The 18STRONG Podcast 99: The Six Key Positions to Playing Your Best Golf with Nick Clearwater
Nick Clearwater, the Senior Director of Teaching Quality at GolfTEC, and one of the coolest guys I know in the golf world, returns to the show this week to discuss something BIG that could absolutely change your game!
With GolfTEC being the worlds largest collector of data on the golf swing over the past 20 years, they have taken some of that data and come up with direct correlations to show you 6 things that the best golfers in the world do compared to the high handicapper. In this episode, Nick is going to break down each of these movements, so you can start changing your game today!
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Nick Clearwater’s Background
- Grew up in Chicago, then went to school in Michigan
- He has worked in quite a few locations including NY, Connecticut, Florida, Chicago, and is now based in Denver Colorado
- Nick is the Senior Director of Teaching Quality for GolfTEC
Highlights from this Episode
- Nick gives us a little background on him, how he got into the game of golf and how he eventually ended up where he is today as the Senior Director of Teaching Quality at GolfTEC
- Nick shares with us the details of possibly the most exciting and comprehensive study ever completed on golfers, the SwingTRU Motion Study
- Using the GolfTEC camera and motion capture technology, and the millions of golf swings they have captured, they took a sample of 20,000 swings from 20,000 golfers, and analyzed their motion, coming up with specific measurements that correlate with high and low handicap golfers.
- What is GolfTEC?: According to Nick, it’s “a golf instruction company that solves golfers problems.”
- They have over 200 locations, and it’s been shown that their lessons account for nearly 26% of all instructional lessons.
- A common misconception is that they only do indoor lessons, but Nick informed me that each GolfTEC location has a relationship with local course to be able to give outdoor playing and practice lessons, as well.
- So what did the SwingTRU Motion Study show? There is a direct correlation of certain traits to handicap levels with the following 6 motions:
- Hip Sway at the top of the swing
- Hip Sway at impact
- Hip Turn at impact
- Shoulder Tilt at top of the swing
- Shoulder Tilt at impact
- Shoulder Bend at Finish
- Nick goes into these in much more detail on each of these, but you can see the image below for each (Red=Bad and Green=Good), as well as the video below of Nick on the Golf Channel.
Below is Nick on the Golf Channel chatting with Damon Hack about the SwingTRU Study:
CaddyShack or Happy Gilmore?
CaddyShack
Who would you like to spend a day on the course with?
Don Rickles at Pine Valley
What are you excited about in your near future?
Nick is simply excited about helping golfers solve their problems. And with all of the data that they now have and what the studies have shown, he knows they can do that even more effectively, and will only get better as the data collection continues.
Where to Find Nick Clearwater and GolfTEC:
website: GolfTEC.com
Facebook: GolfTEC
Twitter: @NickClearwater and @GolfTEC