How did you get here?

[twballer22]

1. 7 years old.
2. 16 years.
3. I worked with one instructor who had some success on the professional tour and had worked with Gary Player. Although I tried to implement some of his swing ideas, I most definitely learned more about how to think my way through a round of competitive golf from him than anything else.
4. I stumbled upon this site in 2006 looking for an answer to my flip. Fortunately, I found it. I have checked up on this forum almost every day for nearly seven years (only posting a few responses!). I knew after my sophomore year of college golf that Brian's advice was nothing but invaluable.

 

[mgranato]

Sure do, Jimmy, you were one of the first cats I told about it. The banned man got one thing right at least.

 

[Michael Finney]

I walked into the city park golf shop in 1979 - I was 11 and needed a new set of clubs. There was this strange stock boy in the back that hand wrote shop signs and kept sweeping the dust in the stock room. It was manzelli. We've been good friends ever since.

What I appreciate the most is Brian's desire to be the best. He's always been ahead of the curve and we have all benefitted from it.

Thanks for the free site, Brian - it's been a great one!

Started playing at 10
Playing golf for 35 years
Teaching for 23 years
Three instructors - they only worked out when I committed to working hard
Heard about Brain's site when he told me he was starting one

 

[Tony D'Antonio]

I love the 'manzelli' name. Have heard Brian use it before when talking about an old football coach of his.

Started at age 10, too.
53 now. Many 'down' times during those years but always managed to play some.
4 lessons, last two with Ben Doyle. Growing up I read absolutely everything about golf that was written and then went out and tried it all. Probably played too much and practiced too little.
Searching for Ben Doyle on the web led me to Brian's site.

I will say that spending time learning to lag (I was a bit of a flipper) like Ben has helped tremendously now that I'm trying to 'unlearn' it. I will also say Brian is one of the best I've come across at explaining the golf swing. I wish I had run into him 35 years ago when I really thought about playing for a living.

I walked into the city park golf shop in 1979 - I was 11 and needed a new set of clubs. There was this strange stock boy in the back that hand wrote shop signs and kept sweeping the dust in the stock room. It was manzelli. We've been good friends ever since.

What I appreciate the most is Brian's desire to be the best. He's always been ahead of the curve and we have all benefitted from it.

Thanks for the free site, Brian - it's been a great one!

Started playing at 10
Playing golf for 35 years
Teaching for 23 years
Three instructors - they only worked out when I committed to working hard
Heard about Brain's site when he told me he was starting one

 

[ZAP]

Started playing at 15.
Turning 42 soon. You do the math.
I was self taught up until a couple of years ago when a friend showed me one of Brian's videos. I thought Brian was a bit of a loon but the Never Hook again stuff worked. Been hanging around ever since and took a couple of lessons from Brian and Kevin.
I still think Brian is a bit of a loon but it is the good kind of loon. And I am a better player because I chose to stick around.

I look forward to where this place is going.

 

[eoscar]

1. 13 years old
2. 14 years (27 years old now)
3. 4 instructors prior to Brian (who have I since worked with twice and have another lesson scheduled in a few weeks)
4. Found Brian's site while doing swing (Clampett/TGM) research as an aspiring PGA Professional. Quickly dumped the TGM ideals and using all of Brian's videos (free and retail) and the information on the site have greatly expanded my repertoire as an instructor (and my abilities as a player). Since finding the site, there have not been a whole lot of days I haven't checked it (multiple times).

 

[Matt Bryda]

1. When did you start playing golf?
2. How many years have you been playing/teaching?
3. How many different instructors have you worked with (no names), and how did they work for you?
4. How did you first here about Brian's site?

1. Started playing golf at age 14
2. Playing off and on for 30 years, teaching for 17 years
3. 7, not counting Manzella and crew, at the time they helped me improve from where I was at developing as a golfer.
4. Was in the middle of a mini tour round, melt down and got into a discussion about hitting down on a driver with someone that use to
post here but have not read anything from him lately. Started with Brian's youtube videos and then ended up here a few days after that
melt down. This place got me interested in teaching golf again. There is enough good information from Brian and crew along with most
of the posters for anybody wanting to improve their golf game or instructor looking to upgrade their teaching knowledge and
techniques.

