Hey guys uh welcome to another edition of teed up uh today we’re going to be speaking with Kyle Morris from the golf room uh in Columbus Ohio um Kyle’s been a friend for a long time um known him since he was a young age and he has a
Unique story about the golf room and we’re really going to discuss you know best ways to grow your business um you know around the game of golf thanks chip well I think when did we know each other like when I was like 10 I would yeah I guess it would been what 99
2000 before ytk you’ve seen the transformation of everything so um thank you so much for having me um chip was actually the assistant pro at the home club that I grew up at so all of these origin stories you we you you were part of these stories from the from the GCO
So thank you so much um for being for having me here um and for me personally like V1 has had a Monumental impact on my life um as a player and now because of that as a coach so um super excited to be here great um just you know to start off tell
Us a little bit about the golf room the vision that it you know where it came from um and then also just both the in-person and online aspects of the golf room and how those came about so essentially um after I played I went I went and played college golf at Sean
Hall um and I had a good career there I was you know I’m in the Hall of Fame there and um Turned Pro I turned Pro got engaged in an and graduated in a weekend which basically sums up my personality handling all those massive life decisions in three days um but then
After I did that I played professional golf for 40 for for eight years I played 40 weeks a year in 20 different countries and I basically had like the greatest team of instructors on grass right many of them have been named by Golf Digest now as like the legends of
Golf with Mike Bender as my swing coach and Stan Utley for putting and James sikman for short game and then the team from Vision 54 as my mental side and I would call Mike and I would go hey Mike like what are you doing today and he’s
Like I’m going up to se Island to like see Zack Johnson and I’m like oh my gosh that sounds amazing like what are you guys do up there he’s like well I work on his swing and then Peter Mor uh uh not yeah Peter would Peter Sanders would
Like work on his stats and then Morris Pickins is working on his mind and Randy Meers is working on his body and we all collaborate to make Zach like really really good I’m like oh my gosh like I want to have all my team collaborate
Like can you talk to my team but I have no money so can you do it for free he’s like no not really but like wait we can kind of try so when I moved back home um just basically to be close to family because we had three amazing well we had
Two two kids at that time now we have three um I wanted to create a place where basically the passionate golfer can have a holistic training facility um to get better in all aspects of the game so it wasn’t just about like the skill it’s not just about the body it’s not
Just about the mind it’s not just about course management it’s the whole thing that encaps Ates a player so it start you know the the golf room did not start as this facility we currently have which is now this facility is 177,000 square feet it’s got 12 trackman Bays it’s
Actually the largest Player Development facility um from what out under stand and basically like the Western Hemisphere it basically started in a CrossFit gym in a kitchen and then it went from one Bay to two bays to three Bays to six Bays to Seven Bays and then
Because of that expansion chip you had asked about it we said hey we got to take this out side of the col the walls of Columbus which we created the the golf room everywhere which you’ve got you know 50,000 users in that um and kind of helping players all over the
World do and kind of bringing this golf room experience to them in the comfort of their living room anywhere they are so um that’s kind of the quick backstory when it’s all started back in Worthington Hills where we were so when I started becoming obsessed with looking
At my golf swing on camera that’s awesome so again you started your uh inperson business the demand grew and that’s what you know made you just uh decide to turn to the online business correct yeah I mean I think that we were we that I was one compared to some
Business models like we we gradually made steps So my poor wife like we did we did an expansion every year for five years which were you know those are super stressful um and we just and even right now like we opened this a year ago and next month we’re going to be at
Capacity so like we’re at full membership um our teachers basically can’t teach any more than they are um so we’re continuing to expand and continuing to grow and then that that bridged out into the online the online program because of the fact that um I feel calling to really give the amateur
And the passion to golfer the the the ability to have um constant contact with a coach I think that it’s really important for players to be able to have coaching on demand so that when they’re on the Range hitting balls and they’re not hitting it really well they have the
Ability to essentially send in video and within a moment’s notice like tell them exactly what they need to do and how they need to get better and what should their feedback drill because we are very passionate about the use of feedback and basically kind of forcing the motor
