SwingFix pros included on Golf Magazine list

One of the great and unique aspects of SwingFix is that you can receive personalized lessons from the world's top golf instructors no matter where you live.

Two SwingFix Instructors have been fixtures on the Golf Magazine Top 100 Teachers in America list since 2007, and they appear on it once again this year.

Tom Stickney is the Director of Golf Instruction at Bighorn Golf Club in Palm Desert, Calif. He has also been ranked by Golf Digest as one of their "Top 20 Teachers Under 40."

Stickney’s instructional articles have been featured in Golf Digest, Golf Magazine, Golf Tips, and Golf Illustrated, including numerous national cover stories.

Mike Davis (pictured) teaches at the Walters Golf Academy at Royal Links in Las Vegas, and he has been ranked as the No. 2 instructor in Nevada since 2002 by Golf Digest. He also has been chosen as Instructor of the Year 12 times by various PGA Chapters and four times by PGA Sections.

Having won numerous regional tournaments, played in three U.S. Opens and one PGA Championship, and having been a full-time PGA Tour member in the mid-70s, Davis is eminently qualified to prepare golfers for competition. He's taught more than 90 students who have played on college golf teams around the country. His former students have become high school and college coaches, PGA professionals, and professional golfers.

Considering that Golf Magazine cites the average rate for a "live" lesson with the pros on its Top 100 List at $200, the access to and affordability of SwingFix lessons with Stickney and Davis – as well as the entire team of SwingFix Instructors – simply cannot be beat.

Submit a video and sign up your own personalized lesson today!

Tags: Instructors

Get to know SwingFix pro Trillium Sellers

The newest SwingFix instructor is Trillium Sellers, who teaches at a private facility outside of Washington, D.C., during the summer season and in March teaches at the Breakers in Palm Beach, Fla., which is a public facility.

Her website, trillgolf.com, provides prospective students with her full bio and teaching philosophy.

Presently, Sellers is also working on a master's degree in motor learning at Teachers College at Columbia University, with a specific focus on practice and performance.

Sellers took time out of her busy schedule to answer a few questions as an introduction to SwingFix students worldwide:

1. First off, talk briefly about your golf instruction philosophy and how you preach it at your facility.

SELLERS: My philosophy for teaching is to deliver simple and effective instruction to improve student performance. I use a combination of core principles from biomechanics as well as scientific research in motor learning and educational psychology as a framework for how I approach each student. The goal is always to maximize appropriate, individual student practice in order to maximize student learning. As legendary coach John Wooden put it, “You haven’t taught until they have learned.” To sum up what I am about, my area of expertise (and of course, interest) is in improving the efficiency and efficacy in the average players practice game.

2. What attracted you to the SwingFix platform and how effective can this method be for golfers?

SELLERS: Golf has a barrier-to-entry problem. It can range from simply finding a golf course that is accessible to finding an instructor who is affordable. SwingFix solves both of those problems. Anyone can have access to a world-class instructor for a fraction of the cost, at any time of day. Although I prefer to see my students in person, this platform expands the opportunity for golfers all over the world to make improvements in their swing that they otherwise would not have.

3. In your opinion, what is the secret to taking the "range game" to the first tee?

SELLERS: There is no silver bullet to answer this question. I'm currently working on a masters degree in motor learning, and throughout every lecture and research article, I'm always looking to answer the question, "How do we take our range game to the course?" Performing to your maximum potential is a complex process of truly learning the tasks, developing skills and having a good attitude. I see many times people are taking a “range game” to the first tee that isn’t as prepared as it could be. What people do in their time on the range practicing is paramount to how it transfers to the course. It’s in this area that I’m interested in helping my students develop.

4. Is there a particular training aid that you tend to use most regularly and with the most effectiveness?

SELLERS: Training aids have an integral function in practice because they facilitate feedback to the learner. I have many on my teaching tee, but the two that I use the most are the alignment sticks and mirrors. The alignment sticks are wonderful for calibrating neutral alignment as a frame of reference, or if stuck in the ground, swing plane and club path. Repeating a swing over and over effectively “grooves” it that way, so you’d better be sure that you are grooving something that you want to keep. I like the mirrors for students to see for themselves what they look like. Sometimes what we feel and what we are actually doing are different and a mirror illuminates that disparity.

5. Is there a way students who have worked with you most often dramatically improve and achieve that coveted five-shot drop in scores? Power, consistency, short game, management, playing more golf, etc.?

SELLERS: Because every player has a unique situation, I have fresh eyes for everyone so that we work on what they need to strengthen. As a general theme, ball control ties all improvement plans together. One could argue that the goal of golf is to play with predictability, so knowing where your golf ball will go is key. The method for achieving this could take place anywhere, such as the short game, management game, or perhaps in the mechanics.

Take an online lesson with Trillium Sellers.

Tags: Instructors

Czaja, Gilley create a SwingFix success story

When it comes to taking golf lessons, the goal is always improvement, whether that be in general or related to specific areas that have been targeted.

James Gilley was an excellent player, but an occasional ill-timed hook and a desire to add more power to his game were among the reasons he decided to seek out help from SwingFix instructor Christian Czaja.

The two have collaborated since April of 2012 and the results have been nothing short of outstanding.

Gilley has routinely been shooting in the low 70s the last few months, he regularly posts sub-par rounds and he even won his club championship.

“I was at a point where my game was stagnant and my lessons with Christian on SwingFix have revitalized my desire to learn and practice golf,” Gilley said. “Christian has a unique ability to notice the slightest issues and provide easy-to-follow instruction that will produce an improved golf swing, a better understanding of the golf swing and ultimately lower scores.”

Some might assume that creating this sort of relationship, which takes place from a distance and through an online teaching platform, might make the lesson process more difficult.

But Gilley said that hasn’t at all been the case for him.

“I wasn’t skeptical about how effective SwingFix would be, but it has exceeded any expectations I did have,” he said. “It has been very simple to take the online instruction and apply it to practice, and I especially enjoy that I am able to review my online lesson as often as I choose and ask questions about each lesson.”

In the video above, Czaja takes a look at where Gilley’s swing was when they first started working together and where it is now, while pointing out some of the major changes that they have worked on and some of the great things that Gilley does in his swing.

And when it comes to getting better, everyone can always learn from other good players, so enjoy this before-and-after analysis and you just might pick up a few tips that will help make you a better player.

Take an online lesson with Christian Czaja.

Tags: Instructors

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