Greg Payne - Hitting Instuctor

Greg Payne - Hitting Instuctor Greg Payne has been giving hitting lessons for 30 years. As a player, he was an exceptional gap to gap contact hitter with occasional power.

He believes that the hitter is their own best hitting coach and he teaches his hitters how to coach themselves.

06/10/2026

When a kid comes to me for lessons, I almost always have to fix mechanical flaws in their swings.

I mean, duh, right? It’s hitting LESSONS so of course we spend a lot of time on his mechanics.

But that’s where a lot of instructors stop.

I don’t because I know that mechanics are only part of what makes up a great hitter. We spend A LOT of time learning to THINK like a hitter.

So if you’re spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on lessons and the mental side of hitting isn’t ever discussed, you need to find a new instructor.

06/09/2026

One of the most misunderstood things I see in young baseball players (and their parents) is how confidence is built.

Many believe that confidence comes from results.

But it doesn't.

Sure, you will naturally feel MORE confident when you're getting positive results. But confidence comes BEFORE success, not after it.

Confidence is developed through preparation, practice and a commitment to a sound approach. It also doesn't hurt to have a strong belief in one's self. That can't be faked.

It's best to look at building confidence like building a house. It's done a piece at a time and doesn't come in all at once.

But the emphasis on results (batting average, spin rate, launch angle) is skewing the process. If you have a high batting average, an astronomical spin rate and the perfect launch angle, you should ask yourself HOW you got those things. That is where confidence is built because results are always going to fluctuate.

If confidence is built on results, it will disappear when things aren't going your way. If it's built on preparation and approach, it will remain stable even when results are poor.

Focus on the proper things.

06/08/2026

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but there’s no such thing as “exposure to college coaches” for your 12 year old.

There’s not a college coach in the world going to watch a 12u game unless his kid is playing.

06/04/2026

Stats from Day 1 of the opening of the transfer portal;

1,400 players enter including almost 700 pitchers.

1. MANY of these players will never play again.
2. Fit is extremely important when choosing a school. Don’t fall for the “D1 or bust mentality”. Go where you can play and not just where you win Signing Day.

"The final out isn't the end of baseball. It's the end of a thousand car rides, backyard catches, postgame talks, and mo...
06/03/2026

"The final out isn't the end of baseball. It's the end of a thousand car rides, backyard catches, postgame talks, and moments I'll carry for the rest of my life."

This picture was taken in Montgomery, Alabama in April of 2019. It was shortly after the last out of his last game. It reflects the end of a ride that took us from Chickamauga, GA to Cooperstown, NY to Ft. Myers, FL to San Diego, CA and to hundreds of stops in between.

During all that time, I got to coach him in high school for 3 years and once when he was 8 when our coach quit and I reluctantly had to step in to help.

I said that to say to say this: even though I'm still seen as a coach and was a coach most of his childhood, most of the time when I got to watch my son play, I was just his dad.

In a lot of ways, my love of baseball saved my life. Now, I don't mean that I would have died without it. That's silly. No, baseball gave me a goal. A direction. It paid for my college education. It paid for my mortgage and put food on the table for my family. Simply put, I will always love and owe the game.

When Tyler came along, he fell in love with baseball too. Obviously, I was thrilled and loved every second of watching him play. Was it perfect? No. Did he get mad at me? A bunch. Did it define our relationship? No.

Baseball was just another magnet that kept us together. In today's world, dads and their children need those magnets.

The reason I post so much about baseball and the relationship between fathers and their sons is that I see dads, even well-meaning dads, behaving in such a way that baseball is going to hurt their relationship with their son.

Expectations are too high.

Acceptance and praise only comes with good performance.

Verbal and, occasionally, physical abuse happens after a bad play or game.

This is wrong.

Remember Kevin Costner's character in "Draft Day"? He was the GM of the Cleveland Browns and traded three years of draft picks to get the #1 overall spot and then took a guy no one expected him to take. Several times in the movie, it showed him writing and then carrying around a post it note. But it never showed what it said until after he made that pick and all of the hand-wringing and protests that went with it.

The note said, "Vonte Mack, no matter what."

He was reminding himself that through all the noise of the day, he saw something in Mack that he wanted. He didn't let anyone or anything change his mind.

So maybe dads should carry around a post-it note reminding them that that ball player is his son.

And NOTHING is more important that that.

NO MATTER WHAT.

06/01/2026

Is your son playing baseball for himself or for you?

If you're not sure, do this: Watch him the next time he fails (strikeout, error, walking a couple of hitters).

If he looks at you in the stands, that could a problem.

Now, he could be looking at your for reassurance. That's completely normal.

