Over the past week I’ve had a small group from Tokyo, Japan play and practise at Sanctuary Cove and Country Club. Thankfully the wet weather eased as the week went on and the group had many positive comments about the world class practice facilities plus wildlife photo opportunities on a daily basis.

The group found both courses a challenge with the majority of them finding the Palms course the toughest with water/wind/undulating greens all making scoring tough.

We incorporated lessons, competitive rounds and practice into each day which the group enjoyed before they headed over to Sanctuary Cove village for lunch or dinner plus some shopping, something that would not be possible in Tokyo.

All of the group commented that Sanctuary Cove Golf and Country Club was a perfect destination for a golfing vacation with facilities and hospitality catering for all levels of golfers.

Thanks to Koji Horino and Jet Travel Tokyo plus Angela Jenkins from Escape Travel for their excellent efforts to make the week run smooth, and to the Sanctuary Cove staff on the ground who looked after the group, many of them commented on how polite and helpful you were during the week!  Thank you! The group traveled as part of MJ Golf Performance School. If you have a small group that would like to visit Sanctuary Cove Golf and Country Club and enjoy a golf vacation please contact me via email michael@mjgolf.com.au or mobile 0413 48 2968

Last week one of my newest students Norika Tsukamoto joined the Sanctuary Cove Golf and Country Club. This picture shows Norika and I at a lesson on The Pines practice green just before she signed up. As an Access Member Norika can now train at one of the countries best practice facilities on The Pines and hone her golf skills with lessons and gym work all in the same location. Norika is following in her sister’s footsteps after she joined the club last year.

As a top schoolgirls player in Japan, Norika has some serious talent and is planning to use her time in Australia to improve her golf game so that she can compete on the Japan Tour. At just 18 years of age she is looking forward to playing competitive rounds with our local schoolgirl champion Isabelle Taylor and with other club members. As a coach it’s great to see players like Norika choose to train on the Gold Coast and join the club. I’m always very proud to introduce students to  Sanctuary Cove Golf Club and it’s great to see our membership base expanding with talented players such as Norika. If you’d like to experience The Pines practice facilities and the latest golf technology from Flightscope and Boditrak, call me anytime to book a lesson on 0413 482968.

Congratulations my student Isabelle Taylor🏌️🏌️🏌️
After representing Queensland as a development player at last years Australian Junior Amateur Championships, Issy has been selected in the Queensland team for 2017. Contesting the championship at Port Kembla Golf Club in April, the team will play stroke play and match play rounds. Issy’s recent success at the NSW Amateur where she was the last Australian in the match play quarter finals should give her confidence that she can help the team bring home a win. Well done Issy

Representing Golf Queensland at the Golf South Australia Junior Masters this week, Issy shot a PB for a major tournament of 3 under par. Played at Royal Adelaide, the 72-hole event was cut short to 54-holes due to bad weather but that didn’t stop Issy. In training, we focused on under 100M and putting, and as the score shows, it’s great to see Issy has delivered the goods. Up against top juniors from Australia and overseas, Issy finished T2 with 1st place to Becky Kay, one of Australia’s top junior golfers. And the icing on the cake was that Issy and her fellow Queensland team representative Cassie Porter won the girls team event!

This followed a T5 finish in the Golf SA Junior Amateur Championships played earlier in the week where Issy had to get used to the local conditions – especially the bent greens. Shooting a total of 4 over in the 54-hole tournament played at Kooyonga and The Grange, this event proved good practise for Issy.

It’s been a great couple of months for Issy with her T7 finish at the Aaron Baddeley International Junior Championships in San Diego, USA in December. At her first international tournament Issy competed against some of the worlds top juniors and achieved well beyond her goals. Issy said she really enjoyed meeting and playing with golfers from other countries and spending time in the USA, especially San Diego. Well done Issy!

Next step is the Australian Amateur being played at Yarra Yarra and Peninsula Kingswood next week. It’s a pleasure to coach real talent and to see Issy bring her best golf to the top tournaments. Go Issy!

“I have been working with Michael Jones from MJ Golf Performance for the past 5 years. During the first two years we got my handicap down from mid teens to scratch and I have basically floated around +1 to 1 ever since then.

12 weeks prior to the 2016 Club Championships at Sanctuary Cove Golf & Country Club, I sat down with Michael and expressed my desire to win back to back Club Championships and play better golf than I did when I won the 2015 final. Michael explained the new teaching technologies he had available, including BodiTrak and FlightScope, and we immediately got to work.

The key focus for the first few weeks was on BodiTrak and making sure my weight distribution at set up, top of swing, impact and follow through were correct. The data didn’t lie and having too much weight on my toes and also on my back leg were causing my swing to be too steep with my misses being cuts going high right. The instant feedback from BodiTrak enabled me to feel the correct setup and over time this correlated into correct weight distribution in all other parts of the swing.

