Jim Waldron and staff are dedicated to helping their students achieve significant, ongoing and permanent improvement. We are here to guide you in your quest for golfing excellence. Positive results - in scoring, shotmaking and enjoyment of the game - are what really matter. When we started Balance Point Golf Schools back in 1995, our goal was to become the best golf school on the planet. "Best" meaning the most effective in helping our students really breakthrough to playing the golf of their dreams. Within just a few short years, we can honestly tell you that we have achieved that goal.

The Balance Point approach is the integration of the science of golf swing and short game technique with the art of playing the game of golf. This balanced blending of both physical and mental training is the fastest way to learn new golf skills and is the gateway to playing golf in the Zone of peak performance. Imagine what your game would be like if you could step up to the first tee with 100% confidence in your technically sound golf swing and 100% belief in your ability to truly play the game well. Our Integrative Golf Mastery holistic approach allows the student to develop correct technique, proper mental focus and emotional self control.

WHO WILL BENEFIT FROM BALANCE POINT GOLF TRAINING?

• The struggling mid to high handicap weekend golfer who suffers from poor full swing and short game technique.
• Golfers of all skill levels who lack confidence and who experience doubt, anxiety, frustration, discouragement and fear on the golf course.
• The beginner golfer who wisely chooses to start out right in golf and avoid developing bad habits.
• Low to mid-handicap amateurs who can't seem to take their practice range swing to the golf course.
• Every golfer who struggles with inconsistency in shotmaking and scoring.
• The low handicap amateur and tour professional looking for the competitive edge.
• The serious student of the mechanics of the swing who is searching for the final answer to the 500 year old mystery of the golf swing.
• Every golfer who has experienced the awesome potential of the mental game and is searching for a way to play golf in the Zone.

KEY PRINCIPLES OF THE BALANCE POINT APPROACH

• Golf is really six games rolled into one. By intensely focusing your improvement plan - both time and energy - primarily on just one of these key areas, you maximize your effectiveness. Long Game (full swing fundamentals), Short Game (chipping, pitching, wedges, bunker shots), Putting Game, Mental Game, Management Game, and Fitness Game. We help our students improve their games - on every level. Balance Point is golf's first and only truly holistic and comprehensive game improvement program.

• We created our holistic mind/body connection golf learning model as an alternative to the unworkable, frustrating and confusing traditional instruction model. That model is rooted in pre-scientific era beliefs about the body and swing motion. Balance Point is a 21st century scientific model that works. Why? Because it's based on proven scientific facts - not perception, opinion, golf tradition, dogma or belief.

• Proven fundamentals are the key to mastery of golf skills - just like every other sport. Not tips, secrets, magic moves, bandaids and quick-fixes.

• The Balance Point Integrative Golf Mastery Model is a revolutionary new paradigm that goes far beyond the limitations of the two golf learning models: the Outer and Inner Game models. The Outer Game or First Wave model utilizes an extremely mechanistic and conscious mind approach to game improvement. The traditional golf instruction information that you are exposed to in lessons and via the golf media is based on the Outer Game model. This mechanistic model's main flaw (one of many) is the mistaken belief that you can consciously control your body and club motion by effort and thinking when swinging at normal speeds. Science clearly proves this idea to be false. It's a lot like believing the earth to be flat because it "looks flat" and "everybody knows" it to be flat. It is an unquestioned "common sense" assumption that lies at the heart of the traditional golf instruction model but it is totally incorrect and one of the primary reasons why so many golfers fail to improve.

  One of the reasons for the dramatic performance breakthroughs on the PGA Tour during the past few years has been the rejection of that mechanistic model by the top players in favor of a target-oriented, trusting, free motion. They do all their mechanical practice away from the golf course, usually in slow motion or by using a drill, with a mirror or video and an experienced teacher to guide them. The Inner Game or Second Wave model uses a New Age approach which is anti-science and very much rooted in a mystical approach to golf. The chief limitation of this model is the belief that the golf swing is "natural" or "innate". This is total nonsense.

  There is no spot on the human genome labeled "golf swing". The golf swing is a learned skill. You acquire information from your environment - a teacher, video or book - then internalize that information to the subconscious mind level of automatic habit. Only then does it become "natural" - a habit that you can trust to execute without conscious thought. Our cutting-edge Third Wave model combines the best of the two earlier models but transcends both with a totally new and effective approach to game improvement.

