Jonathan Elsdon is a British PGA professional and golf instructor in the South of England. A former Tour Pro, Jonathan brings a wealth of playing experience to his lessons and is quickly becoming one of the most sought after coaches in the game.
He joins #OntheMark to share his philosophy on golf technique and instruction, as he dives into the inner workings of the golf swing and how Rhythm, Tempo and Timing are integral to consistent ball-striking and success.
As he teaches you how to develop reliable rhythm and a consistently smooth swing tempo he elaborates on a few concepts such as:
How rhythm can heal a faulty golf-swing, and The era of swinging hard and fast. He then makes learning the concept of tempo, timing and rhythm linear by highlighting various instructional concepts:
The nature of golf and how golf is “what the ball does” Understanding the correct process to hitting quality shots The value of Timing The boundaries for Swing Positions, Sequencing, Timing and Tempo The Effortless Swing and what it should feel like Speed vs Effort Understanding ones natural cadence, and How naturalness trumps manipulation. Jonathan also shares tips and drills on how you can understand and improve your swing rhythm, tempo and timing for more consistent golf-shots.
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ABOUT ON THE MARK: Mark’s knowledge, insight and experience have made him a sought-after mind on the PGA and European tours. Through his career, he has taught and/or consulted to various Major Champions, PGA Tour winners and global Tour professionals such as: Larry Mize, Loren Roberts, Louis Oosthuizen, Patton Kizzire, Trevor Immelman, Charl Schwartzel, Scott Brown, Andrew Georgiou and Rourke can der Spuy. His golf teaching experience and anecdotal storytelling broadcasting style makes him a popular host for golf outings.
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I’m a sucker for a good golf swing and when I’m scrolling around on social media sometimes I get very lucky and here recently I did when I found Jonathan ellon I found your Twitter handle or ex Jonathan I saw the silky swing and I was like golly this thing
Fell out of heaven anyway y there you are I’ve got you on the show welcome it’s so good to have you hi wonderful to be here Mark a fantastic opportunity you’ve given me and I very much appreciate it thank you goodness the opportunity is all ours and and when I
Saw you swinging and I saw some of the tips and the advice you were giving on your your social media I was like Jonathan’s on to something because we’re living in this era where everything’s about power speed you know going faster and I’m seeing Club golfers literally golf courses with golf balls because
They’re trying to do what social is telling them and yeah you come along almost the antithesis to it all and you making beautiful sound balanced uh well organized golf swings and all your clients are hitting the golf ball better so my opening question is um tell us about Jonathan clearly with this golf
Swing of yours you must have been a good player so tell us about your career uh so career I’d say if you don’t mind first and foremost I’m a husband and a father mother beautiful wife two wonderful children um and golf really has been a passion more than a career I
Guess as much as I’ve made it into a career uh but cter player as a junior uh got to a reasonable level at County and Regional level I suppose um but really more driven to understand the goal swing first and foremost and understand why people get worse get better and maybe
Don’t improve as much as what they should uh possibly from a slightly more selfish standpoint first of all is the how can I do this better um but that’s very much led into uh how can I share this with other people um and in more recent times a slightly broader Market
It seems or broader audience on uh on social media now with this podcast because we’ve got listeners all over the world um you made a statement there that I want to camp on you like get worse or get better and we all I mean everyone who downloads this thing is like okay
I’m going they’re aspirant I’m going to get better um and you make such an Savvy observation there would love to see numbers of everyone who embarks on some golf game reconstruction how many folks improve and how many folks don’t because I would I would argue just off the top of my
Head that those numbers may be comparable honestly yeah so a question I often came back from the uh the lesson to or the driving range uh for myself was always there must be a better way get so many lessons to so many people in the earlier stages of my career 20 OD
Years ago I guess it would have been uh where you walk off the range and you say as much as I’ve enjoyed the session as much as that person feels as though he’s gotten something from the session um he feels she feels as though they are improving the reality is the scores are
Stagnant um made them hit better shots in the lesson made them feel good about themselves in the lesson but why if they continue to follow the same cycle season after season and not really showing the potential that they’ve actually got that we’ve all got I believe okay I’m feeling like all the
Fans are wanting me to stay here so because I’ve had a brush with this I’ll be honest with you I’ve been teaching golf since Mobi deck was a minnow um and you know I’ve helped some good golfers get better and Club golfers improve and stuff but I he recently wrote a book and
I saw you quoted well I don’t know if it was from it was the book isn’t published yet but you released a quote there from Butch Harmon that’s like we teach golfers to play better or yes we don’t teach to golf to players we teach players to play golf and play it better
And yes that was when he was on this podcast that was one of the quotes I asked him about and I’ve had an experience with this recently where I’m working with a good player super talented um swings improving and all the rest played in a tournament year recently was
Disastrous and obviously the confidence took a knock as you can imagine and I had to all of a sudden have a mere Cula with myself going you’ve lost the forest for the trees you my friend you’ve got to teach how to play golf so so so help
The Listener and the viewer a little bit with that observation please yeah certainly so full disclosure uh the quote was actually in my notebook from uh your podcast I think it must have been three years ago maybe no I’m glad you do that because this is what the book’s about you know I
