BSc Applied Psychology from Durham University
James Oliver
Self-taught coach who has reached a plus-handicap in his 30s with very unconventional methods: WhatsApp +447786498201 to book in-person
Unable to break 90 to scratch in 3 years. Email: theoliversjac@aol.com · 1IRON Indoor Golf, Heathfield Gateway, Stacey Bushes, Milton Keynes, UK · Golf
Starting Price
$210.00
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2
Credentials
Teaching Philosophy
My approach to golf could be described fairly well with one adjective: exploratory. I am heavily influenced by the work of Adam Young, Rob Gray, Fred Shoemaker, Kendal McWade, Karl Morris, Mark Broadie, and many others on the more cerebral side of the golf landscape. The way a human being learns to operate in the world most efficiently is by making use of the capacties the world affords him and coordinating to that affordance. Generally, we do not make our task conform to our movement: our movement conforms to the task and its demands. Golf is largely taught the other way around. This is not an impossible way to learn, but it is sub-optimal. You did not learn to walk by focusing on the positions of your feet, ankles, knees, hips. Instead, your feet, ankles, knees, hips, acquired the capacity to walk through engagement with the world around them. It would be possible to learn things the other way, but it was far superior to learn the way you did. Golf is largely conceptualied differently, and I am seeking to change that. Gof is a game of error reduction. Errors are largely the result of poor impact. The most important impact factors are strike and face orientation. Thus: golf is a game of strike and face control. The question, then, is how does one improve these factors? The first part of the answer is: by focusing on them directly. The more important part of the answer is: by organising our direct focus on imapct in such a way as to harness our innate and miraculous capactiy for movement acquisition. Put another way: we do our best to learn to play golf the way we have learned to do almost everything else in our lives. Through limitless and joyful exploration.
About the coach
Can a golfer in his 30s shooting in the 90s get to scratch within three years? I did.
I am far from the typical golf coach. No doubt you’ve read and heard this claim before and are weary of such attempts at differentiation. Well, in this case, the spiel is actually true.
I did not grow up as an elite player, or follow any sort of traditional pathway. Though I played casually as a child, I never reached any remotely high level of play, and stepped away from the game for nearly 15 years, only returning in 2022 at the age of 31.
Upon my return to golf, I struggled to break 100. Four years later, I am playing to a plus handicap and regularly shoot under par. And I have achieved this level of play by coaching myself.
I have experienced the trajectory most golfers don’t even think is possible, let alone imagine achieving for themselves. Most coaches will tell you they have travelled the road you wish to walk down, but that is almost always not the case. In this instance, it is.
I understand exactly what it takes to revolutionise your game, because I have done exactly that myself. And I have done so, in golfing terms, in the blink of an eye.
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Purchase Options
3-hour in-depth exploration
1 In-Person Lesson- 1 x 180min In-Person Lesson
- The most enlighening — and different! — golf lesson you will have ever had.
- Learn why golf really is so hard, but why conquering this difficulty is far simpler than it seems.
- Learn how I broke through every pateau from shooting in the high-90s to mid-60s in less than four years.
- Learn how enjoyable practice can become through developing your level of awareness and attentional mastery.