• There are always two main tasks to consider. The what to learn, the information about the mechanical laws of the golf swing, for example - and the how to learn it. If you don't know how, or your teacher doesn't show you how, to internalize that information to the level of long term movement memory - permanent ownership of that skill - you are wasting your time trying to learn the swing.

• Good golf is all about the Target! You need to always clearly choose a precise Target for every golf shot that you play. When you keep that Target Intention in your mind's eye - and couple that with sound physical and mental skills, you play your best. The skills are divided into two separate but related categories because a golf shot starts in your mind, moves to your body's execution, and then ends at the target - when you have good physical and mental skills! Target Intention alone is not enough. You need skills. Good golf is both an art and a science. The art of shotmaking - your mental focus, emotional state control, time sense, pre-shot routine, course management, playing skills that require adapting elements like grip pressure, setup, ball position, tempo, length of swing, etc to fit unusual lies, wind, trouble shots and to curve the golf ball and alter trajectory and spin. The science of ballstriking - swing theory, mechanics, club control, balance, tempo, rhythm, educated hands, setup, posture, etc.

• We developed our golf swing model to be as simple in terms of mechanics as possible. We call it a Zero Compensation swing model. That means Mechanical fundamentals that utilize simple principles of Geometry and Physics and it also means letting go of conscious mind hand/eye manipulation (steering) of the clubhead into the ball. That is the template for all our students, but we fine-tune the specific instruction to fit each student's flexiblity, strength, current swing skill and athletic ability. So in the real world, you probably will not match the model point by point - that kind of moving toward perfection is only possible with very commited tour professionals - most of whom already come pretty close to matching our model in the first place! The purpose of our swing model is to function exactly like a map or blueprint. It gives the student clarity and a series of benchmarks for gauging their progress. A swing that features very few  moving parts is easier to learn, and it is also much easier to stay balanced and in good timing.

• Our swing model Mechanical elements include: a balanced, braced setup with the proper body angles and correct distance to the ball, a medium strong left hand grip, light to medium grip pressure, a very stable lower body for rock-solid Balance, a full shoulder/torso Pivot in both directions as the primary source of power, passive arms working as a team or Triangle in harmony with the Pivot, a full wrist cock that is created no later than the half way point in the backswing and starts to release at a point no higher than waist high in the downswing, a fairly wide but short to medium in height arm swing on the backswing, a consistent spine angle at least until Followthrough position is reached,  a tiny lateral weight transfer to the right leg/hip on the backswing and a moderate amount of lateral transfer to the left leg/hip on the forward swing, super-connected upper arms just before and during Impact, and a two stage Release into Impact - an active body Pivot first, followed a micro-second later by a passive wrist cock angles and slight forearm rotation release. Our swing model is centered strongly on the notion that an effective and repeating swing requires a Synchronized Motion of Arms and Body - both moving independently but in harmony.
• We reject the currently popular and trendy notion that there are so-called One Plane versus Two Plane golf swings. We believe that is a false dichotomy that is based on an incorrect understanding of both the geometric concept of a plane and the very clear empirical evidence that 95% of PGA Tour pros exhibit an almost perfect hybrid of the so-called One and Two Plane swing components. The Balance Point Golf Swing model features a left arm plane that is directly matching the Turned Right Shoulder Plane or a line drawn from the tip of the right shoulder down to the ball/target line when the golfer is in the Top of Backswing position. Taller players can be a little bit higher than this line (but no more than four inches higher!). We also reject the other trendy swing model, "Stack and Tilt". This swing theory is really just an exageration drill for some tour pros who have too much right tilt of the spine and too much lateral weight shift on the backswing. Most high handicap golfers suffer from exactly the opposite problem - not enough loading of the torso weight into the right hip/leg on the backswing (which is facilitated by a tiny lateral weight transfer during Takeaway) and not enough right spine tilt. A "cure" for one particular swing flaw should never be the basis for a golf swing model.

• Your golfing brain uses two different neuromuscular control systems when executing a golf swing. A basic swing motor program - "how to do it mechanically" - that you acquire through learning and training in the fundamentals and a sensory feedback loop system that allows your mind to sense your body parts, timing, clubhead and hand speed and location. That feel sense awareness (not thinking!) then tells your body how to adjust to help keep the whole swing motion on track. Traditional golf instruction is usually geared toward only one of those two systems. At Balance Point, we believe that you need to train and use both systems in order to be truly effective at golf.

