7 Nights At The Twitter Academy – Junior Edition

I recently had another opportunity to participate in the 7 Nights At The Twitter Academy.  Jason Helman, @jasonhelmangolf, spearheaded the project again just as he did for the first edition.  Jason’s idea for the second edition was very near all of the instructors hearts, junior golf.  The eight instructors involved in the #JuniorTwitterAcademy all have a passion for promoting junior golf.  So to say a Junior Edition of 7 Nights At The Twitter Academy – Junior Edition was a no brainer is an understatement.

Jason Helman opened up the week with full swing and did he open it up strong.  Kids having fun blasting drivers with good fast action kids love to see.  Jason was followed by Dennis Sales, @dennissalesgolf, who brought some very valuable information about strength and fitness for juniors.  The third night saw Megan Padua and Aaron Olson, @meagangolfpro and @aaronolsongolf, bring very strong with proper club fitting and distance control with the wedges respectively.  Episode 4 brought us a last-minute switch and my good friend Jason ”The Guru” Sutton, @golfgurutv, took center stage and brought us invaluable information about playing lessons and prepping for a college career.  The fifth night was mine, where I was assigned the subject of playing in the sand, or bunker play.  The video contains nice, simple information for junior golfers for playing out of bunkers.  I asked two juniors to join me, Braxton and Shelby.  The two play on the Siegel Middle Junior High Golf Team.  Braxton, my son, and Shelby, a family friend, made the video and absolute blast to film.  We had fun teaching, learning, and goofing off.  Thats what golf with juniors is all about right.  #GolfisGreat!!!  Below is my video, the fifth episode of 7 Nights At The Twitter Academy – Junior Edition.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.  Remember #SandFirst.

A special thank you to Jason Helman for spearheading 7 Nights At The Twitter Academy – Junior Edition.  I think I can speak for all of us when I say his efforts are above and beyond.  We sincerely appreciate his efforts for providing us a venue to grow the game of golf, a task we all love! #thatshowgolfprosroll!

PGA Show 2012

As I sit here on the plane I felt that it would be appropriate to write a review of the 2012 PGA Show. As I wrote in my earlier post, the PGA Show to me is much more than a place to see new products. My goals of the show are much more detailed. I attend the show to network, learn, and to surround myself with nothing but golf for 4 days. All of which comes from my passion for the game and friendships I have made through social media.

Though I have not attended the show in 2 years, I must say I felt this show more successful than when I last attended in 2009. There were many more booths and all of the big boys were back including Foot Joy who has not had a booth in almost 10 years. As far as the booths go the most elaborate by far was the Taylor Made/Adidas “city” booth. The booth contained hitting nets, a pool table, Wii for the kids, and a bar. Oh it also contained TMAG’s newest products. The booth having the most fun and rocking the most music was Puma/Cobra. The staff came rocking there Fowler colors every day and believe me there was no mistaken who worked for Puma/Cobra.

As for the products I saw I will try to highlight some of the good and the bad. On the equipment side the most impressive to me had to be the new line of Edel wedges. I was fortunate enough to hear Mike Adams explain in detail the ideas and technology behind the design. The CG, the scoring lines, and the whole design is built around the center of the face. The forging of the new wedges is absolutely gorgeous. Though slightly pricey, in my opinion, if you are in the market for a new wedge I would check them out. I also was impressed with the new Heavy Driver from the makers Heavy Putters. Although considerably heavier than most drivers on the market today, the club is counter balanced with the secret grip (a grip with weight in the butt). The neat thing was that testing it on the Foresight Monitor I witnessed an increased ball speed of 5 mph. As for technology, the PGA Show 2012 did not disappoint. By far the coolest of these was the Guru (no relation to Jason Sutton). This was a 3D swing analysis that works much like an XBox Kinect. On screen you could view your swing in 3D without being connected to any wires. I also was impressed and will purchase the Swingbyte. A 3D swing analysis system that shows technical information such as swing speed, swing shape, angle of attack, and face angle at impact. All for a very low cost.

