After Adam Kolloff, Chris Foley and Dean Saunders gave their 5 tips for winter training last week, they are joined by three more coaches who use Clippd in their day-to-day work with golfers of all abilities. 

Alex Clapp is coach to more than 30 European, regional and mini tour professionals. Based in England, he has a loyal and fast-expanding Instagram following.  “I am very data-driven in my coaching so using Clippd with students is vital,” explains Alex. “If we don’t have data, we don’t have the facts about your game. I use Clippd to build a player’s blueprint, to enhance their weaknesses whilst maintaining their strengths.” Find out more at alexclappgolf.com

‍Brian Jacobs is a Lead Instructor for Golf Channel Academy and two-time Western New York PGA Section Teacher of the Year. “I’ve just been at a coaching conference at Pinehurst and all the teachers there understand the secret sauce, which is to play and collect data,” says one of Clippd’s longest standing users. “I can’t coach what I don’t know.” Brian teaches players all over the world. Find out more at brianjacobsgolf.com.

Josh Salmon is one of the youngest coaches using Clippd. A PGA Coach and custom club fitter, he also works with the university golf team at Plymouth Marjon University in England. “I feel incredibly lucky,” he says, “to be working with university golfers in a state of the art space, utilising TrackMan 4 and the amazing biomechanics equipment in the sports science lab.” Follow Josh on Instagram: @upstreamcoaching

1. Go after the low-hanging fruit 

‍Alex Clapp: “In What To Work On, I filter the Priority List by Opportunity to track what's the best area to dive into. Opportunity shows me how good they have been in this area in the past, and this is without me applying any technical thought. We can look at when they were best and get them back to this level and save them several shots in the process.

“Many clients want to focus on weaknesses, which we can do using What To Work On combined with past experience, but I prefer to make a player better in all departments by keeping their strengths at the forefront.

“Understanding misses within each area of their game is important, and something I like to dive into with students. But players trying to dial things down to one miss isn’t achievable. What we can look to do using Clippd, is work a more predominant miss or shape into their game.”

Clippd Tip

‍It’s important to remember that the Importance to Scoring wheel in What To Work On shows the parts of your game that are sensitive to scoring, both positive and negative. If when you drive well, you score well, your OTT Importance will be high. Our algorithm produces your priority list, which is shown as Clippd Default. This is a blend of Importance, Opportunity and Shot Quality Trend.

If you want to see where the biggest opportunity exists for you to improve, click the down arrow next to Clippd Default and select Opportunity (see above). This will list your biggest opportunities to improve from the top.

If you want to see what part of your game is currently weakest, and therefore would benefit from some serious work over winter, click the down arrow next to Clippd Default and select Shot Quality. This will list your priority top to bottom, strongest to weakest.

2. Upload TrackMan Tests and Combines to Clippd

Brian Jacobs: “I recommend players do a TrackMan or FlightScope Test or Combine to get a benchmark of where they are at the end of the season. It’s like a postseason assessment. With my players, we look at their numbers, talk about how they felt at different times of the year and then we set them up to focus on where we want to go in the winter time.”

Dean Saunders: “By uploading your TrackMan Tests and Combine tests into Clippd, you’ll see patterns. One example that’s relevant to better players over the winter is they will probably do a lot of winter practice on driving ranges, which means playing off mats. Better players tend to use forged irons, which can move. Using Clippd, they will start to see their misses. If there are outliers it might be their loft and lies have changed.”

Clippd Tip

‍It’s very easy to upload a TrackMan Test or Combine. Log into your account on mytrackman.com, select the Combine or Test you want to upload, navigate to the bottom of the page and hit the Share button to copy the link. Open Clippd. Head to Settings > Data Integrations > Trackman Link and paste the link into Clippd. All your TrackMan data is then processed and your Player Quality calculated. Your TrackMan session will then be viewable in your Activities and Feed.

3. Be aware of the key parameters 

Chris Foley: “If players are practising on their own at a smart range with TopTracer or doing a launch monitor test, there are certain metrics they should be aware of. The metrics that I pay the most attention to are angle of attack and low point. Then it’s path and face angle. 

