From left, Butch Harmon, Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler during the 2019 US Open.
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Ryan Mouque was apparently in nirvana.
Butch Harmon worked in front of him for two days.
“It was an absolute moment to take care of myself,” he said.
Mouque was describing it on his X social media accountafter a recent two-day visit with HarmonTiger Woods’ one-time pace coach and a GOLF magazine’s top 100 teachers hall of fame. Notably, it was a teacher-teacher session, as Mouque is a senior coach based in Australia, and, of course, educational training.
So what did Mouque take away?
Ten nuggets, which he also shared over X, and we’re sharing below. It is here that we also recommend following Mouque in X, which you can do hereand Instagram, which you can do here.
1. ‘Cure Cancer in Your Golf Swing’
“Butch famously said that players should try to fix the cancer in their golf swing,” Mouque wrote. “What he means by that phrase is if you fix the most damaging part of your swing that’s making the ball do what it’s doing or the contact be what it is, you’re likely to fix a few other things. as a result.
“Don’t focus on your food intake if that’s not the ‘thing’ that’s affecting you. Fix the most important thing (cancer). If you don’t know what it is, that’s why I’m here to help you help.”
Editor’s note: A softening effect. Get to the root of the problem.
2. ‘Practice within 100 yards’
“Butch was convinced that golfers don’t practice enough inside 100 yards,” Mouque wrote. “This includes wedge play, putting, chipping, bunkering and putting.
“If you were to write down how many hours you practice within 100 yards versus that distance, what would it look like?”
Editor’s note: Good question. How many of us hit the driver for an hour at the range?
3. ‘What matters when you’re trying to make a difference?’
“I watched Butch coach multiple players in the two days I was with him, and he told every student the same thing: Where the ball goes and how far it goes DOESN’T MATTER when you’re trying to make a changeup,” Mouque wrote. “You have to learn the movement first, then worry about the ball and how far it’s going.
“Of course, once you understand the move and can execute it at slow speed, the ball can then be used as feedback on whether you made a good move or a poor move. As you get used to the new movement, you can add speed to the movement and distance then becomes important.
“Butch made Tiger take hundreds/thousands of pauses/slow swings when Tiger changed his swing.”
Editor’s note: Trust the process.
4. ‘Butch Will Tell You How It Is’
“Butch won’t cover anything,” Mouque wrote. “He’ll tell you 100 percent exactly how it is, even if it’s not what you want to hear.
“Of course, he has the results from his players, where he can stand there with confidence and say how it is. If a younger trainer does this, the student can go the other way. Butch was telling me some stories about players he has personally fired because of their attitude towards what he wanted them to do.
“If you want to work with Butch, you better listen to what he has to say. You don’t argue with him. He has the authority behind tournament wins and major championships – he helped his players win.”
Editor’s note: A little tough love doesn’t hurt.
5. ‘He gives you confidence’
“On the other hand, if you’re one of his students and you’re trying your best, he’ll say things that inspire confidence,” Mouque wrote. “When you hit a good shot, he’ll celebrate with you. When you don’t, he’ll explain why and get you to do it the right way.
“He will never make you feel like you’re not getting better. It’s a great skill to be able to get the best out of your players and have them feel like they’re one step away from mastering what they’re trying to do.”
Editor’s Note: A pat on the back doesn’t hurt either.
6. ‘Golf is easy without a ball’
“I’ve heard it said many times: Golf is easy without the ball,” Mouque wrote. “What he means by that is when you work on your swing, most players can make the move they’re trying to make when there’s not a ball in front of them.
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“It means you CAN make the move you want, but sometimes you have to give up the result when you have a ball in front of you. Don’t always be so eager to hit a ball when working with stuff. Work on your swing without the ball, and as I tell students: ‘Your practice swing is your future swing.'”
Editor’s note: Trust the process again. “Your practice swing is your future swing” is obvious – why even take a practice swing if you’re not going to use it?
7. “You need a clear plan”
“Every student I saw him teach basically had no idea why they were hitting the ball the way they were and had no idea how to fix it themselves,” Mouque said. “They may have thought they knew the solution, but they didn’t.
“One guy said the lesson he learned that day just cured 15 years of frustration. 15 YEARS!!! (He may have been exaggerating, but still, my point remains.)
“If you’re a golfer who doesn’t take lessons and you’ve had a problem with your game that never seems to improve year after year, please get help from a coach (me). I want you to enjoy this game – having 15 years of frustration is crazy.
“My take from that comment as I sat there watching was that this golfer had just tried to do everything on his own and got nowhere. It is possible that he would have become even worse in his attempt to solve his own problems.”
Editor’s Note: Doing the same things over and over and expecting different results can drive a golfer to another sport.
8. ‘Swing changes take time’
“Butch told a story about how Tiger wanted to change his swing after 1997,” Mouque wrote. “During 1998, Tiger won only one PGA Tour event, which was due to his work and change of pace.
“After a full year of working on his swing and making the changes he wanted, we saw the greatest run golf has ever seen, with Tiger winning seven majors and 20 PGA Tour events between 1999-2002 (I think my math is correct). He also won five other events in 2003.
“The moral of the story is if it took the goat a full year to make a difference, what makes you think you can do it in a week or after a few lessons? Be realistic and understand that change takes time. Also, don’t try to chop your swing – you won’t be able to. Just work on the low-hanging fruit and ‘cancer’ in your movement.”
Editor’s note: Be patient. Easier said than done, of course, but know that the reward is coming.
9. ‘External Devices’
“Butch was big on using external equipment to make the necessary changes,” Mouque wrote. “Put something in your path and try to avoid it. A box, a stretching stick, etc. You don’t always have to think about elbow or wrist angles. It can be as simple as putting something in the way and trying to avoid it to change the way.”
Editor’s note: Training tools help.
10. ‘Amazing Stories’
“Butch has about 10,000 stories and never fails to tell one,” Mouque wrote. “He’s played with the likes of President Obama, he plays Augusta a few times a year, he can obviously go anywhere in the golf world and he’s treated like royalty, which he’s earned.
“A number of stories were told that I absolutely cannot repeat. During one, I was filming him while he was telling and as he looked up, he quickly told me to stop recording. Haha! He was definitely not for the Internet.”
Editor’s note: Our loss!