As for the bad, the weirdest thing I saw were golf bag covers that turn your bag into different animals. But I am still not sure why you would want to. The “Gimme Stick” also made the not so good list as well.

As I stated earlier, one of highest priorities of the show is to network. I can honestly say that I accomplished my goals. I was able to meet and learn from some of the great personalities of the game. But by far the best learning came from my friends on twitter, the #mastermindcrew. I am sure the servers are glad to see us leave so they do not have to watch us analyze or demonstrate a golf swing in the aisles again till next year. In addition, the crew from 7 Nights At The Twitter Academy got together and did a “Round Twitter” discussion you will not want to miss. Thank you to Ricky Lee Potts for helping us put that together. We also made plans to produce a Twitter Academy Junior version in the near future.

So there you have my review of the PGA Show 2012. I hope that this was interesting and helped you, as the reader, understand the complexities of the PGA Show. The above review is simply my opinion and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the other members of the #mastermindcrew. I almost forgot one other great highlight of the show and that was Kirk Oguri’s hair. Thank you for reading. This is Rob “Sponge Rob Pleated Pants” McGill signing out!

Revved Up For The Show

With the 2012 PGA Merchandise Show a week away I thought I would post some random thoughts I have about attending the show. I am revving up for the show and excited about getting to Orlando. The “Merchandise” show, I am sure most will agree, has lost some of its luster that it had 10-15 years ago.  This is mostly of no fault of the PGA, but more to do with the manufacturers.  In a time not too long ago manufacturers would release their new product lines at the “Merchandise” Show.  So in my mind the show has become what I think of as the PGA “Networking” show.  In addition, I feel that the PGA has done a tremendous job in combatting the dullness by increasing the educational opportunities such as the Educational Seminars, Business Leadership Series, and Golf Business Solutions.  So today’s post is to throw out some of my reasons for attending the show.  In addition, to provide some items that get me revved up for the show.

First and foremost I am most excited about networking with my peers.  The show is the one place and time that some old friends like John Graham, Sara Dickson, Jason Sutton, and John Dochety I can meet up.  As well as meet some new acquaintances such Ricky Lee Potts, Jason Helman, Kirk Oguri, Dennis Sales, and Andrew Marr.  All of whom, are at the top of our industry, I respect very much.  Getting to meet up with them as well as others at Tweet Up 2012 is very exciting.  Which leads me to my next point of learning and soaking up knowledge.  The PGA Show provides me the opportunity to be around these guys and learn first hand what will make me a better golf professional.  In case you did not know I have been tagged for this excessive desire to soak up knowledge.  Soaking it up like a sponge.  Check me out on twitter @golfprorob to learn about that tag.

Even though most of the vendors have already released all of their new product lines I will still be checking out some merchandise.  I will definitely seek out the Trackman and Flight Scope booths.  I will be visiting these booths in hopes of having one in my possession sometime in the near future.  I will also be scoping out the training aids.  This is one of my favorite items to mull over at the show.  Searching for the item to help me best improve my students.  Of course I will be wanting to see the new equipment lines out and demo some of them at Demo Day.  This will allow me to provide an educated, first hand review for my members.  Finally in the merchandise section I will be out to get some ideas.  Ideas of what my members will be looking to buy or items that would be exclusive to my shop.  I guess we can say that there is still some ”Merchandise” in the show.

Finally, I am on the constant search, as I said before, of improving, not only myself but my facility.  This to me is what the show is all about, finding ways to make golfers have more fun or to improve what they gain from this great game.  What better place to do this than in a one stop shop facility.  I usually do not have any specific direction here, but that is the beauty of the show you do not need one.  The show is laid out to provide the direction of improvement for you.  When you see it or hear it, and you know it fits, the direction will be determined.  I will be on the search for an improvement path.

