TEEING OFF: Nickol finds niche in golf coaching

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/07/2023 (985 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I did a double take when listening to one of the top golf podcasts in the United States as the hosts mentioned Manitoba.

Mike Shade of Chasing Scratch — a show by two guys now in their early 40s who tried to turn their 11 handicaps to zero in a year and are now on Season 6 — mentioned he had switched coaches to Winnipeg’s Jayson Nickol.

Shade lives in North Carolina, nowhere close to Winnipeg, but met Nickol when he attended one of their events in Texas about three years ago. Nickol was relatively new to teaching golf and posted up on the driving range, offering swing tips to anyone and everyone for free.

Then, Nickol would ask Shade for swing videos so he could break them down and it eventually led to coaching, through an app called Skillest. They’ve been working together for the better part of a year and Shade has certainly been impressed.

“It was clear from the get-go, Jayson’s the best guy ever,” he said, having since learned there’s way more to Nickol than meets the eye.

Nickol was an avid hockey and rugby player growing up and played golf casually. He joined the Winnipeg Rifles in 2005 and spent a few years at Canadian Forces Base Shilo with Princess Patricia’s Second Battalion before being shipped out to Afghanistan.

In 2008, an AK-47 round shattered his right femur and it required significant surgery.

He returned to golf as he recovered and won a bronze medal for Canada at the 2017 Invictus Games in Toronto.

Nickol felt inspired to coach other golfers. Since his injury impacted his golf swing, he realized the importance of adapting to players’ bodies and limitations.

“Having that background himself, he’s very open to different ways of getting the job done. That’s refreshing,” Shade said.

“What I love so much about Jayson is … he loves coaching so much and you can just tell.

“I used to think I was bugging him … but I know I’m not bothering him because he’s so enthusiastic about his students improving that it’s fun to be a part of.”

To give context, Chasing Scratch started like many podcasts, a fairly light-hearted, amateur production. Self-deprecating humour about the seemingly insurmountable quest Shade and co-host Eli Strait took on was and is still somewhat commonplace.

But over the years, they’ve acquired sponsorship deals with Athletic Greens, Vuori clothing, Goodr sunglasses and Titleist. Yes, the Titleist that makes the ProV1 ball.

They’ve flown across the U.S. for club fittings and hosted events to play with listeners in southern Ontario and even Ireland.

It’s grown so much bigger than it would have if they succeeded, and towards the end of Season 5, they realized how important it is to love the journey, not just the end goal.

Nickol fits that MO terrifically.

“The last thing I want any of my students to do is stop enjoying golf. My catch phrase ‘Have way more fun out there.’ Sometimes it’s managing expectations … that gives you the ability to play better golf,” Nickol said.

He’s a technical coach with a strong emphasis on making one small change at a time and letting those add up to a fundamentally sound swing. It’s easier said than done.

“If you try to jump from one thing to the next, one never gets into a good spot and becomes engrained before you try to add the next one,” Nickol said.

“We live in such a society where everything’s so instant. No one wants to work for four to six months on one thing so you can get it in a good spot to work on the next thing.”

Nickol doesn’t teach players to swing a “traditional” way and doesn’t coach a traditional way either. He started during the COVID-19 pandemic, using a golf simulator he built at his house to film content for social media and videos to send to students on Skillest.

Once, he realized one of his athletes sent a video from Winnipeg’s Golf Dome and asked if he’d like an in-person lesson. They had one and the student said he preferred the online format as he felt anxious about having someone watch him hit the ball.

Nickol also likes having some time to slow a video down and analyze it, rather than make suggestions in the moment.

His desire to help people is evident and multi-faceted. He just hosted his annual Swings for Soldiers golf tournament at Winnipeg’s Niakwa Country Club, where he’s a member. The proceeds go to Solider On, a program that helps ill or injured soldiers return to active lifestyles.

That passion is why he’s helping a podcast with more than 23,000 Twitter followers chase an admirable goal. Nickol says Shade and Strait make it easy to invest time into them. “Both Mike and Eli are just awesome humans. When you talk to people in media or movies … you’re always like ‘Man, is that how they really are in real life?” Nickol said.

“Mike and Eli are unbelievable. They’re so nice and willing to do basically whatever they can to help people get better at golf along their journey to try to become scratch golfers.

“It’s pretty crazy from where they started to where they’re at. To be a part of it is definitely a cool thing.”