This is not just another golf instructional podcast. Our Director of Golf EJ McDonnell, sits down with Jonathan Sutera, the Director of Instruction, and two of the newest pros to join our team of instructors, Jeff Smith and George Puchinsky. In this episode, you will hear unique insights on how new advancements in golf can help your golf game from Jeff, a top 100 ranked instructor and teacher of the year recipient, along with George's groundbreaking research on foot pressure in the golf swing. Our commitment to incorporating cutting-edge technology into our instructional program promises to revolutionize your golfing experience.
We will discuss the critical importance of understanding each golfer's physical limitations and how this knowledge can revolutionize their swing. Lastly, we are thrilled to announce our upcoming Golf Academy and Golf Lab - two exciting additions that promise to elevate your game to the next level. Get ready to be a part of an unforgettable season with us. Buckle up! This is just the beginning.
This is not just another golf instructional podcast. Our Director of Golf EJ McDonnell, sits down with Jonathan Sutera, the Director of Instruction, and two of the newest pros to join our team of instructors, Jeff Smith and George Puchinsky. In this episode, you will hear unique insights on how new advancements in golf can help your golf game from Jeff, a top 100 ranked instructor and teacher of the year recipient, along with George's groundbreaking research on foot pressure in the golf swing. Our commitment to incorporating cutting-edge technology into our instructional program promises to revolutionize your golfing experience.
We will discuss the critical importance of understanding each golfer's physical limitations and how this knowledge can revolutionize their swing. Lastly, we are thrilled to announce our upcoming Golf Academy and Golf Lab - two exciting additions that promise to elevate your game to the next level. Get ready to be a part of an unforgettable season with us. Buckle up! This is just the beginning.
Hello Benita Bay Club members. Ej McDonald, your director of golf, with our first golf instructional podcast today, I'm here with Jonathan Sotera, our director of instruction. How are you doing? And real quick, jonathan. Your average driving distance 185 yards, all right. We also have with us Jeff Smith today. Hey, how are you doing? And your average driving distance? 20 feet, all right, excellent. And our third person to join me today is George Pachinsky, our newest instructional member to join the team. George, hello, hello, good morning.
Speaker 1:Thank you for having me You're not going to mention how far you hit the golf ball.
Speaker 2:I was going to say I drove here 12 miles. Okay, excellent that was my driving distance. That was my joke.
Speaker 1:Excellent, we uh. So for our first instructional podcast we wanted to give a introduction to George and re-welcome Jeff back for season as we get underway here.
Speaker 3:Hey, season's good, right Weather's perfect. Keep it great.
Speaker 1:And we're going to get to know these guys a little bit better, talk a little bit about the golf swing and what we're looking forward to, um, and then in future installments we're going to bring in some of the instructors and really get into some golf technique and things like that. So, jonathan, why don't you kick us off here today?
Speaker 4:Yeah, well, it's nice to have a staff full of teachers.
Speaker 4:We all have our own teaching styles and we say a lot of similar things, but we might say things a certain way that really allows each student to maybe relate a little better. And, uh, you know, it's nice to have Jeff, who's been here. His experience is great. He's had a ton of uh education and accolades and we're so thankful that he's able to be here with us at Bonita Bay. We're we're very fortunate to have him as well, and George as well he is one of our local guys, is just coming on the team and each of them have great skills that they're going to offer you, all the members, to uh help improve your golf games. So, you know, some of the things that we're excited about is just learning who they are. And, uh, you can get to know them a lot more personal as well when you have a lesson with them and do any of the instructional I guess you could say uh events that they're going to host as well. But uh, let's start with Jeff. Tell me a little bit about where you're from, where you're raised.
Speaker 1:Some of your background, family, married kids Remember this is not a resume builder.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I've got, uh, I've got a wife and I've got three children. All of them are out of college now and, uh, I've got a son who's my youngest, he's uh 23. And he made me a grandfather uh last August. So it's pretty exciting stuff. Need time in life right From Columbus, indiana, uh small town about a half hour south. So it's, um, you know it's a good spot and it's a real good spot for I don't know what I think is three months of the year. The rest of it is good to be here.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, very good, george. How about you? Where are you born and raised? Where are you from?
Speaker 2:I was born and raised in Benton Harbor, michigan, and I grew up playing soccer. That's what I started doing. That was my first passion and I went to college at Indiana, purdue, for a semester and then I moved to Wisconsin where I started my golf career and I played soccer until I was about 30 years old and my friends invited me to a bachelor party and we played nine holes of golf and barbecued, picked up a golf club and I haven't looked back in 30 years. I fell in love with it. Quit everything, quit everything. Finished school and I got a job picking range balls at Brown Deer. I got my degree in health care administration. I said thank you and I went and got a job working minimum wage at Brown Deer Golf Course.
