Entering A New Phase In My Career

We started another season down at The Core Golf Junior Academy in Orlando this past week and each year, we grow a little bit more in number of students and in solidifying our programs.  We have added Bob Skura as our director of mental performance. He will be there on a more consistent basis along [...]

We Plan To Turn Students Inside-Out

In my last blog, I introduced the mental performance program we are bringing to the Core Golf Junior Academy down in Orlando this winter. It’s called Inside Out coaching. We plan to create a similar program for both our Academies in the Greater Toronto Area at Pipers Heath and Willow Valley The gentleman leading the [...]

Teach Students To Escape The Mind Demons

When I first started playing professionally, I created a five-year plan, in which at the end of each season, I would review and evaluate my performance. For this evaluation, I had a set of criteria that I would work my year against to determine if I was improving and whether or not I would keep [...]

We’ve Learned So Much, So Fast About The Swing

About six years ago, teaching took a bit of a back seat to as I took on my role as general manager here at OslerBrook. Now, as I move back into full-time teaching with the Core Golf Junior Academy down in Orlando, I am amazed at how much information and knowledge has advanced in such [...]

Anatomy Of A Juicy Rumour

I was down at the Core Golf Junior Academy in Orlando a couple of weeks ago, wrapping up our year with the students. On that Thursday, we headed up to the TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra to watch some great golf and visit with our PGA Tour coaches Sean Foley and Dr Craig Davies. That day also [...]

An Armchair QB’s View On The Pro Gap

There have been a lot of comments, criticisms and armchair quarterbacking on the Canadian Tour’s white paper and the Golf Canada/RCGA name change, so I’ll jump into the fray and offer my two cents. In golf instruction, a great instructor understands what the student is doing incorrectly and why and what he needs to be [...]

Let The Stats Influence On-Course Decisions

A few weeks ago at the PGA Tour’s Waste Management Phoenix Open in Scottsdale, Az., Rickie Fowler was in contention at the 15th hole, which is a reachable par five.  Fowler chose to lay up and has taken a lot of heat over it, as recently as Bay Hill, where he was in a round [...]

What Made Ben Kern The Ideal Mentor

The recent announcement of this years Canadian Golf Hall of Fame inductees brought back some great memories. but for me none were stronger than those of the late Ben Kern. In life, if you’re lucky, you will meet one or two people who will influence and make an impact on who you are and who [...]

Memories Of A Hall Of Fame Mentor

Last week, the RCGA, the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame announced its 2010 inductees. I would like to congratulate Graham Cooke and Brent Franklin on their selection under the player category. While not many in the Canadian golf scene would remember Brent, I can say that, having competed with him during his years on the [...]

Perception Is Paramount For Golf Professionals

In my last blog, I talked about the need for the Canadian golf professional to embrace change and in continuing on that theme, I want to talk about the how the golf industry views the role of the golf professional.  While my views won’t be earth-shattering, I don’t think as golf professionals, we can pass [...]

Pros Should Embrace Change, Not Fear It

I never really contemplated the full possibilities of a blog and to be honest, my first few felt more like I was writing an article for a golf magazine than expressing what I really felt or thought about the golf business. However, as I have become a bit more comfortable with writing them, I realized [...]

Pros Also Need Support Before The “Show”

Wow, it was a very exciting couple of weeks down here in Orlando with demo day at Orange County National followed by the PGA Merchandise Show at the Orange County Convention Centre. It’s been well-documented how impressive the golf show is, even with the recent economic challenges and this year’s reduced size, but it is [...]

Today’s Youngsters Are Honest With Themselves

Many young golfers grow up thinking that, if they can learn to swing the golf club well, they will shoot lower scores automatically. They spend hours on the range hitting shots, quite often without purpose and without an end result in mind. I spoke recently about the 10,000-hour rule and how important it was to [...]

Guidance Is Critical For College Prospects

As our Core Golf Junior Academy has grown, we have been fortunate enough to have some of our juniors play well enough to be on the radar of some U.S. college golf coaches and eventually get noticed to the point of being offered and receiving golf scholarships. All of these juniors have shown a great [...]

Industry Needs To Be There At The Start

We are fortunate here at the Core Golf Academy in Orlando to work with such a wide variety of students, from our elite juniors attending our academy to the PGA/LPGA Tour professionals taught and trained by our coaches Sean Foley and Dr Craig Davies. You get to see the full range of talent and opportunity, [...]

Don’t Let Students’ Egos Affect Decision-Making

Tom Jackson is director of instruction at the Core Golf Junior Academy in Orlando, Fla., and general manager of OslerBrook Golf and Country Club in Collingwood, Ont. Many young golfers grow up thinking that if they can learn to swing the golf club as well as possible, then they will shoot lower scores automatically. They [...]

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