@36aday is pleased to introduce interviews with leaders in the game of golf in Canada. Nine questions are presented to probe important issues of the game, personal experiences, stories and insight. Just like 9 holes of golf, I hope you find this enjoyable and that it leaves you wanting more.
A Quick 9 With Sean Casey, Director of Instruction at The Glen Abbey Golf Academy and Head Coach for the Canadian Junior Golf Association National Teams.
6. @36aday – Your website, www.seancaseygolf.com places an emphasis on Holistic Golf. What does that mean and why is it important?
Well, holistic golf would mean that we’re looking at all opportunities and anything that would influence the golfer. For me, there’s different ways to break that down. On my website, it would break it down to mental, emotional, physical and nutritional. But there would also be social and tactical, decision making on the course, how you socialize with others in your relationships through the golf experience, and technical, obviously. So clearly there’s more than the four I identified on my website but I feel those are the four that not everybody would consider. And obviously if you came for lessons you would get some technical as well as club fitting; we would assess your clubs, if we did on course lessons we would probably talk about decision making and tactical. So on my website, those four – mental, emotional, nutritional and physical – I’m just trying to throw out there: Hey, don’t forget about these ones.
@36aday – And I would contest they are all a part of the game and you’re creating that education and awareness for players to understand that you’re more than just moving parts, more than just swinging the club at the ball. I enjoyed reading that on your website, you presented it very clearly.
SC – I love it too. I feel you could do everything possible to develop a technically sound golf swing, and we’ve all seen guys on the driving range hit the ball very well, they have a really good looking golf swing but they don’t necessarily perform well on the golf course under pressure and the reason for that might be all those other things. You might have a good golf swing but if you’re tired or hungry, dehydrated or don’t have a good mental approach, don’t know how to manage emotions when things go wrong. You know, we’ve all seen golfers manage things well when things are good, if they have a good start they have a good day. Well, a really good golfer can have a bad start and still have a really good day. Jack Nicklaus, a champion golfer, would be very good at having a bad first hole and his record would show that does not end his day. He could turn it around. He can have a bad first hole and it’s not going to ruin his emotional state and there’s a good chance he’s going to play well on number 2. So there’s bounce back and the PGA Tour would have a stat that would be referred to as bounce back. You can see how the best players bounce back after a bogey. And the best players, but I mean we’re all going to have bogeys, are able to get their game on track and play well. But others who cannot manage their emotions well, a bad hole can lead to a bad round. The wheels fall of, sort of speak. So it makes sense that we should be aware of all these influences on your golf. The golf swing is really just one piece of the pie.
Tomorrow – Part 7 – ‘Equipment v. Instruction’