Speaker 4:We're a friend Nice started at Possum Run, of course.
Speaker 2:My illustrious soccer career didn't work out. It was going to be a famous soccer play that didn't happen. And then my first job was at Brown Deer Golf Course where Tiger Woodstone Pro. I'd saw him take his first golf swing and my first job was a PJ Tourist Stop and I was hooked. I fell in love with that game more that day and I got into the golf business a few years after that. As a golf professional I passed my players ability test. I still can't believe I did that and that's it. I haven't looked back. That's awesome. That's awesome.
Speaker 4:Well, I know EJ is excited to have our staff growing and moving in a direction with. We've got some awesome technology that we've had for a long time, but we now have a place where we can host that here shortly, so we're having some real experts coming in that will be able to really help us move forward in our instructional program.
Speaker 1:So let me interrupt you real quick here. I think these guys were a little bit too humble. George, I believe you played professional soccer, didn't you?
Speaker 2:Well, not really. I went out to California. I was trying. I was in the Air Force at the time. Actually, I was in the Air Force.
Speaker 1:So there's a couple of things. We got ex-military and played some semi pro soccer and forgot to mention that. Jeff, you know, doesn't like to. You know two to his own already is the top 100 by golf magazine, been teacher of the year in Indiana. So I just want the members to realize that the talent that we have here they're both kind of coaches. Coaches Jeff does a lot of seminars across the country teaching other instructors. George is currently writing a research paper on foot pressure and the golf swing and stuff like that. So while these are great guys, they're also very intelligent. So I want to make sure that our members understood the talent level here that we're dealing with. Sorry, john.
Speaker 4:That's OK, and a lot of hard work goes into what we all learn, and these guys have definitely put in a lot of hard work to get where they are today, so we're very blessed to have them here. So, jeff, I wanted to ask you a little bit about like AimPoint. Give me a little example of the advantages of what AimPoint can do for our membership and some advantages that might be there and things you might want them to know about that.
Speaker 3:Well, the biggest thing that I can talk to people about AimPoint, it's an express read. It's fast and it's right and it's all based in math, but the best part is not talking about it in math. I'm not good at math. I'm good at understanding what math tells me, but I'm not good at math and I don't like doing it.
Speaker 3:So the express read is way better and basically what it is is you're going to get on the green and you're going to walk and you're going to stop and you're going to feel what's going on. You're going to kind of put something in your head to say it's this much and that equates to how far away from the hole I need to start my ball so that the hill can push it back. It's really a fast way of going about it. I call it the 10-second read because if it takes longer than 10 seconds, if you got a 25-foot putt, and because I see all these guys that are squatting down and tilting their head and holding up a putter shaft and doing all these things and walking behind the hole and it seems like they're taking forever and I can get it done in 10 seconds and I can teach people to get it done in 10 seconds and the ball's going toward the hole at the end and a lot of putts are being made that way.
Speaker 1:So you see it on TV. That's a great point about the aim point that when it first came out Nobody understood it. The cameras focused on the players on tour doing it a lot more and everybody thought it was slow.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So the point you make about it being express and getting it done fast and I can't believe that you don't believe in the Plumb Bob why not the old Plumb Bob? So I think that's an important thing also, and it's very limited to how many people can coach this right.
Speaker 3:It is very limited. There's some serious training that goes on, a lot of continuing education that goes on about this, and it's a specialty. It is something that not a lot of people in the country are even allowed to go through. They limit the number of it and, as a matter of fact, if you're not even any good at it or if you're not doing it very much, they take away your certification. So it's supposed to be something that is a finely tuned skill being used, but the Plumb Bob you know might as well get to that right?
Speaker 1:No, let's not get to that.
Speaker 3:Here's the funny part. I've asked a whole bunch of different people who I see doing that. I ask them what they're doing and try to describe it to me. Everybody gives me a different answer, so it's random.
Speaker 1:It is totally random. I don't know what the ground is doing underneath your feet, 10 feet behind. The golf ball is gonna teach you anyway.
Speaker 3:I don't really get that either. Right, if you're not stepping on where your ball's gonna walk?
Speaker 1:you're not thinking about it. We're gonna go into a whole different show on that one. Yeah right.
Speaker 4:Well, I feel all of us here at the table are from the Midwest and our grasses are so different. When we came down to Florida, learning Bermuda grass and how that is and how that works was a whole different animal. And sometimes we see the ball breaking left and it broke right and vice versa, and what we saw was uphill, seemed down. I mean, there was all kinds of weirdness early on and so our eyes definitely can play some tricks on us. But that's the beauty of Aimpoint is it doesn't really have you guessing. It helps you really figure things out. So that's what I've really appreciated about it as well. But, yeah, definitely something that if you haven't gone through Aimpoint, it's something you would wanna do. You will definitely improve your putting and it takes some of the guessing game out of there. What else, cj? What do you got?
