When it comes to a good golf swing, technique is everything. Players put in hours of hard work to master this skill, often taking up lessons to enhance their craft. Dedicated golfers know that solid improvement stems not just from lessons themselves, but from the tools used in training, too. At Briar Leaf Golf Club in La Porte, PGA Professional Jay Williams helps players reach their performance goals on the course by implementing Orange Whip golf products into his training lessons.
“One of the things I think is the secret sauce to the golf swing is sequencing,” Williams said. “When I’ve worked with someone for a short period and we have the fundamentals locked in, the thing we always go back to when looking for the power and consistency that goes along with a good shot is sequencing. When it comes to that, Orange Whip products fit the bill and make learning and coaching a lot easier. I’m a big fan.”
Two of the products Williams uses most often in his lessons are the Orange Whip Trainer and Orange Whip LightSpeed tools, each with its own unique makeup designed to improve specific areas of players’ swing technique. The Trainer is heavier than the regular club, featuring an orange ball at the end of a whippy graphite shaft.
“Using the Orange Whip Trainer, you feel the weight at the end that accentuates what you’d feel in a golf swing,” Williams said. “You can’t go too fast with this, so it helps with proper sequencing. With some repetition and exercises, when you set this tool down and pick up the golf club you can recreate that feeling and get a better swing out of it.”
On the flipside, the LightSpeed tool is designed for increasing club head speed, and is much lighter than a traditional club.
“With practice through protocols, this tool essentially opens the mind to swing faster than you thought you could,” Williams said. “It’s similar to progression with weightlifting. After a period of time spent lifting and slowly increasing weight, you get to a point where you see how much you’re able to handle and think, ‘Wow, I never thought I could lift this much.’ Down the road,the light trainer gets you thinking that same way about swing speed, and expands your ability to generate club head speed. Club head speed equals distance, and everyone wants to hit further.”
At Briar Leaf, players can book lessons with Williams by appointment to improve their game through professional instruction enhanced by personal feedback.
“The golf lesson scenario is one of feedback between player and coach,” Williams said. “What we really want as coaches is to focus on whatever we’re working on in the lesson setting and then see that put into practice during play. Then they can come back and talk about what was great, what worked, what made sense, or identify something that they didn’t understand that we can continue to work on.”
Williams believes the greatest return on investment for players comes when lessons are separated by rounds of play.
“A lot of people want to know how often they should have lessons,” Williams said. “Coming in every day would be overkill, but I would say if you’re really going to work it to go a couple times a week. If you’re just simply taking a lesson, not really planning on practicing much in between, and then coming back for another lesson later, it’s not as productive.”
Briar Leaf offers various training programs, from individual instruction through a comprehensive diamond coaching program designed for season-long lessons and playing advice. Williams aims to have his athletes walk away better from every session, seeing improvement even after just one lesson.
“I think when done right golf instruction can get immediate results, not to the point of perfection, but in the form of learning something new or seeing some small improvement every time you come in,” Williams said. “That doesn’t mean reaching the final goal in one day because there is no magic fix to reach perfection after one session. Golf isn’t like that, but as a coach I put a personal challenge to myself to make sure players leave ready to get out there on the course and implement what they’ve learned.”
“You want to be a better player, not a better practicer,” Williams continued. “Following that philosophy, I’ve had a lot of players reach improvement quickly and continue that improvement moving forward.”
To book a session with Williams or learn more about what Briar Leaf offers, call (219)326-1992 or visit https://briarleaf.com/.
