This is going to be a series of articles that I am going to break down into several parts.
It is something that for those who read it, realize that Miki Rapado and the Handmade Custom Clubs work system It is something unique in the country.
I have been thinking for some time why I receive so many signs of support from many of you through the networks and some of you ask me what makes HCC different from the rest of the business of clubfitting and clubmaking what is in the country.
Which before starting we must respect the philosophy but not the forms
THE EASY…
It would be criticizing what other colleagues are doing and trying to expose them.
Something that from my point of view is falling very low and having very little shame. If I have to say something about it, it is not a problem for me to say it, having to do that to constantly discredit the prestige of a colleague in the profession is very sad.
A good way to start this article is to say…
From here friends and colleagues do not do it, dedicate yourselves to doing your job with the passion, emotion and determination that I have been doing since 2005.
Miki Rapado, is the person who is writing this article, I am a person who loves, I fight and I enjoy my hobby, which luckily is my job with the passion that nobody is going to argue with me.
WHAT IS THE VALUE OF WORKING WITH MIKI RAPADO WHAT DON'T OTHERS GIVE YOU?
Academically I want to explain where my way of working with players comes from.
And the value that I bring to everything I do, but for this I must explain to you that I am a University Diploma in Physical Education, and that I have up to the third year of Psychology.
I am passionate about sports, biomechanics and health.
With that, what I want to tell you is that my work philosophy encompasses many parameters that I take into account when looking for a suitable product for a player and that he obtains the maximum performance, among them are:
- CONSISTENCY
- PERFORMANCE
- HEALTH (prevention of present and future injuries)
My knowledge acquired during the last 25 years of my life has served me first to have a quality that few fitters have, and that teachers acquire with years of experience.
In addition, I realize many things that others do and I try not to make the mistakes that they make, even though I know that I make them every day but at a much more demanding level.
I focus on my mistakes, on how not to make them, something that makes me grow and be more self-demanding every day.
When a person sells himself as a craftsman, that means he knows how to make golf clubs, but…
…if you only know how to make clubs, fitting is something they probably don't have as much control over.
With this I do not want you to understand that they do not know, that they do know but not at the level and with the training to do it at a high level.
When I started and learned to assemble clubs with the specifications that I proposed and I did, I thought I was a craftsman, but over time I realized that this was very good and with it I obtained what we label in networks as #mikirapadosignature
And in fact when I have to teach part of my method to the only apprentice I've ever had, to things I can't explain because they are solutions learned over time and thanks to all the players who gave me incredible feedback with their swings. From here I thank you.
Is being a craftsman really a differential of a clubmaker?
For me all clubmakers are, what the word says, manufacturers of golf clubs, not artisans, the commercial brands have people who make their clubs who are clubmakers, and this does not mean that the vast majority have high technical knowledge, as I can have in my case, but they know what they are doing and what the manufacturer asks them to mount with parameters and with the tolerances that the brand requires.
The clubmaker who knows how to do everything, he knows how to solve the different problems that the player needs, carry out all kinds of repairs and master all the necessary techniques to be able to help the players and clients that we have.
This does not mean that I have absolute knowledge, but I do have the experience to solve a very high level of problems that players may have.
You will ask yourself …. Where did Miki acquire this quality from?
As many of you know, I was dedicated to high-level sports and specifically to the javelin throw and when analyzing the technique it was necessary to have a very high level of technical and visual analysis, therefore I have the right eyes to analyze gestures at very high speed. .
If we relate it to golf then there is something else that will make you think that there is something else that adds a little more, in my family both my father and my brother are professional players, and in the case of my brother, one of the most talented people in the Balearic Islands and who collaborate with me in the teaching part of HCC.
Currently coach of the Balearic Golf Federation. He is another technical madman, a perfectionist and as I say we end up feeding back.
If we later adapt that to the fact that technically in Golf, I am crazy about different swing techniques and different theories, then what had to happen happens that just by seeing a few golf swings from the player I see biomechanically with my eyes and the failures that the player has in the swing.
Those who do not know me do not know that I am a mad about biomechanics and physics, which makes me constantly think about why the player behaves in his movement in the backswing and downswing with the golf club.
Stay with this information since it is one of the parts that for me is a reference when making the fitting.
This is something that a course of golf clubfitter You don't learn it, and in a clubmaker either.
This does not mean that I have not trained as a clubmaker and as a clubfitter since 2006.
I have been in continuous training in the USA, UK and other places in the world.
In addition to continuous training since every day I dedicate an hour a day in a mandatory way in my agenda to test material, try new techniques and materials.
But where I know that my growth makes me different from others is in something very simple and that has become my philosophy of life.
The knowledge and experience acquired is not an absolute truth but a motivation to continue learning and knowing more every day.
personal philosophy by Miki Rapado
I feel that with my age and the knowledge I have acquired, I still do not know enough about my profession to consider myself a TEACHER.
But that is what makes me improve, not settling for what I know and continuing to learn a little more every day.
When I go to the award ceremonies in the USA and I find that the youngest person with knowledge at the same level and experience is me, I feel privileged and it motivates me to learn more, since being among the best in the world for the last 4 years being present or not at the awards is very motivating.
Because if you don't know the guys who receive these awards are people all over 50 and especially over 60 years. Interesting right?
They are the true MASTERS for me and I constantly learn from them, since when I have any doubts they are like open books, and they advise you on different methods or forms of assembly, with different techniques.
In this article I am going to try to explain something beyond fitting and my work process, since when I work with a player I only try one thing:
«That my client has the best experience of his life in golf and that later he can meet me on a course and we greet each other with esteem and naturally. This is synonymous with the fact that they will later recommend my services to friends who want to live an experience like the one I give at Golf Son Gual.«
In the next chapter I will explain THE PROCESS and because there is no one who imitates my method no matter how much they say it, since as you will have been able to see in this article the experiences lived and the learning process has been a long process.
And I continue learning every day with passion and determination, knowing that my knowledge is still not what I would like to have...
Write in comments what you think of the article, but I ask you please to do so freely and politely...
© Miki Rapado ®, 2020
