Over the past years I have had many of you kindly comment on my system and the effort that has gone into the evolution of the TGS Method to Better Golf/The Golf Solution.

The main question asked is:
“How did you come up with the idea of a colour-coded system?”

First, thank you for noticing the work involved.  Although it never seemed like work to me, my wife, Karen, may have a different view. The system was developed over a twenty-five year period and is a combination of many concepts.  I wish I could say it was a premeditated plan on my part, however, it is probably closer to the truth if I said it was fate.

When I was growing up I always believed that humans were not trained or taught as well as they could or should be.  Between the ages of fifteen to twenty years I was fortunate to have met a terrific karate instructor from whom I learned much about motion and the sequencing of motion.

In 1980 my wife and I were greatly blessed with a beautiful baby girl, Robyn, who was born with Down Syndrome, which we now refer to as “Up Syndrome.” Preliminary blood tests told us that she was full Down’s with 200 out of 200 cells with Trisomy 21.  The prognosis given to us by the doctors was that Robyn would develop to the mental age of five and that she would never pass Grade One.  But as Robyn frustratingly puts it, “Doctors just don’t know any better.”  Through a series of relational events, which is a story all on its own, we were led to the Institute for the Achievement of Human Potential in Philadelphia.  This was the annex of my becoming a teacher or communicator without my even knowing it.

Over a period of fifty-one months we were taught how to teach our brain injured (hurt) child.  Now let me make this very clear, what they endorsed was not conventional treatment.  Conventional treatment in 1980 consisted of placing your child in a facility or up for adoption or to simply take your child home and love her as she would be what she would be.  Which treatment would you choose: conventional or non-conventional? Robyn’s first day of the program consisted of three people, moving her body to the creeping motion called “patterning”, sixteen times down a sixteen foot Masonite slide to show her that moving forward was the correct motion.  In addition, Robyn crept sixteen – fifteen minute floor sessions in a sixteen foot Masonite flat trough.  Let me tell you, Karen was tired and disappointed but determined because she knew that Robyn had potential.  An organized program was her only shot at the possibility of a normal life.  So we continued out of fear for Robyn’s future and completely on faith.  It was all we had at that time because the other options were frightening.

Day 2 was exactly the same as day one except this day we added reading and math flash cards.  Ten sets of ten cards each of both reading and math, shown to Robyn ten times each day.  Keep in mind that Robyn was 6 months old and Karen, even with reservation, began labeling every item in the house that related to Robyn’s life until she understood that a word meant a thing.  The Institutes told us to never test her because it was meant to be fun, not work, which was the key to an ideal learning environment.  The second day was so exciting Robyn moved two inches in the trough.  We were ecstatic and tired, but mostly ecstatic.  The end of the first week’s totals included eighty-four five minute patterning sessions, one hundred and twelve trips down the incline slide, twenty-eight hours in the creeping trough, and seven thousand reading cards shown. Robyn moved one foot in total on that seventh day.  Not only did she move one foot but she also cried to get out of her crib in the morning.  Crying was music to our ears; it was as though she had come out of a coma.  We were convinced that the organized, structured and non-conventional program was indeed working.  You can probably see where this is going, as this experience deepened my belief that people are brilliant and have great potential, but the method of teaching needs to be questioned.  For the next fifty-two months Robyn learned to read, walk, talk and much, much more.  She was on a program that we believed in and most importantly we knew would work!

Life continued and in 1983 I spent a few days with George Knudson who ran one-day schools.  George’s ideas very much reinforced my karate training.  For seven hours we went through positions to learn and we never struck a ball until the end of the seventh hour.  It was remarkable how much your swing could change in that period of time.  Knudson was a man that influenced me the most when it came to the importance of the follow through and why to this day I talk very little about the backswing.  After that one day school I hit the ball much straighter but with little power.

I must not neglect to mention that while I spent time with Knudson I also spent countless hours with Moe Norman.  At the time I didn’t realize how much Moe was actually teaching me.  I think Moe influenced me by getting me to think “out of the box”.  It was never a normal experience being around Moe because he never gave me direct answers; instead he left me wanting to ask more questions, which at the time frustrated the be-jeepers out of me.  Looking back, I now realize that he put into place my love for answering questions and the importance of getting others to ask more questions.  After all, what is more stimulating than a profound question?  Isn’t it great, profound questions that lead to profound answers?

My world was rocked in 1985 on a trip to Myrtle Beach.  Through an uncanny series of events I ran into Tom Tomesello who forever changed my life.  Tom introduced me to the book “The Golfing Machine” by Homer Kelly.  This amazing book is ridiculed by the masses but will one day be revered for its genius.  Now I do not recommend that you go out and buy it to learn how to play the game; however, if you’re a golfer who really loves the game, get one to put in your library just because it belongs there.

Tom Tomesello was the first and to this day the only golf instructor who ever explained to me that there really is a way to get the ball to do what you want.  The brilliance of the book is in its complexity.  It breaks the swing into components and shows you how to put them together to get what you desire.  If and when something goes wrong with your swing you then have the ability to fix only the broken part.  The first visit with Tom opened up for me a universe I knew existed but never thought I would get to see.

The colour-coding idea has been around for centuries, maybe not in golf but in association with many other concepts.  Humans learn by correlation and we love colour, making it a natural fit.  The devices are colour-coded to match the intended areas to work on.  The positions to learn come from karate, which is many thousands of years old.  My belief in humans came from watching my eldest daughter’s ability to learn despite what the so called “experts” said.

Still, all in all, it never could have happened without a couple of gentlemen that thought they saw some talent in a frustrated, starving golf instructor and they were willing to take a risk larger than they should have probably taken.  Through their time, patience and passion, along with a lot of money, they have enabled me to put together my system in its present form.  Thank you Walter and David, you’re the best.

I want you to know that my work is in constant progress and although I believe my system is better than any other one out there, I will continue to improve it.  I truly hope that you continue to log onto the web site to see what’s new and to give me your feedback.

Thank you Homer Kelly for your genius and Tom Tomesello for your patience in teaching me how to interpret The Golfing Machine. Also, I want to express my appreciation to Dave Hamilton for developing the terrific training devices that, until I met him, I could only dream about.  But most of all, my gratitude goes to Walter Fleishhacker for making “The Golf Solution” a reality because without you the system truly would never have gotten off the ground.