even never

(01:12:19):
mind them, so they need to go back. Okay, maybe
we need to look at the software. Maybe there's a
glit field, there's something that needs to be adjusted to
make it a better experience. So there's always going to
be tweets and things, and really, you know, it's one
thing in house to be able to have those conversations
and meetings and stuff. But you really the feedback you
get from customers, you know how much they're enjoying the
experience and and oh you know, hey that the technology

(01:12:40):
is a fantastic I really love this and it's just
it's almost like playing outdoor, you know whatever. Whatever the
feedback is, that's huge for you guys, because that then
allows you to know that you're moving in a direction
that you want to move in, and and if there
are adjustments along the way, then you know it's trying
to do that.

Speaker 9 (01:12:58):
I would when we get like a bad review for
unhappy customer, our founder will take that and he will
have a meeting with all the leadership team and he'll say,
what happened, and how do I fix it right? How
do we make it right? So he he takes great
pride in providing that experience because we definitely do not

(01:13:19):
We can't make everybody happy. We'll do it. We'll do
our hardist to do that, but those negative reviews that
we will get oftentimes right, we can't please everybody, but
we will make sure that that experience will never happen again,
and we'll go above and beyond with with that customer
the head that experience well.

Speaker 6 (01:13:35):
And and again it goes to you know, not just
I mean, obviously the big part of it is the
credibility of an organization, but it goes to you know,
how how you repond really says a lot about an organization.
It lets you know where their priority are. I mean, obviously,
you're in business. You have to eat and and you
know you're there to sell products in that, but at
the same time, you know, if if customers are not

(01:14:00):
seeing a a some sort of a follow up or
an engagement, and they're always I mean, I know there's
even I hate to say it, but even with the
with the cable company. I mean, you know, your TV
goes on the fridge or something, or cable's not working,
your internet we're not working, and you're you know, putting
that that constant you know, uh loop if you will,
and it's frustrating and people hate it, but you know,

(01:14:23):
we have gotten to the point we can't live without
our TV, so you know, you have to put up
with us sometimes. But but you know, for companies like yourselves.
It's it's customer service. I don't care how good the
product is, it has to be there and it has
to be up the snoff or or people are just
not gonna, you know, not going to deal with it.
Tell us about the sick Yeah, tell us about the
the Impact screen, the sig Probe Premier Impact Screen. That

(01:14:45):
sounds pretty intriguing.

Speaker 9 (01:14:47):
Yeah, So we just launched that four four weeks ago,
four or five weeks ago or so. So it's like
a four K gray screen. So you know, there's there's
only so many things you can kind of innovate in
kind of our world, and that was a really cool
addition into our into our arsenal. So it's a it's

(01:15:07):
a four K screen gray gray in color. It's great
for like areas that have a little bit of ambient
lighting or higher lit areas, and it provides a more
definition of the darker colors and and kind of enriches
that whole picture and gives it and really brings out
that that four K projector so, if you're doing it

(01:15:30):
like a movie theater space where it's super dark, we
still recommend our our premium screen white screen to go
for that. But if you're if you've got something in
a garage or something with windows, you know, loft something
like that, we definitely recommend going with that premiere screen.

Speaker 6 (01:15:45):
So that's just sort of sort of eliminates the glare
and things like that. Really what that's for, right exactly.
I mean it's just amazing when I you know, I
think about the technology and as I said, like you,
I've been down to the to the PGA show for
many years and as this is the unfolding, it just
blows my mind when I when I watch the demonstrations,

(01:16:06):
and I mean, I'm sure even from your perspective, you know,
you're in that part of the industry. Every time you
guys have meetings say hey, guess what's coming out or
this is coming out, you guys got to get pretty
jazzed up about that.

Speaker 9 (01:16:19):
Yeah, I mean we definitely sometimes, like with the technology stuff,
we'll get kind of a preview before it gets launched
to the public, so we can kind of get our
our team prepared because the moment it launches, like we
get phone calls like tell me about So we want
to make sure our team's prepared for a lot of
the technology launches. But there's things that we have, you
know personally that I can't talk about what we have

(01:16:39):
on the horizon that is, you know what I say,
it's industry industry changing. I wouldn't go that far, but
it's cool stuff like it's it's just you know, it's
it's really cool to be able to see kind of
our engineers working on that, our design team working on it,
and you know, being able to launch that to the
public will be be really cool as well.

