My Golf Source

From Ground Forces To Better Routines, Here’s How Golf Actually Improves

• Darren Penquite

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Wake up with coffee and clarity as we sit down with LPGA National Teacher of the Year Janine Murphy to rethink how improvement really happens. We’re talking about more than swing tips. This is a practical blueprint for building smarter practice, better routines, and a driving range people actually want to visit.

Janine opens her notebook and shows us how she structures a coach’s day for impact: early workouts, focused teaching windows, and protected planning time. From there, we dive into a trend that’s reshaping clubs across the country—turning the range into a destination. Think wedge workstations at tidy 10-yard gaps, uneven-lie zones, family-friendly short courses on target greens, and even modular bars that bring community to practice. When practice becomes an experience with purpose, players stick around, log quality reps, and improve faster.

We also get tactical on tech without drowning in jargon. Janine shares how AI simplifies video editing and content distribution so coaches spend more time teaching. We break down Sportsbox 3D and why motion capture helps you see whether a change adds speed or steals it. Then we translate ground reaction forces into plain English: press the ground well, and the ground gives you speed back. Shoes, balance, and footwork either unlock power or choke it. For juniors, the best speed tool might be the cheapest—an alignment rod and the chase for a louder whoosh out front. Add PathPal for precise shaft angles and clean alignment, and you’ve got a powerful, affordable toolkit.

Performance doesn’t live in swing changes alone. It lives in recovery, sleep, and boundaries. Janine’s rule—phone out of the bedroom, aim for eight hours—pays off in faster learning and steadier coaching. And when scorecards matter, we put a spotlight where it belongs: on the tee. Solid drives create simple wedges and two-putt pars; chaotic drives force bad angles and short-side misses. Choose better targets, miss on the safe side, and let confidence build one clean tee ball at a time.

If you’re a golfer, a coach, or a club leader, this conversation delivers practical steps you can use today. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs a smarter plan, and leave a quick review to tell us the habit you’re changing this week.

Coffee And Cold Starts

SPEAKER_02

Welcome to the My Golf Source Podcast. Well, good morning. Good morning. It's go time. Changing it up a little bit. Instead of drinking whiskey, we're drinking coffee.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Mocha's excited. What we have both.

SPEAKER_02

I don't know. It's a little early for whiskey.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, but luckily we have coffee. And we do have some awesome coffee from a local company because we support local here at Golf Garage. What company is it? Rogue Roasters out of Grants Pass, Oregon. Okay. Super good. We've tested a bunch of it. Um and we've gone back and forth between a few brands. And you know, we we still use Royal from time to time as well. Um looked into if Dutch Bros is ever gonna go more into this realm. Um, but it's nice, it tastes different. Um, you know, I think that's the thing is I don't know if people actually notice because they put so much sugar and milk in there and stuff in there, yeah. So, but for for me, I drink Americanos usually, so I can tell right away if it's good or not.

SPEAKER_02

I would like a little better coffee with my milk and chocolate.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. It's a sugar industry, isn't it? It sure is. I wonder what would happen. Um I don't put any sugar in my coffee at home, though. You don't? No. What about when you're putting? You drink like an espresso and then you get a little jittery. Yeah. Then swing yips all of a sudden with the buttons.

SPEAKER_02

You see the ball ball jitter the whole way to the hole.

Putter Fitting And New Gear Season

Meet Janine Murphy

SPEAKER_01

It's only supposed to skid a little bit, like you know, 13% of the way. On your 40-foot putts. Yeah, then it's true roll after that if you know what you're doing. Otherwise, you gotta come get fit. That's right. For your putter. You fit me for my putter. No, we're actually fitting days are happening soon. All the new equipment's coming in. PGA show happened. We talked a little bit about that. But um, we're getting everything in right now, which is huge for the golf industry in general. Um, everyone's coming out with something new, obviously, balls, clubs, wedges. Um, there's so many things that are super exciting right now going on. Um, and uh, we're gonna talk more about that with a good friend of ours here, the national LPGA Teacher of the Year top 50 coach Janine Murphy's on with us today. Welcome, Janine.

SPEAKER_00

Good morning.

SPEAKER_02

Good morning.

SPEAKER_01

Hey Janine, how are you?

SPEAKER_00

I'm great. I'm great. I'm uh taking my dog out for a second walk.

SPEAKER_01

Oh my gosh. The second walk. What time are you up this morning?

SPEAKER_00

I got to six, but um, I took both dogs for earlier walk, and then my younger guy, um I was like, well while I'm on this podcast, I might as well walk and walk and talk. So I thought I'd take my uh my younger boy out for a second walk.

SPEAKER_02

So you had some method to that madness, not just being an overachiever by starting your second walk by 6 a.m.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah. Get up, uh, work out, walk the dogs, and then it's time to start the day with teaching after that.