 

[LiftOff]

1. 14 or so
2. 70 - 14 = 56
3. 1 local fellow who wasn't too bad. Got me to about 15. Brian took it to single digit.
4. Followed him from FGI days.

 

[magicmarker]

1. When did you start playing golf?
2. How many years have you been playing/teaching?
3. How many different instructors have you worked with (no names), and how did they work for you?
4. How did you first here about Brian's site?

1. In 2006, 23 then.
2. Have played ever since. Began teaching about 1 year ago.
3. Zero lessons taken. Unless you count NHA, NSA, SD, the release vid and the ground forces video.
4. Can't remember exactly how I got here. I was into TGM for a year or so but developed a hook the yellow book couldn't solve. After that I think I watched A LOT of you tube videos and came across a few of Brian's and just liked his style/enthusiasm. Bought NHA 2.0 and waved bye-bye to the snap hook. Found the forum and realized there were others out there who were truly trying to understand the swing differences that separate the elite from the not-so, rather than just pretending to know everything. Very glad I did. Don't understand how anyone can teach without knowing some of what I do, scary. I love this place because the focus is usually on gaining the proper understanding, rather than just what you need to know.

 

[Kevin Shields]

Started playing at 13, got low scores very fast
Started teaching at 21 years old
Didn't have a lesson till mid twenties, then saw 2 or 3 "name" teachers, maybe 6 total. Couldn't afford regular lessons. Really needed a mentor early. No live lessons ever worked better than good information from books.
Found Brian through the web in 2007 and have enjoyed the ride to this point. Getting better every day!

 

[KGlennCole]

1. When did you start playing golf?
2. How many years have you been playing/teaching?
3. How many different instructors have you worked with (no names), and how did they work for you?
4. How did you first here about Brian's site?

1. Stated at age 28
2. Now, 58; therefore, 30 years. Took a few years off on several occasions due to surgeries and an 'effin ridiculous work/travel schedule.
3. Before I went onto a course, I worked with a local guy for 2 or 3 lessons and then decided to go to a golf school in Vermont for a week. Did that for 2 Summers. Worked with 4 or 5 different instructors until I heard about Kevin from a guy at my home course. I'm a much better player than ever even though I still suck,, the suckiness is just less.
4. Kevin mentioned Manzella and, voila!!, you guys are stuck with me. I've had the pleasure of working with Brian in Pittsburgh and Filthydelphia and 3 days in NOLA.

I'm not the brightest bulb in the chandelier, so a lot of this goes *bling* over my head. Some is sticking, though.

 

[spktho]

1) 1994--at 25 years old.
2) Makes it 19 years with some time off due to a couple surgeries
3) Had 3 total lessons. One from a local PGA pro around 1997 who was no help at all--was told that if I hit the first 5 balls well when practicing to stop and go home--as he never gave any swing advice. The other 2 lessons were from Brian.
4) Had purchased Bobby Scheaffer and Bill McKinney videos on the golf swing and was doing some more searching on the net and stumbled upon this site--the best thing that ever happened to my golf game.

 

[spmurph]

1. 27
2. Heading into my fifth season as a weekend warrior.
3. Five Lessons to start (thanks for the hip over-acceleration, Ben!) A set of lessons from a local pro (didn't help). Attended a golf school with Brian and MJ. Those guys are the real deal live. I caught myself spending more time watching them fix others than I did working on my own swing. Also a solo lesson with MJ. Would love to get more of that.
4. IIRC, I believe I stumbled across Jeff Mann's site (is he still alive?) and he referenced Brian in one of his articles. Visited here everyday since. Glad I found this place and was never tempted to sip the TGM kool-aid.

 

[hp12c]

1. Oh man it was a long long long time ago in a galaxy far far away........
2. Off and on for about 20yrs. more often now.
3. 2 and the first thing they wanted to change was only 1 thing...EVERYTHING!... Did a lot of changes with 1st one but I got really bad, almost quit all together. 2 started with the same thing so I nipped that in the bud!
4.After reading a lot, trying a lot, hitting golf ball tills my hands swelled I found this website from another website and Manzella was saying things that just I could sense were true. Purchase COFF got some forward lean and changed the sound of the strike which made me sooooooo happy! The new sound of the clubhead smaking the ball is muisic to my ears!but I was still slicing. Enter NSA slice gone, wanted to work the ball right to left SD and got sooo good at it it turned into a bad hook, NHA fixed that up. This place kicks ass! I still sometimes hook, slice and get into some really interesting spots on the course but also hit some really really good shot that I just have to smile a really BIG smile thanks to Manzella.

