By Dave Seanor (Photos by Robert Kaufman)
To describe Tom Rezendes as an unconventional teaching pro is beyond understatement. He played recreational golf in high school, but he never became an accomplished competitive golfer. He didn’t go to college, instead opting to join a funny car team on the professional drag racing circuit.
Rezendes was fascinated by the mechanics of racing, but he had to shift career gears when the team he worked for lost its sponsorship in 2001 after the September 11 attacks. His search for a new challenge took him to a driving range, where instead of figuring out how to make a dragster go 300 mph in a quarter mile, he became obsessed with the physics and biomechanics behind 300-yard drives.
Fast forward 30 years, and Rezendes, 50, is a PGA Professional and the proprietor of the NorCal Golf Academy, one of the most high-tech instruction facilities on Earth. Along the way, he has collected dozens of teaching accolades – including the Northern California PGA Section’s 2024 Teacher of the Year award and inclusion, 10 years running, on Golf Digest magazine’s annual list of best instructors by state – and numerous certifications related to golf swing technology.
The 4,300 square foot NorCal Golf Academy facility, in a Walnut Creek industrial park, is a golf technology geek’s dreamland. It’s a prime example of the data-driven approach to teaching. NorCal GA offers not only high-tech swing analysis on a variety of platforms, instruction, and club fitting, but it also keeps students engaged with the process by including practice sessions in its coaching packages. Evening sessions are available for students’ convenience; Team NorCal is an add-on that includes additional practice sessions, occasional on-course coaching, data tracking, and junior club fitting to maximize “windows of opportunity” as younger students grow.
Does NorCal GA portend the future of golf instruction? Rezendes – whose company motto is “If you aren’t assessing, then you’re guessing” – answers that question and talks about the value of high-tech coaching in the following Q&A:
Q: When did you get the idea to create the NorCal Golf Academy, and when did you dive into the project?
TR: It kind of went in multiple phases, but I would say the first thing that really intrigued me was seeing Dr. Rob Neal [a pioneer golf biomechanics researcher, now CEO/Founder of the Golf Biodynamics company], in 2007, put an elite junior into his 3-D motion capture system where I was giving a lesson right next to him and couldn’t help but look over to see what the heck he was doing. After my lesson was finished, I sat and picked his brain for a good hour or two.
I continued giving traditional lessons until 2010, when I attended my first Titleist Performance Institute class and learned about things such as the Kinematic Sequence [specific order in which different body segments rotate during the swing, transferring energy from the ground up to the clubhead] and 3-D motion capture and all that it could show you. Shortly thereafter I attended a class in Oceanside at TPI, and once I saw all of their technology, and all the feedback that they could give the student, there was no going back. I soon purchased my first K-Vest [an early portable 3D capture platform, still in use under the name K-Motion] and dove into 3-D kinematics head-first.
Q: Building the NorCal GC must have been an enormous task. Finding a location; designing the space to accommodate your needs; deciding what technologies to employ; learning how to effectively use and maintain the Foresight, Force Plate, Gears, and Big Tilt XL putting studio; acquiring club fitting equipment; building a website; creating promotional material; hiring and onboarding staff. How did you juggle so many demands?
TR: Yes, it was a pretty big task, to say the least. In 2010, there was really nowhere to go to get information on how to set things up such as video cameras, electromagnetic motion capture systems and how they do not perform very well when there is rebar in the concrete. All those little nuances had to be learned on the fly. Lots and lots of mistakes were made, wasting lots and lots of money in the process. That being said, I probably wouldn’t have it any other way if I could do it all over again, because I learned what not to do. Now I can pretty much lay out a facility in my head and it seems really basic where at one point it seemed very daunting.
When I first started out in 2011, my NorCal facility had three hitting bays with one launch monitor, one K-Vest, and two K-trainers. Each bay had a face-on camera, front and rear cameras for right-handers and lefties, and a down-the-line camera. I started out very small and just got extremely comfortable running programs with the technology on hand. Over the next 10 to 15 years, I put nearly all my income back into the facility improvements. There was a good eight-to-ten years where I essentially did not earn a paycheck. Everything I made went back into growing the business. Now I’ve reached a point where I can take a salary and still build the business, but it took quite a while.
Q: NorCal Golf Academy’s stated mission is to help golfers shoot lower scores by using the Foresight Sports GC Quad launch monitor, the Swing Catalyst Force Plates, and GEARS 3D Technology to quickly diagnose and give proper correction to improve your student’s swing. Describe what your instructors learn from each of those analytic tools.