Speaker 1:Well, I wanna hear from George Don't make that face at me, george. Good thing we didn't have a video on this. George, one question for you and it doesn't have to be one answer, number one fault, you see, in the average club golfer. It's a loaded question, I know it is that's why I asked it.
Speaker 2:Many answers, but I would think that alignment, I would think is probably the number one challenge that I see with players good players, it's the first thing I check. When they say I'm hitting the ball crooked, I check their alignment. We have to line up 18 times on that golf course and the tee boxes are not your friend. Then we have to line up every approach, every chip, every pitch, every putt. So what I see is most right-handed golfers aim right. They put their shoulder on the target, not the club face.
Speaker 1:And then after you correct that then we fill in the blanks from there.
Speaker 1:That's a good answer. There could have been a lot. I look at over here at Jonathan and Jeff and their heads spinning going. Wow, that was a lot quicker than I would have given, right, or either that or it's a blood order. I think that what we all see as instructors is a lot of the swing faults happen before the golf club even moves. So great answer there.
Speaker 1:One thing you guys have both been teaching for quite a while now good careers. I'd like to hear what you guys have to say, what you've seen change in the game the most, whether it be how we coach the equipment, golf course conditions, golf course playability. Like Jonathan referred to Bermuda, even when I started here at Benita Bay Club in 1999, the greens were great greens in Southwest Florida. Right, you still hear that golf ball rolling across the grain. And now, with the different hybrids of Bermuda grass we have, there's not that much grain in them, especially this time of year when it cools down. So if you guys could hear, you know, just kind of tell us what you've seen change the most, let's have an effect on how you guys coach.
Speaker 3:I think it's the information. You know, 20 years ago we didn't know for a fact a lot of things. Now, in the advent of technology, let's start with launch monitors, because they were the first technology that really helped coaching and we believed a machine because it was a machine and we found out that the early machines didn't have enough information programmed into them and they gave us some. It was bad intel. So there was a little bit of garbage in, garbage out, but that stuff is long gone.
Speaker 3:A lot of the technology that we're using today is unbelievably accurate, unbelievably consistent. And if I can have something, some tool that can tell me for sure by measurement what just happened and when it happened, for example the force plates that I use. They tell me when during the golf swing something happened and I can use that. I don't have to say it all to my student, but if I can get that little tidbit of information, boy, that's helpful for me to help them, if I understand what to do to it. So you know, it's the education, the information. I think that's the biggest thing that has changed. Coaching is the advent of facts.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree with that. We're probably not gonna coach too much on what a moment arm is and stuff like that. But there's a lot of neat things that tech does that you can use. You don't have to use it, you don't have to fully explain it to the student, or you can. It depends where the student wanna go. That's the thing about tech. As professionals, we can tell if a golf ball is that you've hit like, especially with the driver, is real spinny. But if maybe somebody's not believing us, we have technology right there. It shows us, you know. One thing we do know is that pressure in one thing does not equal movement. So tech really helps. You kind of show the student what is going on, and we all learn in different ways and as great teachers, you all know that you have to know how to say the same thing a hundred different ways depending on who you're coaching, and the tech helps give you more options on how to say things. So, george, where are you gonna go with this? The biggest changes you've seen.
Speaker 2:Well, the biggest change I think I've seen is in coaching. When I first started teaching 24 years ago, when I started getting into golf, it was all about swing mechanics. I went to everything, went to all the seminars, all the educational opportunities, the section that I'd offer, and it was about swing mechanics mostly. And now I see a good trend going towards coaching Instead of just teaching swing mechanics. We have to talk to players about how to practice like you play. We get on the golf course with them, we take an evaluation of how they play so we know where to work with them with their game individually, and it's going towards coaching and I like it. I'm a better teacher now because I'm a better coach. I just don't talk about swing mechanics. I talk about playing golf and the goal for us is to get them off the golf range and get them on the golf course and shooting lower scores, and that's the goal.
Speaker 1:That's a great point is taking it from the range and being able to hit great golf shots after you leave them right. It's one thing for them to be striping it just perfect, and you walk away and then it kind of goes down a little bit. Then they take it to the golf course and it goes way down. So that's where the coaching part comes in, along with the swing.
Speaker 4:So George, your soccer coach, way back when he didn't show up on practice day number one and just teach you everything he knows about soccer all on one day and then say, hey, I'll see you at the game next week. No, he did not Do it on your own. That's a good point. So, he kind of showed up every day and made sure you were doing the things he was teaching. Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, jonathan, I'd like to have you answer that question too, even though you thought you were just going to moderate today, I'll throw it at you.
