About Academy

Training Facility

The 12,000 square foot putting green stands out amongst the rest of the short game facilities and proves that Zion Hills Golf County means business. Being one of the few courses with top quality bent grass greens, keeping them in shape is usually the biggest challenge. Zion Hills Golf County has risen to this challenge and does a great job of it. There is never a compromise on the maintenance of the facility. Even a small detail like the quality of range balls used is taken care of.

With fantastic grass tees and bent grass greens, this is truly a budding golfers paradise. For a coach who wants to produce high quality golfers, being backed by such a facility makes a world of difference.

The 9 hole golf course with its large bent grass greens provides the players with a fair amount of challenges especially when the wind is up. The players can test their skills and all-round game on the course which has been set up beautifully by Ronald Freem, who is one of the top golf course designers in the world today. With long and short term stay options players can come in for various training programs and not have to worry about their living arrangements. There is no greater luxury for a budding golfer to be able to walk to the driving range every day.

Team of Experts

"To be the best player, one has to work with the best."

Keeping this aspect in mind, Tarun has chosen his team of experts with utmost care and attention. His team of experts are known to be the best in their field of expertise. All the programs are designed to provide individual attention to the students. The experts meet with the students for one-on-one evaluation and consultation every month, and sometimes twice a month.

Sports Science: At TSG Academy, a state of the art functional training center has been set-up to help the athletes train more efficiently and achieve results faster. Functional training helps players adapt to their core activity, in this case golf, enabling them to perform the same more easily and without injury. Functional training helps players adapt to their core activity, in this case golf, enabling them to perform the same more easily and without injury. The golfers train in various aspects of sport fitness like mobility, stability, strength, flexibility, agility and speed. The team, which includes strength and conditioning experts as well as physiotherapists live on campus and works closely with the coaching team to optimize player performance.
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Nutrition: Ryan Fernando and his team from Qua Nutrion look after the nutritional requirements of our athletes. Nutrition management is vital for performance. With the right nutrition, recovery becomes quick and easy given the rigorous golf and fitness schedule that each student follows, whether at the academy or on tour. Qua designs the menu at the academy ensuring that the the athlete’s food intake through the day is well balanced. Once a month, personal counselling sessions are also conducted to teach the athletes what quantities are permissible and what super foods are right for their body. Our students are also given a traveling food chart to follow while on tour.

Club Fitting: Club fitting is more than just picking a club off the shelf. Any student will learn this as soon as they meet Nikhil Raj. Nikhil is a certified Club Fitter and brings in tour level knowledge and skills to TSG. A players technique, equipment and fitness needs to be observed dynamically to properly assess the impacts of equipment changes or new purchases. Nikhil has extensive experience in working with juniors and professionals playing on the PGA, Asian Tour, PGTI, WGAI and LET. Nikhil owns ClubWorks, India's only internationally certified fitting and repair company. ClubWorks carries out quarterly checks on individual club specifications to ensure that the players are getting the most out of their clubs. Nikhil also conducts seminars for the players to improve their understanding of the equipment they use.

Mind training: It has become imperative to reduce clutter in the mind to help our students have a singular thought and stay in the present when they are on the ball. Our aim with mind training is to get the students to become more aware of their thinking and recognise the thoughts that create clutter. We will then be well on our way to creating stronger minds, stronger individuals and stronger golfers. Yoga and meditation sessions are conducted every Sunday at the academy. Vijay Dhruv is a senior yoga therapist and conducts the sessions himself.

Residences and Dining

Our residence facility spans 8 villas. The villas have 3 air-conditioned bedrooms each. Each bedroom has 2 or 3 /4 beds based on the room size. Each student is given a single bed, a wardrobe and a side table. The villas are fully equipped with a refrigerator, microwave, water filter, washing machine and dryer. Students are encouraged to do their own laundry and make their bed every morning. Apart from this, there is a lounge and recreation room where they can relax by jamming if they are musicians or play a game of table tennis, carom, foosball, chess etc. There is also sufficient quiet space for students to meditate in the mornings.