But if he's looking to see if you're angry (or he already knows you are because he can hear you), that's concerning. He could suffer from a fear of failure or a difficulty recovering from mistakes.

It's even more concerning if he believes his performance is tied to your approval.

That should NEVER be the case.

05/28/2026

Reality check for all of you with young baseball players:

Each year, around 6-7% of ALL high school seniors who play baseball get scholarships. That's not just D1, that's ALL levels of college baseball.

Of those, around 1.5% actually get drafted.

Of all the players drafted in any given year, around 17.6% of them eventually reach the major leagues.

That means that roughly 0.018% of high school seniors who play baseball make the major leagues. That's 1 in 5,400.

Baseball is an amazing game that teaches wonderful life lessons like how to deal with adversity, how to grind through pain and disappointment, and how to be a great teammate. Focus on that, because adversity, pain and disappointment are coming for all of our kids. Take the lessons baseball teaches and be thankful your child learned how to deal with these things in a safe environment like a baseball field.

Stop looking at it like it's a launching pad for stardom.

05/27/2026

Are you a fear-based sports parent or are you a love-based sports parent?

Most likely, you think you're love-based, but can cite examples of OTHERS who are fear-based.

The problem with that is that fear-based parenting and love-based parenting look similar.

Fear-based parenting doesn't look like what you might imagine. It isn't screaming at your kid during the game. It isn't the dreaded car ride home after a bad game.

Fear-based parenting looks like this:
1. Showing up to every single practice and game.
2. Investing in private lessons, showcases and elite travel teams.
3. Pushing your athlete to work harder and dream bigger.
4. Caring deeply about their future.

See what I mean? That doesn't SEEM fear-based, does it?

But to your athlete, fear-based parenting looks like this:
1. You can't sleep the night before a big game.
2. You check the his stats and PG ranking obsessively.
3. You compare the accomplishments of others to your child.
4. You're physically anxious in the stands when your athlete is struggling.
5. You push your athlete to keep playing even when he's exhausted and burned out because you're afraid they'll 'fall behind'.

Underneath all of that is FEAR.
1. Fear that your athlete will fail.
2. Fear that they'll miss their window.
3. Fear that they'll waste their talent.
4. Fear that they'll not get the scholarship.
5. Fear that your athlete's success or failure is a statement about you as a parent.

Let me be clear: NONE OF THIS MAKES YOU A BAD PARENT. They make you a deeply invested parent who loves their child.

Your athlete probably can't tell the difference between your love and your fear. But they can definitely feel the energy behind it. When your investment is driven by fear, your athlete feels it as pressure. He feels it as weight that he's carrying for you. Unfortunately, that weight will, often times, show up in their game.

Here are my questions to you:
1. When your athlete has a great game, how do you feel?
2. When your athlete has a terrible game, how do you feel?

If your emotional state is different in those two situations, I don't think that's love driving you. I think that's fear. But the beauty of this is that recognizing it is the first step to changing it.

It's just a game and, one day, it will end for him. But he will never stop being your son. I would hate to see a temporary time in their life cause issues that will last them a lifetime. So, give them your love and the energy behind that.

05/12/2026

Baseball is a tough game.

Failure is a given.

In today’s world, it feels like way too many parents shield their children from failure everywhere.

But not in baseball. There’s nowhere to hide.

Oh sure, folks like to blame the coach, the umpire, the field, the sun, the rain, anything else but the player. But, while that might be true a handful of times, the failure is almost always the players to own.

LET HIM OWN IT.

Life is full of adversity and so is baseball.

Don’t miss the lesson.

05/12/2026

Neither of my parents knew much of anything about baseball. To my knowledge, my dad never played organized baseball and my mom didn’t play softball. My grandfather loved baseball and passed that love down to me.

All of those folks came to my games. I don’t think I ever had a game all the way through high school where at least one of those people didn’t attend. Usually, all of them did…even though my parents divorced when I was just a boy.

They were there. Supporting me…no matter what.

Additionally, I can’t recall a single time any of them questioned me after a bad game. I don’t recall any coaching or criticism from any of them.

They were just there. Supporting me…no matter what.

Frankly, I was tough enough on myself where I didn’t need any extra input. Maybe my parents knew that. Or maybe my performance just didn’t matter to them to get involved in a way that would have been unproductive.

This was an amazing blessing.

I never had to deal with their expectations. I never had to deal with the dreaded car ride home. I just got to be John and Jeanette’s son. I was Red’s grandson.

No matter what.

Address

265 Patterson Avenue
Fort Oglethorpe, GA
30742

Telephone

+14236459404

Website

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