Speaker 6 (01:17:01):
And obviously this has a huge commercial impact as well.
I mean, before you know, it was coming in home.
You know, there was a lot of businesses popping up
that that had these indoor simulators matt for corporate events
and for you know, you know, I know in New
York is a company and I can't pick it off
off the top of my head there, yes, yeah, yeah,

(01:17:24):
you know, they've got that in there and they've turned
it into a business and very very successful and doing well.
So you know a lot of those popped up. Now
it's it's coming more in home and that where do
you see the market as far as is this something
that you think that the next generation of golfers is
really going to drive? I mean, you know, I'm I'm
you know, as you can see, I got a little

(01:17:45):
gray on top here and and so i'm, you know,
in you young sixties, but nevertheless in the sixties. So
you know, I've been around for a little while seeing
a lot of a lot of things come up. But
is it the younger generation that's really going to start
driving this because they're sort of already tuned into technology
quite quite a lot. And is that what's sort of

(01:18:06):
helping to drive your market a little bit?

Speaker 9 (01:18:07):
And you think I would agree with that statement, you know,
having young kids, relatively younger kids myself. You know, I've
got a sixteen year old who kind of he plays
indoors and outdoors. He likes to kind of play both.
But on a rainy day, he'll come to our office
and he'll hit on the range for an hour or
two because he can't go play outside, I think, And

(01:18:29):
he can play around to golf in an hour, whereas outdoors.
It's still nice to be outdoors, but it could be
six seven hours of your time round trip, you know,
with everything all included. And you know, he's on a
limited income, so he can't play the nicer courses out
he can play the great courses indoors, I.

Speaker 6 (01:18:49):
Think probably, Yeah, he might not get to play for
some years indoors, so yeah, for sure.

Speaker 9 (01:18:54):
Exactly, So I think, yeah, I would agree that this
the younger generation is already in tune the technology. They're
in tune to all of that. You know, they're used
to playing video games inside, so I think they're really
gravitating towards that space as well.

Speaker 6 (01:19:11):
Talk about this sort of integration with because it's not
just a matter of you know, I mean, you know,
you said there were some other sports and things activities
you can do, but let's stick with the golf for
a second here and talk about sort of the integration
of technology from a teaching perspective. I mean, this is
a great opportunity for a lot of coaches in that
to use that. What technology is there, What is available

(01:19:32):
to a coach, let's say that has a simulator at
their facility. What are some of the technology that they
can utilize when they're working with students.

Speaker 9 (01:19:39):
Sure, so if you look at something like a track
Man technology, which is the cream and the crop, the
gold standard in the industry. They've got impact replay, so
you are seeing the club, the actual video of the
club at impact to the ball. You can then see
kind of a little bit of the spin of the ball.
You can see where you're going there, so that the
coach can then make adjustments then look looking at attack

(01:20:01):
angle and spin rates and and all that stuff. But
then you can you can actually hook up your iPhone
to and you can then look at your swing, so
you're you're able to really immediately that coach can make
a correction or a you know, minor correction or a tweak,
and you can then see that correction in real time
after they after they make that next swing, and then

(01:20:23):
you're able to dial in, so the feedback is immediate.
There's no guessing because you're seeing the actual video of
impact and of the swing as well.

Speaker 6 (01:20:34):
So is there some kind of a like in that
case and I wanted to play on that for a
second more, is there like an app integration for the student,
so in a sense that when they're there together in
a session and they're getting that that data coming back,
and you're saying, if they've got an iPhone, there, can
that student then take that data and review it and
then the next time they get together, you know, if

(01:20:56):
they've had a chance to look at some of that
coach and maybe is there an integration in that way?

Speaker 9 (01:21:00):
Yeah, what's cool. So TrackMan has I think it's track
Man golf app. So you go to any facility that
has a track Man unit, you scan a QR code.
You're automatically logged in every shot that you take at
the range at a golf you know, every swing is
all downloaded into an app, and you can I can
go back from last year and look at a range session.

(01:21:22):
I can, you know, select my nine iron, Okay, what
was my shot dispersion, what were my spin rates?

Speaker 4 (01:21:27):
Like? What what?

Speaker 9 (01:21:28):
What were my distances?

Speaker 6 (01:21:29):
All of that.

Speaker 9 (01:21:30):
So it's nice to be like, my son just started
playing golf last year, and I've encouraged him to always
scan the QR code and see your progression, see see
your distances, How are you improving, how are you not improving?
And so he can kind of take that and run
with that data as well.

