I am often asked what I do for a living. And I say oh I’m a PGA professional at a golf club and everybody says man must be nice to play golf every day. Well, let me preface this by saying I’m the luckiest guy on earth because I get to do every day what I enjoy and that’s teaching people how to play better golf.

But I’ve hardly played it all since January when I was with Patrick in Florida and in the Dominican Republic. I had scheduled to play golf today for the first time in a while, but my schedule has been so busy with lessons and with limited spaces available, so I opened up today for a few extra lessons instead.

I arrived at the golf course around 9 o’clock. I got my golf cart ready with my golf clubs and six big baskets of range balls and found a good spot in the teaching area where our grass is finally greening up and was good turf to practice from.

My first lesson was with a very young 20 year-old who has turned professional and playing mini tour golf. It is a pleasure to watch him hit balls and to discuss Bob Rotella on Michael Breed's show this morning that I listen to on my way in. It was a great interview.

At 11 o’clock was my next lesson. An 85-year-old great guy who just had his right leg amputated and has a prosthesis (he is a left-handed player.)

We have to figure out the best way for him to hold the club and to maintain his balance because he’s petrified of falling. I showed him how to swing the club in a circle around him to keep his balance and he hit some of the prettiest shots you’ve ever seen from 120 yards with a seven iron and about 160 yards or so with his driver. Talk about satisfying to help somebody like this, and an inspiration to see someone who still wants to try to play golf with his buddies on a golf trip next week.

At 12 o’clock, my next lesson showed up -- a fascinating guy who was a police detective for years. He has some of the greatest stories about murder mysteries you’ve ever heard! And he's a very good player too. I’ve worked with him for several years and it was the best I’ve ever seen him swing today.

My 1 o’clock lesson was a good member at Old hickory and I had worked with him last year but not seen him all year and he also was swinging about as good as I’ve ever seen him. We discussed why he was hitting it on the hosel occasionally. I noticed his head was dipping on his back swing and that’s usually because a player is trying to keep the club too low and straight back. I showed him how his hand should hinge to swing the club. A bit more circular swing, and the results were amazing for both him and myself!

At 2 PM Brad came to work with me. He's a bear of a man at 6 foot four and 220 pounds. Great athlete in his 50s and an 11 index.

For Brad, the club was way too vertical on his back swing and I showed him with my flashlight drill how to point the butt end of the club at the target line on the back swing. And I also showed him how his right hand should be in a position to feel like he was throwing a ball. I gave him the proper swing plane and again the results were amazing and with a few weeks more work, he will be on his way to a single digit player.

My next player at 3 PM was an old friend who used to be a great player 10 years ago. He was diagnosed with stage four cancer and given five weeks to live, but he's still alive. He's still wanting to improve his golf game and what he was doing as a young player with tremendous clubhead speed. He was one of the longest drivers I’ve known, but his swing pattern is detrimental to his game now, so I showed him the same drill that my Charles Barkley video showed this week about how to release the handle of the club earlier on his downswing. He was able to get his driver airborne, his irons airborne and he just texted me that he totally felt like a new man! Made my day.

At 4 PM I had a 12-year-old just learning how to play. It was my third lesson with him, and his dad was a great player that played on the mini tours. Even though his dad is a great player, he's also a great parent that supports his kid and lets me take charge in the lesson. That’s my advice to every parent and grandparent. Let your pro take charge and you’re just there for support. We worked on wedge shots and driver. Kids always like the driver the best.
I showed him some hand eye coordination drills and we had a great time.

My last lesson was with a former army vet just learning to play. Our previous lessons were all full swings and now that he has played on the golf course, he’s figured out how important chipping and pitching have become. We worked on set up. We worked on bottoming out correctly, and we worked on exiting correctly on the follow-through. Most players finish way too high.

I was done at 6 PM. I’m home now on my patio making steak fajitas. Patrick would be proud.

Hope you enjoyed this day in my life. 75° and no wind. It was a beautiful day to help people enjoy playing golf. 

- Coach Ed, Your Golf Sensei