In April this year i had some time over the weekend and decided to attend the two day staff school at Butch Harmon's in Las Vegas. Without a doubt one of the best golfing experiences I have ever had. Even though it was not one of the school's where Butch was present, the instructors I had were just amazing. Don Callahan who has been with Butch for a long time now and teaching golf for over 50 years and Nick Hellwig who has been with Butch for over 15 years.
The session started with a group of 4 of us hitting balls on the range as a warm up. Titleist Pro V1, Callaway or Taylormade training balls, all set up to hit. The pros will spend some time watching you hit balls and then give you an initial thoughts of where you can improve. Speaking to the rest of the group, they got their weaknesses immediately as they did with mine. Then there is a little adjustment working with them and then its into the video area.
The video area is fantastic to visit on its own. Its Butch's trophy room. In there are flags from majors, minor and other events with messages of thanks from Tiger, Phil, And Scott and i envisage now Ricky Fowler. This is the same area where all the pros are assessed by Butch and is essentially his office.
The video analysis is something else, not only can they get 5 different views, but it is also contrasted to tour pros so you can get some appreciation of what the difference is. Although alot of pros can do this with trackman footage, to be able to compare your swing to a pro that is standing in the same room is something else. The output is printed and Don will identify the key development areas are put into a folder with comments to take away. Especially good if like me you are working with a coach back home.
From there it was bunker work in a purpose built bunker,
chipping, more iron work, woods, putting (where you can also sample nearly every Scotty Cameron design available) and then out for 9 holes on the Rio Secco course with Nick. The course is awesome and although you only play nine, its good to see how you have progressed throughout the two days.
The course i feel is great value, for $2100US i got three nights accommodation at Paris in Las Vegas, transportation to and from the golf course and lunch for the two days as well as the tuition. I know i will be back and i suggest if you have a weekend or longer available, give it a thought.
http://www.butchharmon.com/
