Improve Your Golf Game with Pekiti-Tirsia

I received the following letter from one of my long time students, who marvels at how training in Pekiti-Tirsia can improve your stick work outside of the training hall:

Hey guru,
I know golf isn't your game, but i just wanted to pass on this bit of info that I have been forgetting to mention in class. Pekiti-Tirsia has totally improved my golf game. How you ask, well i will tell you. On my drives especially, i used to be tense and keep my shoulders up, this is not good for either Pekiti nor golf. Since working with you on keeping my shoulders down during Pekiti, i have done the same for my golf swing and it has made a huge difference. Plus, i practice the different angles with my golf clubs on the course between shots, this brings some pretty strange looks from both my playing partners as well as the other golfers on the course, but f**k 'em.


Thanks again for your help with the shoulder thang,
Larry

Well done Larry! Please keep us posted on your progress and we'll see you on the links.
Mabuhay! - Guro

...'The Summer's Goooooone...'

This summer has been busy as heck and I have had no time to update this blog - since my last post. Things aren’t any less busy now, but anyway:

* We promoted 3 well deserving individuals to the rank of Instructor (Guro), and one to Apprentice Instructor (Lakan Guro). Congratulations guys. You sure as hell earned it.

* We strengthened ties in various ways with our brethren in the United States, Europe, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia.

* Cikgu Omar Hakim and I recorded another Silat Kuntau Tekpi podcast by popular demand. Omar will hopefully have it up soon.

* We wrote and produced an official student manual with Rules and Regulations, History, Terminology, Lineage, and Protocol for our club.

* We accepted an unprecedented number of beginners this summer, and it looks like everyone is hanging in for the long haul.

And most importantly - we are teaching less and less. What this means is that every year or so, we are constantly revising our curriculum to include less ‘material’. The challenge is to produce a fully competent practitioner in a shorter period of time. It can be said that our Craft is not based on techniques, but rather on an understanding of theory and crucial body-mechanics. Therefore we have greatly stripped down the syllabus to address the core requirements, allowing the student to develop faster - plus there’s less stuff for us teachers to have to remember!

Alas, on a sad note, it looks like starting this week we will be back to training inside (damn!)

We have a busy fall lined up. I’ll try my best to keep everyone posted.