Why am I revved up for the show, golf, golf, golf, and more golf.  Orlando in January the only place that I can be around golf and those who make our business great for 24 hours a day for four straight days.  It’s like a little Utopia of golf.  Talking golf, golf swing, golf clubs, and the game with thousands and thousands of golf professionals or others who are in the business of golf.

So there it is, my random thoughts about attending the show.  I know that it is not much of a read but hopefully one that will get your juices flowing about attending the PGA Merchandise (Networking) Show.  I guess the common theme within this post is that I am revved up for the show to improve myself.  Besides that name one better way to get you fired for the new golf season.

Please feel free to post a comment.  I would love to hear from others.  I would love hear your why’s what’s for attending the PGA Merchandise Show.  Let me know if your revved up for the show!  Thanks for reading and hopefully we will see you next week in Orlando.

7 Nights at the Twitter Academy Review

What do you use Twitter for?  I have been asked this question over the last couple of years.  I always gave a fairly generic answer that was not too long-winded.  Twitter to me has been a medium in which I was able to network.  There was something more to this Twitter thing, something deeper that I knew but could not explain.  Then it happened about two weeks ago, the answer to that question slapped me right in the face. It was at that time when John Graham (@johngrahamgolf) asked me to take his spot in this revolution called 7 Nights At the Twitter Academy.  My goal in this post is to provide my readers of what the 7 Nights at the Twitter Academy experience was for me.  In addition, to explain to you how Twitter has meant more to me than just the generic word “networking”.

When John Graham tweeted me that night and invited me to be a part of this journey I was honored, intimidated, and excited.  I was invited to participate in a series that would engage, educate, and showcase.  A series that was being hosted by 6 other top coaches that are at the top of their field.  Coaches who had experience doing “v logs” and short instructional video series.  Something that I was new to.  Immediately these other coaches I am speaking of, Jason Helman (@jasonhelmangolf), Jason Sutton (@golfgurutv), Sara Dickson (@Sara_PGA), Kirk Oguri (@kirkoguri), Andrew Marr (@andrewmarrgolf), and Dennis Sales (@dennissalesgolf), made me feel relaxed and confident in my abilities.  They guided listened, and invited feedback.  We were all here for one common goal, to improve the golf game of others.  While on this journey we were out to showcase our abilities to coach players and improve their game.  In this two weeks of being a part of 7 Nights at the Twitter Academy I have improved my abilities as a golf coach thanks to these 6 other coaches I have mentioned.  This experience epitomizes what the Twitter experience is all about.  I have learned, shared, networked, engaged, and improved.  That is why I engage in Twitter and exactly why I participated in 7 Nights at the Twitter Academy.

I am most humbled that I was allowed to participate and pass along my knowledge and experience to others.  I was so inspired by 7 Nights at the Twitter Academy I have started a “SRCC TV”, a You Tube channel for my local club.  Something I did not have the knolwedge or the confidence to do before.  I can not begin to thank John Graham, Jason Helman, and the other coaches enough for allowing me to be a part of this journey, 7 Nights at the Twitter Academy.  Please continue to follow and engage with these coaches on twitter, they are here to learn, share, teach, network, engage, and improve not just to “network”!  Thank your for taking the time to read my 7 Nights at the Twitter Academy experience and in case you missed it here are the 7 episodes.

You can follow me at:  twitter.com/golfprorob

my website: www.rm4golf.com

You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/robmaciv

D Plane, Can’t Be Taught! But Why?

The title of this post is rang through my ears many times over the past years.  But why can’t D Plane be taught?

After many years of collaboration, testing, and realization I feel that a larger majority of todays coaches are beginning to accept the fact that this so-called “wack theory’ of D Plane is not “wack” but is real.  The modern technology of high-speed photography and launch monitors such as Trackman have been vital in proving this description of the collision of the clubhead and ball.  These technologies allow us to see the true concepts of the laws of flight for a golf ball off of a club head.  The proof, without question is there, the face is responsible for as much as 85% of the balls initial direction on a center face hit.

