Fairway Performance Podcast

Michael Dutro has been reading force plate data since 2019. In that time he's seen maybe five golfers produce their vertical force too early. Everyone else is late. Michael is The Force Plate Guy. He coaches out of Measured Golf in Michigan, is one of around a hundred TrackMan Master certified coaches in the world, and was one of the first in the US to put force plates to work with golfers. In this episode we get into: - What ground reaction forces are, and what they show that a camera can'...

"Shaun, I think I just need a swing lesson. I'll go and see my coach." Golfers say this to Shaun constantly, so let's be clear from the start: this episode is in no way anti-swing coaching. A good swing coach is worth their weight in gold. This is about why lessons sometimes don't stick, and what's really going on when they don't. Your coach can tell you exactly what to do. The perfect move, the perfect position. But if your body physically cannot get into that position, no amount of great co...

Nobody has ever booked a coaching call with Shaun asking to improve their balance. It isn't flashy and it doesn't sound like the thing that's costing you shots. It quietly sits underneath a huge number of them anyway, and once you see it, it's hard to unsee. There's a test in this episode you can do right now: stand on one leg, get stable, close your eyes, and count how long you last before you wobble or put your foot down. Shaun screens golfers all the time who can barely manage a few second...

You give it absolutely everything. The bloke next to you makes a smooth, almost lazy swing and flies it 30 past you. That's not a strength problem. It's an efficiency problem, and it's good news, because it means you've got distance sitting there that you simply aren't using yet. Distance doesn't come from how hard you swing. It comes from how well you sequence and how much separation you create. Most amateurs aren't short on effort, they're short on efficiency, and swinging harder just makes...

"Shaun, I do my mobility stuff and it just isn't working for me." This one is for the golfer who is genuinely doing the work. The stretching, the foam rolling, the whole routine, and getting frustrated because none of it shows up in their golf. Here's the part that sounds strange at first: you can get more flexible and still not change your swing at all. The flexibility most people chase lying on the floor doesn't automatically transfer to a fast, dynamic, standing up, athletic movement like ...