My Story
Grant FitzGerald.
I am a performance coach specialising in my passion, golf.
Qualified as a Mind Factor master coach*, certified Easiest Swing exponent**,
I also qualified in a variety of areas of personal development skills that can be transferred from everyday life into golf and visa versa.
My journey
As a young man back in the late 70's early 80s, I was an assistant professional at Hadley Wood golf club, with a dream to become a tournament professional. I soon developed an obsession with swing mechanics, trying to play perfect golf. Constantly trying to create the perfect golf swing each and every time.
Anyone who has played the game knows that just does not happen, and as a result, I experienced total frustration, physical pain, anger and depression as I never reach my true potential.
I soon realised there had to be more to playing golf than just grinding on the practice ground hitting thousands of balls, but never knew what the answer was. I was introduced to meditation and mindfulness, both were seen in those days as very "left field and flaky" - I still vividly remember my boss phoning my parents to voice his concerns that I was "being brainwashed and joining a cult". It was also around that time, I received a copy of the ground-breaking book, The Inner Game of Golf by Timothy Gallwey.
Due to severe recurring back issues from the excessive strain and pressure resulting from the swing model of the time and the frustration of not understanding how to use my mind effectively, I was forced to retire from playing for many years.
However, Timothy Gallwey's book introduced me to the world of alternative perspectives. For several years, I went on a journey to explore and study various ethos to try and steer me on my path through life.
With the arrival of family and mortgage payments, I stumbled in to what turned out to be a successful career working for various retailers. It became very apparent to me that I could only be successful if I had strong teams around me, so people development and their progression became my key focuses. I attended a multitude of personal development courses, studied and qualified as a Life Coach so I could fully support and develop the people in my teams.
In the past fifteen years, I have started playing golf again for fun, initially qualified as an EGTF teaching coach while working at American Golf, helping several golfers with their physical game.
Like so many people, the pandemic had a huge impact on me and my family. I took the decision to return to golf. I qualified in golf phycology, studied and qualified in various different areas of personal development. I studied with Karl Morris and qualified as a Mind Factor masters coach and it was during this course that I met Phillip Sparks and was encouraged to view the YouTube of Brian Sparks swinging freely, free of tension with apparent ease and enjoyment. This was my introduction to the Easiest Swing, and Brian's philosophy. I was hooked, I got his excellent book, Positive Impact Golf, and on reading it was absolutely stunned as he was writing about his trials and tribulations with his early golf swing it was if he was describing me and my woes. Realising how much the incorporating the Easiest Swing into my own game helped me so much and allowed me to play golf pain free for the first time in decades as well as how this approach sits with the ideas and concepts of the Mind Factor, I attended a certification course and am subsequently qualified as an exponent.
It is now my intention to assist golfers achieve their potential, their aspirations and goals, while increasing their levels of enjoyment. Empowering golfers by providing the skills and strategies to improve all aspects of their golf through their mental game, while swinging with rhythm, relaxation, balance and coordination.
Have fun and enjoy playing golf
*The Mind Factor– is run by Karl Morris, coach to 6 major winners, including Louis Oosthuizen (remember the red dot at St Andrews?), Graeme McDowell and Darren Clarke, and over 100 tournament professionals.
**The Easiest Swing is the golfing approach to both swing and philosophy of Brian Sparks which is now run by his brother Phillip Sparks and nephew Peter Sparks