Pattern rather than just trying to feel it like we want to we don’t want to be wasting time so we want to make sure that when you’re practicing you’re actually practicing right so look at these throwback videos that’s amazing yeah 2014 we were able to pull some of
The old videos when you were with James heikman oh nice so I mean I would venture to say that I maybe have more V1 videos in my portal than maybe anyone and who knows if like how they all stay there but I was actually telling the story yesterday that you know the little
Tiny balls that have that like hold the balls right they hold like 35 balls it would take me 30 it would take me two hours to hit two of those bags at TBC Scottdale because honestly as God as my witness I would literally take my phone
I would sit it behind on my bag I’d film it I’d hit then back this is you know 2010 so it take like 30 seconds to load in then I’d look at it then I’d film then I’d look hit it like hit film look hit film look hit film look right and it
Was just this constant thing where every every swing that I was making was of value which we could go into an entire tangent of that of kind of me stumbling upon this idea of block practice and random practice and creating spacing and variability just from a from an instruct
Standpoint and a Player Development standpoint but um I’m obsessed with video right because I think that video is worth you know a thousand words right like if I always say like hey this is how I look like even though they say the camera adds 10 pounds like nope that’s
Just how you look so if my swing looks over the top like and you think it’s not no it is you’re over the top so um I was really really obsessed with making my swing look incredible and V1 was really the product that was really helping me
Move the needle to do that that’s awesome next that we’re going to sort of take a step further as far as your staff again you created a huge staff of you know Great Golf instructors whether it’s you know in the golf room everywhere your online platform but then also you
Know the in-person folks there in Columbus and I know you’re currently hiring as well um always looking to expand um what’s your process that you think or you use when hiring staff training staff um you know that whole process so so for me there’s a few things and there’s probably the one
Thing as I’ve continued to grow as an entrepreneur right because I’ve got the golf room I’ve got the golf room everywhere I’ve also got College golf.com which is kind of like it’s The Old Pink College Golf Guide we we brought that back and repurpose it out
Of the grave but when hiring all of these when hiring instructors or just hiring staff I think that one thing that gets overlooked is what are the traits that the business owner needs in each department because for example if I’m hiring someone to do let’s say marketing
Right if I’m hiring someone to do marketing it’s very easy for us to hire someone where you go hey I like that guy right or I like that girl but it’s really finding the traits that are needed inside that job rather than hiring someone based upon whether I like
Them because for example if we’re interviewing obviously I am a massive extrovert right I could talk to a cat but I’m going to be drawn to one to hire people who are extrovert that might not be a good thing for someone who’s doing like my operations role right like
That’s or my accounting or whatever it may be so on the instructor alone side what we really look for on those traits is I’m a really really big believer that H hiring people who know how to sell and know how to basically they’re really good storytellers and they’re really articulate and they know
How to essentially control the aroma of room is really important from the instruction standpoint I feel like that is a little bit more inherent by God’s unique design for that human being rather than saying being able to teach I can teach anyone how to teach but I it’s
Harder to teach that person how to sell right so that’s kind of something where I’m doing but then at the same time at the golf room we have players that are flying in all over the world to work inside the golf room and get the golf room system so it’s different in the
Fact that our teachers all teach teach the same certification that that I’ve created and they are teaching the same way so you can almost like pass St we don’t but like kind of do but you could pass student from teacher to teacher and it would be okay whereas there’s some
Other bigger name teaching bodies that have like locations and there’s there’s not really a framework or a system in which they’re going through like you have one guy that teaches like this philosophy and another guy teaches like this philosophy and they might be counterintuitive so the first thing is kind
Of hiring like we’ll say this idea that they know how to sell for all intensive purposes and then also that they believe in the core philosophy of what the golf room stands for which is this idea that if you were to take the idea of Constant Contact and feedback out of the golf
Room the golf room would cease to exist right so they need to be they need to have the same vision of what we have as a as a as a business and then from there we go okay like here’s a home run that’s awesome um so obviously you
