Anne Chouinard

Director of Golf

Canadian Golf Academy, PEI

Paying Attention to Details

Baseball’s Yogi Berra, the former Yankee great and Hall of Fame catcher, was perhaps best known for his misuse of the English language.

One of his best misquotes is: “Baseball is 90 per cent mental – the other half is physical.”

Anne Chouinard, director of golf at the Canadian Golf Academy, PEI, understands Berra’s intent, if the interpretation makes little sense.

She thinks the mental aspect of golf is huge, and no matter what the skill level, all golfers struggle at times “to remain in the moment.”

Unlike Berra, this Quebec City native, and former head professional for a decade at the Club De Golf Alpin Golf Course near her hometown, holds both a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Psychology from Laval University.

She has also completed numerous seminars and training courses in golf education from the PGA of America and the Canadian PGA.

She’s a former coach of LPGA Tour player Lorie Kane, whose PEI home is only a few miles away from the Academy. Chouinard was Canada’s Golf Instructor of the Year in 2003. And she became the first woman in 68 years to qualify to play the Quebec PGA Men’s Tour.

Chouinard is one of, if not the longest standing pro staffer on the TaylorMade and adidas team, joining up in 1987, a year after turning pro.

The Academy, which is located kitty corner to the Fox Meadow Golf Course, is a unique facility that offers half-day, one-day, two-day and three-day golf school instruction. Much of the business is referral, and according to Chouinard, a large number of attendees will return to the academy for further instruction.

One of the reasons is Chouinard; another is her excellent staff that includes Louie McCullough (Golf Clubmakers Association), and pros Justin Butt, Jeff Donovan, Sean Joyce, Jason Stagg, and Craig Taylor.

Chouinard has been at the Academy since inception 10 years ago, and she’s pleased that the percentage of male and female attendees is about 50/50.

Although plenty of time is spent on working the mechanics of the swing, improving a player’s short game, and fitting players with the proper equipment (Chouinard says about 95 per cent of attendees who go into a fitting session end up buying product – which is usually TaylorMade’s fine line of hard goods), it’s the mental aspect of the game that fascinates her.

What her schooling and years as a player and instructor has shown her is that players – especially amateurs – have trouble “staying in the present”.

It’s [the brain] like a muscle that you can train, she says.

If it takes 30 seconds to address your ball and hit it, Chouinard says you have to “get into a bubble, then hit it.” The time for relaxing or reflection is between shots.

There are a lot of traps out there, she says – the mental kind.

“It’s easy to get distracted by your score, or hitting a sprinkler head and your ball jumping into the bush, and always asking, ‘why me?’ she says.

Staying in the moment (she calls it zip locking) is what separates players from advancing to a new level of competence.

Whether it’s helping Kane with her game, or one of the attendees at the Academy, Chouinard said there’s lots of room for improvement in everyone’s game.

Having the best equipment, like the TaylorMade line is particularly important. And ladies – a growing demographic – are now fitted for play just as well as the men.

“I was impressed with TaylorMade equipment from the start, and I’m even more impressed how it performs today. TaylorMade pays attention to details,” she said.

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