So, now that we are armed with this valuable information, what do we as coaches and teachers do with this knowledge?  How do we utilize and how can students/players use D Plane to improve?  After all our number one goal is to have our students improve.  The answer lies in the following 3 resolutions.  First is to keep it simple.  Second, use the knowledge as power. And third, let the coach be the physicist and the player be the player.

First and foremost keep it simple. Describe the laws as they are, the face is the largest contributor to the initial direction and curvature is caused by the path being different from the face (on center face hits).  That is it.  Players should be aware of where there face is pointing at impact.  Why should players not be aware of this?  I mean the objective of golf is hit the ball at the target, how does one accomplish this goal with out this awareness?

Second this knowledge is power, use it.  Players can utilize this knowledge to make error correction in the course of play.  Players can work with a knowledgeable PGA coach to help them make proper adjustments based on ball flight.  With the understanding of the new ball flight laws the student can be confident of making proper corrections on the course instead of the dreaded tinkering.  Proper corrections and improved confidence leads to lower scores.  Why would we not allow the student in on this information?

Finally, the coaches need to be the physicist and the players the players.  This statement in a way encompasses the other two, but I wanted it out there so that it is clear.  Coaches should educate themselves to understand the physics of the D Plane to best guide the student to the appropriate ball flight.  It is vital the coaches understand how the different factors such loft and angle of attack effect the D Plane.  This does not mean that the player should bind their self up with the physics of the procedure.  But on the other side, for those coaches with Trackman, this does not mean you should exclude these numbers from the students as a baseline for improvement.  Properly used, these baseline numbers are an enormouse gateway to improvement.   It is my opinion that the coaches should coach and the players should play.

D Plane and the new ball flight laws, in summary, is a very powerful tool that provide us an accurate reflection of the ball flight.  The curriculum can be administered in a format that will improve both coaching and playing abilities.  The facts and core laws should not be shunned simply because of a lack of understanding of how to separate the technical from applicable.  Keep these three resolutions in mind when you think or are told, D PLane can’t be taught.

As always thank you for the time to read my thoughts.  Please feel free to share or comment, good or bad.  We are all here to learn from each other.  Have a great day loving what you do!

Rob McGill, PGA

www.rm4golf.com

twitter.com/golfprorob

How Do You Open The Door?

At any one time in your life do you remember asking the question, how do you open the door?  Personally my answer is no.  I can honestly say that I do not even remember learning to or opening a door for the first time.  But I will say observing a child learning to open a door is pretty remarkable.  Especially when the child opens the door and walks through to find a whole new world on the other side.

This to me is very similar to the improvement process.  In golf, either as a teacher or a player, for the improvement process to take place there needs to be a gateway.  How do we find this gateway?  How do we best utilize this gateway?  This is the subject of today’s post, not how to open doors literally.

First and foremost this door to improvement is not available unless one is willing to be open-minded enough to turn the handle.  In both cases, coach and player, shutting the mind off to new knowledge and information is like turning the lock on this door.  The improvement process becomes very slow and one will be in constant search for improvement like a child trying to find the unlocked door.  The improvement process requires us to be in a constant learning mode.  Learning from mistakes to learning to feel what our body is doing.  Improvement will not happen if we are not willing to learn.

Second, when trying to improve our game or our coaching, like the child opening the door, one needs to be willing to make mistakes.  Error correction creates deeper practice.  Again just like the child if he or she opens several doors only to find something scary on the other side the child will not open that door again.  But at the same time the child will not find that room of amazement if he or she is not willing to open the doors.  Willing and accepting errors and failures are a large part of the improvement process that should not be denied.

For those of you trying desperately to improve your game or your coaching should understand that the gateway to improvement lies in our willingness to be open-minded and the ability to accept failures and mistakes.  When this happens, just like learning to open doors as a child, there will not be a big memory of it but the reaction the same, amazement and awe.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post and I hope that it provided a the readers with new perspective on improvement.  Please feel free to comment and share.

Remember your attitude more than your aptitude will determine your altitude.