A Day In The Life Of A Coach

SPEAKER_01

How many hours do you think you work a week? And I don't just mean teaching the game, but follow-up calls, um, everything that has to do with a director of instruction at a private club, because obviously you never sleep. You uh you get paid for what you do, essentially, instead of a big salary, right? So can you walk us through a given day in the life of Janine Murphy? Because obviously you're um killing it in our industry. You just got your PGA credential on top of your LPGA credential. Congratulations, by the way.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you. Yeah, I'm glad I did that.

SPEAKER_01

Unfortunately, they don't let us get the LPGA credential, but you know, that's okay. So I can never I can never do what you're doing. But uh yeah, please, please walk us through. It'd be great to hear.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, in um busy season, it's like we're still in off season a little bit, so it's a little bit slower pace for me. But I do I try to get up at 5 45, 6 o'clock and kind of do the stuff that I need to do for me. So that's working out and walking the dogs. Um that's a priority because I think if I saved it for the back end, I probably wouldn't do it, you know, especially in the summer, coming home sweaty. You cannot buy them. So uh I try to work for like 10 to seven as far as the hours I'm available to teach. Um, that way I can work with more of my juniors after school. Uh, have a lot of adult clients that are still working. So it's convenient for them. And it works for me since I chose not to have children. So that way it just works. So yeah, I kind of shifts my day to work later in the evening to accommodate people in the afternoons. But you're right, Noah. Um, I do try to take an hour lunch break so that way I can eat and respond to emails and calls and texts as much as possible. But just there's not enough time. You still have to do it. I typically take Mondays to do a lot of my planning, whether it's a lesson plan or a long-term program. And um I'm always trying to sign up for as much online education as I can because it's hard to take time out of your schedule to fly somewhere to stay current in industry trends, whether it's technology or teaching or programming ideas. So I try to schedule as many online classes throughout the week. And then I serve on um a couple committees for the LPGA. I'm chair of the National Professional Development Committee. So I have those calls once a month, and then I just got on the PGA for our local section, the teaching and coaching committee. So we have monthly calls for that. So yeah, it's a lot.

SPEAKER_01

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So you know, trying to find ways to give back too.

Trends Shaping Modern Practice

SPEAKER_01

That's that's amazing. Yeah. I mean, there is not enough time in the day. And I I wanted to ask you real quick, you said something about trends. So, what are you seeing as some of the the new trends in our industry, whether it be at the PGA show or just with the education? Because you you definitely do stay up on your education.

SPEAKER_00

Um, a couple things. One would be thinking of the driving range as a as a little bit different, like it's a destination of choice for your facility and how to center programming around the driving range. So it's not just, oh, I'm gonna go warm up and hit Tim Balls or I'm gonna hit these this practice session, but there's really no really good intent or purpose to it. So whether that's club fitting, clinics, doing something with your um food and beverage, just you know, just to get the the driving range, I think is more of a place people at the club want to go to.

SPEAKER_01

And how's that working so far? Stop by yeah, how's that working so far at your club? And and you can tell the listeners where you're at. You know, obviously we're you're not here in Southern Oregon.

SPEAKER_00

Right. I'm in uh it's Meadowbrook Country Club and I'm in Balma, Missouri. It's a nice private member-owned club, and um yeah, so I'm just obviously being off season and we've had a lot of snow. It's just now melting. This is our first week to get members on the course in probably three or four weeks. So uh we we've been using the indoor studio as our destination of choice more than the driving range. But yeah, so that's what I'm working on right now is programming, club fitting days, um, like I said, ideas, trying to find more ways to have members enjoy being out on the range, not just a quick stop and go.

Turning Ranges Into Experiences

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Do you obviously our facility is different than a greengrass facility because we have 10 driving ranges essentially built into it along with the short game area. So we're like 50 feet from everything. Um, with that being said, we can crank music up anytime we want and create an experience. So we have the bar, we can bring service out. We have some of those weird things where private clubs are starting to actually bring, you know, uh modular bars out on the range and um really create that experience time, or whether they try to do a top golf type of experience, um, that they buy the equipment to do it. You know, I mean, there's so many cool things out there. Um is there anything that you're looking forward to this year with the range or dressing it up or collaborating with the rest of the club?

SPEAKER_00

So uh our director, golf, and I, and then we have a Corn Fairy player tour. The three of us have been talking about ideas for improving the practice facility, you know, like maybe having an area where it has more like moguls so you can practice uneven lies, and then like a wedge work station so you can work on 10, 20, 30, you know, all the way up to a hundred-yard wedges and 10 yard increments. And then the other thing that I want to do, I don't know if it's possible, but we do have five target greens. And I said, is there any way we could shut it down early, have the guys pick it, and then do a short course for the younger kids, like a parent, junior, you know, have it 25 to 50 yard length course that the families got and play late in the day. So that's what be obviously when the time changes, and we could maybe start at five late in the day. So that way we're not taking the driving range away for too much for the members wanting to practice.