Speaker 6 (01:21:48):
Yeah, and that's important in the Say and Agent. That's
why I was really touching on the you know, sort
of the youth and the upcoming players and not just
necessary you know, those that want to as farre to
be tour players, but when you're looking at you know,
unior golfers or golfers that maybe want to play collegiate golf.
At some point, they're starting to understand the importance of statistics.
You know, it's not just about looking pretty out there.

(01:22:10):
I mean, they all want to look good, but you know,
they also understand that they've they've got to have a
good understanding of the numbers and they need to know
what those numbers are. So if there's a way to
integrate that, of course, sorry, go.

Speaker 9 (01:22:20):
Ahead, No, I was just going to say, you're you're
absolutely right, because really you can make a one percent
adjustment and you know, you would either increase your your
club speed by a half mile per hour or one
mile per hour, and you'll see how that actually changes
the total distance, the spin, like all of that. So

(01:22:41):
it's just amazing, how you know. And then they're integrating
like flexibility workouts and things like that, and how how
can I get more flexible to get more speed? And
and then you're seeing that that impact right away now
is there?

Speaker 6 (01:22:54):
And when I'm using the word integration that there may
be a different way of doing this. So let's say,
for an example, let's say you weren't doing what you
were doing and your son you had a simulator, one
of these simulators at home, and you know, whether it's
kind of nasty, his coat is you know, an hour
down the road or thirty minutes down the road. Can
he work on his game in that simulator, and can

(01:23:16):
that data then be connected with the coat. Is that
something that's available or is that something that could be
available coming down the road.

Speaker 9 (01:23:24):
I don't want to speak out of turn, but I
assume I do believe there are options to do something
like that, and if there's not, it's it's going to
be out.

Speaker 6 (01:23:35):
Yeah, Okay, That's what I'm saying, is it may not
currently be because I mean that's gonna be huge as well,
because again, there's gonna be situations where you know, you've
got a maybe a collegiate player and the weather's just bad,
but he's got a you know, access to a simulator somewhere,
whether it's at home or somewhere else, and you know,
if the coat is then able to integrate somehow with
that technology, whether logging in under a you know, a

(01:23:59):
back end or something like that, that they can get
a hold of that data so that when they are
able to get next time together, then they can say okay,
you know, you were practicing last Thursday and looking at
the numbers here and you know, and then they can
make adjustments and go from there. So I mean, if
it's not available, I mean that's something that I want
credit for that. If it's not. Yeah, at.

Speaker 9 (01:24:20):
Two years ago, I do remember seeing like a third
party kind of app that had that ability to do that.
So yeah, I mean, if if it's not out now,
it's probably someone's listening to this. They're gonna it's gonna
be out like next week.

Speaker 6 (01:24:34):
So there you go. So all right, so you talked
about earlier. Uh, you've got some rooms. You've got a
room in Dallas and also in Chicago. I know you
mentioned drawn on that, but uh, I know, I understand
they're quite quite decked out and quite impressive. So I'm
going to give you an opportunity to brag a little
bit about them. So let's talk about Dallas for sure.

(01:24:57):
What are we looking at?

Speaker 9 (01:24:58):
Yeah, so Dallas kind of out with humble beginnings. We
started out in just kind of a small corner of
a of a kind of a warehouse space, and it
quickly turned into we took over the whole entire property
and there was a house for sale on the corner
that we ended up acquiring and turn that home into

(01:25:19):
a simulator house so people can actually walk into a
home and see what a similarty would look like. We
then expanded kind of the garage space and we have
all of our enclosures all different technologies, so really anybody
can come out, whatever their budget is, they can test
out hitting mats and they can look at the enclosures,

(01:25:40):
they can look at our turf, they can look at
you know, something as low as a seven hundred dollars
launch monitor up to the twenty five thousand dollars track
Man unit and everything in between. So we we really
try to stay brand agnostic and allow the customer to
kind of guide us where they want to go and
not kind of pigeonhole them into something right off the back.

(01:26:00):
Really find out, you know, what, what are they looking for,
what do they want, and then we'll kind of you know,
expand on options for them. So, yeah, the Dallas facilities
a really really cool area.

Speaker 6 (01:26:12):
Now what about Chicago?

Speaker 9 (01:26:14):
Chicago, So I'm based out of that office. So we've
got two hitting bays there, one for our custom solution
with our track Man high end bay, and then we've
got another bay that is our commercial enclosure, kind of
a modular type if you want, if you're a golf
course that you wanted to have it seasonally and you
wanted to have kind of simulator space in the winter,
you can get this up and then you still have

(01:26:35):
your golfers comeing in and playing, and then you could
take it down during during the access season. So we've
got so two hitting bays there and then in Toronto
we have two two and a half hitting bays there
as well. So all the all the different technologies fantastic.