Just looked at all of the stuff we had from Bright Minds like you and I’ve gotten multiple requests from people going where the transcriptions and I laugh I’m like transcriptions for goodness sakes I’ve got thousands of things on the go I can’t transcribe these two so anyway fast forward
Publisher your this Reach Out reaches out to me and they’re like we need to amalgamate this stuff so we pulled out the most popular pop podcast I had pulled out some of the great nuggets and that was one of them so I’m so glad that you would concur with us yeah now Avid
Notetaker there’s a pencil in hand at the moment I guess I guess yeah it stem stems really from that idea of how do we work this out there must be a better way like uh listening to all the tibits from all the wonderful players over history listening to your podcast other
Wonderful podcasts that there’s so much information out there now how do we collate that and how do we put it into something tangible and organized that you can get somebody come to a pup come to you um Desiring to get better and say right here’s where we start um and this
Is the process we’re going to follow to get you to the point of improving performance um and then hopefully you can run from there and achieve the results you want to achieve um so that that idea of uh I I got a a slight bent towards making things quite linear for
Guys in the sense that i’ put a tweet out just recently saying process follows sorry process leads performance which leads to outcome um so what’s the process we need to start with uh to improve your performance to get to where you’d like to get to um that is to me
The perfect segue to what we wanted to talk about because I mentioned it at the top of the show um and it’s I’m I’m taking notes while I’m talking to you if you’re watching on YouTube um I mentioned at the top of the show where
Was like we’re in a power era there’s no doubt I mean even professional golfers will admit that they got wrapped up in the brys and the Shambo thing over Co and over the break you know this is now some three odd years ago I shouldn’t dated but all in sunry were trying to
Swing faster in their Home Gyms and things like that and I just saw golfers getting more inaccurate they might have more speed but they weren’t keeping the ball between the channels um and so the year long you come with rhythm and Tempo and I had a conversation with Felder or
Various Nick Felder that is Sir Nick and it’ll stick with me until my dying day where he was like Rhythm and Tempo are the glue that hold the golf spring together and I would contend that after five years of work with Larry m Master’s champion who is as silky as you can
Imagine with a golf club in hand that Rhythm and temper can disguise all number of ills inside of a golf sing as well so let’s it off with your thoughts on Rhythm and Tempo before we go anywhere please yeah certainly so if I um apologies if I go on a bit of a
Tangent with this one but kind of start at the beginning um I’ll borrow a line from the uh the wonderful John Jacobs and say that I have the belief as he did the golf really is what the ball does yeah um golf to me is a game of ball
Control first and foremost um how do we control the golf ball through impact um and there were really only four variables impact uh that excuse me five variables impact that influenced the flight to the golf ball uh centeredness of strike the alignment of the club face the direction of the Swing path the
Angle of attack and the speed the golf clubs traveling it I’m going to stop you folks there’s a beautiful book and I was lucky enough to spend a short amount of time with Dr Dr John the book is called practical golf go and buy it immediately
Keep it on your bedside table all right off you go Jonathan please go uh so certainly once once we understand really that impact is all that matters once we have an understanding of how impact affects the ball flight we can start to build construct create a golf swing around that but understand that
Everything that does contribute to that gol swing is really only a matter of style uh there’s too many wonderful players that are pulled the club to the inside and thrown the club to the outside there’s too many wonderful players that have cut their lead wrist or bow their lead wris throughout the
Stroke too many wonderful players that have aimed offline to the right and offline to the left that have competed at the highest level of the game so making Twitter enemies right now if you talking about wrists and stuff you I’m everybody’s friend first we’ll go from
There um but once you start to gain an understanding that you can really do anything from anywhere you start to appreciate and this has been quoted so often through generations of wonderful players that timing is really the only thing that holds I wouldn’t say the only thing that holds weight in the goling
But it’s it’s got so much value if you’ve had a bad day your timing was off if youve had a good day your timing was on but none of us seem to as much as a few good players have seen suggested we should none of us seem to really offer
It the value that it holds um I’m a believer that there’s four main facets to the golf swing uh positions uh sequence timing and Tempo um and on a little bit more directly to your question of of what’s Tempo maybe um I see it a little bit like F I guess and
The ID describes it as the glue that holds this s together I see it as the boundary with which positions sequence and timing can fight out um if your Tempo is on you’ve tck the Box um to you take the first box let’s say towards consistency and repeatability you’ve
Created a framework for your positions you’ve created a framework for sequence and timing to have a chance to perform consistently I love that I I actually want you to say that again Tempo and I hope I’m going to paraphrase the boundaries for where position sequence
And timing can fight it out yeah and I’d perhaps that I’d add to that perhaps if you don’t have the boundaries of tempo the fight’s already been lost well you it’s so it’s so right because look I’m I’m going to make a statement and Let You observe or
Elaborate however you feel um I’ve had guys on this podcast Dr Chia Chow chai Chow I should say his correct pronunciation he is a concert pianist awardwinning who suddenly got into athletic instruction started with downhill skiing and now he’s in golf and look everything he said to me the top of
