Swanston Golf Academy

09/10/2026

Bad round. Search for the answer.
It works on the range. It doesn't on the course.
A few holes in, you give up on it. Then you go looking again.

Nothing in it was stupid. Every step was the sensible thing to do.
But nothing in the loop looks at what your club does to the ball.

That's the rabbit hole.
The full piece: https://www.mcnallygolf.com/blog/you-dont-have-a-swing-problem-you-have-a-guessing-problem

08/10/2026

Every bad shot comes with an explanation.

"I lifted my head." "I swung over the top." "My grip's too weak."

Every one of them is about your body. Not one of them can tell you what your club did to the ball.

That's the needle. Start there.

The full piece: https://www.mcnallygolf.com/blog/you-dont-have-a-swing-problem-you-have-a-guessing-problem

06/10/2026

What shot were you trying to hit?

Most golfers say "straight". For most people, that's the hardest of the nine.

Three heights: high, medium and low.
Three shapes: fade, straight and draw.

Pick one before you swing. Where it starts, how high, which way it curves. Then check the ball against it.

A miss against a clear plan tells you something. A miss with no plan tells you nothing.

The full piece: https://www.mcnallygolf.com/blog/you-dont-have-a-swing-problem-you-have-a-guessing-problem

05/10/2026

Most golfers don't have a swing problem. I know that probably sounds weird coming from a golf coach. I've spent nine years teaching, and before that ten years trying to get better myself. For most of that decade my swing improved but my scores didn't. I got better at swinging the club and no better

22/04/2026

🏆 Brilliant performances at the Scottish Student Golf Championships at Moray from Ellie Docherty crowned champion and Klaus finishing an impressive 7th!

Huge congratulations to both, and to coach Thomas Bell for all the work behind the scenes. 👏

Read the full story 👇

Two of our Academy students recently took on the Scottish Student Golf Championship at Moray Golf Club — a genuine test of skill, patience, and adaptability on one of Scotland's great links courses. Here's how they got on. Klaus — A Promising Start to Life on the Links Klaus, who has recently be

11/04/2026

Rory McIlroy is leading The Masters by six shots. ⛳

This morning, Augusta National belongs to him.

I've been watching the new Rory McIlroy documentary on Amazon Prime this week. There's a moment in it — something his dad Gerry says about how he introduced a young Rory to golf — that stopped me in my tracks.

Because it's exactly what we do at Swanston Golf Academy. And it's exactly why it works.

I wrote about it on the blog this morning. Worth two minutes of your time today 👇

🔗 www.swanstongolfacademy.com/blog/rory-mcilroy-secret-changing-par-learning-golf-faster

"It's the perfect way to introduce beginners to golf."
— Rory McIlroy, on Operation 36

Why does Swanston Golf Academy set par at 4 for beginners? The same reason Rory McIlroy's dad did it for Rory — and Earl Woods did it for Tiger. Discover the coaching philosophy behind Play 9 — Score 36, and why it helps beginners learn golf faster than any driving range ever could.

08/04/2026

🏌️ Rory McIlroy called it “the perfect way to introduce beginners to golf.”

We couldn’t agree more. Which is why we’re thrilled to share some big news for Swanston Golf Academy and everyone in our Play 9 community.

The full story — including why we made this change and what it means for every golfer at Swanston — is on the blog now.

👉 https://www.swanstongolfacademy.com/blog/why-we-stopped-teaching-beginners-on-the-driving-range

Seven out of ten people who try golf give up — not because the game is too hard, but because we've been teaching it wrong. Here's how Swanston Golf Academy introduced 200+ complete beginners to real golf, why we partnered with Operation 36, and what the 2026 Play 9 — Score 36 season looks like.

08/04/2026

12/02/2026

Most golf improvement isn’t technical.

It’s environmental.

That’s where real progress begins.

Read the full piece:

Learn how to improve at golf by designing the right environment. Why early success, structured challenge, and visible progress matter in Edinburgh.

09/02/2026

Most golfers think improvement is about what they practise . It isn’t. It’s about how they approach improvement in the first place . If you’ve ever wondered how to improve at golf and felt like you’re putting in effort without seeing results, this is usually why. Over time, I’ve noticed th...