Speaker 6 (01:26:53):
So let's say, for an example, if somebody reaches out
and says, I want to bring a similar later into
my home. I mean obviously you send somebody out there,
they kind of map to you know, see where where
it's going to go, where they want to do the
sizes and get all the dimensions. Once you have all
that information, you've made you know, you've sort of gone

(01:27:13):
back and forth as to how to meet your needs.
You understand the budget and that once it goes from
that stage to let's getting get installed. How much of
a time frame how long does it take from one
sale has been done to get it installed? For the
customers that it's now up and running typically.

Speaker 9 (01:27:29):
Yeah, I would say right now, it's probably four to
six weeks roughly. Uh, because we we for especially for
the custom side of things, we make everything to spec
so it's not like a stock size. Everything is made
to do that space. So about five I'd say five
to six weeks right now. Come peak season, which starts
in that August September, October, our lead times are a

(01:27:52):
little bit longer. So when people are looking at it,
you know, when you're playing golf outside is the best
time to look at getting it indoor because you can
get in really quick and then you can be ready
to play right. It's seamless. You're you're outdoor to indoor
and you you won't even skip a beat.

Speaker 6 (01:28:09):
Yeah, and that's important too. And that's that's a great
point that you raised because a lot of people might
you know, want something like that, and you don't want
to wait until typically the off season of golf, because
when you're sitting around for a month or two months
or whatever the case may be, waiting for things to
come out. So yeah, that's a good idea to get
it in the summer and get it up and running
and then when the fall or or you know, early

(01:28:30):
winter comes around and you can't be outside anymore to play,
you're ready to to you know, the rock and roll
as it were. So I already know the answer to this,
but I'm going to ask you anyways, after all these
years working at indoor golf, I'm assuming you still find
the technology and the similar experience sort of fun and engaging.
What what is it? I guess let me phrase it

(01:28:50):
this way, what do you enjoy most about your job?

Speaker 4 (01:28:54):
Oh?

Speaker 9 (01:28:54):
Man, I would say I kind of alluded to it earlier.
It's the first kind of sales career, that sales company
I've worked with where I didn't have like people were
happy to talk to me and got upset if they
missed my phone call. You know, I think our customers
are probably the best to work with. Uh In like

(01:29:17):
prior prior lives of Mind and Company as I've worked for.
We work with, you know, extremely high network worth individuals.
We work with, golf enthusiasts, golf clubs, PGA professionals, you know,
you name it. We kind of it's just kind of cool.
We never know who who we're going to get a
phone call from, right or uh you know, who we're

(01:29:38):
going to go do an install for. So it's just
really cool to kind of talk to to our customers
and just learn more about them. So I would say
that's probably, you know, I love the technology aspect of it,
but I would say our customers are probably my favorite
part of working here.

Speaker 6 (01:29:53):
And TEPS a little bit more. I know you've talked
a little bit about the customers already, but what are
some of the common questions that they asked and what typically?
I mean, obviously you have some that are very more
experienced golfers and really know and they've done a lot
of research. They've you know, done the homework, they know
exactly what they want. Then you have some of them
maybe a little more green, But what are some of
the common questions or maybe if needs to day breath?

Speaker 9 (01:30:14):
Yeah, I think the biggest question we get is is
this gonna fit in my space?

Speaker 4 (01:30:19):
Right?

Speaker 9 (01:30:19):
Like they're they're so desperate a lot of times too.
You know, they may have the smallest closet of a
room and they're like, this is the only room in
the house. My wife would allow me to have this,
Like I pray to you, like please help me, Like
this is this is all I have, so it'll work
with the best we can. There's sometimes we do have
to say no because it's like, you know, if you

(01:30:41):
have less than eight foot ceilings and you can't even
swing you know, sometimes you can't even swing a sand
wedge in those spaces, So you know, then then it
then we turn the conversation to okay, if it won't
fit here, like do you have an extra is a
room in the basement, do you have uh, you know,
place in the garage? Like the garage is always a place,

(01:31:03):
so we can come up with a garage solution. Like
we always want to find a solution for the customer
because we know how obsessive we are about the game
of golf. I think all of all of our sales
team and support team, they're all golfers, so they get it.
They're like, I want you to have this in your house, Like,
let's figure out a way to get this there.

