Cary Schoen
The first time I ever went to a golf course I was 10 years old. I went with my dad and my older brother with high hopes of talking my dad into driving the golf cart while they played golf. After several holes into the round and an assigned spot in the passenger seat, my dad had me take one of my brother’s clubs and try to hit a golf shot. I nailed it and I was hooked. Immediately.
About a week into exploring what this golf was all about, I decided that this was what I wanted to spend as much of my time doing as I possibly could. Then, I watched Jack Nicklaus win the 1986 Masters Tournament on television. It was simply the coolest thing I ever saw. I found out that you could actually earn a living playing golf. Perfect. My career decision was made that week.
My parents would drop me off at the local public course at 7:00 a.m. and pick me up around dusk, which in Toledo, Ohio happens at about 9:30 p.m. in the summer months. I would hit practice balls, putt, chip, and play all day long. I became completely enthralled with the process of improvement. I felt like there weren’t enough hours in the day to practice. I improved at a rapid pace. I became an outstanding junior golfer in the area and later evolved into one of the best high school players in the state. I accepted an athletic scholarship and played on the golf team at Eastern Michigan University.
After school, I turned professional. I played tournament golf within my state and region and again evolved my game becoming one of the best professional players in the state. So, in 1998 I officially set out to make a living as a touring professional golfer. I began playing many of the various national developmental professional tours throughout the country. The fields were made up of anywhere from 100 to 140 players. About ten to twenty of these guys could really play. The rest of the field, where I fit in, could not measure up with any kind of regularity to what those handful of successful players were doing over 72 hole tournaments. So I decided that I would spend as much energy as I could observing these winning player’s games, practice habits, and general lifestyle. I quickly ruled out talent as the determining factor, realizing that it was more than evident that I possessed more ability than some of the guys who were succeeding. I ruled out practice habits, because I prided myself on being the first guy to arrive and the last guy to leave, toiling away all day with incredible intensity. What I came to realize was that the really exceptional players simply struck the ball with much more overall consistency and precision than I did. My good shots were just as good as anyone’s, but my misses were much more drastic. And what I also realized was that good players missed shots all the time, but their misses were not constantly getting them into situations where they would lose control of their scorecard. So, the process of trying to organize a reliable golf stroke began.
The first attempt I made to acquire the directions needed to swing the golf club in a manner that would control my golf ball in a narrower margin began with literature and video. I put together an incredibly extensive library of just about everything golf specific in publication. One of the things these methods all had in common was that they all instructed you to do things differently. The other thing that they had in common was that they were all incomplete and filled with vagaries that left me more and more confused. Next, I actually began a process of hiring these “so called” experts who wrote these books and appeared in the golf magazines and on the golf channel. I became very educated about all the different methodologies. You could name a “top this or that” instructor and I could give you a detailed description of what they were teaching. And, all the while, I had to play at a very high level in order to make a living.
In 2006, after 9 years of searching and “grinding it out,” I decided that I would retire. I was in the middle of a season and figured I would just finish out the year and then get a job and try to assimilate back into “normal” life. An overwhelming wave of relief came over me. The thought of settling down, getting a job, and starting a family were very intriguing. So, for the first time in my professional career I was actually relaxed and not desperately searching. And, of course, this is when I got my answers. I was introduced to the principles of the Golfing Machine. I was blown away. How could there be a detailed reference manual that no one refers to? It was all laid out. There was a geometrical explanation for every component and its relation to the entirety of the motion. FINALLY, the science of motion and not somebody’s theory or feels of how the thing needs to work to be functional. I realized that I had held out for and finally found mechanical advantage. After a year of intense study, I decided to teach these principles rather than play. And again, I was blown away, and so were my students. People were and are currently making gains with tremendous efficiency. So, I set up shop and assembled the strongest instructional team in the business. It is now our pleasure and absolute passion to be involved in the process of constructing functional and reliable golf strokes. It is tremendously rewarding to be working with the best information available. The tumultuous journey was well worth it and we are so excited to share what we have learned, as well as set the standard in the industry.
Contact Cary
M: 818.216.5909