The show he goes it’s about electricity and sound waves and that’s how the world works and he goes um all movement all sound they waves and he goes and I’m able to see sounds when you swing a golf club and I’m able to see where there’s dissonance basically is what he’s saying
And as he watches people hit he devises these sounds they sound almost neol in Nik or and then and there’s emphasis on different areas and he will help you to pick up more speed he’ll help you to improve your distance control just by these sounds and where you’re taking it
Away from the cerebral element to something that’s as base as Tempo and um emphasis and what you say there is so true because it’s uncanny when he would devise these essentially time stamps just with sounds that you were following that you could only find the most
Efficient way to swing the golf club to fit into that window so what you say to me is almost proven by this doctor where he’s like there’s a space of time you got to move in you as the athlete will organize yourself inside of that if you
Keep that at the Forefront of your mind yeah so I I guess to the to to most of your listeners perhaps uh the methodology if I can call it that that they may have heard of would be Tor Tempo I think it was John Novell wrote the book originally I believe he may
Have had a partner forgive him for forgive me for forgetting his name it’s his son he’s been on his son’s been on the show John fantastic yeah and and I think what what they offered at least they were the first guys that I saw that offered something tangible again they
Offered something that was measurable and something that gave you something to work towards rather than Tempo being this elusive thing that people seem to have or didn’t have but um as Bobby Jones said nobody knows how to work on it yes how was you know it when you said
That earlier I’m interrupting give me I’m excited it’s 7 a.m. in the morning and I’m all jacked up Bob Jones my hero because you said the value of timing okay um Bob Jones said he goes it’s the most impossible thing to teach and that was a
Question I was wanting to ask you is how to teach timing so I’m gonna let you go with that one please yeah so certainly as as PE and I forgive I should have written this down with my pencil but um the doctor you mentioned just a moment ago playing something audible beats that
You can work work within and a framework with which you can work within um from again stolen from John Nova sales book um the idea that the best players swing the golf club to a ratio of three parts back swing to one part down swing the back swing takes three times longer than
What the down swing does the down swing being from transition at the top down to the moment the club collides with the ball at impact um you can use a metronome you can clap you can say words um one I was given to a lesson I was
Given to a pupil just yesterday we were I was clapping at the beginning of the lesson just to the beat beat of three to one so I’ll do it you now if you don’t mind but just simply we actually can’t hear that can you do a little closer to the mic louder
Yes yes certainly well if you’re watching on YouTube you can see the Rhythm folks it’s it’s actually pretty cool I don’t know why the sound’s not showing through but sure tour Tempo to tour Tempo is a worthwhile place to go and check it out because it is this you know in as much
As what a golf spring looks metronomic and kind of like a pendulum you know in a there’s a natural acceleration and to your timing thing I guess in my Layman’s observation the timing is when you accelerate without excess um effort and you accelerate the club at
The correct time and that’s at the base of the swing and a lot of folks and this is when I watch your swing and we’ll try and get the footage up so people can see or they can just follow you you know off the ball I imagine a playground swing
Off the ball the club sweeps away then slows down then it ex accelerates and sweeps through the bottom then slows down and and it’s your go swing is almost hypnotic and people could could learn from this and then really start to with your advice here dive into the
Value of the timing and the Rhythm and the tempo and and the sort of tour Tempo beat certainly so I think maybe offering more clarity through the distinction of what positions are what sequence is what timing is as you’ve just alluded to and what tempo is actually makes it a little
Bit EAS easier for the golfer to work on um and then remembering how would you like to play the game yeah I would like to play it effortlessly I don’t want it to be hard work um I don’t want it to be a grind I want to step up on the first
Te and look graceful um look purposeful at the same time not lazy necessarily but if you’d like it to be effortless don’t work on things that make it feel difficult um if you don’t have enough speed let’s bring it back to the impact variables if you don’t have enough speed
You have to train that speed away from the golf course so that when you step up on the first two your speed is naturally fast enough it doesn’t have to be effortful to put the speed in to hit the ball far enough to compete or to play
The course of the level you’d like to yeah um going back just the moment to the idea of giving a definition to positions sequence timing and Tempo we’ve sort of done Tempo already suggesting why have suggesting it’s the boundary with which we uh Swing Swing the golf club within positions are quite
Easy I think for people to understand or golfers to understand in that it’s so R so so readly and widespread spread taught um in that a position would be the position of the addess the position at the top of the back swing the impact position um I do believe we should have
Reference points for those um I do believe you should work to work from a model of comparison um but that’s quite quite widely understood what’s sequence sequence is simply the order in which we move the most commonly spoken about sequence or suggest is the Downs sequence how the lower body accelerates
Or leads the upper body the upper body leads the arms the club trails and eventually we catch up at about impact um what’s timing not so readly given a definition again it’s a little bit elusive like Tempo um and I think it overlaps with sequence and it overlaps
With positions but I believe timing is when the positions occur in the sequence of movement so when as you touched on when does the release happen when does the weight shift happen when does the the lateral movement of the body happen relative to the rotational movement of the
