After the tough decision to end my competitive career, I began teaching at Wilshire CC in Los Angeles, CA in 2008. I was an All American at the University of Arizona, which is known to be one of the best programs in the country for women’s golf. A lot of my teammates turned pro, as did I, but my days for competitive golf were done. It was just not the lifestyle that I wanted for myself.
When I began teaching, I realized just how difficult the golf swing is and how many of my students would get overwhelmed with so many swing thoughts. They watched videos, they took lessons from 8 different pros, they read 12 books, they had gadgets galore, and they were still clueless to how the golf swing actually works. I was clueless too! I was a feel player and never great at taking instruction as it seemed to hinder my swing more than help my swing. And when I began teaching kids, I came up with One, Two, Follow Through as a mantra to break down the swing in three parts: backswing, downswing, follow through. They loved it! They remembered it. They made a song to it. They felt like they knew the secret to everything. We talked about how this phrase could be applied to other sports and then how it could be applied to life. Thats when I really felt the MAGIC of a simple phrase that is applicable to everything.
And then I was bombarded with parents who wanted to do everything in their power (and wallet) to help their kids have a swing “with no bad habits like Dad!” and also help them fall in love with the game that they love so much. We would talk about keeping it simple, playing games, and making sure that constant exposure and fun experience was the key. And it is! The hot dog and lemonade at the halfway house is just as important as the putting drills and range sessions.
I set off on a journey and visited 5 book stores in Los Angeles and pretended to have a 5 year old son that loves to play sports and asked what would be a great sports book for them. The puzzled look on every salesman’s face was my cue that this space was empty. How could that be? All the life lessons that sports gave to me and there were no books with a simple message!? I was determined to create relatable role models within their age range with a fun and witty storyline to inspire kids to keep it simple and have FUN! I truly hope this book inspires kids to do what they love and follow through with all things big and small in life in order to be their very best selves.
Have questions?
Call or email anytime. I coach kids like yours, every day, and I love to help caring parents share their love of golf with their family.
maryjacobs@onetwofollowthrough.com