• Golf is a game of control. Control is the heart of the game. There is a hard-wired sequence to developing control that must be followed to achieve success. Mind control = body control = club control = impact control = ball flight control = target control = score control. When you focus your efforts on the wrong part of the sequence, you are struggling with an effect of a prior cause and you will fail at every attempt to acquire control over that area. Example: you are slicing the ball and a book or teacher tells you it's because your clubface is open at impact. True - but can you control the clubface angle with anywhere near the precision required when it is moving at 100 mph outside your field of vision? Of course not. If you think you can you are kidding yourself. Your club only moves the way it does because your body mechanics make it move that way. Your body creates dynamic forces that move the club. In order to control your club, you must learn to control your body first. Your conscious mind's efforts to control the clubface by thinking are sheer folly.

• Understanding is the all important first step. If you don't really "get it", if your "light bulb" doesn't come on, you will never believe in it, commit to it, practice it and learn it. Our golf schools are designed specifically to help you experience many "light bulbs" - real insight. We call our method for achieving these kinds of learning breakthroughs "Deep Insight".

• There are twenty-eight optical and feel-based illusions in the golf swing that feed false information to your brain, which then sends signals to the wrong muscles and joints, which creates improper mechanics, e.g. body motion that violates the laws of the golf swing. Until you understand and eliminate the illusions, you will never understand and be able to execute a good golf swing. The Arm Swing Illusion - our breakthrough discovery of golf's Missing Link - especially will lead you to make incorrect mechanics with your upper arms, elbows, forearms and wrists.

• Balance has far more influence on the outcome of your golf shot than any other factor. You can have Tiger's swing mechanics, but if your balance is way off, you will hit a terrible golf shot! We teach our students how to swing in rock solid balance. You are born with a very powerful natural balancing mechanism designed to keep you from hurting yourself by falling down - the Righting Instinct. When you lose your Balance in the golf swing - even a little bit - your Righting Instinct takes over control of both your brain and your body, your golf swing program shuts down, and the Righting Instinct will do whatever it takes to keep you from falling over. That usually means using your arms, legs and weight shifting ability (both left and right and toe to heel in your feet) as counter-weights to keep you from falling down. And that means very poor golf swing mechanics and timing and a bad golf shot!

• We stress three major categories of skill acquisition in our full swing training: Mechanics, Balance and Coordination. Early on in Balance Point swing training - after the student has mastered Baseline Balance and Coordination skills - (meaning reasonably steady balance while swinging and a tempo that is neither too slow or too fast for their own good), - we teach Mechanics, then Balance and finally Coordination. That is the ideal learning sequence.

• We teach a general understanding of the whole swing motion as the very first step in training. We call this the Swing Map or Concept. You need to know three things right away: the basic direction that the major body parts move, e.g. The arms move up and down while the torso rotates, and you need to know that the club shaft must move on the proper plane angle from waist high to waist high. Understanding simple swing plane and swing shape is crucial to a successful learning outcome.The third principle is Power - what body parts create it (and which don't) and how power/force is applied during the forward swing. We teach the Impact principle of a lagging clubhead/forward shaft lean for standard golf shots and the Dynamic Forces and Basic Mechanical Fundamentals that create that condition through Impact. We teach a body powered Release, never an arm powered Release. The arms (upper arms) should be completely passive during the forward swing - doing nothing in terms of muscular effort, ie no "pulling" or "pushing" with either arm.

• We do not accept the traditional instruction model's two opposing camps: the body controls the arms vs. the arms control the body. Both viewpoints are incorrect and are based on unquestioned acceptance of dogma, not scientific evidence. These are two separate parts of the swing motion that move independently but in harmony.

• We teach our students how to stay "seamlessly awake" during the swing. That means having a single, clear mental focal point during the swing or stroke. That focal point for your concentration is usually - but not necessarily - the target. Most golfers "blackout" or "switch" focal points during their swing. Blackout creates a "flinch", which disrupts your body and club motion. To play your best, your mind needs to be fully present and awake during the one and one-half second duration of your golf swing - but not interfering in any way with that swing. An awake, alert but passive mind is essential to effective learning, practice and play. We also teach a very powerful background emotional state we call Positive Indifference. You play your best golf in a "care-free" state of mind, where your emotional side is non-attached to either failure or success. When you "care" too much, you flinch and a bad shot result is a certainty.

