While watching him warm-up, I saw immediately that his ball flight was noticeably weak.  He was flying a 7-iron about 125 yards, yet his swing technique was decent.  After a few swings I complimented the gentleman on his swing mechanics.

He quickly turned to me and said, “Yes, swing looks good, but ball goes bad.”

From that instant on, I knew that in order to make a positive impact on peoples’ games, that there was far more to it than “pretty swing”, and that it was up to me to find the solution.

I am committed to help you improve.

No longer considered just a "teaching pro", one who gives golf "lessons", Ben Jackson has become one of the hottest names in instruction with innovative concepts that have captured an international following.

Not that student success is new. He's always been cutting edge in getting players to perform. "Definitely different, definitely better", as one student put it. His passion and commitment to his students is legendary.

A native Texan, Jackson was a serious student and serious athlete in several sports of which golf was only one. A graduate of the University of Texas, his route to professional golf followed that of a professional classroom teacher, track coach and football coach/athletic director in Texas high schools.

He served as an assistant on the football staffs of  Bum Phillips and Buddy Ryan,  both of NFL coaching renown, before becoming a head coach. All the while, he was an outstanding amateur golfer.

Golf finally won. Initially, teaching golf was a means to finance a playing career,  but helping athletes perform closer to potential is a habit that's hard to break. He's taught private lessons, clinics and golf schools all over the U.S., in Canada and in Europe. He has taught many certification programs for aspiring teaching professionals has tutored many to outstanding teaching careers, including the late Julius Richardson (Golf Magazine Top 100, Black Golfers Hall of Fame).

Jackson is a former vice-president of the USGTA (now United States Golf Teachers Federation), and was one of the first to earn Master Teacher certification. He was also one of the first teaching professionals named to the staff of Callaway Golf.

He is a former director of Florida Golf Schools, and served as club professional and teaching professional at Stonington Country Club, Stonington, CT from its opening in 1993 through 2005. In 2006 Jackson opened his performance center at the Golf Pavilion in Ashaway, RI.

Like the sport of golf, Ben's career has evolved as players of all levels discovered that his knowledge of lowering scores by improving ball response - added distance and improved accuracy through increased clubhead speed - was the key to improvement in today's power game. The culmination of his long study and research is his TRAINING ON THE EDGE program - FASTFIRST.

Good news travels fast in golf circles and now his players come from all over the world and every state - from novices to world-class professionals. As demand increased, the E-Coaching program emerged for those players who can't travel immediately to the performance center. Since it's inception hundreds of players have successfully applied the FASTFIRST principles and improved significantly.

Jackson's list of professionals include Scott Smith, world-record holder in the long drive (539 yards established in LDA competition) and Sean "The Beast" Fister, three time world champion in LDA. Long known for his development of junior golfers, he has had many playing at the collegiate level. He has developed many club champions, state champions and has successfully worked with players on the Cleveland Tour, Futures Tour, Nationwide Tour and PGA Tour.

His research in human performance is well documented. Along the way Jackson has collaborated with those who have left their own marks in golf including:

• John Novosel, author and developer of Tour Tempo
• Al Dilz, Sports Sensors, developer of Swing Speed Radar
• the late legendary Mike Austin whose fame continues to spread
• Kelvin Miyahira, inventor of the Speed Chain
• John Rhodes, coach of many PGA Tour players

                              
"My pal, John Novosel, helped me tremendously  when he invented the XLR8R, which I started using with students in 1990. It is a unique form of variable resistance training - the faster you strike the target, the more resistance you're overcoming without danger of injury.

Training with the XLR8R (aka "Speedball") is terrific because it also takes the golf ball out of the learning experience. Training solely with a golf ball quite often turns the ball into the enemy of progress. The very thing the player  needs to control can easily take control of the player, and often does."

"I didn't write Tour Tempo, but I did live it's development with John, and it is dedicated to me, for which I am extremely grateful. With it's  introduction in 2004, we brought forth two principles of timing - elite players are and always have been faster than others, and elite players do and have always swung in a 3 to 1 ratio, backswing to forward swing."


"In 2003, my friend Al Dilz, a retired radar engineer who had worked in the space program, introduced the SSR (Swing Speed Radar). The SSR was far better than anything that had come before, and enabled me to validate clubhead speed. One and a half years later, he brought forward the SSR with Tempo Timer, (SSR-TT), which was another milestone in my work with players. 
 
Since then we've been able to quantify results not only in miles per hour, but also in hundredths of seconds. Again, the time-to-speed relationship is fundamental to efficiency in creating force and accuracy in performing golf swings."

                                                                              
"In early 2005, Kelvin Miyahira introduced me to his 
 invention, the Speed Chain, and shortly thereafter to  the Torso Burner.  The two training devices are further examples of variable resistance training, and I'm grateful for them and for his input and friendship. He, along with partner, Zane Swensen, (left) a club professional in South Dakota, have been of great assistance."

"In addition, the late, great Mike Austin encouraged me to 'stay the course, and put some fight in that golf club'."

The FASTFIRST concept has become recognized worldwide. This fusion of technique, timing and training to develop speed and power is considered golf improvement's new frontier.