Body I want to I want to ask you this because I’m listening to you I’m hearing you I know the fans are doing the same thing um but I’m watching your Manner and for me it’s strange CU you know you watch me and I don’t think I am but I’m
Sort of animated I move fast I speak fast when I get excited the broadcast people always talking to me to slow down um then I watch you and you measured and you seem unhurried and when you were telling all of this I was like almost taking a breath and it
Reminded me of a Gary player quotes I’m going to mention it you can elaborate and cl said to me he goes on tournament days I would wake up a little earlier I would get out of bed slower I would drink my tea slower I would take my time in the shower basically setting
Up the day he goes I drive to the golf course slower setting up the day where one’s in this mood to not be Stato you know intense and I watch your Manner and then I I’m I’m I’m almost likening it to the golf swing because more often than not
As an announcer I’ve like his swing almost mirrors his personality um now you watch my swing and it looks like it’s going in reversed so slow which is the antithesis for who I am inside I’m wondering from you and I’d love your take the the timing of it
All the movement the tempo these things you talk about these elusive things you talked about practicing off the course for Speed this sort of stuff can be practiced just in manner right you know when you’re showing up at the golf course even though you’re in a rush
Try and slow down give yourself some time am I crazy with this no no not at all I I would suggest that most people pay attention to your natural Cadence pay attention to how you walk particularly and I would see the go thing somewhat as a walking ex exercise
Left right left right left right and you’ll have a beat you’ll have a you’ll have a Cadence you’ll have a Tempo that you naturally demonstrate you only have to look at the again the world’s best the game’s best players over history let’s take Ernie ell versus Nick price
Um how does Ernie I can’t say I know him personally so call him Mr Elles how does Mr ell carry himself personally big guy I w’t I won’t say lazy but he moves effortlessly doesn’t he he talks slowly deep and steadily price seem to for the
Few times i’ I was fortunate to see him play scurried around the golf course a little bit more with with some other people yeah yes yeah um scared around the golf course and that reflected in their tempos and I’m sure there’s other things that contribute a little bit but
At the same point who are you how do you move how would you like to move and it needs to feel effortless and natural to you and I’d suggest there’s more consistency and naturalness than manipulation so if you’re trying to be somebody in something you’re not um the likelihood of you producing something
Repeatedly uh is is I won’t say L to num but it’s not in your favor well I can you know you reference price and he’s like a mentor to me um and I would put him in the same bucket as like a Peter Thompson for argument sex listeners and viewers if you haven’t
Seen it just go YouTube Peter Thompson’s golf swing it is just gorgeous in and elegant in its Simplicity neck it’s kind of fast but there’s still Rhythm to it and you made an observation earlier that I kind of highlighted I wanted to talk about so
I’m going there now um and this is about speed and how you had a video on your social media where you it was your swing and then I guess a clients of yours and you were like one of these is moving at something miles an hour and the that was
My son actually and the one isn’t and you know you could see the athleticism in both so so it brings me back to the speed of it where I think in the interest of creating speed so many golfers start trying to bludgeon the thing and they get too vigorous and
Violent and and they lose the element of Swing to it now naturally you at the ballar because of you’ve organized positions you’ve organized sequence you know the path the face alignments those things are good so you hit the ball squarely but still there’s a misunderstanding for me with people
Where it’s like all right I can still hit the ball far even though I’m not swinging like a bans sheeve so so you understand where I’m going here yeah certainly so I I anything can be trained anything could be trained um again whether it’s position sequence timing or
Tempo you can train all of them you just have to choose or be guided by a coach as to which one you need to put your attention on um so if you’re out of position and you’re glancing across the golf ball regardless of whether you’re swinging at 110 miles an hour you’re not
Going to be optimizing that 110 M hour delivery because of the blow said glancing rich brother oh man you have gospel from you early in the morning yeah about lunchtime here in the UK so it’s I’m a little bit more ready to go maybe but um let’s go to to sequence if
If you’re if you’re out of sequence how good’s your contact G to be how good’s the transfer of energy going to be so again if you’re training speed it’s going to be no good so there has to be a level of organization in positions there has to be a level of organization in
Sequence to allow your timing to show through and output in this instance the speed that you’re delivering and you have to ask yourself the question what type of golf do I would I like to play um do I need to hit the ball 280 yards
Do I need to hit the ball 220 yards am I okay hitting 150 yards off the te does that allow me to compete at the level that I would like to compete at or I would simply like to enjoy the game from um and sorry go ahead no no no I’m you
Got my mind spinning um I think what you say there is so appropriate like let’s take snow skiing for argument six I’m now CR pollinating in the biggest way you know I’m a novice SN skier go I’m from South Africa we don’t have snow there well you can’t ski
Where it is um so when I go snow skiing I don’t climb on the um lift the carousel to go to the Black Diamond yet I find so many golf course golf F when they get to golf courses they are ostensibly playing courses a little too long so by definition then
Are kind of forcing themselves to have to try to do too much and would you agree with that because I feel like for the enjoyment of the game you know learning to play a little shorter initially people might be surprised and see that they at the ball farther
