Jae Choi + New Club’s = Missed Cut

Home » Jae Choi + New Club’s = Missed Cut

The result’s of Jae Choi’s first event on the Japanese PGA Tour (JGTO) was a shock to his long time coach, George Pinnell. Jae’s opening score in the first round was 81! This alone caused pause for Pinnell. Jae’s second round was 73, not bad until you look at his scorecard. Jae posted 6 birdies and 7 bogies, very unlike Jae’s normal game. Jae emailed Pinnell, telling his coach that he had “equipment issues” and that he would have them resolved within 2 days? In a later email, Jae explained that he changed his iron’s to Mizuno and had ordered his standard shaft as X-Stiff as he has always used in his Titleist clubs. Mizuno manufacture’s their tour clubs stiffer than US standard X shaft’s. The extra stiffness, combined with a flatter lie made the Mizuno clubs play different than Jae was used to. To Pinnell’s relief, that explained the score’s and missed cut.

Mizuno quickly manufactured a set of iron’s that matched the shaft stiffness that Jae is familiar with. Jae was able to quickly adjust to the new “improved” shaft’s as it showed in his opening day score of even par at his second JGTO Tour Event, The Hommate, played this week at the Azuma Ken Tado Country Club in Nagoya, Japan. Jae posted an even par score of 72 that currently has him in a tie for 11th place. He was in the top 2 positions until he made a double bogey that dropped him into 11th place.

It seems that Jae has found harmony with his iron set make-up and has relieved his coach’s mind as he goes into round 2 today. Let’s hope so.

You can follow Jae on www.jgto.org. Use Google Translate if you do not read Japanese.

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I had the pleasure to be around Rose Zhang the entire day today with her service day with East West Bank I am also an ambassador and navigate their golf sector for them. She is a joy to be around and no coincidence she has had your guidance all her life. Thank you for being such a great role model for all of us, and the future of golf. Although we have never worked together but I’ve known you since I was a junior golfer, and you’ve impacted me in ways you don’t know as well. Whether it’s a quick passing by on the range seeing me and a quick chat, or when you’re slammed with lessons and call me over to give me info about my swing. For all that and more you are the best.

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As George’s student for the past 6 years, to say that he has helped my golf game is an understatement. When I first came to him when I was 11, his way of teaching really intrigued me with all the technology he had including Trackman, his side/front swing cameras, and his large TV’s. With the technology and his ability to analyze my swing effectively, my game has really improved greatly in each stage of junior and amateur golf. George has been a critical part of my development as a player both physically and mentally as he has provided me great advice not only in golf but in life as well. I am definitely extremely grateful and blessed to have him as a coach, mentor, and friend.

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I have been working with George since I was 14. George has given me a tremendous amount of help with all parts of the game including the swing, short game and putting as well as the mental part of my game. George’s knowledge and experience gives him the ability to be direct and speak to what changes should be made to improve my performance. Most important, he loves what he does and he is driven by that love. He cares about, and checks scores, for every single tournament his players compete in, no matter how big or small the tournament is. The information and support he gives to his players is really valuable. George once told me that “a player doesn’t know how good a coach is, until they know how much he or she, cares.” He is really good at reading players minds, so be prepared to communicate. George and I have become good friends during our time spent together during the last few years.

My first lesson with George was 3 years ago. During my first few classes, George already corrected nearly unnoticeable but very crucial mistakes in just my set up that I had never even realized. His ability to recognize anything from small details to major mistakes has greatly improved the consistency of my swing. Furthermore, George has shown genuine care for my mental and wellbeing outside of lessons when I’m traveling for a golf tournament. He is always there to check in with how I am feeling before and after the rounds. Thanks to George, I am always able to find my confidence again and focus on my game. I am truly grateful for everything George has taught me in both golf and life.

Coach George has been a critical factor for my daughter, Angie Zhang, in her golf pursuit. Before our friend referred us to Coach George, Angie was at a standstill and shot in the upper 80s and even 90s with consistent back pain after her freshman Fall season in December 2019. That was very frustrating since she started golf late and had only been playing for two and half years. George graciously took her in and then trained her with his life-lessons, his advanced technology equipment, skillful instructions, and star-student- role-model setting. George quickly put her back on track for progress and health. Within a little over half year, he was able to get Angie's confidence back and she started shooting within 70s which was previously very rare for her. We are so lucky to be working with a truly talented coach. We could not thank George enough for devoting some of his time to Angie's interest!

My daughter Alice ziyi Zhao is lucky and proud to have George Pinnell as her golf coach, she likes his teaching very much. she improved much under his good teaching and is on the way to succeed as a junior golfer step by step. His way of teaching golf is very professional, and he is very experienced and nice with good personality. He not only teaches Alice the skill of golf technology , but also he teaches her mental guidance and how to become a good player. He knows how to encourage golfers to face the challenges and he knows everything about the growth of a good junior golfer in the process. He also teaches parents some advanced ideas about golf and how to become a good parent of a good golfer. we learned a lot from him. Thank you for all to George Pinnell!

For us, Coach George Pinnell has been the best coach ever to help my daughter Alesia Barry succeed as a junior golfer. He is very experienced and is truly an amazing person. And not only does he teach my daughter golf skills, he also coaches her on mental guidance and how to be a better person. And as a parent I learn quite a bit from him as well. He has a very personal style where he has individual chats with her, where he listens to her as much as she listens to him. This is where I think some of the best teaching happens. I only wish we could see him more often.

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