• We stress learning Mechanics first, then Feel. You need to clearly understand the "look" of the proper form first, primarily through mirror practice in slow motion. Then you close your eyes, repeat the motion, and feel intensely exactly how the muscles and joints are moving. This creates long term movement memory. Relying on Feel alone to learn the proper Mechanics is just like wandering in the dark. You need a Map! Most self taught golfers and even most golf instruction systems attempt to use Feel or Perception as the basis for learning technique. The record shows that golf is the worst taught/worst learned game in all of sports precisely because of this reliance on conscious mind feel and perception. Feel is vitally important but it must occur as the second step in the learning process, never the first step!

• We separate learning from performance. You should never think about or try to control your body mechanics or club motion during the swing, when playing golf. Thinking mechanics during the swing is a mental crutch that never works and is really just a way of masking your fear about the outcome of the shot and your uncertainty about your swing. The belief that you can send conscious mental commands to your body and that your body will listen to and carry out those commands is superstitious nonsense. The body only obeys subconscious mind mental commands when moving at normal swing speeds.

  It NEVER obeys or listens to conscious mind mental commands at normal speeds. Understanding this key principle is the number one reason why our students are so successful in making swing changes and learning swing fundamentals. Example: Thinking about maintaining your spine angle and actually doing so are not the same. You can come up out of the angle on every swing and not even know it because you are paying attention to a voice in your head saying "stay in your spine angle", NOT TO THE PHYSICAL REALITY OF YOUR SPINE ANGLE.

• The stationary ball sitting at your feet is not the target. That spot on the ground out there 250 yards away is your target and that spot is what your conscious mind should be thinking about when you swing. This means an important skill to learn is how to totally trust your golf swing. Take your mind off of the ball and impact and put it on your target, just like you do in every other sport.

• Teaching the full swing, our training models are derived from two sources: what the scientific research of the past 40 years has proven to be true, the laws of the swing; and what the best ballstrikers in the world actually do during their swings, which can be objectively demonstrated through video and stop action photos. Not what they say they do or think that they do - which are hardly ever the same as what they are doing. This is fact-based training, never perception-based.

• We use four distinct swing models, ideally learned in sequence. Simple Swing, Golfer, Player and Professional models. The first three models are based on the Professional model - how tour players do it - with some modifications to fit the student's skill level, athletic ability, etc.

• All of our full swing instruction is adaptable to the three main body types. You need to learn a golf swing that your body's limits of flexibility will allow you to actually attain.
• Our instruction also covers several non-traditional and often overlooked key areas of golf skills improvement: vision - both external focal point and peripheral vision skills that greatly inflluence the body mechanics and internal shot shape and target picture visualization skills, physical fitness for golf - especially flexibility, brain/body coordination and balancing exercises from the Asian martial arts tradition, Core Posture body braces derived from Pilates, Alexander Technique and Yoga, time sense awareness exercises that allow the golfer to mentally "stay with" the body motion during the swing (your subjective sense of time will always speed up on a bad swing and slow down on a good swing), and body feel sense awareness exercises.

• There are three main purposes that drive people to play golf with passion. Ideally, the golfer should learn how to balance these three different intentions. Performance - score improvement and shotmaking ability. Learning - ongoing acquisition of new skills. Enjoyment - fun, satisfaction and meaning derived from both Performance and Learning.

• We teach our students how to separate their self-esteem as a person from their performance on the golf course. This allows real learning, skill acquisition and improved performance to occur very rapidly. When you hit a bad golf shot, YOU are not "bad"! It's just a golf shot and is not a reflection of your worth as a human being. It may be a reflection of your skill as a golfer but that just means that you haven't yet devoted the time and energy required to master that particular golf skill. No blame.

• Many golfers are playing a game we like to call "flog" - golf spelled backwards. The masochistic implications of the word are intentional. Floggers punish themselves needlessly. They are using the wrong part of the brain - the conscious thinking mind - to attempt to play a complex, difficult yet wonderful game that requires far more brain power and athleticism to play well than the conscious mind is capable of utilizing. Floggers play conscious mind golf - using effort, will power and thinking and experience negative emotions like frustration, confusion, anger, discouragement and hope for the next lucky shot to get them through the round and coming back for more abuse the next time. They remember the one out of twenty good shots, which are really mostly luck, and conveniently forget the nineteen out of twenty bad shots.

