By Vinnie Manginelli, PGA
Brian Williams recently left the world of green grass to open his own facility. At Mind Body Swing, in Prairieville, Louisiana, Williams offers in-person and online programming to improve the performance of his diverse student base. There, he implements a holistic approach to game improvement through personalized coaching and mindset training, helping students master mental game strategies for peak performance.
“I was 11 years old when I started playing golf,” Williams explains, “when my grandmother, who lived in Atlanta, got me into the game. Every time we would visit her, she would hand me a putter to use in her living room, and I fell in love with the game.”
Williams grew up in Cut Off, Louisiana, where his dad was a charter fisherman. He says that nine members of his family played golf but recalls an invitation to play nine holes with a friend of his when he was 11.
“The local golf pro took me under his wing,” he recalls, and my parents got me my first set of golf clubs. I remember my mother would drop me off at the course, and I would walk 36-54 holes every day during the summer.”
Williams played several sports growing up but decided to focus on golf in 9th grade when he “realized being tall was never going to be in the cards for him.” Rob Noel, a five-time Gulf States PGA Section Teacher of the Year and 2014 Section Youth Player Development Award winner, was his swing instructor.
“I would go see him once a week,” Williams recalls. “I loved golf so much. I loved hitting golf balls. I loved working on my game. My parents had to drag me off the golf course. The nine-hole golf course hired me one summer when I was 14 years old to move tee markers, wash carts and help clean the golf shop. They let me play for free, and it was the coolest thing in the world!”
After playing college golf at Nicholls State University, Williams felt burned out with golf. He got married in college and considered pursuing a degree from the New Orleans Baptist Seminary. He was going to be a pastor. After the arrival of his first child, he got a call about a part-time golf shop role at a local nine-hole course. He felt this could be a good opportunity to get back into golf and fell in love with it all over again. He’d wash carts, open the golf shop and play nine holes in the afternoon. The head golf professional, BJ Antill, took him under his wing and started mentoring him. Williams then had the opportunity to be the assistant superintendent of the course, which he also loved. When Antill left for a job in North Carolina, Williams was offered the head golf professional position.
“I thought I won the lottery,” Williams says. “I would wake up before my alarm to get in my golf clothes to show up. I couldn’t believe this was real life. I regained a love for the game. Soon after, I was offered the head golf professional job at Pelican Point Golf Club in Baton Rouge. So, I convinced my wife to move our one-year-old and three-month-old children.”
Pelican Point was a 27-hole facility, and it was there that Williams earned PGA membership. Once in Baton Rouge, Williams connected with all the local golf professionals. Gamon Manne, the 2018 Gulf States PGA Section Golf Professional of the Year, took him under his wing. Manne was the PGA of America Head Golf Professional at The Country Club of Louisiana at the time. Williams would start working for Manne two years later, which turned into him becoming the 4th ever head golf professional at the prestigious high-end private club.
“It was here that I realized I always wanted to be my own boss and open a training academy. After all, I loved teaching golf, and I love people, but the position I was in rarely gave me the opportunity to teach.”
With limited time available to spend with his family and missing too many of his son’s baseball games, this decision was made even easier.
“We purchased a new house that had a 1,500 square-foot shop in it that the previous owners used as a business,” Williams says. “I convinced my wife that I would quit the highest job I could attain to start my own teaching academy. I would change the way golf was taught and be the husband and father I was meant to be. She supported me!”
The name of the company is Mind Body Swing. There, Williams helps golfers create a structured plan to achieve their goals. He feels most golfers don’t even know what their goals are. At Mind Body Swing, Williams creates a customizable plan for their mental game, as well as workout, nutrition and practice plans. He has also created an accountability tracking system to help students track their progress.
“This has been so rewarding because I am seeing 50-year-old 12.9 handicappers become single-digit handicappers in six months. We’re celebrating the wins. I’m watching five-year-old kids fall in love with golf because it is cool to hit into a 15-foot screen,” Williams explains.
“I get to work out with a 77-year-old man who blew out both knees and now wants to get back into the game and beat his age. I freaking love this game! In what other sport do you get to do this?”
Williams uses a Full Swing launch monitor and simulator and Onform for videoing. He has a workout facility as well. Now open for seven months, Williams is now teaching more than 200 lessons per month and is bringing in a second instructor.
When asked about future trends in the game, Williams had this to say, “Indoor golf is the future – climate control and getting actual feedback. This is what’s growing the game, making it fun and increasing junior golf participation. Juniors don’t like going to the range where there are 100 other people, most of them frustrated that they’re even out there.”
As he grows Mind Body Swing, a business he started out of a love for his family, as well as for the game of golf, Brian Williams says that people just want you to care. He says they don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care…and that’s how he’s Bringing New Golfers to the Range!
For more information about Mind Body Swing, log on to its website today!
