Here's my ledger:
Golf-Related Expenses
Advice Expense
The price I've paid for instruction has been less than 1% of what I pay annually to participate in the game. But, as with many golfers, it is more than participation to me-it's a meaningful part of my life. I am passionate about the game. I love the competition (the annual member/guest with my brother is a highlight of every summer). I love to travel and play great courses with old friends. My wife and I share an affection for the game and many rounds each year together (she is the more decorated golfer). We start every year with a golf trip together. Say nothing of the fellowship and banter with the weekly foursome and occasional oddities that happen on the course and serve as fodder over beers for years to come.
So why have I invested so little in the research and development of my own game? It is a question I began to ask myself last summer after one of my Friday foursome shot an iPhone video of my tee shot. I looked at the video, gagged, and said to my group, "I had no idea that you've had to look at that all these years." I truly felt bad for them. I looked like a corkscrew trying to address a golf ball. At that point, I sincerely wished that golf carts came equipped with barf bags. This abbreviated, corkscrewing, contortionist motion in which I somehow managed to achieve contact with the ball and levitate to a 9 handicap was nothing less than miraculous, but then I realized it was most offensive to view. I knew then I had to do something because the only sure thing about my golf swing was that I was unsure about it.
So why didn't I get some advice? Why didn't I ask for the MRI and find out what was really wrong and see if there was any hope for a hobby I spend $8K per year on. To be truthful, like advisors, not all golf instructors are equally as gifted at what they do.
There are many parallels. I've been underwhelmed by more than one golf instructor throughout the years. I'll never forget the teacher who watched me for 20 minutes as I hit fade after fade and said, " I don't know, man. Doesn't make sense. Everything looks right to me but they keep going right." And I'm thinking, "I paid for this."
I've met more than one golf instructor who was simply in love with the sound of his own voice and spent almost the entire time telling stories and pontificating. Then there are the technique guys who want to put their swing on you. I've also met a few that I could tell knew their stuff but were very poor communicators and couldn't find the proper language for transferring their knowledge to their students.
I decided that since I'm not getting any younger (53) and the laws of diminishing athletic returns had already shown up in my basketball game, it was now or never. I had to try to find some exceptional advice and find out what was possible for me at this point in my game and life. I got lucky.
My best bud and old high school classmate, a scratch golfer himself, recommended a book he had read called Paper Tiger by Tom Coyne. Coyne had decided to dedicate a year of his life to seeing if he could get good enough to make it to a qualifying school. He spent a small fortune and over a year of his life to see what was possible. He started as a 6 handicap and, with the help of an exceptional teacher, Dr. Jim Suttie, ended as a +1. After reading about the scientific and iconoclastic approach of Dr. Suttie, I decided he was the guy I had to see.
Dr. Suttie has his PhD in biomechanics and is the da Vinci of golf instruction. His exceptional amalgam of the art of instruction and the science of the body and the swing is unparalleled. He explained his philosophy of advising individuals by first stating, "Every person's body is different and the goal is not to put a classic swing on you, or someone else's swing, but the swing that best suits your build." Dr. Suttie is a coach and consultant to many players both on the PGA tour and the Senior Tour.
Other than a profound knowledge of how the body works, there isn't anything that Dr. Suttie does that other golf pros aren't attempting to do. He talks about the basic fundamentals, uses the similar swing aids, utilizes video feedback, etc., but it is the way that he orchestrates all these elements and communicates his advice that makes him so unique. Like every other pro, he started with my grip but he did something that no other pro had ever done with me. He placed the club in my hand and moved my fingers to the exact place they should be and had me place the club on the ground. It felt like a foreign object. He told me it would feel that way for a while but, upon success, I would learn to adjust to it. Every other pro had simply pointed to the direction I should move my right or left hand. I had never had a "hands-on" experience regarding my grip. "Everything starts with and is informed by the grip," Dr. Suttie told me, "and I think you'll see your swing motion greatly affected by this grip."
Next he taught me how to begin my swing. "If you don't start right, everything you do after that is an attempt to make up for an errant beginning," he explained. "Your body will find a way, however flawed, to make contact." He brought out a swing aid that my club would bump into if I pulled the club back the wrong way. After every swing, he gave me instant feedback by showing video of the swing in slow motion and commenting on what I was doing correctly and where old habits were taking over. He ended by showing me a video where I did almost everything right and recorded his commentary on the swing. He sent the video to my e-mail immediately.
It cost me a few hundred dollars and a half day of my life, but it has added an energy and excitement to my hobby like I have never experienced. As I write this column, it is the day after I have finished playing the Olympic Club in San Francisco, the site of this year's U.S. Open. The course got the best of me, as I expected it would. My playing partner and pal of many years who had recommended Paper Tiger to me said, "I like what I'm seeing with your swing. Keep on the Suttie program." It gave a shot of hope to a middle-aged dog trying to learn new tricks.
As I flew home, I began to chart the principles at work in Dr. Suttie's approach that caused the experience with him to be so exceptional. His basis is a profound knowledge of how the body works and the realization that different body types require different approaches. But how he delivers his advice is what I found to be exceptional and differentiated him from the pack. Here are the crossover principles that come to mind:
Guidelines for Advice
2. Teach them how to start correctly. What we do with each paycheck matters. There is no replacement for automatic savings habits.
3. It must be individualized-one strategy doesn't fit all. We need to know more about each client's individual situation and the challenges and opportunities related to it.
4. To truly learn, students need to see what they look like. How do we begin to provide more real-time feedback? We must provide honest, objective feedback, which means pointing out their mistakes and showing them how to correct them.
5. Your choice of words is important (if it's not understood, it's jargon). It's not what we know that is important, it is how well we can explain it. The clearer the understanding, the more likely clients are to utilize the advice.
The amazing thing about exceptional advice is not that it goes beyond the basics, but that it helps you master the basics with a hands-on approach and real-time feedback. Use it with your own clients and watch their games improve!
Mitch Anthony is widely regarded in the financial services industry as an expert on building client relationships and has been recognized for his pioneering work in Financial Life Planning. His innovative tools for strengthening client relationships are available through his Advisor Insights at mitchanthony.com.