Brad Pullin grew up around golf and from an early age he knew he wanted to become a golf professional. He never thought about becoming a teacher but as his career path evolved it became clear it was the right choice. Tony and Brad share their personal experience in understanding those pivotal moments in making professional changes. Tony and Brad share what they do to keep growing, what they would tell younger teachers and what they would've done differently. Brad shares his experience coaching Sam Burns from 15 years old, what they worked on then, how that’s built into what they do now and what they do in practice.

TOUR COACH with Tony Ruggiero

Brad Pullin: Teaching Sam Burns, Turk Petit and Golf at Squire Creek

Willy Wilcox joins Tony Ruggiero this week and talks candidly about his career. He shares the keys to his accomplishments, the mistakes he made and what he’d do differently. They talk about how being on Tour has changed, and with Willy recently becoming a teacher, they discuss teaching techniques and how to implement changes that won’t take away from what’s working. This episode is equally entertaining and insightful.

Willy Wilcox: Candid Stories from Tour and Teaching

Tony Ruggiero and Dr. Greg Cartin discuss the adversities they've seen Tour Players and teachers face. They dive into how success follows the joy of the action and how balancing the three components of results, fulfillment and learning are intricately intertwined in preventing burnout and sustaining a long career.

Mental Health and Golf: getting back to and understanding yourself

Heading into Q School, Tony sits down with Rick Lamb and Emilio Gonzalez to talk about their mentality, process to getting where they are, what they’ve been doing to prepare and how that changes as they get closer. They also offer advice to younger golfers they learned from their own mistakes, other golfers and offer an inside look into what it takes to be compete at the optimum level.

Preparing for Q School with Rick Lamb and Emilio Gonzalez

Tony has Tour Player, Akshay Bhatia, on the show this week. Tony shares what really stood out to him about Akshay. They talk about his journey and choices with turning Pro at 17 years old. The uncharted challenges he struggled with and how he’s worked through them the past two years. He talks about the amazing coaches that have helped on the journey, and what he’s learned from playing with some of the greatest in the game: Phil Mickelson, Jon Rahm, Bill Haas, Bryson DeChambeau and many more.

Akshay Bhatia: Learning his way to the Tour

Tony sits down with legendary instructor Rick Smith. With decades of experience coaching the game’s greatest players, this episode is full of wisdom to all players and instructors. Rick shares the greatest lessons he’s learned from his players and experience. They also discuss the art of teaching, current obstacles for competing and the mindset a player needs to be the best.

Rick Smith shares his greatest learning moments

Tony has Adam Schriber on the podcast this week. Adam is recognized as one of the top 100 instructors and known pioneering integration of fitness, biomechanical-influenced instruction, and digital technology tools. Adam shares how meeting Mark Verstegen had a significant impact on his philosophies, the ways his approach to coaching Tour Players has changed, the new program he’s starting and why “a lot of things that help you to be good hold you back from being great.” Awesome episode.

Adam Schriber: Unlocking Tour Players’ Potential

Charles Howell III joins Tony on this episode. They kick off with Charles’ sharing the influences he learned early on and have lasted his entire career. They talk about the keys that bring talented players earlier and quicker success, how to perform at the high level of competition, as well as what he thinks are the best advice in developing juniors and tons of great stories from playing on Tour.

Charles Howell III: Greatest Influences, Stories and Lessons from the Tour

Tony is joined by Dr. Scott Lynn, Jackson Koert, Michelle Winkler and a few players from the Ocean Reef Retreat. They discuss the benefits of technology, science has brought to coaching alongside of the “old school” principles that will never lose their value. Along with what they see commonly overlooked components in coaching and how there’s a lot more to learn about the variations of anatomy. Amazing episode full of stories and examples for better coaching.

Old School Teaching in a Modern World

Kevin Kirk, PGA Master Professional, 2019 PGA Teacher of the Year and a GOLF Magazine Top 100 Teacher in America is Tony’s guest this week. Kevin attended the 2021 Olympics and has incredible insight from what he saw firsthand. Tony and Kevin also dive into the past, present and future of coaching. From expanding the scope of developing adults, the evolution of a coach’s role, coaching imperatives to what the path forward looks like for golf and the discrepancy of current youth programs to what sport science recommends. Awesome episode; don't miss out!

Kevin Kirk: creating a better future for the game

Jeff Smith and Tony talk about the recent boom in golf and their predictions for how that'll play out in the future. Jeff shares how he started, the lessons he learned starting out from coaching all levels and how that led to his current success. Tony and Jeff explain the greatest influence on their coaching when they experienced success and what they learned from their tour players.

Jeff Smith: coaching's most valuable experiences

Suzy Whaley, former president of PGA tour and Top 100 instructor, discusses the greatest coaches, her non-linear path from college golf to the LPGA and instruction. Tony and Suzy dive into how the game of golf hasn’t changed but expectations, technology and readily available information have had a significant impact for junior players and young coaches. They also talk about overcoming the greatest challenges of coaching and how to grow the game. This episode is full of great insight and compelling topics!

Suzy Whaley: Growing the Game

Jeff Leishman’s coached many players to status and success on the LPGA and PGA Tours. Tony and Jeff talk about their passion for developing juniors, how coaching on tour came about and the years of experience it takes to communicate and coach the complexities of elite players. They dive into what’s shaped Jeff’s career and how his teaching technique has evolved and how why his best coaching job was frightening at first.

Jeff Leishman: the Evolution of Tour Coaching

Tony sits down with Kolby Tullier, Wayne Flint, Dr Greg Cartin and Jay Coffin discussing how to create a successful training program. Each sharing their experience on the environment, process of instruction and the significance of having different expertise but the same coaching values. This episode is full of key insights and good stories from five experts.

Building a Successful Training Program

Go behind the scenes of golf instruction on tour with top 100 instructor Tony Ruggiero.

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TOUR COACH with Tony Ruggiero

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