TR: We utilize a few core pieces to determine the changes that students need to make. Everything starts with measuring the player’s current ball flight. Our instructors, all of whom have gone through extensive and ongoing training, use the data that is given out by our Foresight launch monitors to come up with the equation that produced the result. For example, you could hit a slice or a draw numerous different ways, especially with a driver. Things such as bulge and roll in gear effect can greatly shape the golf ball differently than a sweet spot hit. So having measurements such as clubhead path, face in relation to path, attack angle, and impact location is critical to learning why the ball did what it did.
Once we know the student’s current ball behavior characteristics we can begin using tools such as Gears 3D Motion Capture, Swing Catalyst Force Plates and video to further diagnose their swing flaws. Force plates measure what’s commonly called weight shift, but more technically tells us how the golfer is moving their center of mass. For example, if we want a player to shift more into their trail side, that can only be done via an external force.
We use the Gears 3-D motion capture to really take a deep dive into how the golfer is moving, and how the golfer’s forcing and twerking of the club bends the shaft. We can look at things such as shaft droop, deflection, twist and how much speed the kick of the shaft is adding or taking away down at the ball.
Q: Golfers come in all shapes and sizes, usually with some mobility/range of motion issues as well as pre-conceived notions about their swings. Long-time high handicappers often have a “fatal flaw that has become ingrained over time. Once an initial Swing Evaluation has been completed, how do your instructors modify prescribed corrections to accommodate those physical limitations?
TR: Yes, golfers definitely come in all shapes and sizes, and many suffer from non-golf injuries. The most common fatal flaw, of course, is the “over the top” slicing pattern. Having done this long enough, I’ve gotten to the point where most people’s over the top move can pretty much be fixed in one lesson. Granted, most of them will come back hitting slightly out-to-in again the next time I see them, but it is dramatically reduced. I find the best remedy for this fatal flaw is truly just understanding the three dimensionality of the club’s path around the golfer.
When trying to illustrate swing flaws on video, many golf instructors have gotten into a habit of drawing straight lines on a screen and often leave out the third dimension. Once I explain what the club is doing in all three dimensions, I will typically see a lightbulb go off in the person‘s head, and after two or three swings we can get them on a significantly in-to-out path and a face that is now closed to the path, resulting in a push draw.
As far as physical limitations go, we give every-day recreational golfers some form of spot assessment. If we see that they cannot do something that we would like them to do, we have workarounds. For example, if someone has a limited trail hip internal rotation they can go the route of seeing a physical therapist for treatment to truly fix the root cause of the problem. If that is not an option, we can work with things such as knee flexion in a trail or lead leg to get the pelvis to turn the appropriate amount. It is always preferred that the root cause of the problem be addressed. If physical therapy is not an option because of time or money constraints, we make every effort to work around most problems.
Q: There’s a big difference between gathering swing data and practicing on an indoor simulator, in a controlled environment, and contending with imperfect turf, challenging weather conditions, and “the rub of the green.” How do you help your students make that transition? Do you have an on-course component?
TR: Yes, on occasion and typically with more competitive players, we will go out and either watch them on the golf course or play with them on the course. Most people, however, are pleasantly surprised at what can be taught in an indoor setting. It all boils down to explaining the crux of the problem and showing the student some adaptations that they can use to solve the problem. Then they can take those principles and practice them either on the course or on a driving range with grass teeing grounds. Even bunker play can be taught on turf. Again, it’s just explaining the concept and then encouraging the player to go out and, as Ben Hogan said, dig it out of the dirt.
Nevertheless, there really is a huge benefit to learning in a controlled environment because the amount of feedback that the golfer gets is off the charts compared to taking lessons on a driving range where you might get to a few looks at your instructor’s iPhone, or maybe – just maybe –you’re lucky enough get some launch monitor data. It’s my firm belief that in order to change a pattern the student needs to receive feedback in all forms, be it auditory, visual or kinesthetic. Without repeated, reliable feedback you’re only seeing the result, and you don’t know what movements created that result. Hence my motto: “If you aren’t assessing, then you’re guessing.”
Q: Prior to the Covid 19 pandemic, golf participation had been in a steady three-decade decline. Recreational golfers complained that the game was too expensive, it took too much time, and it was difficult to achieve a gratifying level of proficiency. Regarding the latter, golf instruction – typically available only at private clubs, high end daily fee facilities and driving ranges – was essentially unchanged since the early 1900s, relying on the coach’s “trained eye” (and later video) to detect swing flaws and a variety of trusty practice drills to fix them. Students often quit after a couple of lessons, frustrated by lack of improvement, typically attributable lack of practice between lessons. NorCal Golf Academy incentivizes students to practice regularly by asking them to sign an agreement for pre-booked practice sessions as well as actual lessons. What effect has that strategy had?