Know the this coach the instructor is a very important piece you know that’s going to make the golf room Thrive um the next part I mean have been in there your technology is like Second To None um how do you decide on technology and what technology you’re gonna you know
Bring in I think that um there is something to be said about in 10,000 foot view there’s and I was actually just had what you might like this being that were both Ohio State fans Michael red was just in here right like an old Ohio State basketball
Player on the dream was on the Dream Team anyways he was on the Olympic team might be a Hall of Famer in the NBA I don’t know um and we were talking about the technology because like we’ve got a we’ve got basically everything here and there’s something to be said about
Having almost too much technology right like we’ve got Sports box and we’ve got obviously V1 pressure maths and we’ve got track man and focus bands and VK vests and like everything under the Sun but it’s being able to take that stuff and and make something that is very very
Complex and make it very very simple and make it to where for us the technology even though we have all of these things like putt views and all this stuff it’s just validating what we’re seeing on video so like what V1 does in providing the video for what the player needs to
Be looking at that is the ultimate guide and then we use the technology to validate the findings that we see in the video right but if and I mean I own more track the trackman people would not me love saying this but I say it all the
Time I mean I own more trackman individually as an individual owner than anyone in the United States and if they said to me and they go Kyle you’re G to either take the video or the numbers which one you want i’ go take the numbers like I don’t care just give me
The video right so the video is Paramount to what we are doing um and then everything else that we do helps frame and massage the argument where the guy’s like I’m not swaying it’s like yeah man you are like your pelvis is moving three and a half inches behind
See and they’re like oh yeah okay so um and that’s the point is is that there’s so many times that amateurs like like even here like this I remember this lesson he’s showing me because before this I took the club inside and hooded and I would Duff every chip I hit
And I he was like it’s inside and hood and I’m like no it’s not and then you show video and I’m like oh yeah it is you’re right so um you know video is worth a thousand words yep can’t lie y cannot lie um so you know as a new
Instructor somebody’s looking to start their own business um in golf coaching what would be the one thing that you would a piece of advice recommendation just to get started um where would you begin um where I will the the one piece I say because like we’re hiring right now for
Our online position which is like inside of our stock shot club and one thing that I’m constantly talking with with these players or these teachers that I’m interviewing is the way to learn how to teach is to teach right and that was something that one of my mentors Mike
Told me that but one of my other mentors this this gentleman name um Lauren Anderson who owns an amazing company called proponent Group which kind of helps coaches just learn the business side of like how to do what we’re doing um but it’s really I think there’s there’s there’s a misconception first in
The fact that like the only way to learn how to teach is to teach and then the other problem I think with teachers which is where I think we really Excel as a teaching body inside the golfing space is that most teachers in my personal opinion they do not have a
Philosophy of how do you take a player from A to Z and I mean at the golf room like over here to left we have banners that basically stretch the top of the ceiling and it’s like here’s how you build a swing in 11 words right like you
Tilt turn hinge shift Drive pivot snap turn match and fold like and then inside of that if you go what do you mean about like hinging I mean I could do an hour seminar just on that so there’s in intricate of it but we’re always it’s working on the first things first and
For that young teacher learning like what is the systematic way to go about building a swing because even though the guy looks like he early extends and you want to fix the early extension like that might just be a that just might be an effect I always say like there’s
Smoke and there’s fire in the swing you would never put out the smoke of that you see in a house right if the house is on fire you put out the fire so it’s understanding all of the cause and effect and having really good mentors
Right I mean luckily by the grace of God as a player I was learning from some of the greatest teachers in the game so when I hit the ground running to teach it was just like and it just like kind of took off right you know right from
The start um which was really just you know falling into place and divide intervention quite frankly so um that would be kind of the advice that I would give to them is try to figure out what it is what are the core principles that you actually believe in and that was one
Of the things that I did when I first started teaching in 2016 was I was like these are my fundamentals right like and these are the order in which they go that’s awesome I mean really systematic approach to it and every lesson you probably start at the beginning and and work right through
