George Gankas Online Coaching

[rtraudt]

 

I could not agree more, and for the right person, the online course is absolutely worth every penny. If you are willing to put in the mental effort required (in addition to the physical effort and time commitment) to actually study and give your full attention to his instruction, your knowledge of the golf swing and ability to "be your own coach," as he states, will grow by leaps and bounds. Now, as I near what I consider to be a far more effective and powerful swing than I had prior to signing up, I do intend to take an online lesson with him for a true professional eye (and I don't think that this should be a total standalone). But I have gained a tremendous amount of confidence in my ability to use mirrors and video to check my swing, diagnose my faults, and effectively correct them (using many of the available videos in the "faults and fixes" section that are easily sortable), then confirm the correction again with video. It is a far cry from the days of intermittent video or in person lessons where using video may as well have been pointless, because my ability to diagnose anything was nonexistent.

 

I can't give you actual statistical improvement thus far, as I started the course at the end of my last season here in Wisconsin (with the goal of working on establishing a new and improved swing in the offseason) and, given COVID-19, have not been able to get out on the course, but I can't wait once the storm clears. My game was largely predicated on my course management and short game, with an inconsistent at best ballstriking game, so I have high hopes come golf season, whenever it arrives!

 

This subscription is ABSOLUTELY a waste of money for people who go to an instructor and merely want to be told what to do, rather than try to gain an understanding of why they were previously not having success, nor is it for the guys who look for the "quick fix" videos and think that they are always one new swing thought away from striking it pure. But for the folks who want to take a more intellectual approach to the swing and their game, it is a godsend. I wish I could give George a personal thank you, and I'm still only in the middle of the process!

[LeftDaddy]

Yes still going through the program and still loving it. I think the main thing I love about it is all of the cause and effect stuff that you learn from it, and also the “guidelines” you get for the positions you should be in, etc. I’m still trying to fix my lack of rotation, but I know what it is supposed to feel and look like now, for the first time ever. And because I have a “single source” resource, I’m not scouring the internet looking for swing tips or reconciling those vs what my coach tells me, etc.

I had spinal fusion surgery back in January, so I’m only just getting back into golf. I played 18 holes on Saturday for the first time since October (all of the pain with pinched nerve, etc started then). I had been able to knock it around some in the late Fall/ Winter while dealing with the pinched nerve, and had just started working on GGs stuff. But I had lost so much distance because I lost all my strength in my trail side. Now I’m back after surgery, but still don’t have all of my strength back. However, I’ve gotten all my distance back, and it feels like there is more in the tank once my spine starts to feel better and my left side strengthens again. I’m still working on digging my lead side and getting the rotation to shallow out my swing. I’m hitting the ball so much more pure than I did last year, though, but still struggling a bit with some pull hooks. I realized through GGs stuff that my grip was very weak, like 30 degrees weak, and that was what had been causing a lot of my issues. Now that my grip feels to me like it is dead closed, I’m training myself to rotate through the ball better and not flip my hands to square it. But it just takes time to make that more permanent.

Anyway, I highly recommend the program. GG seems like he’d be a cool dude to hang out with. He’s a bit cocky for my taste, but whatever...as long as my game gets better I don’t really care.

[downbylaw11]

Hey, do you have any idea how much he charges for an online lesson? He's off and on with them as time permits but I know he's taking a lot of bookings since covid has shut down his live teaching. Whenever he advertises he says to contact him for details, but I don't wanna contact him only to find out he charges 300 bucks for a skype session and I might wanna say no and feel like I wasted his time lol

 

Also, just wanted to point out that George is a pretty accessible guy for being insanely big time at the moment, and he's often taken the time to shoot me messages on instagram answering questions I might have or drop a nice comment on some swing vids I've posted, which obviously makes you feel pretty good!

 

 

[DougD]

As part of the program do you post videos of your swing for feedback? If so, how long does it take to receive feedback from him or a staff member? Is it helpful?