Once the setup was locked in we focused on FlightScope and made some improvements to my club path, face to path and attack angle. Again the desire here was to flatten out the swing slightly and get the club head exiting more to the right to get rid of the high cut. Again, with the instant feedback on every shot from FlightScope, we are able to make some improvements.

The technology worked and I was able to rely on it when it came to the crunch. During the 2016 Club Championships, I focused on my weight distribution at set up and swing path at impact. I ended up winning the Club Championships on the 36th hole and definitely played better golf than I did the year before. Michael from MJ Golf Performance and the use of BodiTrak and FlightScope played a massive role in allowing me to achieve my goal and I can’t thank him enough.”

 – Paul Smerdon

Other Honour board events Paul Smerdon has won in 2016:

• Men’s Foursomes
• Mixed Foursomes
• Club Shootout

Over the past 2 months I’ve been lucky to attend the Australian Open and the Australian PGA.

Firstly, my son Lachlan won a competition run by the Australian PGA to caddie for a tour pro during the pro-am! He was so lucky to get Jarrod Lyle for the afternoon along with another little caddie Harrison! Jarrod was fantastic; he did photos, autographs, signed balls and gloves complimentary! Unfortunately, storms were coming in during the afternoon and the siren went, but instead of packing up and going back to the clubhouse, Jarrod let Lachy and Harry have a hit with his driver on the 16th hole. Unfortunately both shots went in the water!!!! But the boys weren’t worried at all.

On the way back to the clubhouse Jarrod offered the boys the chance to come up to the Kirkwood Hospitality marquee (while it was pouring) and both boys loved mixing it other tour pro’s including Hall/Pom/Poults/Pamps the nicknames kept coming! The joke in the marquee was who were the two’s boys and the response was ‘we’re Jarrod Lyle’s caddies’. After resuming post storm unfortunately the boys only got another 2 holes finishing on the 18th but Jarrod had one last challenge for the boys which was a sprint up the fairway, something he regretted at the end.

Jarrod Lyle would have to be one of the best pro’s out there. The way he treated the boys; he packed in so many favours during the afternoon, none he had to do, but it made both Lachy and Harry’s day! Thanks to Jarrod Lyle, a fantastic ambassador for golf/life/fatherhood/humanity. Also thanks to the Australian PGA for coming up with the concept as it gave two young budding golfers have a fantastic day!

Thank you to all my clients for your support during 2016!

Coming to work and being lucky enough to do what I do is a real pleasure. Together we’ve done the hard work in 2016. We’ve found solutions using world class technology and achieved some amazing results. That’s what motivates me and I would like to thank everyone for your appreciation as your golf has improved.

In 2017 I’m Iooking forward to helping you bring a ‘can do’ attitude and ‘thinking outside the box’ mentality to continue setting new targets and trusting what you know you can do well either while practising or competing in tournaments.

I wish you all the best for 2017 and happy golfing!
MJ

Congratulations to my student Issy Taylor who won the Women’s Golf Gold Coast District Championships on Monday. At just 16 years of age Issy is the youngest ever winner. Issy has been knocking on the door of a few tournament titles lately so it’s great to see her achieve this win. At our weekly training sessions I’ve been working with Issy on learning the importance of balancing her technical golf ability with mental focus. With this title now under her belt Issy is set to play very competitive golf at her first international tournament which is the Aaron Baddeley International Junior Championships in the USA in December. Go Issy!!!

Getting the right team around players to achieve their goals means bringing together proven expertise at key stages.

At MJ Golf Performance one of the key areas of focus outside of golf skills is mental toughness. Working with renowned UK based sports coach Dr Dave Alred for over 4 years now, MJ Golf regularly works with Dave to help players improve beyond their own personal expectations. Dave’s success with athletes such as rugby player Jonny Wilkinson and PGA golfers Luke Donald / Padraig Harrington/Francesco Molinari (all multiple winners on the PGA and European Tours) is legendary.

Last Friday Dave spent the day with Australian PGA golfer Brad Kennedy and his tour caddy Mike Spann at Sanctuary Cove. The session involved dealing with negative avoidance and developing strategies to reverse the mindset. It involved creating and encouraging Brad to use the right language to better communicate with his caddy about his intentions on each shot.

The session had an immediate impact on Brad and his caddy Mike, and means they now have strong mental preparedness for the upcoming JGTO Japan Tournaments ??.

Golf doesn’t just stop on the course! At MJ Golf Performance, we provide clients with a variety of golf specific exercises that targets their needs as a golfer, and supplements their work on the driving range. Golf specific exercises keep you fit and well-conditioned every time you walk up to the first tee! Take a look at some of the great exercises High Performance Athlete Isabelle Taylor is working on when at the range!