Designing Better Practice Facilities

SPEAKER_02

I've been to some driving range. I've I've been to some driving ranges where it's frustrating because you're out in the driving range, you got a nice lie, you got tight grass, you're you're you you warm up with your with your irons, your your woods, and then you go to the practice screen to practice chipping and putting, but there's signs all over the place saying no chipping. It's like, where am I gonna get my chipping practice? There's nowhere where you can hit out a rough for practice.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, Janine, what you're saying too, um Spurwing Country Club up in Meridian, Idaho, you should look it up. Um, a good friend of mine and student is a member there, and they have um these really cool target greens. So out on the range, and they're in that 10-yard increment like you're talking about, and they're 10-foot circles. So it's it's amazing. It's almost more of a landing target to see if you can get your distances right, if you can keep it on that green. Um, I think I took a picture of it. I'll try to see if I can find it and send it over, but you should talk to their director of instruction. Um, you know, and and again, I think that the more that we can adapt a range into a short course, um, I know a lot of facilities have actually had architects come in and create that where they close down it on Sundays at two, and all of a sudden that whole area is now a family area. Um, and it really does drive a lot of traffic. So it'd be a unique thing there. And whether it's, you know, picnic in the park or whatever you're calling it, you know, ha get those families out for and then it ties right into your op 36. So 15-minute class or something, and go. It's uh it's a great experience and it just keeps members at your club longer and it grows the game.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. So those are just some ideas, and I love talking with other pros because y'all have ideas that I didn't think of, or you've that you've seen that idea put into practice, and so you can see how somebody else has actually executed it. So it's always great. Um, the only other trend I would say I'm seeing is AI. Uh I went to a class by Proponent Group just on AI, listening to three different people, how they're using AI and their um business, their golf business. So uh yeah, that's that's another industry taking advantage of that.

SPEAKER_02

What's the most intriguing thing you've seen with AI in your industry?

Family Golf And Short-Course Ideas

SPEAKER_00

Well, one that I didn't realize, um, because I'm not super like techie on that side, I am with the gadgets, the you know, the teaching aids, but not in that. But I didn't realize there's an AI, y'all probably already know this, but I didn't, that's just for editing video. So somebody could record a little 10-minute lesson with somebody and then ask the AI to break it up into five-minute segments, or maybe they did a a three-minute little you know, video to post online and they're like, okay, take this and I'll make it into however many 30-second, you know, segments for me that I can use in my social media. And then the AI just goes through and finds the best pieces and edits it.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it's amazing what's out there for that.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so uh I know with Ian Heifeld, um, who was talking about it, he said he used to spend$35,000 a year on a editor for somebody to come out and record, and he goes, now I pay$130 a year for this AI, and it does it all for me.

SPEAKER_02

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_01

Darren, you're in you're in that industry. I was wondering, obviously, you have an editor of your own in another country that helps out and gets some stuff back, and then you do editing yourself. Um, are you starting to use AI on all your video? Not on all of it, on some of it.

SPEAKER_02

Um I don't use AI to completely edit photos and completely edit video. I use AI in components in the editing to kind of spruce things up a little bit. But I'm the the editing is still being done by by a person. In my industry, um there's AIs out there that do complete photo editing now, and they're actually quite good. Um, they are not as good as my human editor. It's not there yet. Um and the AI is about a quarter to a third of the cost of my human editor. But the way my business is structured and the and the way that I budget my business, I'm not gonna go away from a human editor. I'm not gonna put this guy out of a job. And but this is what I do for a full-time living. Um, so it's it's it's not like I'm I'm trying to cut small costs here and there. Um, my biggest overhead in my entire business is my editor. And I I I'm not gonna go away from that because just because we have a really, really good relationship and I want to keep him keep him employed.

SPEAKER_01

Janine, from from a professional perspective, um, you have come up so quickly um since you and I met in Texas.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, from 2018.

AI Tools For Coaches And Creators

SPEAKER_01

I know. So we're going on you know, six years, I guess. Uh because yeah, it would have been December, though, I think, right? Um wasn't that where Cowboys were.

SPEAKER_00

November, December, when the proponent group summit was that year.

