The PGA Show at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando is a very, very large show. If you were to walk every aisle of exhibitors you will have walked a total of approximately 12 miles. I took care of about half today. Paul and Tim have also made their way down to the show (we all took separate flights on Wednesday – a security precaution because we obviously can’t take the risk of all going down on the same doomed jetliner)….and, today, it wasn’t the exhibitors that made our day.

We were invited to attend an intimate luncheon meeting with none other than the Great White Shark, Greg Norman. How does this happen? I’ll gladly share the boring details. Paul and I are both members of the AMF group – a collection of “best of the best” in their respective role – Paul, for Head Professional, and myself, for Instructor. It’s an invitation only type membership which encompasses PGA members from around the globe. It’s a great opportunity for both of us to share our discoveries in coaching with others while at the same time learning from others and their experiences. Butch Harmon, David Leadbetter, Rideau View alumni Henry Brunton are some of our fellow AMF members. Anyways….AMF has a relationship with Greg Norman Apparel, and thus….the opportunity to hear him speak. Greg, (I’m sure he would call me Matt if he knew me) was very gracious with his time and shared some fairly personal moments you would think he may have kept to himself. For instance, he spoke of a time when his confidence was low, he was underachieving, had failed to win a tournament in two years and he was on his way to Old Marsh Golf Club in Naples, Florida for a practice session. He spoke of “his voice” (inside voice), questioning why he was even heading to the golf course in the first place – he didn’t want to be there, he didn’t know what his purpose was, he didn’t have a practice plan and he didn’t think things were going to change. He decided to pull the car over onto the shoulder, recline the seat…and stare at the clouds going by (I imagine he was driving a convertible…a clunker of course). It was there that he had a conversation with himself – a moment of clarity, an opportunity for him to lend a bit more compassion to his inside voice which was being far too critical – he needed to stop worrying about what had happened in the past and just focus on giving himself a fresh start. He said it was a chance for him to be honest with himself…he drove to the course and hit the ball better than ever before. Likely, those of you reading this have had similar times in your life (notice I said LIFE, not GOLF) where you mentally gave yourself a fresh start – and things changed. It was wonderful to hear him be so frank.

My entries will certainly not continue to be this long, but, I do want to share another experience from the day. About 16 of us ended up going out for dinner tonight. I was seated (along with Tim) beside Peter Sanders, the founder of Shot by Shot (www.shotbyshot.com) and Dr. Paul Schempp, founder of the firm Performance Matters (www.performancemattersinc.com). We had great stories to share and in those stories were opportunities to learn from each other, and with that opportunities to grow professionally. It’s highly likely, that, one of us will share something we learned with one of our students this summer…and it will have a significant impact on their game. That’s ultimately why we love being in the company of these wonderful people…we want to get better.

Tomorrow…Taking a look at Travis Mathew (men’s line) and Birdy and Grace (women’s line)…anyone heard of either?