Rob McGill, PGA

www.rm4golf.com

twitter.com/golfprorob

Junior Golf In Tennessee is Rob McGill’s Passion

I know I have written several posts introducing and announcing my Select Junior Golf Program.  Without trying to do be too self-promoting, I wanted to present the readers with an update of how the program is progressing and why I decided to develop such a comprehensive program. 

First things first, the Select Junior Golf Program is a premier curriculum for junior golf in Tennessee.  The program now has four students enrolled.  One student is 12 years old and in the Intermediate stage.  This student is almost half way through this stage.  His practice habits and fundamentals are starting to improve immensely.  Our focus to this point has been on fundamentals and short game.  In the short game we are working to develop proper impact in terms of position and contact.  Impact has also shown improvement.  The three teenagers in the program have just started and I received the TPI evaluations today.  Michael Wilson, a strength coach at the local university is level 3 certified and does the evaluations for me.  I am excited to have this knowledge when starting with these juniors.  Junior golf in Tennessee is exploding and I am thrilled to have these avenues available for this type of program. Next on the slate for the Advanced students is assessment and goal setting.

The question from many is what would posses you to take the time to create such a program?  The answer is simple, junior golf in Tennessee is Rob McGill’s passion.  I truly and deeply enjoy getting juniors in Tennessee to playing golf and witnessing their development in both golf and life.  I am a believer in those who grow up in golf and allow the game to be even a small part of their life, mature into very successful adults.  By successful I mean productive citizens of society who learn to make the right decisions and follow the correct paths.  Unfortunately I could not find a study to confirm this theory but through personal experience I deeply believe it to be true.  So why would a golf professional, a golf coach, or a golf instructor not want to be involved in junior golf?  I have no idea.  Listening to the junior’s reactions, juniors’ ability to drown out the negatives, their perspective on life, and the way they will not talk to you for the first three lessons and suddenly explode are all reasons why Rob McGill has a passion for junior golf in Tennessee.  My first attempt to attract more junior golfers came in the development of my website, www.rm4golf.com.  The website had some success but not as much as I would like, so I was motivated to develop a program that consumed the elite junior golfers in Tennessee.  Now they have enrolled and I can witness and maybe on a small-scale help the juniors develop in golf and life.  So that is why Junior Golf in Tennessee is Rob McGill’s Passion and why the Rob McGill’s Select Junior Golf Program is here.

Thank you for taking your time to read my post and hope that if you have a junior wanting play better golf you will consider me.  Have a great rest of week.

Rob McGill, PGA

www.rm4golf.com

twitter.com/golfprorob

rm4golfblog.wordpress.com

Junior Golf in Tennessee

Last fall I started researching how people were teaching junior golf in the Tennessee area.  I was pleased to find many different programs for juniors wanting to learn to play golf in Tennessee.  I was pleased to find so many because I feel that it is very important for juniors to have accessibility to this great game.  What I did not find from junior golf in Tennessee concerned me.

The one type of program I did not find when searching junior golf in Tennessee was a detailed program that maps out a curriculum for elite junior golfers.  Juniors that are looking for a stage by stage program that will help them become competitors and not just recreational golfers.  This jump started my creative wheels into motion.  I began the research.  I wanted a program based on the essentials I knew to be successful.   I wanted my junior golfers in Tennessee to have access to a program that provided the items, teaching styles, and fundamentals that other programs and instructors used to improve their juniors and contained evidence of success.  I was not interested in reinventing the wheel and it be unproven.  I wanted a program that provided proper skills, knowledge, and retention.

The research led me to develop Rob McGill’s Select Junior Program.  This program is one of a kind when it comes to junior golf in Tennessee.  The SJGP takes the juniors from the basic motor skill movements to making the preparations to play collegiate golf.  Each stage of the program is 17-18 weeks long and includes supervised practice sessions as suggested by Charlie King’s philosophy.  Supervised practice is essential in long-term retention and improvement. These supervised practice sessions are rarely utilized by other junior programs in Tennessee.  I also referred to the Canadian National program as direction in sequence and length of the program.  Finally, I explored many case studies on how juniors best learn and retain fine motor skills.  I have integrated my findings into the Select Junior Golf Program.