Because they’re not trying to overswing am I nuts no no not at all I’m I’m a little on the fence with this in the sense that I also believe people can get enjoyment from the back te so I’m gonna go against the curve a little bit again
Here if you don’t mind but that’s your own perspective on the game and you’d have to then bear in mind how would I like to play the game am I play playing to optimize my ability to score or am I playing just simply to hit the ball and enjoy the process of
Hitting the golf ball but essentially if you’re looking to get the most from your game let’s put you on a comparative te so that you can approach the Green from a place uh in in a comparative manner to say Rory maroy would on a 7 and a half
Thousand yard golf course and if you’re hitting the ball 2 150 yards off the T you want to play from probably about six and a half thousand yards to play a comparative game um but at the same point how would you like it to feel how
Would you like to approach the game how would you like the golf swing to be uh for yourself as an IND Vigilant if you’d like it to be effortless if you’d like it to feel and look effortless um you’re going to have to then train enough speed
Again repeat myself now but train enough speed away from the golf course so that you can carry that effortlessness to the first te um if the training isn’t in place um and you’d like to be effortless but you’re putting yourself at 7,000 yards and you only hit it to 225 it’s
Going to be a SLO and you’re not going to enjoy it and it’s going to look like hard work I’ve loved that recently hey it’s sort of it it prompts me to to make this observation let you um elaborate I I talked about price and Thompson and all these Legends of lynx
Golf you’re down there from the south of England um you some great Lynx golf courses around there um and when you’re playing in situations like that I guess I’m guessing to the discipline question of being true to the GOL for the day where on those courses you have these
Heavy winds and all of a sudden you’ve got this pathf back into the teeth of a cold wind off the channel and it is just playing huge even though it’s like 400 yards whatever and price and all of these Legends would say I don’t try to
Hit it any harder I just try to hit it more squarely and just then accepted the fact that my regular 260 yard Drive is going to go 220 yeah and I’m like yeah and then I’m thinking sounds so Heavenly but golly then I get on the te and I’ve got this
Wind in my face and everything my psyche is wanting to hit it farther but it’s a discipline so talk to me about the discipline of it please uh so again comes out of clarity of where you’d like to go the understanding I believe I’m gonna quote
John Jacobs again that golf is what the ball does and as soon as you can appreciate the golf is what the ball does as soon as there’s an understanding of those five impact variables you can start to appreciate how to control the gulp a little bit more um if there’s a
Clarity of understanding of this is how i’ would like it to feel that’s come back to the idea of it being effortless um effortless and easy to yourself you can then start to appreciate I actually hold on just a moment all I need to do is to deliver the golf club squarely to
The golf ball um and I can’t do that if I haven’t trained it I can’t do that if I don’t have an understanding how of how to do that um or I can’t manipulate that in any way in the moment of being on the
First te or In the Heat of battle out on the on the night Fairway wherever it might be um so allow yourself to do what you can do um play Within your own boundaries play within your own limits and that’s not to put limits on your
Game um can go away to the practice ground and and and expand your expand your horizons let’s say um but in the moment of being on the golf course you’ve got to train you’ve got to trust what you’ve trained I think it’s a bob Rella quote if you don’t mind it’s the
Idea of trusting what you’ve trained out in the golf course um repeat what you do naturally natur naturalness will always Trump manipulation um oh yeah I I was on a little Waffle hopefully that gives you something well if people are watching on YouTube they’ll see me in my
Pen and my yellow legal pad writing copious notes Here naturalist Trump’s manipulation I was writing that down I love that and it sort of gives me a nice a nice way to deviate and just direct the conversation to a tweet I had recently because you’ve talked you’ve used the word
Elusive and you’re right you know great Rhythm great Tempo to certain folks seems like it’s an impossibility ability um timing in as much as what it’s hard to teach or learn is actually surprisingly athletic and natural if you allow it to be and I find so many
Golfers when they get a club in their hand and a ball on the ground now are we going to what Dr John said golf is what the ball does they’ve got Club in hand they’ve got ball on ground they’ve got Target over there somewhere in the distance and there’s all this sensory
Overload with bunkers and wind and stuff like that then all of a sudden there’s like a glitch in The Matrix everything switches off and they turn into basically a neanderthal with a weapon in their hands and it’s not like okay I’ve got to maneuver this thing to
Get that thing to go in that direction somehow again it gets to mindset so you’ve talked about remaining true to the process so if you were advising people prior to a difficult shot where the senses are heightened and maybe the adrenaline’s going a bit more all right
How do we collect ourselves so now we’re on the course and we’re being true to what Jonathan’s saying help us pre-shot or or just with something to kind of direct the attention to say I’ve got to present this club to the ball in a desired manner it might be going at 100
Miles an hour so the ball goes at 150 and I’m delivering an efficient strike help us their discipline and and focus and intent wise before the show certainly so number one um as simple as and I say as simple as perhaps more difficult put in practice but put your attention on your
Intention place your attention on your intention and be clear on what you would like to do if it takes a moment to decide on what shot you’re capable of playing take a moment and but once you’ve got that shot in mind unless if unless there’s a seed of doubt that