Speaker 4:Well, I don't mind being thrown under the bus. No, no, no, I love it. I think how we look at our golfers isn't just with technology and the changes on the golf courses. A lot of it now is understanding our golfers physically, what they can or can't do.
Speaker 2:That's a great point.
Speaker 4:I'm looking at golfers different than I ever have in years past, and understanding what wrist mobility and shoulder mobility and balance, single leg balance on one foot versus the other I mean things how that will affect, not how it can affect how it will affect what a golfer does in a golf swing. So to me, that's where I think our coaching is improving. We often would say we're customizers and we can customize a swing, but do we really have all the information that we need to make sure that what we're teaching that golfer to do is going to match them? So that's where I think it's changing in a really positive way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, those are three awesome points. I'm very impressed with those answers. I don't know why I'm impressed I should have known that was coming. But excellent answers and, going along with the technology, the coaching, just versus instruction, what we know about the body and physical limitations now that really leads to the personal aspect of teaching. We got great people that are teaching here at Bneedabay Club and when you're out for a lesson and you're spending a lot of time together being with other good people, it's important to create a great relationship and all those things are creating relationships. With the technology and stuff, you're creating trust and you're learning knowledge. With the coaching, it's all around, it's purse about how you're playing the game, what are you feeling on the golf course and things like that, and, of course, with your mobility, with your limitations and how can we fix those limitations and things like that. Those are all one-on-one, personalized things that you all are great at when you're out there on the lesson team.
Speaker 3:I think to buttress that point, here we are and it's relationships with people. So we've got somebody standing in front of us and they're trusting us with helping them get better. They're here for a reason. They're here to have some fun. They're here to get better at something that they all are feeling pretty passionate about, and yet when they come and ask us for a golf lesson, they're trusting us to be the one that can help them and lead the way. So the relationship part of this is crucial, because if you can't seem to relate to the person and you can't seem to get through, it's really gonna be an ineffective time for both, and we want the students and the people here to really enjoy it. So I think the personal aspect of it is pretty darn important.
Speaker 4:Yep, well, I'll tell you, relationship building is what we do as teachers and if we look back in our lives and anything we've done when learning or educating, we definitely improved a lot when we had a great teacher and a great coach, and those are memories we can look back on that helped develop us as people as well. So I think what happens in our relationship building with our students is we're not just teaching them A lot of times they're teaching us. They're sharing things that are helpful in our futures as not just teachers, but in our lives as well. So it's really awesome, and the friendships that we attain here, not just with each staff member, but also with our membership, is, I think, what makes Bonita Bay as big as places it is. How special it really is, is because the friendships that we definitely create here, it's pretty cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we know, bonita Bay is definitely a special place, george. Jeff, you got any final hearting words of wisdom for our membership?
Speaker 2:Hearting words of wisdom. Well, I wouldn't say. I think we've talked a lot about wisdom today. We've got a lot of wisdom thoughts here today. I would just say say that I love being here and I'm a lucky sky in the world. I get to go to work with golf shoes on every day and come and see you at Bonita Bay, thank you.
Speaker 3:You know, I think the thing that I could say to kind of wrap up what we're doing here today is that we're bringing this to the membership in the form of, hey, let's talk golf at any time. So what I've found in the time that I've been here is that just walking up and down the lesson tee has helped so much, because it's just communication. It's great to get to know these folks and it's great to be here and have them enjoy why they're here. I see that a happy group of folks here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know we all got into the golf profession because we love the game of golf. Right, we'll always talk golf. That's what we do. It works. We talk golf all day and we're gonna continue talking about golf throughout this season. We're looking forward.
Speaker 1:We're gonna be doing another podcast here shortly with Justin Smith and Hugh Vaughn and then, starting after the new year, we're gonna do some kind of open forum meetings, round table discussions, at least one afternoon a month, if not two, depending on how popular they are where we'll bring in our instructional staff and we'll invite you to come in in person and we'll just talk about golf. We'll talk about golf swings, we'll talk about you know how to get around the golf course a little bit better. We'll bring Jordan in. I mean, we'll just have to do a special one for Jordan to talk about equipment, because you know we're all kind of golf geeks and golf nerds and he's an equipment geek for sure. He's incredible. So we'll get Jordan involved in that and things like that.
Speaker 1:And you know we're looking forward to both the Golf Academy and the Golf Lab opening here shortly. Yeah, yeah, woo, yeah, I approve that message Becky just sent there with the applause of getting these things done, which is gonna be another great tool for our membership and also for our teachers to help you with your golf game. So if you do finally decide that you need help with your golf game and you want to book a lesson with any of our instructional staff, you can call the golf shop or you can use a Me and my Pro app or, off of the club website, go to the Me and my Pro right there under the golf tab. Take care, we look forward to seeing you all soon, chao.