  Flog is actually a form of addictive behavior with striking parallels to gambling addiction. The addiction to the lucky good shots fuels the self-delusion that the flogger can play the game well and that a good swing is already in place inside them. "I did it once, why can't I do it all the time?" So he makes another trip to the practice range to beat balls for an hour, searching endlessly for the "secret" to a good golf swing. Floggers are always complaining about the miserable state of their games but never take any real positive steps toward improvement. Golf is meant to be a positive experience. If you are not experiencing positive emotions on a fairly regular basis when playing golf like satisfaction, joy, clarity, confidence, courage, commitment and trust, there is a strong likelihood that you are playing flog, not golf. We help our students make the shift from the misery of flog to the true joys of playing golf!

  Floggers stop improving their scores after a few years of playing - they "hit the wall" beyond which self directed trial and error learning, i.e. "beating balls on the range" stops working. We counsel our students who are still enmeshed in playing flog but who are looking for a way out of their dilemma to come to grips with the reality of their behavior and the true state of their games. This is the first step toward significant, ongoing and permanent improvement. In a nutshell, this means that floggers must stop relying on Lady Luck to create their next good golf shot and learn how to do it themselves. This is true consistency - hitting your target 80% of the time or more often. And that means only one thing - acquiring real skill. How? Through high quality instruction and lots of intelligent, effective practice. Practicing as little as 15 minutes a day at home doing drills and slow motion body motion training in a mirror will lead to significant improvement.

• Learning golf can be compared to learning to play the piano, skiing, basketball, martial arts, gymnastics, juggling, doing magic tricks, etc. It is a process of acquiring skill, over time. This takes a good teacher and lots of quality practice on the part of the student. There are no shortcuts. You cannot buy a golf game. It takes "sweat equity" to really improve. Tiger Woods said in a recent interview, "You get out of golf what you put into it. If you bust your butt and work hard, you will improve." In spite of what our natural human desire for ease, comfort and instant gratification would lead us to believe, THERE IS NO OTHER WAY! (We recommend that you ignore the equipment industry hype and some golf instruction methods promising instant improvement. They are not being honest).

  This means patience, commitment and especially perseverance are required. It's worth it! When you "graduate" from a cycle of Balance Point Golf training, after a few weeks or months of practice, you are a better human being because of it, not just a better golfer. Why? Because you develop important character traits like patience, commitment and mental focus. You will also be more aware than ever before how your mind functions and how to feel your body intensely. Our students often report to us that these benefits, while not at all the original reason for starting a game improvement program, are at least as important to them as the actual reduction in scores, tournament victories and improved shotmaking.

No other golf school in the world provides the level of personal attention to students that we do here at Balance Point. It starts with a free 15-30 minute game evaluation consultation for every prospective new student who calls our toll free office number. This evaluation includes a Golfer Personality Profile, a listing of your game's strengths and weaknesses, dominant learning style and a recommendation from us about which of 11 possible areas of game improvement - with a Balance Point golf school to match - would be the best place for you to start.

It continues during your golf school with an average student teacher ratio of just 3:1, an average school size of just 6-10 students (compared to 20 or more at other golf schools), swing mechanics instruction matched to your body type, and one-on-one time with your coaches for 30 minutes at the end of every school day. This kind of unrivalved personal attention to your unique learning needs continues after graduation with free 15 minute phone lessons, email support, video by mail and Internet lessons, and in-person private lessons.You deserve the best and at Balance Point Golf Schools we are dedicated to providing our students the best golf instruction on the planet.

Results...that's really the bottom line in golf isn't it? The long drive that splits the fairway, the 6 iron approach shot that covers the pin, the 15 foot downhill breaking putt that curls in for birdie...you make the shots, you shoot a low score. Yet why is it that in golf you so often fail to achieve the kind of results you know you are capable of producing?

If you're reading this letter you are very likely a passionate golfer, someone who loves the game and it's many challenges, a player with a burning desire to improve, to be the best that you can be. You may sense that there is another kind of golf game within your reach, far removed from your usual level of play...a game where you leave behind all of the doubt, frustration, tips, the "do this, don't do that" and the higher scores and discouragement that always seem to go along with that approach.