TR: Since the inception of the NorCal Golf Academy we have always pushed our clients into a long-term improvement model rather than the occasional quick fix on the driving range. Many instructors still offer one-off private lessons. The problem with that is the student gets, say, 45 minutes of back-and-forth coaching and feedback. But then it’s up to the student to re-create the lesson with zero feedback. After decades and decades of this instruction mentality it’s no wonder that golf coaches were saddled with the reputation of “Yeah, if you wanna play worse, go take a golf lesson.“
Improvement is simply a matter of reps with feedback. Without the reps and without the feedback, change simply will not occur. Sadly, traditional lessons can be a waste of time and money, especially if the one-lesson golfer is disappointed with the outcome. That’s why we like to see our students at least every other week for a minimum of six months. If you think about it, that’s only giving the golfer and the instructor about 18 hours to work together. Considering the complex nature of the golf swing, that’s not a lot of time but it is enough to produce demonstrable change.
Even the best players in the world have instructors who meet them week in and week out at tournaments. Are they making big swing changes? Probably not, but the coach is providing validation of the player’s personal process and keeping them on track.
Q: Another way to keep students engaged is Team NorCal. Tell us about that program.
TR: Team NorCal came out of a simple observation that the more a student walked through the door, the faster they improved and the longer that improvement lasted. We soon recognized that it was also a way of building a community of clients within the facility.
I often drive past driving ranges where I see well-meaning people beating cheap range balls on cheap mats by themselves. As a result, they’re only ingraining what they already do, and that drives me crazy. But it occurred to me that even our most successful students weren’t getting in enough reps to reach their next level. I came up with the idea of offering a Team NorCal account, which for $150 a month gives our students the benefits of 16, 45-minute practice sessions in addition to the two that are included in their monthly program, as well as an additional 16 practice sessions on our Big Tilt XL putting green.
Team NorCal also comes with a year-long subscription to a stats tracking system, called Draw More Circles, that identifies progress in selected aspects of the student’s development. Membership also includes quarterly golf fitness evaluations and, of course, Team NorCal swag such as logoed hats, apparel, golf balls and discounts on select merchandise.
We’ve found that Team NorCal really keeps students motivated, which in turn produces drastically more long-lasting results.
Q: Where does club fitting enter the equation?
TR: Club fitting is a huge component of our operation. So many golfers have never been fit for golf clubs. One of the first things we do is look at the client’s equipment to determine if it’s hindering their abilities. If it is, we recommend they get fit for new equipment.
Properly fitted equipment can have a huge impact on how the golfer delivers the club into impact. With today’s technology, it is not uncommon to fit a golfer into a new set of clubs that enables them to hit the ball 15 to 20 yards farther, but also with the same peak height and spin.
Most, if not all, of our clients notice a drastic increase in the distance that their golf ball carries, thanks to instruction coupled with equipment changes. We primarily focus on maximizing the efficiency of the student’s swing and equipment, which will in turn maximize ball speed. Our instructors are Titleist Performance Institute certified, and we certainly recommend that our players do all they can to work on strength and mobility.
Q: Describe how you envision the landscape of golf instruction in 2035. Will the traditional green-grass teacher who’s still guessing instead of assessing be out of work? Might we see NorCal Golf Academy franchises sprouting up across the country?
TR: As much as golf instruction has changed in the last 10 years it’s hard to imagine what it will be like 10 years from now. I’m sure that the number of golf teachers who incorporate technology in controlled-environment facilities will only grow, employing quality instructors who have lots of training and experience. I’m sure that Ai will certainly play a big role in golf instruction moving forward. Just in the last three or four years, the AI component to golf instruction has grown exponentially.
Another thing I see happening in the next 10 years is that a lot of golf instructors are going to start specializing in niche areas of the game. I think you’ll start to see a lot more golf teachers strictly focusing on putting, wedges or full swing. There won’t be as many, shall we say, Jack-of-all- trades golf instructors.
Golf instruction will continue to improve, if only because recreational golfers have become increasingly more educated about the swing and other areas of the game. With the emergence of social media and YouTube, your everyday golfer is now equipped with way more information than ever before. Golf teachers who don’t keep pace risk being skewered on social media.
As far as what’s in store for the NorCal Golf Academy, I used to have a second facility and would eventually like to have multiple locations again. It’s a slippery slope, though, for the small business owner who wants to keep the level of instruction very high. Start-up costs, as I mentioned above, may take years to recoup, and the required training to build up a staff of truly knowledgeable teachers takes a lot of time and money.