Speaker 6 (01:31:23):
You know that that would be a big sales angle,
you know for you guys. Is you know, ladies, if
you want to get your husband to clean out the garage,
you know, I'm the indoor golf stimulated. It takes up
a lot less room than all those tools that he
doesn't use and and that old car he's been talking
about fixing out for the last twenty years and hasn't
you know, tightened or unloose the screw on. So this

(01:31:44):
is something I was an ox lady to do. So obviously,
the website is is shop Indoor Golf dot com. And
the reason I didn't bring it up earlier is I
wanted people to be, you know, paying attention to the show,
and now I want them to go out there and
that so they can see contact you guys. There's i know,
videos on there, and there's also I'm assuming that they

(01:32:05):
can get a look at some of the simulators that
you have in your showrooms and and your your Chicago
and your Dallas area as well. They can kind of
see how things are set up and that. And then
obviously they've got some great staff like yourself that they
can reach out to and if they've got any questions.
But what are your final thoughts if you want for
the audience out there and you want them to know

(01:32:27):
that maybe we haven't talked about.

Speaker 9 (01:32:30):
I would just say, you know, the game of golf
is a lifetime, you know game, and it's never too
late to get into it. You could be at any age,
you know. I felt like I was alluded to earlier.
I've been trying to get my older son to play
golf for the last ten years, and he finally picked
it up last year and he's like, I like the

(01:32:51):
joy on his face when he came and was like, Dad,
did you know how fun this game is? I was like, dude,
I've been like ten years, you've trying and he is
so obsessive over he plays every day. Uh and every
day he can't play, he gets upset. So and it's
it's a game that you know. It's it's cool because
my dad, who's in his late seventies, now myself and

(01:33:13):
now my son. It's generational, right. We can all go
out and we can play. And when where there's a will,
there's a way, well we will find a way to
get something into your house or your garage or an
outbuilding or a shed or you know where we want to.
We want people to play the game of golf as
much as possible because it's so much fun. So I
would say it's never too late.

Speaker 6 (01:33:35):
Yeah. I know some guys personally that would knock down
a wall if they had to, the one in their house.
So yeah, I'm searing you've had some interesting requests along
the way, but obviously everybody want you to go to
Stop Indoor Golf dot com. It's the website, a lot
of great information and Justin it's been my very special
guest to seeming. Justin Carlson, the vice president sales for

(01:33:57):
the Indoor Golf Stop and uh, Justine. People want to
reach out to you. What's the best way to do that? Sure?

Speaker 9 (01:34:03):
I mean the best way is to go through our website,
Shop indoor golf dot com. If they want to email me,
it's my first name dot last name, Justin dot Carlson
at shopindoor golf dot com and we'd be happy to
connect you with one of our sales consultants, get you
out to one of our shotrooms to take a look
at what we've got and get you swinging in no time.

Speaker 6 (01:34:24):
Sounds good? All right. I want to thank you for
again for joining the season to be my special feature guests.
I appreciate it and a lot of great information. Again,
the website is Stop indoor golf dot com. Make sure
you go there and check it out. A lot of
great information there and it definitely reach out to their
team and have a conversation and get the ball rolling,
as they say. But I want to thank all of

(01:34:44):
my special guests tonight. Special thanks to Alex Fisher for
joining on the colts Quinn and Pan a little bit
earlier on, and for my very good friend, golf fitness
professional Bob Foreman for coming on and talking about some
fitness must have for a better golf fling this season.
So on that note, again, thanks to all of my
special guests, and don't forget to visit our YouTube channel

(01:35:05):
at I golf Sports at YouTube dot com, sports Live
at I golf Sport. All of the podcast episodes are
uploaded on to that or you can get them on
spotify dot com. And if you're just interested in listening
to the audio version, if you're driving along you can't
watch it, you can go to speaker dot com. Oh,
basically wherever you listen to podcasts, you can check it
out there. But on that note, I will see you
guys next week here on golf Talk Live. Thanks everybody,

(01:35:28):
and thank you justin.

Speaker 1 (01:35:33):
Thanks for joining us. We hope you enjoyed this week's
broadcast at golf Talk Live. We'd like to thank this
week's coaches corner panel and a special thank you to
tonight's guest. Remember to join Ted every Thursday from six
to eight pm Central on Golf Talk Live, and be
sure to follow Ted on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. If

(01:35:53):
you're interested in being a guest on Golf Talk Live,
send Ted an email at Ted dot golf talk Live
email dot com. This has been a production of the
Igolf Sports Network.

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Golf Talk Live - Season 13 Episode 11 | May 22nd, 2025

Episode Transcript

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Golf Talk Live - Season 13 Episode 11 | May 22nd, 2025