PLAYING THE GOLF OF YOUR DREAMS

A truly enjoyable game where lower scores, consistent shotmaking and confidence are the norm, not the exception. It's no fantasy...it really is possible to achieve your goals of playing better golf. If you're like most of our new students, you probably heard about Balance Point Golf Training from a friend or acquaintance who participated in one of our golf schools or private lesson programs. You no doubt heard their story of remarkable achievement and real improvement in their game and wondered, "Will it work for me too?" The answer to your question is an unqualified "YES!"

Why am I so certain? It really all boils down to just one simple thing - this system works. Balance Point students - of all ability levels, from beginners to professionals - have experienced significant, often dramatic improvement in their golf shots and scores. Our proven track record of helping our students achieve permanent game improvement results is the best in the industry. Longer tee shots, accurate irons, consistent shotmaking enabled these Balance Point graduates to finally realize their dream of lower scores and more enjoyable golf. Now they walk onto the first tee with real confidence.

You can too. For much less than the cost of a new set of golf clubs you can develop a swing, a short game, or a mental game that will give you a lifetime of golfing enjoyment. This is an opportunity to participate in a learning experience that goes far beyond what is offered at any golf school anywhere for any price. Imagine what golf would be like if you were a truly skillful player, no matter what type of club you had in your hand...this kind of skill is the real source of satisfaction in golf.

A PROVEN RECORD OF SUCCESS

We received GOLF Magazine's Top 25 Golf School in the nation award for 2001-2002 and again in 2003-2004, and we were a nominee for this award in 1999-2000 and 2005-2006. Mr. Waldron was also honored with GOLF'S Top Regional Teacher award (Northwest) from 2001-2008 and was a nominee for their Top 100 Teacher award in 1999, 2001, 2003 and 2005. GOLF states "...this award is based on survey results from thousands of golf school graduates nationwide and is based on the quality of instruction...alumni of the schools told us that their experiences were overwhelmingly positive in helping them to play better golf." What was the key ingredient that finally made the difference in their performance? It's no mystery. We simply showed these golfers how to unlock their innate ability to learn: how to swing, chip and putt with real skill, how to maintain control of their thoughts and emotions, and how to practice. Our award-winning programs are so effective that over 98% of our graduates recommend Balance Point Golf Schools to family members, playing partners and friends. Our golf school graduates are so pleased with the positive results they have achieved, the majority return each year for more advanced instruction so that they can continue to improve their games.

Sound too good to be true? Here's a few examples. PGA pro Doug Hixson won the 1996 Northwest Open, his first major professional victory, just one week after his first Balance Point lesson. He credits his win to several powerful techniques he learned during that lesson. Kurt Schneider 's handicap dropped from a 24 to a 12 within 9 months of his Great Shot! school. His distances improved by two clubs on his irons and 30 more yards off the tee. Horst Mager, a beginner golfer, averaged 115 for 18 holes. One year after graduating from our Great Shot! swing school he was shooting in the eighties.

Matt Perry shot a career low round of 34, breaking 40 for the first time ever, on his home 9 hole course just three weeks after graduating from Great Shot! Kim Qually, a low handicap player, attended Breakthrough, my seminar on mental peak performance training, liked what she heard, and decided to test the effectiveness of these principles. She went straight from the seminar and played the front nine of a very tough Portland golf course for the very first time. She shot a record 31, 5 under par, from the men's tees, her career low round. Dennis Talavera improved his stroke average by 12 shots just six weeks after graduating from our Great Shot! swing school. Russ Hamm shot a personal best 38 for nine holes one week after Great Shot! and he never hit anything longer than a 6 iron in that remarkable round! His previous best 9 hole score was 45.

Similar results achieved by other Balance Point graduates can be found in the testimonials enclosed. Most of these people are average golfers, probably just like you, with no special athletic ability or talent for the game. They were discouraged, lacked confidence and some had even considered quitting a game they truly love. Through participation in a Balance Point Golf School or private lesson program these golfers found a way to renew their enthusiasm for golf, to "fall in love" with the improvement process, to make golf fun again.

IS WINNING AT GOLF IMPORTANT TO YOU?