For those juniors searching Junior Golf in Tennessee and looking for a program to improve their game and prepare them for competition will now have an answer.  Rob McGill’s Select Junior Program is the newest program for junior golfers in Tennessee.  If you or your junior is looking for an organized, detailed program please visit my website at www.rm4golf.com and select the Select Junior Golf Program tab.  There you will find the curriculum outline, program schedule, and investment costs.  Thank you for reading Junior Golf In Tennessee and I hope to see your junior on the lesson tee!

Rob McGill, PGA

www.rm4golf.com

twitter.com/GolfProRob

rm4golfblog.wordpress.com

How Not To Be Golf’s “Ranger Rick”

How many times have you answered the question, ” How did you hit it today?” with “Great on the range but terrible on the course!”?  I would venture to say that many of us have made that remark more times than we care to admit.  Most of us will step out of the car walk up to the range with the thoughts of their last lesson or the swing thought that worked yesterday.  As we warm up for our game, we hit a few shots at half speed and find the ball coming off of the face crisply and in the general direction of where we were looking.  The confidence begins to rise and the excitement of the day builds.  Our tee time arrives and we head to the first tee full of confidence.  Confident that those two dollar bets today are going to fill the wallet full of one dollar bills.  Two holes later we are chasing a feeling, the feeling we felt yesterday and the one that worked on the range.  Four holes later we begin wonder if we will ever hit a shot.  By hole eighteen the question arises “Why do I play this stupid game?”.  Why does this happen? 

To answer the question, why am I a “Ranger Rick”, lies in how you are utilizing the range.  How do you practice?  There are ways to practice correctly.  I believe that there are two forms of practice, one to correct a flaw or to improve the swing and one that is dedicated to playing or improving play. 

When practicing to correct a flaw or to improve the swing you should have set swing thoughts, a set of specific drills, and a set of specific goals to try to achieve.  These keys are dedicated and specific to the correction of how you swing the golf club.  Unfortunately this type of practice has very little to do with how we actually play the game. 

Correction practice or swing improvement practice has very little to do with playing because we simply cannot play the game of golf thinking about specific positions of the golf swing.  Which leads us to how do we practice to play?  Practicing to play should be very target specific.  When playing the game of golf the goal is to simply send the ball from point A to point B in as few strokes as possible.  The only way to accomplish this goal is to be target specific. 

Change clubs each shot.  We are not fortunate enough to play golf hitting the same club for all eighteen holes.  Change clubs and change targets as if you were playing golf course.  Better yet simulate playing your course on the range.  This helps with visualisation and prepares you for the golf course. 

Make up games.  Put your self under pressure to make it happen.  Try to hit all of your shots in an acceptable range of your target.  Try to hit five, ten, or twenty shots in a row without a stray swing thought.  Attempt to hit the visualized fairway 8 out of ten times.  This is the type of practice that prepares us mentally for the game.

Finally, do not neglect that pre-shot routine.  Practice it before every shot.  Make sure that it has very specific thoughts that are non-swing related.  Your pre-shot routine should be repeatable but not habit-forming.  Use it to prepare your mind to hit the shot at the target.  Finally, when practicing the routine do not forget to include the tempo of the routine to set up the tempo of the swing.

If you learn to practice properly and to separate the types of practice you’re doing,  you will soon remove that moniker of “Ranger Rick”.  After all, we would all rather hit it better on the course than the range.  That is how you get rid of “Ranger Rick”. 

Thank you for reading this post and I hope you found it worth the time you took to read it.  I understand that your time is valuable and I appreciate you reading it.  Please feel free to leave any and all comments.  If you like my posts please feel free to sign up for the Rob McGill’s Blog subscription. 

