Last week, the PGA TOUR was in Dallas for the HP Byron Nelson Classic. Jim Hardy came into town Monday through Wednesday to work with Scott McCarron and Tom Pernice Jr. I had Matt Kuchar and Matt Weibring playing in the event. Both Jim and Matt Kuchar stayed at my house and we had golf “bootcamp” for 3 days. Scott McCarron had a terrific week finishing T4th. What was more impressive is that he finished an amazing 1st in Driving Accuracy (76.8% with narrow fairways) and 1st in Greens In Regulation (81.9%)! That rarely ever happens because when a player is hitting his driver well, his irons aren’t as good and vice versa. Why? If a swing is more “shallow”, the player will hit the driver, hybrids, short irons, and clubs teed up or with a fluffy lie very well. If a swing is more “steep”, the player will hit the middle irons, long irons, and clubs off of tight lies very well. On TOUR, we usually see great iron players and great drivers, but we seldom see a player that excels at both. A golfer only hits both well when his swing is perfectly neutral. Scott is swinging as well as he ever has in his career and his golf swing is perfectly neutral. He can hit all of his golf clubs, as evidenced by the statistics. That is why Scott’s performance was so impressive.

In March 2009, I was invited to be the lead speaker for two days at the Swedish PGA’s Teaching and Coaching Summit. First let me say that I had a wonderful time in Sweden. The people there are terrific, warm and generous hosts. They are also enthusiastic about golf. The professionals are very knowledgeable about both teaching and playing the sport. They are eager to learn and are completely open to hearing new ideas. Too often instructors become closed to thoughts that are different from their own and become very defensive. They unfairly criticize anything that doesn’t conform to their notions and close themselves off from learning. This is very much not the case in Sweden. The total membership in the Swedish PGA is around 600. There were over 400 in attendance at the Summit. That is a statement to their earnest desire to learn and be the best. It is easy to start to understand why such a small nation has such an impact on international sport. They want to be the best they can be in any endeavor.

Welcome to a new feature here on our website! As you can probably tell, we’ve redesigned the site a little. In the coming weeks and months, you’ll see even more changes. This is all part of our effort to make The Plane Truth one of the best destinations for golf instruction both on the web and in person. We are focusing on both our professional instructor community as well as the millions of golfers just trying to play better golf.