Our student's competitive record speaks for itself - 155 tournament victories in the last fourteen years. Amateur Jim Weitzel won his club championship, his first tournament victory, one week after completing his Great Shot! golf school. He has since won a second title. The PSU golf team won the 1998 Big Sky conference title and repeated in 2004 after intensive coaching in Balance Point methods. PGA pro Michael Laudien won the 1998 PGA Club Professional Match Play Championship using principles learned in Balance Point private lessons on the mental game. PGA pro Tommy Hines qualified for his first ever PGA Tour event, the 2000 Sony Open, using our mental game techniques. If you're a good player who wants to be great, if you want to graduate from mechanics to scoring, our cutting-edge peak performance strategies will give you the tools you need to realize your goals.

Still not convinced this golf improvement system will work for you? Maybe you've tried traditional golf lessons where the instructor told you to remember a checklist of several "things to do" with your body and club during the very brief second and a half duration of your swing... and you ended up confused, tense and "paralyzed" from information overload?...or that his particular swing technique was "the only correct way to swing" - yet you just couldn't seem to get it? Perhaps you've attempted to learn the swing on your own through books, videos and golf magazines only to find that many of the top teachers recommend completely different and contradictory things? Perhaps you're a low handicapper with sound mechanics but your lack of expertise in the mental side of golf is keeping you from reaching your true potential as a player.

BEYOND TRADITIONAL INSTRUCTION

It's not surprising that so many golfers today are confused and cynical about golf instruction. Then you take that confusion about mechanics with you to the golf course and find yourself playing "golf swing" instead of playing golf. And your steadily climbing scores are the inevitable result. The good news is - you are not the problem! The problem is the traditional instruction model. A model stuck in a 19th century viewpoint about the golf swing, an unscientific method that simply does not work for the vast majority of golfers. Swing tips, the "natural swing", faddish "new magic moves", quick fix lessons, mandatory mechanical "positions", training aid gimmicks - even "positive thinking" have all been tried before. USGA scoring statistics prove that the average golfer simply has not improved after over 50 years of using these methods. There is a better way...a 21st century model that gets results. A model that has been rigorously researched, tested and proven...The Balance Point model. What makes us different from the usual golf school? At most golf schools the actual instruction part usually ends after the morning session and you end up playing golf in the afternoon, often with little or no on-course supervision. These schools typically try to cram a whole lot of material on every aspect of the game into these very short time periods for instruction. This is clearly not an effective approach.

A DIFFERENT KIND OF GOLF SCHOOL

At Balance Point Golf Schools, we take the opposite approach. Science has proven that golfers learn new skills most effectively when the school is focused intensively in just one key area: Full Swing, Short Game or Mental Game. Our golf schools are six to eight hours of powerful accelerated learning where you have plenty of time to experience real changes in your game - without being overwhelmed with a lot of complicated mechanics or swing theory. Our unique and effective drills make learning fun and easy. Because you have that extra time and attention, you will really "get it" by the end of the day. Powerful learning breakthroughs are the norm at our schools.

Something else we do differently at our schools: we won't have you beating balls for hours on end until you're just too tired to continue. You will shift from our outdoor classroom, where you learn important new concepts and drills, to the practice range where you will incorporate these concepts into your swing and golf shots.

Although this is an intensive full day of learning, it's a lot of fun and we take frequent breaks for rest and refreshment throughout the day. Most of our students, even our many senior players, choose to stay on after the session is over to practice their drills and golf shots on the range. If you're serious about improving your game, you will love this golf school!

What else makes Balance Point stand out from "the usual golf school"? The traditional instruction model focuses exclusively on the "external form" or swing mechanics. You are supposed to put this or that body part in a particular position at just the right microsecond during the swing. Knowing what your body should be doing in that microsecond and being able to actually do it out on the golf course are two very different things. And knowing exactly how to do it is the critical missing link in golf instruction.

This is where the mind and body interface and where real learning happens. And this is precisely why Balance Point Golf Training is revolutionizing the golf instruction world. Mechanics are vitally important but if you don't have an effective way to make them a dominant habit then they are worse than useless. When you're standing on the 18th tee, driver in hand, OB left and water right, and the club championship on the line, the last thing you want to be thinking about is where your right elbow should be pointing at impact!