Rob McGill, PGA

www.rm4golf.com

How Does A Golf Professional Survive the Winter

This year’s offseason has been, to state it mildly, brutal.  The snow and the cold temperatures are player haters.  The weather can run players from a course faster than bad bumpy greens.  So during these desolate times how does a golf professional survive?  What does a golf professional do in the winter?  How does he or she stay in the game?  How can a golf professionals better themselves?

These are questions I have asked all winter long.  Actually, to be honest, I started asking these questions last winter.  Because I am just now writing this post I am sure you understand I have just now started finding some answers.  The answers are coming now, not because I am a much smarter person but because a I have learned where to look.  Thanks to many of the contacts I have made through social media my eyes were opened on how find these answers.  These contacts I speak of have guided me to the proper references to the resolve the questions I was asking.  I would be wrong if I did not mention a few of these.  First and foremost John Graham .  John is the golf professionals Social Media Guru.  To name others, Jason Sutton, Andy Morrison, Rob LoRosa, Neil Plimmer, Matt Diederichs, Andrew Marr, Martin Park, Jason Helman, and most recently Rickie Potts.  These contacts through Twitter have helped me understand the questions to ask and where to find the answers.  If you want to learn more, follow these people on Twitter.  You may easliy find them on twitter by clicking on their name.

Now back to the original questions.  The first question, how to survive,  is best answered by asking all of the other three questions.  As a golf professional you can not and will not maintain a position during the winter, a crisis, or tough economic times if you do not constantly ask yourself these questions.

The second part to surviving the winter and tough times is action.  Let it be known that you are asking yourself these questions.  Supply yourself with the ability to publish, market, and publicize the information and the ideas you obtain from answering these questions. 

Question two, is what does a golf professional do all winter?  For starters a golf professional should start the winter by building a fire.  Building a fire?  What does building a fire have to do with being a golf professional?  Simply stated building a fire is producing enthusiasm and excitement for the upcoming season.  A golf professional does this when building the schedule, brainstorming ideas, and developing new programs.  Where does this stuff come from?  I will refer back to the second paragraph, your contacts and social media.  These people are all professionals with great ideas.  As a golf professional we simply ask to borrow some of their good ideas.  In addition to building a fire, a good professional will need to review policies and procedures, install control systems to help control costs and expenses for the new year. 

The third question is how does a golf professional stay in the game?  This question is asking how does one keep the game and business from passing him by.  The answer is research, practice, and an open mind.  Research should be done on a constant basis.  Research is something that should be bombarded in the winter months.  The time is available, make it productive.  Again one should start the research with social media contacts.  This will help narrow searches down.  Use books, blogs, ebooks, podcasts, internet, and any other learning medium.  The point is to stay on the search for new knowledge.  Practicing means not just the game but also practice using your new-found knowledge.  Practice by having discussions with that random member or customer that wanders through the shop.  Practice by discussing, debating, and teaching the assistants and or shop help.  Finally, ensure to keep an open mind about new ideas and methods.  A closed mind is simply that, closed.

Lastly, how can a golf professional better himself?  For starters by doing what you are doing right now.  Not to say that I will change you or have such great knowledge that I can transform you.  But by having the curiosity to read what I have written, by exploring blogs, and by having the open mind to simply see what I had to say on the subject paves the road to improving.  Also by having the tenacity to want to be a better golf professional.  If one has the desire and the drive, then all things in this blog will come easily and natural. 

That is my thought for what golf professionals should do to survive the winter.  Accomplishing all of this is great but if the powers at be do not know what is being achieved then it is all for not.  Communication is key.  Constant communication should be done through emails, newsletters, Facebook, Twitter, and blogs.  Let the power of social media help protect and empower your position.  Learn to use it and use it wisely.  That is how a golf professional survives the winter! 

As always thank you for the time to read my blog.  The fact that you took the time just to see what I have to say is very appreciative.  Please feel free to leave any and all feedback, I would love to hear what you have to say.  Please feel free to share this blog by any method. 

Rob McGill

www.rm4golf.com

twitter.com/golfprorob

facebook.com/robmcgill