Creeps in don’t waver from it uh so if that’s a layup if it’s a if you’re going for a tucked flag uh if you’re playing into a 30 mph Breeze uh put your intention excuse me put your attention on your intention and stick with it that’s number one
Um if you can be clear on what you would like to do you’ve got a chance I think it was called um ironic process when a wonderful golf psychologist and I forget his name now um was talking about the idea that if uh if you’re thinking don’t
Go in the water don’t go in the water don’t go in the water soon enough you’ll hear a splash um so I’m not GNA repeat myself your goes um it was it’s actually in this book Rella goes the golf ball has an uncanny way of going in the direction of your last
Thought wonderful exactly exactly that so so then so then number two after you’ve managed to come up to a clear intention of what you would like to do with the golf ball uh there has to be again back to the rella quote again trust what you’ve trained you have to
Have that trust in place in yourself even if it’s to the point of Reckless abandon and I guess I’ll give you a little story from when I was struggling with my driving a few years ago um for what it’s worth driving nowadays is very much the strongest part of my game I can
I’m very confident off the te um but several years ago it really wasn’t the case um balls were going left right high and low my goon really didn’t look any different to what it looks now and um I would stand there with a camera behind
Me and an analyzing it on video say well there’s nothing here that stands out that suggests that I can miss the planet why can’t I hit a fairway why can’t I hit it as far as I need to to contend um I got a little frustrated out in the
Golf course late one evening uh teed a few balls up and to the side of my home course there’s a uh there’s a big Marsh area and in Fr frustration to almost throwing the driver into the marsh I just blasted one ball after another after another and with complete
Disregard for the result and complete disregard for where they were going um caught up in the Whirlwind of my own head um and I found that after about a dozen Ralls or so I sort of latched on to hold on a second uh every one of these golf balls has just gone to
Exactly the same place with exactly the same tiny little right to left draw um and it’s not deviated 260 70 80 yards out there whatever it may have been at the time and I’ve got no concern whatever whatsoever for what it’s doing where it’s going and they’re repeating I’ve
Allowed myself through frustration in that instance to trust what I’ve trained I spent all of the time previous to that moment um looking at positions looking at plane looking at impact alignments trying to look like Ernie eles trying to look like Tiger Woods trying to look like the next best swing whoever it
Might be um and only in that moment of frustration and again Reckless abandonment of all corre corness did I allow my ability to actually show through um and that moment has stuck with me since and I maybe don’t carry it into all parts in their game as well as
I should do but certainly off the tea it’s really resonated for a number of years and I I’ve got a little mant I say to myself actually on the tea and I offer this different ways in with pupils that I work with Okay uh which is you
Never really know where it’s going to go so you just as well trust it um and then bringing that back to uh my point of your question sorry of how would you go into a shot and off for the shots and Trust sometimes you’ve just got to give
Up sometimes you just got to say I just trust what I have um it’s allowed to do what it’s what it’s going to do I’ve got full acceptance of what the results going to be so if you’re on that tight links Turf and the the breeze is blowing
Off the channel at 30 35 miles an hour um nice tight lie whatever it might be flag tuck behind a pot bunker you just sometimes you just sometimes you just got to aim and shoot um and and do that with the trust that effortlessness will shine through if you allow it think
There you um it sort of reminds me of I’ve here recently connected with a talented young man was a world beater as a a teenager was highly recruited um went to power five University um couple personal issues happened and his game sort of fell in hard times now
Transferred to a different place closer to me and his game was just up to maggots couldn’t keep the driver on the planet and so he was like he goes to many teachers and the one guy’s telling him this and the other guy’s talking about this and all the rest of it now
You had all of these positions and things to achieve in this very fast swing of his and he was basically had no chance of ever finding a fairway and then there were certain situations that were Kryptonite you know you put him on a hole that looks like this with a win
From year and there was I mean you could have bet your mortgage that this ball was never finding the Fairway and even worse likely finding disaster so big numbers were becoming the order of the day and so I just talked to him about something that sort of needed to happen
At contact very John Jacobs esque and then he started doing it in practice and then I took him on the course and Loan behold turned nasty again and I reminded him of a Ben Hogan quote never heard this read it and the Hogan quote basically was the most important shot is the next
One and in a way he s of looked at me and and I I dropped Gary Player on him too and Gary player’s like hit every shot as if it’s your last and that for me that I took when I heard players say that to me it was like
All right if this was my last shot I was ever going to hit I’m going to make sure I get all the information needed proper yardage you know read the LIE make a good practice swing be in the correct attitude for this be ready make make
This one really count but then with the Hogan mindset while I’m over it going well this one really doesn’t matter because the next one that’s the most important and it was funny when this guy honestly just bit into that and took ownership of Hogan’s thing that he stood
On the tea going well okay you know unless I hit this thing into Kingdom Come I can still play because what I did prior to hitting tight Fairways in different situations was put him in some nasty spots and said to him okay get yourself out here and most times he