SPEAKER_01

Exactly. So, you know, five years, six years, and in that time, you have won numerous top 50 awards, you have won national awards, and um, you know, you just keep going and you keep learning. And, you know, I think, you know, you don't give yourself enough credit half the time when we're together, and you're an incredible instructor. And when we had you out and you're working with a few of the girls using sports box AI, teaching me how to use sports box AI, because I hadn't jumped on the bandwagon yet with it, and just how easy it was to use and how good you were at teaching me too on how to use it, like that is a gift. And you know, how how much mentoring are you able to do? Um, you know, where you're at in your section, um, you know, where it's like one-on-one. Do you allow other coaches to come and watch you, or how are you getting involved that way?

SPEAKER_00

Well, first of all, thank you. What a nice compliment, Noah. Um, yes, um, I'm always available. I've had one coach take me up on the offer and actually take the time to drive over and watch me teach and um talked and I had them give me a lesson. There was a little downtime. I gave them a lesson and they watched me teach, and so that was a great fun day. I talked to a lot of people, and um, but you know, I know people's schedules are busy, so hopefully more people will take me up on it. I'm always happy to take a call. There's been a couple people that I've just done phone calls with, so I'm always happy to give back because people help me. I wouldn't be here without my mentors and just asking other top professionals like how'd you do that? You know, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

So what do you think the toughest thing is um like for you right now to teach? Is there anything that you feel like you haven't seen, or are there sometimes if you get stuck, like do you have some of those other? I know we talk sometimes, not necessarily about swing, but are there are there some people out there that you call and you know talk to us a little bit about your mentors and what you look at?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so I'm very interested in ground forces. I don't have force plates, I want them, but um obviously I don't want to personally invest that much money, so I have to wait when the club is ready to to make that investment. Um, so I I am always taking as many classes as I can. I don't have swing panelists, but I take their online classes when I can. Um, you know, obviously Mike Adams Terry Rolls are a big influence on my personal teaching philosophy. And I I just came from spending two days with them in Florida at the end of the PGA show. So yeah, I'm just I would say that's an area I still want to grow and get better at is our ground reaction forces.

Mentorship And Coach Development

SPEAKER_01

What do you, I mean, that is a that is a very technologically advanced thought, like ground forced reaction. What is that? Yeah. So from is there a a way that you can sum it up simply for the listeners, or how do you, how would you, if I was off the street and I'm a new golfer, you're probably not talking about that so much as calling it that, because that might scare your student away. But you know, when somebody's ready for it, they're there, you know, you're you may say this is what it is, but how would you describe it?

SPEAKER_00

Well, just how we use the ground, like right now I'm walking, so I'm putting pressure on the ground to move me forward. And so how I'm using the ground to create power in my golf speak, golf swing.

SPEAKER_03

Perfect. Um, that's so simple.

SPEAKER_00

Would be the simplest way.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Um, just yeah, how you apply pressure to the ground and it has a reaction to that pressure and helps you create speed more efficiently. Love it. If used in the right way.

SPEAKER_01

You know what's funny? It's like what's connected to the ground in the golf swing? Your feet. It's the only thing, right? The fact that we need to wear cleats says it all. So, Janine, you know what's fun too is to to Darren, right? Darren's our amateur golfer, and he can shoot, he can shoot in the 70s if he gets hot, he's getting there. Um, but how many people, if you put too much cleat and it holds them down and they lose their power, right? And so some people need a lot less. It's amazing to me how the foot works and how it drives the ship essentially into what the rest of the body can do when you're making a golf swing. And how balance allows you to have power. And if you lose the balance because the shoe you have, all of a sudden something else is going to happen and it won't be good, most likely. Right. That's simple terms.

SPEAKER_00

It's fun for yeah, it's fun for me. I'm sure you do it too. All I have is sports box to kind of give me feedback on how the players interacting with the ground through rotation, sway, and lift. Uh, but to ask them to make a change, and you can tell if you're stealing power from how they create power or if you're actually making a good change, you know, that helps them be more efficient and create more speed.

Ground Forces Made Simple

SPEAKER_02

So sports box, sports box is something I I I'm just guessing here, something people stand on and it shows you their transfer of weight, their weight distribution.

SPEAKER_00

No, uh it's uh it's just a 3D motion capture, but it's wireless.

SPEAKER_02

Oh that's what I put you on, Darren.

SPEAKER_01

Teaching, our teacher training, and then there was an avatar of you if I wanted to do that, and then it's amazing. It made me look skinny. I like that. Exactly. Yeah, you looked great. You still do. Janine, I have a question then, since we're talking about speed before we move on to the PGA show. Um, what have you found is the best training aid to create speed for junior golfers?

SPEAKER_00

Gosh, I would almost just say let's get them swinging an alignment rod and trying to hear the whoosh. Keep it simple. It's not, you know, it's affordable. Most private clubs have on, you know, uh the alignment sticks already on the range for the members, but if you had to go out and buy one, you're not breaking the bank. What, two bucks, dollar fifty for an alignment rod? So I would go something simple like that and have them listen for the whoosh.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it's kind of fun.

