The Ultimate Tuition Break: The Last Word

Speaking to Simon Holmes and Jean-Jacques Rivet 5 months ago, it was clear that the Tour Fit For Golf programme was an exciting project for both men. As world respected coaches to the tour professionals they were keen to apply their teaching techniques and theories to amateur golfers, it was a process that presented both challenges and opportunities.

Speaking at Celtic Manor back in May, Simon predicted:

‘the guys have a long way to go and we expect to see a decline in performance, in terms of their scoring out on the course, before we start the upward curve.’ He continued ‘The guys have to start from scratch and really trust that what we are trying to achieve will benefit them in the longer term, building towards the Portugal Masters in October.’

Jean-Jacques was also confident that the amateurs would see huge benefit by the end of the process;

‘For us it is easier to make a difference to an amateur’s game, when we work with the tour professionals, not just in golf but in any sport, we a talking about really small degrees of improvement; for example, they will be looking to change their angle of impact by one or two degrees. The margins are so small it is more difficult to see an improvement.’ He added ‘We expect to be able to see a marked difference in the golf swing by the end of the process, as long as they commit to what we are trying to do.’

Now that the Portugal Masters has been and gone, the team met up with the Golfbreaks.com Ultimate Tuition Break winners to take part in a final assessment at Urban Golf in Kensington and reflect on the process as a whole. Speaking to the team it is clear that the programme has been a great success. Chris Hughman summed it up by saying,

‘when you think about where we were physically at Celtic Manor you would never believe we could make such incredible progress. It has been difficult for me to find the time practice, work out and get time on the course. You have to juggle all these things with work and family and so it can sometimes be tricky. However because we now understand how fitness, strength and flexibility help improve our game, we have been given the tools to practice the right things when we do get time. This might even be simply doing a few exercises while watching television. The process has given us the grounding to continue to improve, after all, this is only the beginning.’

Nick Blunt echoed Chris’ comments,

‘Its been the experience of a lifetime, my friends back at the golf club are extremely jealous of what we have been able to do. Looking back at the process I’d have to say that the highlight was the Portugal Masters but its also amazing to think how much we have learned. Once you understand the biomechanics of your golf swing and then realize how you can work in the gym to make improvements you really do give yourself the opportunity to make great leaps forward. I’m looking forward to continuing the upward curve and will be staying in touch with Simon and Jean-Jacques, we really can’t thank them enough.’

Simon is similarly optimistic about the future

‘I’ll be keeping in touch with the guys and helping them to continue working on the right things to improve their game. We’ve met up a couple of times at Mill Ride over the process and we will continue to have regular check ins moving forward.’

And Jean-Jacques had a few final words for the guys,

‘trust what you have learnt and be brave’.

A statement that has been repeated throughout the process and remains as important as ever as they continue their quest for improvement.