"I enjoy the look on students’ faces when they perform a skill correctly for the first time," says Brisbane, who recommends golfers of all levels find an instructor they can trust and do what they say to improve. Golfers taking lessons from Brisbane can expect honest, straightforward answers and a good solution to their golf problems. "I like the phone calls I get from students telling me they just shot a personal best score," says Brisbane, "and I like the feeling I get when I know my diagnosis of a students problem is perfect, and we can then work together toward great improvement."

Students most often come to Brisbane looking for more consistency. According to Brisbane, many of them believe there’s just one little problem keeping them from being a scratch player. After a lesson with Brisbane, who gives it to ‘em straight, many find they have a lot to work on to continuously improve. "People like the way I explain what I am looking for in the first lesson," notes Brisbane. "Then we figure out where they stand. They like the fact that I am a cause and effect instructor. They appreciate my patience, too."

Brisbane doesn’t get to practice his own game nearly as much as he’d like, but he enjoys focusing on students and working on improving his teaching with every lesson. Self-motivated with a strong desire to just keep getting better, Brisbane has played in several assistants championships and Dixie PGA Section Championships. That experience has served him well in passing the mental and physical skills of the game along to his students.

"I am currently working with a young doctor," says Brisbane, "who had never played golf before. In the first two lessons, I think he made contact once. He and I first built his preswing fundamentals, then began to develop the correct pivot motion. Now, after roughly five months (seven lessons), his motion is terrific and he makes contact 100 percent of the time. And the biggest majority of the shots he makes go where he wants them to go."

Brisbane’s favorite shot to make is a 40- to 70-yard wedge with enough room to hit it low into the green, let it skip once and then grab and spin. Not surprisingly, difficult shots for Brisbane are high soft lobs, as those stand in complete contrast to the shots he loves most. One of Brisbane’s finest shots happened while he was playing in a scramble in college. He faced a short par 4 that was drivable except there were two large, deep ditches in front of the green which made it a carry of 295 yards. "With about 30 people watching, I drove the green," smiles Brisbane.

Typically dressed in khaki pants and a white shirt, Brisbane enjoys playing golf whenever he can. His favorite course is Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head, South Carolina. An Alabama native, Brisbane currently resides in Birmingham with his wife of 2 years, Melissa. For more information on how you can continuously improve your golf game with Brisbane, write michaelbrisbane@cs.com.Thanks, Michael!