Q&A with Golf Performance Coach Jon Roy

As readers may recall, back in the spring I wrote about how I hadn’t been happy with my golf game for some time and vowed to do something about it this year. Given my nature, I wanted to do this myself, perhaps not the best option, but one that would allow me to understand the process.

There’s a tendency among golfers that have played the game for a long time to look for quick fixes or band aids. Just a little adjustment here or a new club there. They all tend to be reactive, and the solutions are usually short term.

And then something else doesn’t work.

Lee Trevino once said that he goes to the range before a tournament to see what kind of game he has. Some days he has his A game and other days it’s his B game. Once he knows what he has, that’s what he takes to the course.

A and B actually sound great. Some days I feel like my choices are between some game and no game.

Acknowledging a problem is the first step in the solution. I used to break 80 regularly. What’s holding me back from doing that now? I’ll spare you the details, but I do have a list that I’m working on. In a more general sense, this seems to afflict many golfers and begs the age-old question, “Why aren’t golfers getting better?”

I recently spoke to Jon Roy about this. Jon is a former Canadian Coach of the Year and head provincial coach in Ontario. Currently, he works primarily with high level junior golfers looking to take their game to the next level and he also mentors other golf coaches from his Golf Performance Coaches academy in Uxbridge.

At GPC, they prioritize learning and enjoyment as the foundation of performance. That certainly fits with the way I’m wired. Much better when I understand why I’m doing something. I’m sure some of you can relate. You can learn more about Jon and Golf Performance Coaches HERE.

This is Part 1 of a multi-part interview conducted in the Spring. It has been lightly edited for clarity.

Welcome Jon. As we discussed, I’m working on my own program of self-improvement, trying to get my golf game into better shape. Lots of other golfers are also struggling with their game. So, I’m curious, in your opinion, what’s the number one reason why golfers aren’t getting better?

Jon Roy: It’s fairly simple really. It’s a lack of dedication to a long-term process. I think in the process of mastery of this very, very complex ecological sport, the endurance required to persevere through the very rough patches is uncommon.

So, the tips and quick fixes and buying a game in a box don’t work, what’s the best way to achieve that mastery?

Jon Roy: This is self-serving but find a dedicated coaching program that will hold you accountable for long periods of time. I would approach weight loss the same way. I would approach my child’s math homework the same way, if you know what I mean. I think committing to a long-term process, a tutor for this many weeks, not just quickly while I need it because an exam is tomorrow. All of that commodification to which you speak is out of balance. And so, I think finding ways to penetrate through the instant gratification angle and move into the more long-term investments of time and energy and feedback, I think that’s your best bet. Again, it’s self-serving, but find a really great coach that’s going to hold you accountable for a long time, or else commit to – even if it was self-designed – a program that was 12 months long, not three weeks long, that you created yourself and you committed to that.

And in that program, you’re talking about covering all of the bases from swing mechanics to physical fitness to nutrition to the mental game, and whatever else I’ve missed in between.

Jon Roy: As you boil it down, you have four pillars: physical, mental, tactical, and technical. I think the tentacles that come out of those four pillars are in the building. That’s why I call it ecological. It’s like each thing interacts with the other to create change, and it’s so complex. But yeah, absolutely not a one directional technical commitment, which is the common one. The thing that’s being sold as a commodity is sort of, “Here’s a technical change that’ll make you a better golfer. Let’s slow motion Rory’s swing when he missed. Look, see his elbow.” No, it’s way deeper than that. What was he thinking? How did he breathe on the way in? There’s so much going on that’s ecological, as I put it. So, I think that players would stand to gain significantly from a multifaceted approach over long periods of time. A holistic approach, I guess is a good way to put it, over long periods of time.

How many coaches in Ontario do you think are taking that approach and actually applying it to what they do with their students?

Jon Roy: My first answer, and I’m just going to be authentic, my first answer was going to be something like eight. There’s eight of them, and I don’t know that I could quite name them, but it’s not many. And they’re special people, really great coaches who would be amazing to tap into. You’ll know them when you meet them because they’re special. How many imposters are there who are selling that idea, but not quite delivering on it? I don’t know. I would suggest there are a lot who are nodding their heads with this kind of idea but then turning it into a commodity.

When you look at the four pillars you mentioned, three of them seem to be much better developed than the mental pillar. There’s certainly a lot written about the mental side of golf, but I don’t know that it’s embraced in nearly as an acceptable manner as the others are. So how much room is there to grow, both from a coaching point of view and from a player point of view? Where are we? Are we at 10%, 30%, 50% of where we could be or should be, or am I way off?

Jon Roy: Yeah. So yeah, I think the mental pillar is definitely growing, at least since the nineties and since let’s say Rotella, who became a bit of a godfather in the space, even though there was of course the Chuck Hogans and such before that who were yelling this stuff, but there was no one listening. We can go all the way back to Babe Ruth playing baseball, which is generally viewed as the birth of sports psychology in the Americas. This idea took a long time. Those laboratories were chewing out information, but it wasn’t connecting. They kind of figured it was reflexes or eyesight or because we’re playing at Wrigley Field. But never in your head. There’s always been a stigma against it, probably that same fear of what you might find deep in the weeds maybe. Sports isn’t really welcoming of emotional space and emotional intelligence, and I think that that’s part of it as well.

So, it’s working against that. But great things have always worked against currents. There’s nothing wrong with that friction. I think it makes it stronger in the end, but since the nineties at least we’re talking about it. I was watching Full Swing for the first-time last night. This is the Netflix documentary and sure enough, the mental pillar is kind of dominant actually. It’s what everyone’s talking about. So, I guess I’m sensing a bit of a breakthrough and not as a stockholder who’s happy that the shares are finally yielding returns, but rather just, I think it’s really cool that the game is opening up to this conversation and recognizing that there’s a central imbalance. I think rather than the mental game becoming more important than it used to be, it was always important, it’s just more accessible.

Agreed but I think if you break your arm, there’s a universal acceptance that you have a physical ailment that has to be fixed. But if you’ve got a mental issue, there’s still a very, very strong resistance to thinking that there’s something wrong with you. People don’t want to acknowledge mental issues for fear of being seen as weak or lacking.

Jon Roy: Yeah, that’s fair. And that stigma still exists, I guess largely because of the opaque nature in a non-physical world that implies. I’m drawn to that. I think it’s really fascinating and more ecological that way, rather than simple. It’s broken. And the solution is: it depends. As a coach, I really like that open space. But yeah, your point is well taken that there is certainly still a stigma about it in sports particularly. You saw it with the Maple Leaf’s goalie this year, for instance, when he had to kind of be shipped off to the island to get some help there to get into a different mental space.

And then in the deeper use, the closer you get to the athletes, you start to learn that for a long, long time now, they’ve all relied on someone they can share thoughts with and deeper emotions with and so on. We just don’t have it in the public sphere. And that can be an issue for many golfers.