Cypresswood Golf & Country Club

I came to this game of golf like many of us, through my Grandfather. I was 12 years old when he took me out to the local Par 3 course in Westbrook Maine and introduced me to a game of a lifetime. My family moved to Winter Haven, Florida in during my 9th grade year of high school and I continued playing as much golf as possible. In August of 1986, I was hired as a cart attendant at Cypresswood Golf & Country Club by the Wood family that owned the golf course and developed the Cypresswood community. This gave me the opportunity to practice and play a lot of golf. As with most, young golfers I tried almost every method of play usually ideas from Golf Magazines as this was pre-internet. I also received help from my friends and co-workers as I developed an insatiable appetite for solid contact. That appetite drove me crazy because I could not figure out why I was so inconsistent. One of my first mentors, Jack Wenzler, started working with me on my swing. Mr. Wenzler was an old-school teacher with the thought of keeping it simple. He had given thousands of lessons throughout his life and found that most students completely over applied his instructions to the point where it hurt their swing. He would constantly say A little bit of this remedy will cure this problem, you don’t need the whole bottle.  That kind of thinking really has formed the basis of my teaching philosophy. I began as the Head Golf Professional at Cypresswood beginning in 1991. I also began teaching golf in 1991 at Cypresswood. As with most teachers, I had an idea what I wanted each student to do. Good grip, good setup, good posture and a good start to their back swing. I quickly found out that almost all golfers with any kind of experience interpret those instructions in different ways. The skill I had to learn is to figure out a way for the individual student to be successful. That sounds simple but it is a different challenge for each student. Each of them have different learning patterns. Some have to be told, some shown and others have to be moved through a particular drill or exercise in order for the student to understand. At the end of each lesson, I want each student to be better in some way. A better way to execute a shot, a simpler way to swing the golf club or just a practice plan outlining a route to success. In 2016 I made a change of direction.  I was not satisfied with the  results of my players and I went looking for answers.  In early 2017 I sought out Mark Evershed at Rio Pinar in Orlando.  After 2 sessions I was blown away with what I didn’t know.  During those 2 sessions Mr. Evershed asked if I had ever learned Stack and Tilt or knew who Andy Plummer was.  I told him that I had heard of Stack and Tilt but never really gave it much thought other than reading the Golf Digest article many years ago.  Mr. Evershed that my swing had a lot of Stack and Tilt in it and suggested that I talk to Andy.  Later that Spring I made an appointment with Andy down in Palm City Florida on a Saturday afternoon.  I arrived at the golf course early to warm up and Mike Bennett was on the range hitting golf balls.  I watched Mike hit ball after ball with the smallest of push draws and I was mesmerized by how consistent he was.  That day changed my professional life forever.  A year later I attended my first Network Instructor training and became a Network Instructor for Stack and Tilt.  The systematic progression of the system made so much since to me, even though I didn’t understand the details at that time.  I have now spent the better part of the last 4 years studying the system and applying to my teaching.  The results have been great and more importantly the success of my players is sustaining.  Every day I teach someone how to better control their golf ball and have more fun!  PASSION.PROCESS.RESULTS is my tag line for a reason. A years of teaching and giving over 35,000 lessons, I know that I can help anyone with a desire to learn and practice.  Is it easy?  NO!  But you will not leave my lesson tee questioning what is next?  Those answers will be obvious.  I hope that we meet some day so that I can show you and give you the tools necessary to have more fun playing golf!