 

[GeoffDickson]

1. When did you start playing golf?

First game was probably aged 10...probably tagged along with big brother and dad. I would play infrequently during school holidays. I became a regular (i.e. once per week) golfer at age 34 (8 years ago). My first handicap in 2004 was 10, so I must have learned something in the preceding decades.

2. How many years have you been playing/teaching?

See above. I have been trying hard for 8 years, and very hard for the 2-3 years.

3. How many different instructors have you worked with (no names), and how did they work for you?

Only one. Probably ten lessons over the last 2.5 years. Made some improvements but have pretty much committed to the self coach approach (for better or worse) in partnership with my Flightscope.

There is one other internet coach/guru that I read/follow. Big improvement following his writings the last 6 weeks. It is very rare that i can't bring his and BMs philosophies together.

4. How did you first here about Brian's site?

About three years ago I was at rock bottom. Couldn't find the sweet spot if my life depended on it. i could still hit about 80 most days, but 90% of shots were mishits. Via google I stumbled across TGM and was immediately attracted to its detailed 'framework'. Within a few weeks of searching for TGM material, I can across this site. Never looked back.

 

[ausfreddy]

I've been playing for more than 50 years which makes me much too old.

Rarely saw a pro and then only to get information on areas I couldn't see.

I probably found this site while browsing the net.

 

[birly-shirly]

I started at 11 or 12. Played lots until I went to university. In the 20 years since then, I took a few years off, then played a bit, then a bit more, and finally joined a club and began to play its competitions the last year or 2.

No money for lessons and no junior teaching programme as a kid. Got some local lessons when I started again as an adult, which actually were very good. But then I was struck down with the hubris that I could fix myself with good info from books/websites.

That delusion hopefully sucked its last breath at the end of last season. I've started again with hands on, local lessons since the turn of the year and we'll see how that goes.

2 things brought me here. One was Kevin Shields' posts on golfwrx. The other was that I was looking into TGM. At the time, I thought chunks of it had to be flat wrong - but Brian had the reputation for both TGM knowledge AND making golfers better. And here we sit...

 

[Kevin Shields]

I started at 11 or 12. Played lots until I went to university. In the 20 years since then, I took a few years off, then played a bit, then a bit more, and finally joined a club and began to play its competitions the last year or 2.

No money for lessons and no junior teaching programme as a kid. Got some local lessons when I started again as an adult, which actually were very good. But then I was struck down with the hubris that I could fix myself with good info from books/websites.

That delusion hopefully sucked its last breath at the end of last season. I've started again with hands on, local lessons since the turn of the year and we'll see how that goes.

2 things brought me here. One was Kevin Shields' posts on golfwrx. The other was that I was looking into TGM. At the time, I thought chunks of it had to be flat wrong - but Brian had the reputation for both TGM knowledge AND making golfers better. And here we sit...

Don't blame me!!

 

[coachwalls]

1. Started playing golf regularly at 24
2. Been playing for 16 years now. Been a high school golf coach for 14 years but do not consider myself a golf teacher.
3. Zero. Best handicap has been an 8 (last spring) with out any lessons. Own several of Brian's videos though. They have done more to fix my swing than anything I've ever done. That being said I haven't touched a club since last July.
4. Don't remember for sure. I think I was looking at TGM and came across this website via Google.

Forgot to add that I've had two separate 18 month layoffs in the 16 years I've been playing due to temporary trips to sandy places. The latest layoff has been self induced due to a newfound interest in Olympic lifting at a much lower than Olympic level. I will pick a club up again in about three weeks. Really can't wait to see if my new strength and greater feel for the quick transfer of forces will transfer to my golf swing.

 

[birly-shirly]

Don't blame me!!

Was that addressed to me? Or to everybody else....?