[LeftDaddy]

Yes, I post them regularly and often. I’m on the east coast. So if I post a video in the late afternoon after going to the range, either Brett or Jake will have gotten back to me with their feedback by the time I wake up the next morning. I’ve posted maybe 10 pics or videos of my stance/setup and swing (DTL and FO), and they’ve helped me each time. Now, they have the ability to send a video back, instead of just typed commentary. They can demonstrate what they want me to do. It is all very helpful.

I will say that what you will almost certainly find out is that it all comes back to getting the basics right (setup, balance points, proper turn, etc). That “bothered” me a little at first. I wanted the “magic” trick to make my swing better. But Jake actually told me last time I posted that the thing I was trying to correct wouldn’t happen after a bucket of balls. I needed to get my turn deeper and more vertical, and that would help me rotate, and then I had to retrain my body to rotate instead of slide/bump. He’s right... I can feel the difference when I turn properly, and / or when I get the dig right. But it is definitely not committed to muscle memory yet. But I’m getting closer each time.

[downbylaw11]

even though there was no magic trick, it's definitely great to have a trained set of eyes tell you exactly what you need to work on and how to work on it. instead of just kinda trying all sorts of solutions which we tend to when we watch youtube videos lol

[MK7Golf21]

They are 200 and it is strictly screenshots at various parts in your swing with his text of corrections underneath. He will also send a couple stock video clips like on stance etc. I did one back in the day when he offered a special at $60 and it is the same format today. I think it’s fine for 50 but def not for 200.

imagine getting paid 200 to write text under screenshots, I’d do that all day everyday.

[downbylaw11]

so what happens then? you send him videos of your swing dtl and face on and he just tells you what he thinks you need to fix in text? he doesnt even skype with you or anything? thats pretty dumb. for that price your better off taking his online course and getting his staff to critique your swing imo.

[Dumpedunder]

He actually breaks down the swing at various positions and tells you why you’re messing up and what you can do to fix it.

I have had many online lessons as well as in person with him, and the online lessons do just fine. Typically there’s about 10 screen shots with some angles, etc written on. Underneath each section is a breakdown.

If there’s something really wicked going on, he occasionally sends a video personalized, as it warrants.

Coupled with the membership, it really works if you’re willing to put in the time. I mean, the section on downswing alone is probably 40 videos, some being as long as 10 minutes.

once you have that info, the things he tells you to do are pretty easy to accomplish.

[creative10]

Just started getting into the 1st part of the full swing. I really hope there is more direction then what I'm cing so far. It seems to be a couple minute videos if a little of this a little of that...nothing really concrete. Any of you that have gotten deep into it does it give more direction and some kind of structure of the full swing?

[Dumpedunder]

If you’re in the first part, he’s just going over terms. Laying the foundation for when he talks about all of that in detail later.

Part two is everything you possibly could want to know about setup and backswing, and part 3 is downswing and impact.

[downbylaw11]

cool good to know. I wish I had gotten in on a lesson while I still had the chance. Now that the everything is starting to open up again, he probably won't have much time be giving online lessons for a while.

[Dumpedunder]

I’m flying up there on Thursday, spending Friday and Saturday up there. He’s such a good dude. His stuff is legit!

[downbylaw11]

fuckin eh!

[LeftDaddy]

I was a little worried about that too, when I went through the first handful of videos. But believe me, you’ll get virtually everything you want and more as you get into the details of the backswing and downswing. You’ll start to long for the 2 minute videos again, because you’ll have several at 10 minutes or so and you can’t wait to get to the next one.

Probably the only complaints I have about the program so far are that I wish he would give slo-mo videos of his swing models, and I wish the content wouldn’t be restricted for so long. It gets tough when you get past the full swing section. You have to wait 30 days for each new section and there isn’t quite as much content in them as there was the full swing.

That said, it gives you plenty of time to focus on your swing and post your videos for feedback.