SPEAKER_00

And try to make it faster pitched. Try to get, okay, you made it that fast. Can you make it higher pitched? You know, can you move it to more to your lead side instead of it whooshing on your trail side? That's that's how I would I would say. So simple.

Sportsbox 3D And Speed Training

SPEAKER_01

You you could teach 50 kids at the same time that drill as long as they were spaced out. That's that's awesome. Yeah. Um, and that's what you need to do this year. Get get those 50 kids on the range and send me a picture. We'll put it on our our podcast Facebook. Be sweet. Uh so Janine, PGA show. We got to spend some time together. We had dinner. We actually got to catch up as friends. That was cool. Um, but you were crushing it in education. You walked the floor. Anything new and exciting? Or what what was kind of some of your highlights from the show?

SPEAKER_00

Um well, as far as the floor, I didn't go down there but probably a total of an hour, and I went for very specific things. So I had been introduced to the creator of CAFPAL by Brian Jacobs. So I had a call with him the week before the PGA show, so I made sure I went down to his booth. And he has basically, he's not even a golf ro, he's a student, but he wanted to improve his indoor practice. So basically he took the bluebrick but then kind of expanded on the concept. So instead of just having a hole for the um the wedge, the six iron, and the driver, he has holes from 20 degrees all the way to 90 degrees, and they're in five-yard or five degree increments. So you can really get the exact shaft angle for each individual, whether it's a short person, a tall person, long arms, short arms, it doesn't matter. Um, and really set up some nice drills, and then just like lubric, you can use it for alignment. But he took on one side and made it flat, kind of like the eye line, um, where you it has tick marks so that way you can work on your stroke for putting. He's done a lot of stuff with it. So that was something cool. Um he 3D prints them.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I'm looking at that right now. I guess awesome.

Best Junior Speed Drill

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, PathPal. They're not as expensive. And um I feel like it's just a touch more versatile. I don't want to take away anything from blue brick. I've recommended it. I have several members who've gone out and bought the blue brick and I loved it. But once I saw the PathPal, I finally invested in that instead of the blue brick, and I've loved teaching with it since I've come back from the show.

SPEAKER_02

Now, the blue brick is heavy because it's got that big metal plate on the bottom of it to help keep it stable. What what is this one doing to stabilize itself?

PGA Show Highlights And PathPal

SPEAKER_00

Uh it's pretty weighty. I don't know how many pounds, but it breaks into two parts. And that's the other thing I like about it because I can have maybe one marking the shaft lane on the trail side. I could put one on the target side, or I could lay one down for a line. It's just very versatile and it's not super heavy, but it's just the the length and width, his dimensions, he was very thorough and creating this product. And yeah, it doesn't tilt over. Um, and it comes in different the holes are in different sizes depending on the size of alignment rod you have. So if you have the alignment rods that kind of go into a point at the bottom, you would get one size, the smaller size, which is what I have. And then if all your alignment rods are the same exact width and they don't taper at the bottom, then you need one with a little bit larger hole to hold your alignment rod. So I mean he's he's been very thoughtful in his process in creating this product.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, pathpalgolf.com. Um, just looking it up. It it definitely looks like a great product. And I'm surprised I missed that one, but that looks like something we definitely need in all of our bays that would help our c our uh students a ton.

SPEAKER_00

Well, I can get you his phone number, and then obviously he does some deals for instructors.

SPEAKER_01

Nice, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_00

You know, to get the product out there.

SPEAKER_01

So yeah, it looks like he's got some endorsements from a few of our friends on there, so that's cool. Right on. Well, thanks for sharing that one. Is there anything else that you noticed that was pretty fun at the show?

SPEAKER_00

On the floor, um, I mean, uh, it's just always fun to go, you know, as I was walking to his booth or something like pickleball was huge this year. And Padel. And a lot of yeah, and then the um the pressure, not the pressure plates, the shape plates um that you stand on and vibrate the vibration plates. I happen to have just bought one at the end of December off Amazon um just for myself um to use in my workouts and for recovery. And then I happen to see so many booths have different versions of the vibration plates. So yeah, there's just a lot going on. Uh I got it for more like recovery, it's supposed to help with lymphatic drainage. Um, and then it vibrates, you know, kind of like if you put a pherogun on your muscles. It just kind of helps um, you know, get the lactic acid out. Um, but I also do it like today. I did it while I did some squats and some deadlifts and stuff. Um and it just shakes. So if you're trying to do any balance moves, one-legged stuff, uh, you can control what level it shakes at. And um so it adds some you know, difficulty if you're trying to do any balance moves. Um but yeah, I use it a little bit probably more for recovery than anything.

