About TheHeartofGolf.com...and Rick & Christy Semple...
Who We Are...
TheHeartofGolf.com is an online resource for recreational golfers looking for a practical, straightforward approach to achieving lasting improvement in their golf game and their total golf experience. Our ideas and attitudes can be helpful to both novice and experienced golfers, particularly those feeling overwhelmed or negative about their abilities and progress. Any golfer who has tried various aids and "fixes" only to get short-term success will find ideas that can lead to enduring improvement here. And any golfer seeking a more positive outlook and experience of the game will benefit as well. At TheHeartofGolf.com, we too have experienced the frustration, the mechanical "overload," and the negativity during our golfing lives and we have found positive ideas and attitudes to change our outlook and improve our golf, which we pass along through articles, a newsletter, and quick-read golf books. These various publications center on the "thinking" aspects, and we pair the mental side with practical mechanical solutions. We realize that learning to play better golf is a dynamic, ongoing desire for most people who play the game. TheHeartofGolf.com intends to complement this universal desire with a continuing series of new ideas and thoughts to enhance your outlook and technique and ultimately your score. After all, golf is like life, and we all have the ability to experience it better.
Our Mission...
Our mission is to enable fellow golfers to achieve lasting improvement in their golf game and total golf experience by leading them to the true heart of better golf, which is rooted in their thoughts and feelings, and opening their receptivity to the flow of improved golf fundamentals, new golf techniques, and greater confidence. This is accomplished through a unique blend of new mental attitudes paired with mechanical tips and drills that are presented through quick-read golf improvement guides, booklets, articles, and other training aids and tools that are practical, straightforward and easy to use by golfers of any experience level who are seeking a more positive outlook and greater enjoyment of the game.
Origins...
Rick Semple was practically born with a golf club in his hands. Encouraged by his golf-loving parents, he began hitting golf balls at the age of three. Throughout his formative years, he spent afternoons, weekends, and vacations playing golf. He was profoundly influenced by his parents, who had complete love and respect for the game. They passed along many positive and poignant lessons about golf, sportsmanship, and life during their collective time together on the course. Early on, they encouraged a can-do attitude and approach. They taught Rick to always be open and receptive to new ideas and techniques.
Rick went on to play on the golf team in high school and at Duke University. He remained an avid golfer as an adult, winning a few tournaments over the years. After forty-plus years in the game, however, some major challenges still remained for Rick, like his slice. For years, he searched in vain for a mechanical fix. Then, family illness took Rick away from the game for the better part of a decade. Returning to golf, his efforts continued, but meager results caused his frustration and tension levels to increase. His confidence plummeted. The harder he tried, the worse things got. He considered quitting altogether.
Then Rick came to a turning point. It dawned on him that it was time to get back to the heart of golf - those ideas and attitudes that his parents had passed on to him. With a renewed attitude, Rick was inspired to try something different. He began using mental techniques to improve his game, an approach he had avoided in the past because he was too busy looking for strictly mechanical answers. Rick started the process by simply identifying and changing a couple of his habitual thought patterns which he believed were most limiting to his improvement. He re-discovered the can-do attitude that his parents had instilled in him years earlier. Positive results came quickly and changes began to happen in his swing. From there, Rick extended the practice to additional thoughts and attitudes, causing positive effects in all aspects of his game.
Rick proved to himself that once he addressed the mental aspects, the mechanical adjustments started to flow. He became more receptive and relaxed. New ideas for change came to him. Tips which did not work before now worked for him. And, he was more confident and able to enjoy the game like he had as a kid.
This approach was so basic, straightforward, and successful that Rick wanted to share it with other golfers so they could benefit from his experience. From this desire the golf improvement guides were born, starting with Change Your Thinking, Stop Your Slice. The response to Rick's practical blend of new mental attitudes and beliefs, paired with the traditional mechanical approach, has been most encouraging, and guides covering other major topics of interest are on the way. Rick has also teamed up with his wife, Christy, a positivity advocate and avid new golfer to create the Positive Golf Newsletter and Can-Do series of golf products for children.
Rick continues to enjoy the day-to-day learning and application of positive-oriented ideas and attitudes to improve his game (and his life). He can often be found on the practice tee or the course trying new drills, practicing with his wife, inspiring the can-do attitude in young people, or passing along wisdom to other fellow golfers seeking a path to better golf.