PERSONALIZED INSTRUCTION

At Balance Point Golf Schools, I personally lead the instruction at each and every school. I'm on the practice range all day working "hands on" with my students. You won't be learning about my system second hand from a staff assistant. Our low student/teacher ratio and small group format guarantees that you will receive the personal attention you need and deserve. Unlike many "Method" golf schools that use a single rigid model for everybody, our swing learning program is designed with the individual needs of real golfers in mind, from the high handicap amateur to the scratch professional.

We employ four different scientifically designed swing models that we match to our students' different levels of golfing skill and athletic ability. In other words, we won't ask you to try and make a swing move that you aren't truly capable of performing. At Balance Point, we fit the program to you, not you to the program. Your personality, body type, improvement goals - all are important influences that must be taken into account in order to insure a positive learning outcome.

LEARNING THAT STICKS!

One of our essential principles is that human beings are perfect learners. Anyone of average athletic ability can learn how to hit a golf ball reasonably long and straight. You begin by eliminating what doesn't work - all of the traditional instruction model "stuff" that you've tried in the past and that failed to improve your game. At our Great Shot! golf school we will show you what does work. You will learn the true source of power, accuracy, and consistency in the golf swing - the few essential (though rarely taught) fundamentals that are present in every great player's swing. When these basics are in place, you will hit the ball like you've always dreamed you could, even with an old hickory shafted mashie. When they are not in place, all the high tech computer-designed golf clubs in the world won't help your game. As Lee Trevino says, "It's the craftsman, not his tools." You can't buy a golf game - but you can learn a set of effective golfing skills that will last a lifetime.

THE KEYS TO GOLFING EXCELLENCE

Mastering these fundamentals will allow you to swing the golf club your way, yet with real freedom, simplicity, and effortless power. The golf swing, believe it or not, is not a "mystery". At Balance Point, we know exactly what the body and club must do during the swing motion to produce great golf shots. This is why Iron Byron, the golf robot, has never hit a bad golf shot. He was engineered to swing the club in harmony with those universal fundamentals. Any golfer can learn to do the same.

In Great Shot! you will learn: Exactly what you should be doing with your body, mind, and club to produce an effective golf swing. Why you are doing it in the first place so your understanding will be complete and so you won't "unlearn" it later on. Specifically how to do it, and most importantly, how to make this new swing your dominant habit. You will then experience - perhaps for the very first time - that wonderfully pure sensation of striking a golf ball solid and dead on to your target!

Our golf schools are not just about learning golf swing, however. In our acclaimed Breakthrough, Rip It to the Target! and Art of Scoring programs you will learn how to enter the Zone of peak performance. You will also learn simple and effective strategies for creating a high level of shotmaking consistency, over-coming fear, dealing with pressure, and powerful concentration techniques to help keep you calm, focused, and in control. If you are a good player with sound ballstriking fundamentals but can't seem to take your best swing from the practice tee to the course - you need this program! Learn how to master golf's mental game and really breakthrough to a higher level of performance.

THE SCORING ADVANTAGE

If poor putting and chipping is costing you strokes, consider enrolling in our one to three day Short Game schools. This is one of the fastest and easiest ways to lower your golf score. We have developed a systems approach to the short game that is easy to understand, learn, and execute. This is an innovative and highly effective short game training system covering primarily putting, chipping, pitching and bunker shot technique.

Intelligent, effective practice is one of the vital keys to success in golf. We'll show you proven practice routines that will deliver the results you expect from your valuable investment in practice time and we'll send you home with a Personal Practice Program designed especially to fit your needs and goals. This creates significant game improvement in as little as 20 minutes a day, using special drills at home or in the office. That and one trip per week to the practice range is all it takes to build an effective swing or short game.

Your golf game can become a source of tremendous personal satisfaction and an opportunity for a lifetime of learning and play. If this is the kind of game you want, if this is the kind of golfer you want to be - give me a call at 1-800-898-4563 to enroll in the next school or private lesson program. Enrollment opportunities are limited due to our small class size, so call today and take that first step toward playing the golf of your dreams.

Sincerely,

Jim Waldron
Director of Instruction

P.S. Don't just take our word for it - ask our students! Call our office and we'll send you a list of our golf school graduates who will be happy to speak with you about the positive results they have achieved. Or check out the testimonial page of our website, www.balancepointgolf.com to read scores of positive reports from our students.