First
things first. Who the heck am I and what gives ME the right to tell YOU anything?
Fair enough. My name is Kevin Gill and I've played golf for 30 years and have taught golf for 10 years.
I passed the PGA Teaching written test with a near perfect score and passed the Playing test with 14 shots to spare
and I'm a scratch handicap. I'm also a lousy putter. So, nothing to really be terribly proud of considering
that all that was required at the time I took the PGA Instructor's playing test was that you be able to play 36 holes
of golf in 10 over par, or less. So, my 69-71 (4 under par for 36 holes) gave me the 14 shot cushion. So, not
as impressive as it sounds at first blush. Thought I'd clear that up so you didn't think I shot a 58!
I've just finished writing a golf book titled "Confessions of a Golf Pro-Why you hate the game you love" and
it's off to the publisher. It's 375,000 words. A "typical" book is 50,000 words.
As you've undoubtedly already noticed, I have a lot to say.
Early reviews have been great: "A fresh,
funny, but dead-on book about the game that used to drive us crazy." "For the first time, I understand
golf!" "Here's your new GOLF BIBLE!" Nice, right?
So, the
next logical question is how does someone who isn't a very good putter become a scratch handicap? The simple answer
is ball striking ability.
The ability to hit the ball farther, more accurately,
closer to my intended target and thereby, give myself more "makeable" birdie putts and I make THOSE more
often than I do bogeys. Simple as that.
Interestingly, I also make more eagles and hole out from the fairway
more often than the average bear. What's all that mean to you? NOTHING!
What "I" can DO, makes no difference to YOU at all. It's what I KNOW and can teach YOU
to do, that will benefit you.
I'm not "bragging" about those accomplishments.
It's factual information and nothing more. It's just that all the "facts" just happen to be positive
now.
It wasn't ALWAYS that way. I'm not some kind of "Unwitting Golf Genius,"
"Ball-striking savant," or "Golf Guru."
Everything I know and can now do, came from hard
work, a really curious and determined mind and the ability to "know what I'm looking at" and figure it
out.
When I first started teaching golf, I did it just about the same way as every other teacher and got the same
pitiful results.
I probably know as much as, or more than, anyone about the golf swing and I'm a pretty good
communicator, but my students didn't seem to get much better.
To me, that was a personal failure. If
my students didn't get better, then I was a failure as a teacher. No "bragging" there.
So, I
stopped teaching and made it my new life's mission to figure out WHY people don't get better. I OBSESSIVELY
immersed myself into understanding the golf swing.
I read, viewed and listened to everything I could find.
What happened in my effort to become a better "teacher," was that I got totally lost as a "player."
I no longer went out and played golf. I was always playing "golf SWING."
Let me tell you, to a
certain extent, ignorance IS bliss.
I was SO confused and SO unhappy that one time, while playing a casual
round with a friend, out of frustration I blurted out, "You know what? I was a MUCH better player before I
knew what I was doing!"
There it was! I had just unknowingly found the KEY. I thought
about what I had said a lot in the days following that round.
Then, one evening, I FINALLY FIGURED IT OUT, completely
by accident! The SECRET TO THE PERFECT GOLF SWING!
The strangest part of that
was it really IS the simplest thing in the world! It was almost TOO easy!
I was elated, but also ANGRY it
took me so long to figure this out! That led me IMMEDIATELY to the answer of WHY people don't get
better!
Why YOU can't seem to get better. It's certainly not from your lack of caring, or trying.
The reason that I'm disliked by some golf teachers is that I get you where you need to be in ONE, SHORT, EASY TO UNDERSTAND "LESSON" that doesn't require you to buy "training
aids" or take more "lessons."
I know that sounds "too good to be true," but that's
because you've been LED to believe the golf swing is complicated and difficult by countless "instructors,"
golf books and golf magazines that have a monetary"stake" in you NOT improving.
At least not QUICKLY!
Think about it for a minute. If I enable YOU to "get it" RIGHT AWAY (and you
WILL), it takes money OUT of a LOT of people's POCKETS!
I've had students stop taking lessons from their
current instructors, cancel their golf magazine subscriptions and quit wasting money on "training aids."
So, I suppose if you want to dislike someone, that's a pretty good reason for some people to do it.
I will
say though, that some PGA Instructors and Golf coaches around the country have purchased this and are currently using MY method
to teach THEIR students with outstanding success. I guess it's an "If you can't beat 'em-join
'em" thing.
UPDATE!: Apparently I AM, in fact, the
only golf teacher in the WORLD who knows this and can share it with you. It's obvious from seeing Hank Haney with
Charles Barkley, Hank certainly doesn't know it! Judging from the swing sequence of Phil Mickelson and the fact
that he's swinging his driver on a pitching wedge's plane, Butch Harmon doesn't know it EITHER!