“I give every one of my students a parameter of where they should be, based on their game and the ball flight that we're trying to create. If you have an awareness of these numbers, there's a lot to be gained in self-discovery. Too many people are trying to swing perfectly but there is no such thing as perfect. There are corridors of where we need to be. If you're within those corridors, you're going to strike the ball very well. I get my players to record in their own words the different things that we've worked on that will affect each of these metrics.”

Alex Clapp: “I build TrackMan Combines around strengths and weaknesses. I think it’s important to play holes like you would on a course, so I build combines designed like a course. It’s good for varied practice. Clippd can then really help me when I need to get a player better from certain distances.”

Clippd Tip

‍Look at the Shot Quality data for the best shots you hit in a TrackMan Test or Combine and start to see what your best looks like in terms of these parameters.

4. Record what you’re doing so your coach can comment

‍Alex Clapp: “I have students actively inputting videos and practice data and performance drills in the app. It’s great for me to keep on top of their performance.”

Alex Kolloff: If all you did this winter was practice into a net while using impact tape for feedback on where contact is on the club face, and you practised until you were consistently hitting the ball in the centre of the club face, the result would be that you will substantially improve your ball striking. This then leads to more control and distance. Focus on solid contact, take photos and notes and document your progress in Clippd.

Brian Jacobs: All my students do mirror work, which they can do on their own. All I ask them to do is 20 swings a day, 140 swings a week. They take pictures and videos that I can look at and comment on. I also put video drills into Clippd for my players.

‍Chris Foley: “There's so much value in being able to record your nutrition and exercise and mental exercises and all the things that are available. The more committed the player is, the more value I think there is in Clippd.”

‍Brian Jacobs: “It’s about shared accountability between the coach and the player.” 

Clippd Tip

‍It's simple. Tap + in Clippd (top right of screen) and select Add Activity. Select the Activity Type, Add a Title and Description (perhaps who you were with or what you set out to achieve). Enter the Location, Duration and add Notes afterwards (what went well, what went less well, learnings etc). Tag the parts of the game you worked on and then add Photos & Videos. Save Activity and it will appear in your Feed, which means the coach or coaches you’re connected to in Clippd will see it and be able to comment. And right there the way for your coach to monitor your progress between lessons.

Be kind to yourself

Josh Salmon: "I’ve lost count of the number of times I have to talk a player out of a bad mindset in a lesson, simply because they’ve missed the white line on the simulator by eight yards. Remember, eight yards is the equivalent of playing to a tucked flag and setting up a birdie chance on the course!... I’m always getting my players to think ‘small circles’ rather than ‘straight lines’. 

Brian Jacobs: “I spend a lot of time on emotional wellbeing. This is not the mental game but a player’s perception of themselves and where they fit into the whole puzzle of golf. To work on that, we get them into a process; I use ‘Be A Player’ by Pia Nilsson and Lynn Marriot. Players have got to learn to be kinder to themselves. People fail to insulate themselves against what they believe other people think of them, when the truth is nobody cares. Everyone is in their own little bubble trying to manage themselves.” 

Josh Salmon: “A simple change of mindset over winter can boost confidence. When the player is fixated on seeing the ball go straight down that line they are going to have a hard time leaving any practice session happy. A player who hits 30 shots that miss the line but all land in the same area might beat themselves up because they’ve ‘missed the target’. In reality, what they have is an incredibly functional pattern that will make them a good player on the course.”

Brian Jacobs: “I like my players to feel hyper-excited rather than nervous, anxious or angry. Why are we not patting ourselves on the back more? Hitting the ball in the air is the first miracle. The second miracle is to get it somewhere near your target. And the third is to curve it when you want to do it.”

Clippd Tip

‍Just what the guys say. And if you read something in a book or magazine article, or hear something in a podcast that resonates with you, be sure to record it in Clippd. You can search by keyword, ensuring you can surface the item. As Dan Whittaker, another leading Clippd coach, says: "Success leaves clues!"