Road to the World Am, Episode 6: Jason Miller

This year, the PlayGolfMyrtleBeach.com World Amateur is following three golfers as they pair up with top golf instructors from across the country to improve their game leading up to the event. Jason Miller, a long-time gross division participant, is training with top instructor Michael Breed to improve his golf game. Watch as we follow Jason through his process of preparing for the Myrtle Beach World Amateur!

Jason Miller:
No, we didn’t. We had such a long session yesterday working on my takeaway and my position on my right arm when we were up on the range. Hit a ton of balls. I even stayed like an hour and a half after just rehearsing that and figuring out what that feels like with different clubs and ended with some pretty solid balls, where it felt really good. It wasn’t feeling awkward anymore, getting a lot of rehearsal in, and he was there, “Hey good one. Good try. Your dip in, folding the arms, setting the wrist a little too early,” stuff like that.

He connected the … The one thing that I found was … It was funny. I just sort of laughed when it happened. I’ve known that whenever I make a bad shot I tend to dip my right shoulder, and he showed me that really what I’m doing is just bending my right arm and that causes me to dip my right shoulder because I have to get inside the ball. With my takeaway, keeping my right arm straight longer has sort of eliminated that and gotten me some movement to my swing.

The way that he looks at someone’s golf swing … Obviously me, but the other people that I hear them talking to … and the way even after two strokes with a putter, he diagnosed my number one issue and was able to fix it and talk through me through visually and mentally: what do I need to be seeing in order to fix this issue.

Then on the full swing, feelings that I want to have, but good and bad, getting in front of the mirror saying, “Hey, this is an improper setting of the wrist. This is what we want to see. This is what it looks like, and then this is what it feels like now. Let’s just bang some balls, and you’ll be able to tell. You’ll be able to feel the good ones and hopefully when the bad one comes, you’re going to be able to identify.”

He’ll give you a cue, he’ll give you a verbal cue that, “Hey, that was a good one,” or, “That was a bad one.” Then even some of the ones that I thought were really good at, he was like, “That was a little thin. It’s a good miss. It’s just going to be a little straight ball, but it’s not going to descend as steeply into the green.” There was a lot of that where it’s like that was okay, and he thought it was better than it was. Then there were some that he thought it was not as good. The way he sees stuff, it’s completely different to what I …

Michael Breed:
He’s an incredibly talented guy. He’s working on his skill, and he’s developing the skill. It’s getting better and better and better, but the amount of time that it takes him to dial that feel in is a little bit longer now than it will be in the future. As he starts to get into that in-between, where he starts developing confidence and he starts developing trust, he still needs to have that time.

If he rushes through that, he’ll start to lose the … It’s going to take a while to develop the skill. If he goes out there and he doesn’t swing with the tempo that he needs to have to get the club in the right spot, the ball’s not going to cooperate. What I just shared with Jason is, “Hey, calm your time, calm your mind. Take your time.” As he’s engaging right now, this feel, club moves slower, body moves more, and he hits really consistent shots.

Jason Miller:
See you at the World AM next week!