That that process yeah and I think the thing is is like there’s there’s our system right and we have our system and then there’s other systems and those systems works too right like if you have like a stack and tilt system like you know whether we disagree or don’t agree
Or like George ganis which is opposite of like stack and tilt like there’s things in that system that make it work with it with itself right and like if I put something if you know if the stack and tilt guys put something from the George gankas camp like those things
Might not work together but like we know like we know that if the club is doing this and the body is doing this the ball produces this and that’s our system right but the point is is that a lot of times the young teachers they don’t understand how these puzzle pieces
Actually marriage to each other and they might actually be like oil and water you know what I mean and the other thing too chip and this is what’s interesting about even going on this thing and not to go on a tangent but when I was down at the PGA show it’s
Interesting with all the technology that’s coming down the Divide between teaching it’s not getting wider it’s actually I think getting narrower because technology is validating what it is so like the guy can say yeah like you should get behind the ball but or like too much right or even like like you
Should get in front of the ball and it’s like right but like there’s so much data this is what tour players do so like if you say one of these things are outside the realm you’re an idiot and like that’s not true yeah absolutely and again a lot of
Stuff we’ve done with ground pressure you know we see things that you know whether you’re a stack and tilter or whatever you’re doing as you’re rotating back when you’re a P3 most likely if you’re a great player you’re around that 75 85% pressure into your Trail side it
Doesn’t matter what platform you’re on yeah those are just non-negotiables yes awesome cland issue yeah just to wrap everything up I mean to me seeing the golf room and what you’ve built there that’s super cool from you know where you were when you were 10 years old um
To what you’ve done now but looking back you know on your own career what’s the coolest teaching moment that you feel like you’ve had the coolest teaching moment I had um probably I had the luxury for um about four or five well I guess may be four
Years um one of my one of my good friends was Michael Thompson um and Michael Thompson was the number one am in the world um and him and I traveled together and played together and we were in practice rounds together and Michael in 200 um what would have been 2018
Maybe you know at that point in his journey he was really struggling he was ranked 570th I think in the world he was ranked 175th in ball striking he was number one putting so he could putt the brains out of it but like he just couldn’t hit it really well and over the
Course of like the four years of being together he went from 175 and ball striking to 63rd I believe and then 570th to 90th and it was through the system so it was really validating what we were doing and just the coolest if we’re going to say like what is that
That Journey was really cool but I think because it was the first real PGA Tour player that I worked with but it was cool just to go and be inside the ropes in some of these really big events like the players championship and being and basically kind of you know like checking
Off the list like okay I’ve done that right I understand what that life is like and um and it was nice to just kind of get that under my belt and see what it was like um and just see that the the the teachings that we were doing was
Really validating what what we’re teaching to our to our recreational players online or at the golf room gotcha then just one last question um you know why does V1 work for you um both you know your business you know both online and in in the inperson
Lessons as well so I think that like the V V1 like I said is I think that there is there is a um you know there’s different apps out there in regards to hey you can film a swing and obviously you can just put it on your camera but
Like the amount of models right because there is something to be said kind of going back to what we were talking about chip of like technology has made the gap of what someone can say very narrow right because there’s a confines as to what is truth and I think that what what
V1 for me especially coming back as a former player right and doing it is its ability to essentially compare and contrast the models against myself because the models are the models kind of if you can create these similarities in the models which we have done I have done right through these different
Principles like I call steep shallow steep but it allows us to have what is a standard of beauty of like hey this is kind of what I’m moving towards right so um and we and that’s the beauty of golf is like you’re trying to you’re trying to perfect a pattern that quite frankly
Can’t be perfected right like you’re no one no one no one has a perfect golf swing except for iron Byron who’s the the USGA robot that hits all the shots right but um V1 to me is something that like if you’re not filming your golf swing in practice I’m wondering if you’re actually
Practicing that’s awesome it’s a great way to wrap up Kyle um thanks for your time today um hope everything continues uh on your journey uh continue doing everything you’re doing and uh keep staying great thanks buddy see you