SPEAKER_01

But I've been on I've been on one one time, and and stepping off of it and walking without shaking is one of the oddest things. And it feels like your brain's still shaking for a second. Your body's trying to shake to make up for it. Yeah, it it's it's super interesting. And Janine, real quick on that, not to get off topic, but what how long do you think it took you to notice any difference, or do you notice a difference on how you feel after you do it?

Recovery Tech And Vibration Plates

SPEAKER_00

I feel like I do recovery-wise. Like it helps, um, like I said, just move get my blood circulating and moving stuff around so I'm not quite as sore. So if I want to lift a little bit heavier, um yeah, I I can just I feel like it's it's a recovery tool for me, but it does help, you know, like I said, with the workouts, it just can add an extra level of difficulty if you want it to.

SPEAKER_01

Well, I bring that up because have you seen Justin Rose's recent share of his trailer that he has his own basically um recovery center in his I don't I think it's where he's sleeping.

SPEAKER_00

I didn't see that.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I was reading about it. So I believe he has one of those, but then he also has infrared sauna. Uh he has a cold uh I wouldn't call it a cold plunge. It would be like a bath, if you will, um a very nice one. And I think it also does hot. So I mean he has all these things for rest and recovery. So when he's done golfing, he's going in and then he can work out and do his cooldown workout. And what people don't realize on tour, you know, again, even in the 70s and 80s, they were going to the bar, right? That's just what golfers did at some level, except for the best ones. And that's just part of the social side of golf. And now they're literally doing cooldown like workouts after they're done practicing to recover better for the next day.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Just calming your nervous system down. Um, that's a big deal.

Sleep, Boundaries, And Better Learning

SPEAKER_01

Well, and sleep, I mean, the recovery of sleep is so underrated. I mean, you look at people that get sick and the people that don't, the people that don't are getting that eight hours of sleep that they need, and it's good quality sleep. And a lot of people are so addicted to their phones at this point that they're not able to learn as fast or as well because they're thinking about being on that even at night. So we have to make some changes in our instruction, even like with our juniors and with my SOU team particular when I'm coaching.

SPEAKER_02

There's a lot of I'm gonna call you out on this because I'll see you at 10 o'clock at night and then get a text from you at 4 30 in the morning. Yeah. And so how much do you sleep? I don't.

SPEAKER_01

I don't. So what I right now, I have a six-hour sleep cycle, which is not enough. And then twice a month, I usually need eight. Okay, but that's because I'm grinding on the business. My ultimate goal is eight hours, and I feel better after two or three days. So if I go on vacation, and even if I'm not fully asleep yet, but I'm in, you know, resting off my phone with no distraction, no TV, and I get that eight hours, two to three days in, I am bouncing off the walls with energy. It's like that's awesome. It's a cool thing. And so one of my main goals in 26 is to do that because I know how important it is. And then it also shows my family that that's important. Also, if I'm coaching players, they need to know I'm doing that too, right? Don't just talk the talk, you know, you got to walk the walk. And so, Janine, that's kind of what you are doing, right? You're you're getting up, you have your routine, and you just you just do your routine, which is which is huge.

SPEAKER_00

And I do try to get eight hours of sleep. I try to sometimes just be in bed 10 hours and sleep as much of that as I can, but because like we're on the go, we're on our feet, we're processing data. Each student is somebody new. My brain is active all day, and I have to like really recover and at night and just shut down. So I put my phone in the in the um bathroom and it's on silent. I don't want to if it dings, my mom, my brother, my family, they all know. Like, if I don't answer, that means I'm already down for the night, and you'll just leave me a message and I'll respond in the morning because I don't respond at 4 30, Noah, but I will respond like before six or before 6 30 to people, you know.

SPEAKER_02

So I I put my phone on silent and then put it face down so it's not a distraction. But but I like but my mind goes constantly and often I'm having to take some kind of natural supplement to help, you know, help those thoughts ease a little bit to go to sleep.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

You know, I guess going into like the training side of it, routine is kind of what I was getting at with all of that. It's like if you want to be the best, you train to be the best and you have the same routine, and a lot of people can't do it because they can't keep the routine. They got get caught up in, oh man, I won my first tournament. Now I can go buy all this stuff, now I can do that. One of the things like when you win the lottery, what are you supposed to do? You're not supposed to change your lifestyle for a little bit of time. Just go low-key, just talk to the same people, don't do anything different. Don't go buy another house, don't do because you you change.

SPEAKER_02

I want to know what that's like, but well, I'm just saying that's that's what I've heard. I've been told, right?

