I would not be where I am today without the lessons I have learned from everyone who has helped me along the way. I have been fortunate enough to have had a very influential swing coach when I began seriously pursuing golf. My dad’s golf knowledge is what provided my brother and I a good foundation when we were introduced to the game, but my dad quickly realized that he was not going to be able to develop us into great players.
If you ask him, he will say this realization came after my brother qualified for Junior Worlds at Torrey Pines in San Diego, CA. This was the first big event that either of us qualified for. Ethan was one of two boys in his age group to qualify from the Northern Nevada Junior Golf Association (NNJGA). We always like to tell this story because one of the boys that everyone in the field thought was a shoo-in, Ethan beat out to grab one of the two qualifying spots. Ironically, that kid now plays on the Korn Ferry Tour, earning his card via the PGA TourU program after his senior year of college, likely to earn his PGA Tour card after the Korn Ferry season is over due to his success this year. He was a three-time All-American in college, so yes, he is a “PLAYER”, as my mom would say. Moral of the story: Ethan qualified for Junior Worlds, went down, and nearly finished dead last. And this was not due to a lack of effort or preparation. My dad does not shy away from the reasoning for the poor performance. Ethan was struggling with his ball control that week, hitting a massive, unplayable slice — which was a result of some swing mechanics my dad had him working on. After that week, my dad decided he was taking a hiatus as our golf coach.
This is when Ethan and I began working with our first official swing coach, Phil Dawson. I am forever indebted to Phil for getting me to where I am today; he taught me damn near everything I know now about the golf swing. He always used metaphors—comparing the golf swing to car racing or building a house. Phil would say you can’t show up to a race expecting to perform well with a car that isn’t well maintained. The message was simple: performance starts with the foundation. The same was true with his house analogy. You don’t begin building a house by installing the roof, the doors, or the windows. You start with the foundation of the house, which everything else is built on. I’ve come to believe deeply in that approach. Golf development begins with the foundation you develop. Whether you’re just picking up a club for the first time or trying to elevate your game, the fundamentals are critical. Build the base, and the rest of your game has something strong to stand on.
I worked with Phil until my junior year of college, when he took a job at Colonial in Fort Worth, TX. At that time, I was playing at Alabama and had found a swing coach in Birmingham. I worked with him for a couple of months, and he helped to get me out of a swing funk. The summer before my senior year at Alabama, I came home and had developed a case of the shanks. Now I can’t say it is completely physical or mental, more of a mixture of both, but I needed help. That is when I found the people I now work with: Mike and Charlotte. They are based out of Sacramento, CA, but also work in my hometown of Truckee, CA, to tag-team the head of instruction at Old Greenwood.
Mike and Charlotte have transformed my golf game. Not in the traditional way of breaking down my swing technique, but in how I approach the game. Mike has been instrumental in allowing me to approach the golf swing differently, as an athlete, not a robot. Previously, it had been ingrained in my brain that my technique must look a certain way to produce a golf shot. But that could not be more untrue. A recent conversation we had was about rhythm and tempo in the golf swing. He debunked my previous mindset that my swing must be technically “perfect” (whatever that really means). There is no perfect golf swing; we all have different bodies that produce different movements and positions. Rather than trying to get into perfect positions, it is a matter of rhythm. As Mike describes it, rhythm is how you control the speed — something we can all do even though it may look different because of our bodies.
Where my rhythm gets off is in transition. I tend to release my speed to start my transition rather than through the golf ball. This is where Mike has me focusing my attention. A current feel I have is simply releasing my speed at the golf ball. A good drill for this is to pause at the top of my backswing, which forces me to slow down my transition, therefore not allowing me to release all my speed at the top of my transition. When I pause at the top, I am forced into a more fluid transition, forcing me to release the speed at a different spot in the swing — through the ball.
What I just shared may sound different from anything you have heard from swing coaches or Instagram swing tips. When I first heard this too, I was confused: how can I produce great golf shots if I am not focused on perfecting my golf swing positions? But this is where I have been able to broaden my perspective on golf, using athleticism to my advantage. My swing technique is already good enough to produce golf shots, so now it's just a matter of doing it. I am not saying that my technique is perfect and will never need attention, but there is a point where going too far down the rabbit hole of technique can be detrimental. Trust me when I tell you, I have been down that rabbit hole, and it has never proved me any good.
Mike and Charlotte have coaxed me out of this rabbit hole, opening my eyes to the game of golf, not golf swing.
I’ll share what I’m working on in my golf swing and how those practice sessions translate to performance on the course. It’s a real-time look at the process—what I’m focusing on, how I’m adjusting, and how I’m applying it under pressure. I’m excited to open up this part of my journey and bring you along for it.
Thanks for reading.
Ryan Flynn