Also, the faults and fixes are “mechanical” faults instead of ball pattern faults, at least in the early going. I wish that you could look up fixes for pulls or shanks or something. Instead you have to look up a fix for lack of rotation or club across the line ... you have to have a diagnosis of your problem before you can find a true fix

Those are minor points to me, though. The program is almost everything I could have asked for thus far (and some). And I’m hitting the ball farther than I ever have, and this is after a spinal fusion surgery in January with almost a complete loss of strength in my trail arm. I can’t wait to see what my distance looks like when I’m back to 100%. I haven’t yet committed the changes to muscle memory, but I haven’t been as bullish as I am now about my golf game in years. Every aspect of my game is improving (driver, irons, wedges, putting).

[Dumpedunder]

I get what you’re saying about the faults, but the whole point is to teach you to identify these issues yourself. That’s a powerful thing, and is going to unlock a great deal of your potential.

Instead of some guys saying “your shaft is steep” as the problem, George helps you understand WHY it is steep and what you can physically do to correct it.

[Obsessed]

anyone using his G BOX?

[LeftDaddy]

I made a home version of his Gbox. Just took some boxes and cut slits in them and routed them through an old belt. I think the boxes I’m using are too small or something, because I definitely struggle with getting my trail arm “stuck” and the gbox should help with that, but I’m not sure it has yet. Also, my boxes have sharpish corners etc, and so that could get painful after a lot of balls if my arm was hitting against it. But at least with my home version, that isn’t happening. I’d love to have his version of it, but $100 seems a bit steep for it based on my initial “home-made trial”.

[LeftDaddy]

I get what you are saying, but I’m not sure I agree 100%. I had typed up this whole reason as to why, but it was too verbose. Simply put, it would be nice to have a checklist of things to watch out for if I am thinning it on the course someday. I just hope the material eventually gets me to an understanding of that.

I’m a huge fan of the program. I’m already seeing a lot of improvement and am finally on my way to having a swing I can be proud of, and I couldn’t even practice for 3 full months due to surgery. I’m making substantial improvements somewhat rapidly, and I have a solid handle on what I still need to fix. I haven’t had that in a long time...probably ever. It has been worth every $0.01. But there are a few things I’d like to see that I haven’t seen yet...hopefully some of it will come soon!

[MK7Golf21]

Looks like you have his membership program, have done multiple online lessons/in person and bought his G box. In other words you have spent $1,000's in an attempt to help your swing. George is a good instructor, he is just way too much money. Plenty of good instructors who can help with your swing without spending thousands and they won't just say "your shaft is steep". In fact Georges online lessons are subpar vs. most others especially given the price. TJ Yeaton was giving out random free online lessons a couple weeks ago for covid and I took him up on it (they are normally like $50) and it was better than Georges format of online lessons by a mile.

[Dumpedunder]

I ordered it, but I finally got to use it at his range yesterday. It’s awesome, especially for those of us that tug on the handle a little bit.

It does a great job of visually showing you a full turn, and then all you have to do is rotate.

I mean, there is a little more to it than that, but not too terribly much.

[Dumpedunder]

That’s respectable. I could see why you feel that he’s pricey (and he is, and he knows it.)

It’s probably because he’s so good that he can set his price, and people will pay it.

I’ll give you good example. This player today at the range is good, but has a problem getting his arm trapped behind him steep.

He went to one elite coach (won’t name names). He was told to push the handle forward towards the ball. That didn’t work after months of trying. The next “name” coach had him ulnar deviating and throwing the arms back in front. He struggled with it.

George simply tells him “you tug on it because you have no depth to your hands. The hip doesn’t go back far enough to make room for the elbow.”

The guy gets it back in structure with depth. He instantly loses that steep look. All he needed after that was some work to change the release pattern. Done.

Sometimes bad asses are worth the price.

[indianagolf2]

Ive heard this about other instructors before...this is the one...