Routine, Focus, And Culture

SPEAKER_01

Well, I'm just thinking in terms of like, look at these actors and actresses that, you know, at a young age are super, super famous and make all this money and their lives just go downhill at 22, 23 when they don't make it because they're put on this pedestal. Look at Tiger Woods when he finally got caught. Look at, you know, all these guys of where something's not to the way the media shows it. And so the ones that are doing the best are the ones that put their nose down, don't worry about anything else, which is impossible with all the interviews they're having. But for some reason, they can block it out. And that's why they do good. Look at Scotty Scheffler. His goals are with God. His goals are I don't care that you know that. And because he's faith-based, he can figure out that all this is just a show and I'm playing golf because I love it. Well, and that's for my family.

SPEAKER_02

I think the one thing we missed here, and and we we talked about routines being important, but also setting boundaries. That's a huge, huge part of allowing yourself to rest.

SPEAKER_01

Well, Janine just said that, right? Janine, you you have your phone in the bathroom and you do that. I mean, yeah, that is that would be a cool topic for an education for our golf professionals, is not so much technology training, not so much the other, but it's literally training their habit to do what they're supposed to do to be a good player. Because if you're practicing, you can practice a hundred hours, but if your mind isn't in it for that hundred hours, then you gave up all of it. And what if only 20 minutes of it was good? Now you've created all these other bad habits, and then you get frustrated because you're not good. So I think one of the things going into that again, yesterday, we just got done with qualifying for Southern Oregon University first, nine holes back uh because of daylight. And I asked four of the players to their face, I'm like, Are you tired today? And one said no, and the other three said yes. And I said, Because I can see it from across the fairway. And if I can see it, we've got to figure out how to do something different with you and we're conversation.

SPEAKER_02

Everything.

SPEAKER_01

And and everyone's different, right? So just even how they talk to you. Right. Maybe not eye contact. It's the little things, right? So, you know, I think Janine, as coaches, you know, and I know this about you too. Like, we're not just swing coaches, we are life coaches, and that's what makes a great instructor like you. So is there uh anyone you want to give a shout-out to today on the show or anything that you're uh gosh, you're excited about, like a student progressing? We'd love to hear that uh to wrap up.

SPEAKER_00

Um gosh, gosh, put me on the spot. I can't think of anything uh off the top of my head, but I I'm just excited about the 2026 season and getting to see my juniors. They're starting to come back. I started my winter program um where I see them for eight weeks and we train indoors um once a week. So I have a Thursday class and a Saturday class, and we use the GS Pro so that we can do the ops 36 um to get them ready for the spring because I don't want them to just start coming out in May. I need them to start coming out in February and thinking about golf. So um, yeah, I'm just excited to see all the juniors and get them back.

Winter Junior Programs And Ops 36

SPEAKER_01

That's awesome, Janine. I wanted to share with you something we're doing here. Um, I asked our director of instruction, Ryan, who you know, um, to put together 52 um different practices for the week. So it's like a challenge, it's a 52-week challenge. So it's uh we're all gonna get together and split up these videos, and it'll be like a tip of the week or a challenge of the week. Um and we're gonna start putting that on our Instagram and social media. So if you get a chance, um, I would think by March, those will be going up. So there'll be a lot of good feedback there. Happy to share with you the whole list because that's a really cool way to also engage your um your players in proper practice methods instead of them just showing up and you're like, what are you doing today? Oh, I'm gonna hit balls on the range, and that's all they got for you. And you're like, okay, what are you working on? Oh, I'm just gonna hit balls on the range. Okay, gotcha. So we need to sit down and talk about that one, right? And get them to what they should be doing. I have that talk with my son every week.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

It's pretty good. Well, awesome, Jeanine. We appreciate you being on from Missouri, and good luck this season. I know we'll be talking a lot more.

SPEAKER_00

All right, awesome, thank you.

SPEAKER_01

Thanks, Janine.

SPEAKER_02

Bye-bye.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, bye.

Weekly Practice Challenges

SPEAKER_02

And you know what? Speaking about speaking of sleep and stuff, every time my alarm goes off at 5 30 in the morning. It's not every day. This morning I set my alarm for 5 30. I'm like, it's pitch black outside, I don't want to get up. But I get up, I get in the shower, I go start getting my work done, and I'm driving down here to the golf garage as the sun's starting to rise up over the over the mountains. And I'm like, I don't regret this. Oh, good. This is amazing. Yep. I I every time I wake up early and I discipline myself to do it because nobody wants to do it, your day just starts out better.

Early Mornings And Energy

SPEAKER_01

What I've learned is I don't need an alarm most of the time because it's in there. So I only need an alarm if it's before about 5 45, 6 o'clock. Look, and I don't know all the details or study on this, but I just read something about um showering at night and how it's supposed to actually help you sleep better because you you have a hot shower, then you get out and it cools you down, and that's that actually gives your body more melatonin. So the natural drug that people take. I'm gonna test it. My dad used to always shower at night, and I was like, why are you showering at night? Oh, I gotta get up early, you know. And so I always thought it was that, but he trained himself to do it that way because he was up at three o'clock in the morning going to do construction jobs, driving an hour and working by five. So I'm gonna test that method a little bit.