The dining hall is where the staff and students gather for their meals. It is a space built to relax and enjoy a conversation with ones peers. It is integral to building a sense of community and camaraderie. The menu for the month is decided ahead (and put up in the dining hall) by our nutritionist, and every meal (all 6 meals across everyday) is balanced as per the requirements of the young golfers. Our nutritionist does regular surprise checks on the food and audits the kitchen and staff for hygiene and quality which leaves no room for slack.

Academics

At the Academy, a student is not allowed to think that academics is "secondary" or any "lesser" than golf just because he is training here. We are of the firm belief that academics is important and we are here to help a student schedule his time to ensure he gets the most out of his golf and fitness training while also pursuing academics.

We work with athletes who either:

• Want to play golf professionally, and/or
• Want to leverage their golf for a scholarship abroad

We have multiple partners who understand the training rigour at the academy and Parents and Students have the flexibility to choose a curriculum and school that suits their aspirations. The student can pursue the same online from his base at TSG Academy. Our role will be to schedule his golf training and tournament schedule to ensure the student has time for his studies. While at the academy 3-4 hours of studies preferably in the second half of the day always works best.

We also have a counselling partner for college placements who is well versed in helping the student with his subject choices from grade 9 upwards. College placements in the UK and US need careful consideration and planning ahead, whether for college golf or just academics.

Security

Students are not allowed to travel on campus unaccompanied. A staff member either accompanies them or they follow the buddy system and move in groups between the residences, the practice area, the school and the fitness center. A walkie-talkie is placed in every villa for students to use and reach any staff member if required. TSG pays utmost care and caution about student safety and all the students and parents are provided with the expected TSG code of conduct at the time of admission.

Coaching Team

The key to success at any academy is a cohesive coaching team with a clear understanding of the academy's philosophy. Tarun Sardesai, the Director of Instruction and Co-Founder, continually works with the coaches to ensure that everyone speaks the same language. Regular knowledge sharing sessions for the coaching staff are conducted to get them informed with the recent and latest developments in the world of Golf technique and technology.

A strong coaching staff will always be able to ensure that the players receive good information that helps them improve faster and be the best that they can be.

When a student walks onto the driving range for his practice session, there is no guesswork because they have been given a plan for every hour that they are practicing. The team of coaches is present through the practice sessions to supervise the same. The coaches also go on the golf course with the students regularly to study their game.

The coaching team manages the tournament schedule of each player too. This helps them know and plan the training accordingly.

Tracking Player Progress

Tarun conducts player meetings at regular intervals to help the players understand the requirements and what it takes to be elite sports persons. The topics discussed may range from dealing with pressure, discipline, practice routines and the importance of humility. Tarun believes that the biggest challenge at the academy is to produce world-class individuals and if he can do that then the golf will just flow. It is through these meetings that he looks to motivate the players to be the best that they can be.

The team of experts on nutrition, club fitting and sports science also conduct player meetings. These sessions are aimed at arming the students with good knowledge and information about what it takes to keep the mind, body, and the equipment they use, in shape – how to recognize when something is not on the mark, to create awareness about their thoughts and how to control them both on and off the golf course, to give them tools that equip them to deal with contingencies like dehydration, loading up on the right foods in the weeks prior to back-to-back tournaments, what to eat during the round and after, dealing with negative thoughts, fear and anxiety etc., training them to recognize changes that they are going through, whether deliberate or otherwise.

Player Meetings

Tarun conducts player meetings at regular intervals to help the players understand the requirements and what it takes to be elite sports persons. The topics discussed may range from dealing with pressure, discipline, practice routines and the importance of humility. Tarun believes that the biggest challenge at the academy is to produce world-class individuals and if he can do that then the golf will just flow. It is through these meetings that he looks to motivate the players to be the best that they can be.