Could and so almost backing reverse engineering the thing he got to that place of well you may as well just go ahead and trust it and hit it kind of thing and it’s amazing how the more now you talk about this and maybe this is some divine intervention for me that
This to me almost seems like it’s the the secret Source you know the key to unlocking your best golf would you would you agree yeah certainly so I um I got a few things I could say off off the back of that yeah certainly but I I would go
With the idea and it’s a little little Long window forgive if I get it wrong but this is uh early in my career kind of came across the idea that we start the game in a state of unconscious incompetence we’re not aware of the fact
We’re not very good uh the next step is to become consciously incompetent we’re very we’re now all of a sudden very aware of the fact that we are now no or still no good the next step is to become consciously competent so then all of a sudden we’ve got some awareness that
We’re actually improving we’re actually playing to a level where we got some command or some control some predictability of the one the ball might do as much as I’m sure there’s progress that we’d like to make yeah the ultimate goal of all of this really if you step
Out the golf course is to be um unconsciously excuse me nearly m word unconsciously confident we want to get to the point of actually being able to step up and execute without a second thought you place your attention on your intention what would I like to do with
The golf ball once I’ve decided that we black out we find the zone whatever it might be there’s enough wonderful players that have talked about that I’m sure most if not all of your listeners have have have heard that as an idea or a concept at least um and it’s not just
Exclusive to golf it’s in in all walks of performance in life yeah if we can get to that state of unconscious competence where we can step up and pull the trigger without any interference let’s say from our from our conscious mind or ourselves we’ve sort of ticked
The box and we’re we’re ready to go you’re going to play your best goal from that place um you can certainly score from a conscious place you can certainly manipulate a ball around a golf course but I think so many wonderful players have been Master manipulators they’ve
Been very aware of what they’re doing all the time and and so many wonderful players have only rarely experienced that unconscious competence it doesn’t just come by uh by hoping for it I don’t think it does come from a lot of training but if we can that’s the goal I
Think and not to go off on too much of a Tang tangent from what you’re saying I think that’s that’s where we’d all love to be and if we can get there and experience it and play 18 holes in a blink of an eye and go hold on a second
Have shot 68 what happened there it’s h what a what a wonderful observation and I always want to say this and then quickly get your take and then one more question because I know you got people waiting for you to help you get them to a place of unconscious
Competence um I want to say this it is aware when one’s out playing it it is okay for golfer wi out there playing once you’ve taken the information on board to be that person because I’ve got a client good talented also not achieving maybe what they should where
They’re like I play it actually got quite heated it was like but I hit my best shots when I’m not thinking about it and I’m like okay and then I’m like just make sure you take on the information before you that you have the right Club in hand you know what the
Situation is but when you’re over it if you just got a blackout and go there’s no problem with that would you agree 100% And this is the idea that naturalist trumps ipulation yes and and Perhaps Perhaps the not maybe the contradiction to what I’m saying here is
There’s no harm in having a model for comparison there’s no no no no harm in saying right I would love to swing it like Nick F but there has to be an acceptance that you’re not going to probably look like Nick fower but you can use his goon as a model for
Comparison and you build off of that you train off of that um you then recognize what your idiosyncrasies are within your own style and provided that Pro promotes or allows you to deliver the impact numbers that you’d like or the impact positions the impact uh variables that
You’d like to be in line as as as you need them to be then you can just go and play once the training’s done once you’ve worked towards your model you have to give up that model on the first te and and as your as your client
Suggest they play their best when they don’t think about anything um go for it just let it be let it be let it swing away it’s a love it okay um yeah it is before I let people okay I’m a firm believer in that oh well this comes from Fred Couples on this
Very show Fred’s like you know when I play with golfers I watch them he goes I love to watch Ernie El and I love you know his rhythm I I feed off it you know coming from Fred who looks like the mayor of tempo Town um and he’s like and
I watch Tom perer and I watch these players I feel like watching good models is not a bad thing for someone who might be a little too violent and vigorous and so so apart from watching your golf swing on your social media handle which is a great model for timing Rhythm Tempo
These things we’re talking about do you have ones that you would recommend that people go search on YouTube or something and just go and have a look and and see yeah so I pick one that resonates with you pick one that you enjoy watching pick one that you love the look
Of uh you may remember the model gol swing it was like a Blog man a white silhouette of a of a golfer I don’t know if you remember it no it’s that’s well back I mean you’re taking me back a few days here yeah yeah
So I I love watching that um but again it’s I think it was an amalgamation of a number of golfers um through the sort of 60s 70s 80s period possibly into the 90s uh where the guys who did the study and put the model together said this is the
Model golfing from all the best tournament Players of the time and for me personally I love watching that and curiously enough there’s there’s videos online of the Tor Tempo beats overlaid with the model golf swing so you kind of get a double whammy all of a sudden you
Get the a wonderful looking golf swing that’s synced up perfectly and you can allow that Rhythm and Tempo and timing to seep into your system um at the same point I was I grew up watching fer I grew up watching Montgomery grew up watching any else um I grew up in an era