SPEAKER_02

Definitely wouldn't replace my morning shower. Sure. It would be an addition to that.

SPEAKER_01

There you go. Two. But yes, yeah, yeah. You don't have to do as much laundry that way, you know. Right. Sheets are always clean. I love that. No, it's it's good stuff, man. And um, Toby uh went and played golf, I heard, at the country club, and that was one of our little deals with a little 42. That's what he said, yeah. And so going into that, it was it was great. Uh he comes in, yells at me, and he's like, Hey, I'm going to play nine today. I'm like, perfect. Now I can give you a lesson again. That was our deal. I'm not teaching you till you go play. So he goes, and uh, I was just hoping for a good score. And the club right now's greens are super fast and super firm, and they're just like summertime.

Short Game Vs Driving Reality

SPEAKER_02

He said that the fairways were very wet. He was getting no rollout, his ball would plug sometimes in the fairways. Um, but he said he did well from the T-boxes. Awesome. Um, and so I'm going all the time. Which has been his Achilles heel. Right. I said, so you shot a 42. How many greens in regulation did you hit? And he said, three or four. I said, okay. I said, on those ones that you didn't hit the green in regulation, I'm assuming you were really close to the green. Did you go up and down? No, up and two putt. Yeah. And so it comes down to putting.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, you're either not chipping it close enough to make the putt, you're not hitting the approach in the in the manageable miss to chip it close, or like you said, you're just needing to work better on putting. And and it is funny because um I talked a lot to the golfers yesterday again, where the inside nine, which is what Toby played, is the toughest nine holes in the valley. It's like an original 1920s green complexes, you know, they're all sloping tough except two of them. And I was talking to the team about why they struggle so much on the inside nine. It's a pitch and putt course for a college player. I have wedge into all the holes except for par three, and I don't hit it as far as my college team does. So I go into this and and it came down to one thing. I said, You guys need to drive the ball better. I said, It comes down to when you miss, you need to miss in the appropriate place off the T to give yourself a chance to hit a wedge closer because they're talking about their wedges. And I'm like, it's not the wedge game. The the person who hit the most fairways was four out of seven. That's still higher than 50%, which is great. But most of them were two, one, two, there was a couple that were at three. So out of 15 golfers, if nobody is higher than four, that's an issue for me. Right. And then you look at it as the rough's not tough, but if you're missing it in the wrong place, you're behind trees, and the greens are too slopey to miss in the wrong place.

Why Driving Sets Up Scoring

SPEAKER_02

I came in the day before yesterday, played nine holes, and I shot even par. And I'm like, wow, I don't think I've ever shot even par. And so I was looking back, I was looking at my game, looking at what I was doing. I had two birdies and the first few holes, and then I ended with a par. I ended with two bogies and a par. Um which kind of crushed me a little bit. But I was looking at my game and going, what was I doing really good during this game to shoot even par. I was smacking my driver really well. Yeah. I was getting my ball closer to the hole to be more of a wedge shot in, which set me up for a much easier two putt than being a long iron into the green, you know.

SPEAKER_01

Well, I mean, it is the same thing on tour, right? The guys that hit it the farthest still have an advantage. Statistically score. Statistically score the score the best because the rough is deep, but if you're hitting a wedge out of the rough versus hitting a seven iron out of the rough, you might not even get the seven iron to the green if it's the US Open or the PGA Championship. It's just too thick. So I think ultimately what it comes down to in this game is if you don't hit it far enough, you've got to find the fairway. And for us, if you're not finding the fairway, you've got to have the right angle in from the rough. And that's what we're getting after here because it builds confidence to look up and see your ball off the T. You can mishit a wedge, and that wedge is only going to fall offline 10 yards. But if you mishit a driver, it's going to fall offline to 50, 60 yards if you swing hard enough. Yeah. Even yeah, absolutely. It's the next fairway over. So unfortunately, those are the things that the players need to see. And then even if they hit it offline, but they hit it offline in the right place, they can brush that off because they know they have a chance to still hit the green in regulation. And then what if they make Birdie from there? Boy, they're running now. They're like, man, mentally, I'm going. So I've told them, I said, it's about driving, but more importantly, it's about the mental game because it's allowing you to be successful. And then you build confidence off that. So I love that. Hey, thanks for the show, man. Just got a text from Janine. She was excited. Looking forward to sending that to her so she can uh forward it on to her friends. Absolutely. Until next week.

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Darren Penquite

Host
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Noah Horstman, PGA

Host