The team experts on nutrition, club fitting, sports science and psychology also conduct player meetings. These sessions are aimed at arming the students with good knowledge and information about what it takes to keep the mind, body, and the equipment they use, in shape – how to recognize when something is not on the mark, to create awareness about their thoughts and how to control them both on and off the golf course, to give them tools that equip them to deal with contingencies like dehydration, loading up on the right foods in the weeks prior to back-to-back tournaments, what to eat during the round and after, dealing with negative thoughts, fear and anxiety etc., training them to recognize changes that they are going through, whether deliberate or otherwise.

Technology & More

Indoor Training Studio

The indoor training studio is a critical element of any elite training academy and TSG has the SAM Putt LAB, the Flightscope X3 and the SAM Balance LAB all of which when combined can take care of the diagnostic needs of all high level golfers.

Tarun works with the players to get a better understanding of their technique, which may not be visible to the naked eye or the video camera. The student and Tarun together determine when such an intervention is necessary.

AimPoint: AimPoint Green Reading is more than just the World's #1 Green Reading system–it's a putting solution that integrates Read, Speed, and Aim. Tour players, amateurs, and juniors in over 40 countries and on every major tour have turned to AimPoint as the way to lower scores. Don’t let putting be a mystery anymore, understand break, speed, and aim quickly and learn what it feels like to have complete confidence over any putt.

Being a Level certified trainer in Aimpoint, Tarun knows well to exploit Aimpoint for his student’s performance.

"Read" will teach you how to read break like a seasoned professional. Appropriate for any age or playing level. ‘Aim’ will teach you what factors change your aim and start line and will guide you on how to fix these issues yourself. It will fine-tune your ability to roll the ball on your intended line and to diagnose problems. ‘Speed’ will teach you how to understand changing speed conditions, uphill and downhill adjustments, and how to train yourself.

ShotsToHole: ShotsToHole.com is the ultimate high performance golf statistics, analysis, training and player management tool designed to help golfers achieve their goals. Tour Professionals, National Teams, University Teams, Golf Academies, Elite Amateurs and Golfers of all abilities use ShotsToHole to track performance in competition and practice rounds.

For any student of TSG Academy the use of this software is mandatory and gives the coach a way to gauge the discipline level of that particular student.

Player Stationery: TSG Academy has customized stationery for the different processes that students need to follow. This stationery helps them to never forget what they are working on and have access to the right formats to input their observations whether on the driving range or on the golf course. Every student of the academy is handed over a set of material at the start of their term and are trained on how to use it.

Intra Academy Competition

The essence of a good player is his/her ability to manage the game under competitive stress. Students at TSG Academy are encouraged to compete against each other through regular intra-academy competition. This helps the students understand their current skill level and also lets them learn through a post round self-evaluation that we call error detection.

Infirmary

The Academy has a 4-bed infirmary with a full time nurse on campus available for assistance. Regular drills are done by an ambulance from Kolar in case of an emergency. Kolar is home to the renowned Sri Devaraj Urs Medical College, which is reassuring as good medical help is not far away.

Student Development

The academy strives to create a few new experiences outside golf for the students as often as possible. Since 2018 we have successfully done a few interesting activities. A visit to the Volvo bus factory in Bangalore that included a shop floor walk and an interactive session between Volvo’s senior management and our students on Performance, Excellence and Competition: Drawing parallels between the Automotive Industry and Sport/Golf.

We also conduct an annual Table Tennis group championship event with the final round requiring players to compete with their non-dominant hand. The intent here is to build camaraderie and given the format it was fun all the way.

The salsa workshop conducted by Lourd Vijay of Lourd Vijay's dance studio was an all out fun activity to shake the students out of their daily routines. The workshop included a talk on resilience as the host also shared his life’s experience on having to undergo an organ transplant.

An EQ workshop conducted by psychotherapist and process work consultant Sophie Christopher helped students answer what it means to live with the same people you compete with. This workshop was specially curated for the students of TSG.

World Environment Day 2021 saw the students doing different things – make paper from waste, do a no-waste-bake, compose a song and put it to music etc. For Children’s Day, our band came together to showcase their talent, and a bunch of students showed off skills such as solving the rubics cube in record time, choreography and rapping!

We welcome ideas and people who want to share their expertise with the students to help them widen their sphere of thought.