[Sean2]

You can get a great bottle of wine for $400, and you can also get a great bottle for $20. It all depends what you want.

[MK7Golf21]

He only costs that much because his instagram popularity, he use to only be 150 an hour with the same information. It’s the same as those elite coaches that you bashed who got exposure by coaching a popular pga tour pro and was already top of their game. All of a sudden they can charge 500+ an hour and people will come. Sean Foley was accessible for reasonable price prior to working with Tiger and I’m sure Hank Haney couldn’t charge $10,000 a day for lessons prior to working with Tiger.

I think George has good info but it’s no better than many instructors in the game right now who have great information, the golf instruction world is in a good place because of the technology and availability of good information and they all learn from each other.

[cleatis]

I did an on line it was 150 at the time. Good analysis. He said he liked my swing very much. Lol. I’ve taken many lessons from lots of coaches and I don’t get too crazy about things. Some people like to cry and complain.

[RichieHunt]

I posted this in the other thread. A friend of my at my club has the G-Box. I haven't received mine, yet.

 

His swing has tremendously improved since using the G-Box. He actually made his own using a belt and a Clorox bottle. He follows GG, but isn't part of their online membership and there are things he didn't quite understand. But even with his lack of knowledge, he was hitting the ball much better.

 

Big thing for him is his AoA has shallowed out big time. I remember we once measured him on Trackman and his AoA with the driver was about -7 down. We didn't have the Trackman handy, but anybody can see with the human eye that his AoA has shallowed considerably.

 

I got to use the G-Box for a bit. While I have been waiting for mine, I've just been working on visualizing the seamlines in my shirt as the checkpoint. In my in-person lesson with GG a year ago, he was talking about the seamlines (this was before he created the G-Box). I guess I didn't quite understand him, but with the G-Box tutorials it now makes much more sense.

 

I had a problem where I wasn't getting enough of a turn in my backswing. I would lock my right knee in the backswing and basically fake my backswing turn. That would throw a lot of things off not only because I didn't get the turn and couldn't use the ground in the downswing, but it would cause my shoulders to turn too steeply and then I would rock my shoulders back in transition and get way under.

 

Just working on the seamline stuff has helped me quite a bit. My biggest issue has been my low point control and having too shallow or an upward AoA with the irons. My low point control, particularly with the irons is much improved. That low point control issue caused from over-tilting was also costing me some speed/power. Yesterday I measured a tee shot when I got home on Google Earth and it traveled 335 yards which is long for me (I'm a 162 mph ball speed player). I was actually more satisfied when I was into a 2-club wind and hit a 6-iron a little thin and still hit it pin high. I thought it was short and in the drink because I've hit that shot a million times. But this one got to the flag.

 

I do think if you're going on GG's teachings, you need to get G-Box training of some sort. Whether you make your own apparatus or not. I find it to be key to what he's actually teaching rather than what some people perceive he is teaching. Even I, who have gone to GG twice for 2-hour in-person lessons and have had a few online lessons didn't quite grasp the concept until the G-Box tutorials were shown.

 

 

 

RH

[Circaflex]

Is the g box the same idea as putting a stick through your pant loops? just so you can visually see where your hips are?

[rtraudt]

 

The stick would be a good check to ensure a full turn, but I think the main benefit of the box is the one on your right hip (for a righty), which is promoting a proper shallowing of the club in transition/downswing by forcing you into the correct position with your trail elbow. The stick won’t provide that (although I guess you could attach some stuff to it to get something that might possibly function the same).

[RichieHunt]

 

No. The stick doesn't illustrate much you need to turn your torso/rib cage area. And it does not provide a good visual as to how the trail side of the torso/rib cage is turning in the downswing.

 

The other issue with the stick is that the stick will not be level when you are standing. It will be pointing downsward. The G boxes will be level when standing and thus you can see the pelvic tilt you are getting, particularly on the downswing as the lead box should be lower than the trail box in transition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

RH