Round Up with Sayaka

What is this, a crossover episode?

Cheers the conclusion of and I’s 3 day golf school. First of many, because we can’t wait to do it again.

Thank you to our 8 amazing students who weathered the Naples winter. The vibes and the talent was immaculate 🤌

We set some goals in the beginning of the three days, here are some of the goals we crushed:
✅ fix an over-the-top swing that’s costing 20+ yds, bringing their desired draw back
✅ eliminating penal misses from heel strikes, improving centeredness of contact
✅ getting out of bunkers
✅understanding the player’s miss tendencies, establishing a game plan on how to fix the swing when you lose your groove
✅ gaining confidence with irons, and being able to strike the ball off tight fairways
✅ building confidence on the course and looking the part (gaining all the style points on the golf course)

Little PSA for the heat waves we’re getting.

hacks for staying cool up next, I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours~

I was able to attend the Senior PGA Championship this weekend and the course played tough — high winds and tucked pins — which means I got to see a lot of recovery shots and partial shots that my students are often curious about.

Here’s just a few that I captured.

The biggest thing to note is that no matter the size of the shot, they have turn, and they have a flow to their rhythm. They don’t mess with that rhythm just because they’re in thick rough or because the wind is howling in their faces. Those are the times where a good energy flow is pivotal to get the club (or ball) through adverse conditions.

They primarily control their trajectory through ball position and club selection, and they know exactly how far to swing before setting up to their shot. They have a plan.

No babying shots, and no fighting the shots that scare you. Have a plan and stick to it.

The last swing is a full swing into a par 3 for comparison

This week’s been marked in my calendar for months, and it’s going to stick with me for a while.

It started with finalizing my LPGA Professionals journey and ended with rekindling my competitive streak at Lost Tree GC. I’m constantly in awe of all the incredible places this sport takes me and how it introduces me to the coolest people. Relationships fortified through shared nerves, laughs, celebrations and failures are ones that last through the years.

Coaching to me is more than teaching people how to care, but also why to care. Golf is hard. But these experiences are worth all the effort it takes to get there.

thank you for being my LPGA accountability partner and for all the pep talks. You helped me gain back at least 3 extra hours of sleep.
And
, thank you for taking on 36 holes and 9 hours of the dynamic chess that this course required. 5 star caddy ⭐️
And of course,
thank you for helping me prepare both technically and emotionally for everything. It takes a team

Distance game for the Tiburón Ops36 Women’s group this week:

I wanted to focus on building their distance control skill to get rid of those big misses that lead to the 3 and 4 putts. 2 putting is key for breaking 36 from any distance.

The goal was for them to play a putting course where each hole had four cones around it, delineating a “safe” zone. If their lag putt (their first putt) doesn’t stay inside the safe zone, they have to go back to the start. It’s kind of like re-teeing without a penalty. At the end you total the score and see who had the lowest score.

You can do this in your own solo practice by giving yourself a 3-5ft radius to putt into, and give yourself a score to beat. For beginners, I’d suggest seeing each hole as a par 3 and trying to shoot -2. For ex. If you’re doing a 9 hole putting course with the same rules, par for the course would be 27, and your goal is to shoot 25.

Play with it :)

Got a head start celebrating fresh starts in Naples, FL this winter. Winter arc’s been sublime❄️

I’m so excited to be bringing in 2025 with the incredible people at Tiburón. I couldn’t have hoped for a better team to work with 🦈
My Jersey friends, I’ll see you in a few months ♥

Happy new year 🎆

Just a day in June

I. Am. SO excited to parter up with .a.henry from to uncover untapped potential in these students’ swings. A (windy but) exciting way to start the season with our Power-Pack Clinic 🤜💥

This clinic was the first of the RoundOut series, where I partner with wonderfully talented and knowledgeable people like Dr. Henry to address physical limitations in a context of a sport you already know and love 😉 Our goal is to have our golf addictions serve us by having it be the litmus test for our overall health.

It’s just the beginning of these Roundout programs and I can’t wait to see how many efficient, pain-free swings we can develop together.