Where effortlessness was sought after it wasn’t a power game in the 90s um as much as a few guys were had the ability and tiger was on his way but um game The Go the game of golf really was supposed to be effortless and it was
Supposed to be played with a Grace and a style that was appreciated so for for me that’s um it was in it’s in my it’s in my DNA as a golfer really not to go after it in that sense um but I again I would pick a golfer that resonates with
You if you love Nick price copy Nick price so mimic Nick price if you if you love nnie Els go with nnie Els if you know know the guys from my era now maybe a little bit more than some of the modern guys but um you see so many of
The youngsters my boy particularly loves Rory so many of them do um so allow him to watch roaring and allow him to feed off of that because he falls into that bracket of three parts back swing to one part downswing yeah um we’re all close
To it um there there can be a little disconnect perhaps if you’re a bit like me as you as you’ve observed in that I I’m a bit of a plotter I I I move and talk fairly slowly I’m a little bit lazy in my mannerisms maybe um if I was to
Maybe go after Nick price that could potentially lean me down the wrong route but at the same point could it bring me closer because actually me getting a little slow in my back swings a little slow in transition um actually feeling like Nick price the likelihood of me
Looking like him is slim to none um but it could be a great feel for me so I don’t be afraid to go and give it a try um pick a couple see what happens see where it goes it’s amazing how so many golfers hanker after this but then they
Don’t do it when they practice and not just play I’m talking about practice too because I feel like if you practice properly play will good play will be the offshoot of that or or or the the if you will and posted something where it was this incredible
Video of Ernie Fred VJ Singh on the driving beside each other you know the one yes Fred SW Ernie swings in Fred swings in VJ swings almost like someone had coordinated this and I reposted this with just some silly little quip and it got hit thousands of hundreds of
Thousands of times so it tells me that people want this but then they don’t go and practice this so leave us with this you’ve talked about tour Tempo I think it’s a great idea you’ve mentioned the metronome which I have one on my phone it is standard offer is there anything
Else that you would advise folks if they now okay I’m going to go to the range this afternoon and practice on my timing and my Tempo and my rhythm and all this stuff these ethereal things any other drill advice anything you could share that they can go and work on please yeah
So again perhaps start with and this is a bit of generic advice for me for everybody and it will lead on to what you’d say but start with actually building your understanding of impact where we sort of began this this this chat start to understand those five impact variables better then that will
Allow you to decide on what you need to work upon um I like the idea that you train through repetition sorry excuse me you train technique through repetition you train skills through variation and you train train competitiveness through simulation okay so you have to decide
One what you want to what you want to work on in your goling and if that happens to be timing and Tempo um wonderful exercises and wonderful drills for that um the most common one I use is simply counting count three in your back string count one in your down string one
Two three on the way back one on the way down or one two three hit keep the pace constant go faster go slower see what works for you see what feels most effortless for you um and run from there hopefully love it Ernie um I asked him
One time and he I’m like Ernie it’s like it’s like he oozes Rhythm I’m like this doesn’t happen all the time because I’ve seen him get hot and bothered he goes no I just can’t for him it’s like one to start two at the top three impact yeah
And he honestly does it and and then he puts a like a ball behind the ball like he sets up to a shot club Behind the ball ball behind the club and then to start the sweep away from the ball he just tries to sweep the golf ball behind
His Club away that sets off this flow and then he counts so very much along the lines that you’re talking of um look this was tremendous stuff um I feel like we could camp here for hours but you got people waiting for you tell people where
They can find you um I’m sure people want to hear more from Jonathan ellon yes certainly I’ve been a little bit in the shadows in in recent years I guess but uh so my Twitter handle is oh excuse me X handle is elen golf my surname Els
D n golf G LF uh Instagram it’s a bit of an overlap with X for me um but it’s at Dorset golf coach do R golf coach dorsit is the county I’m based in in uh and Dorset golf and country clubs the golf club I’m based at on the south coast of
England um and then if anyone like to email me with any questions uh dorsit golf coach outlook.com would be the best one to reach me on um I’m willing to help I don’t offer any online coaching at the moment it’s all in person it’s all private lessons um I got a lot of
People pushing me seems for online coaching at the moment so it it may be in the offing but at at the moment it’s just in in person stuff so any questions from across the pond somewhere feel free to just fire at me I’ll do my best to
Get back to you I have a feeling that after this you’re going to be getting emails and such so you may want to look into the online coaching element of it because you do trous work I’m so thankful to find you I’m so thankful you would join us and um look
You you’re doing fantastic work and to me you are talking about elements that are very important Bob Jones all these guys have referenced them and sadly they’re being forgotten in the chase for Speed so so thanks for bringing truth to the situation appreciate you no I thank
You for the opportunity I’ve uh like I say it’s a bit a bit of an unusual experience for me and loved it and really appreciated it thank you very much again I hope I’ve offered some sort of value feels like we’re skimming the surface but um again I really hope I
Have we’ll do it again sometime don’t you worry about that thanks wonderful thank you B how
1 Comment
Great action, You should look at Lewis Sparrow and Nico Mendoza