Replacing Guru Culture with Ground Truth, Measurement, and Human Responsibility
Waterville, Ohio — Clarity.Golf today announced the Cicero Stewardship Program, a governed leadership framework designed to strengthen golf instruction, club fitting, and performance development as measurement rapidly shifts from scarce instrumentation to software-defined, science-driven ground truth.
For decades, much of golf’s teaching, fitting, and performance culture has been shaped by guru models—where authority rests on personality, branded methods, or individual interpretation. Cicero’s stewardship model replaces that dynamic with a different center of gravity: validated science, accurate measurement, and measurable outcomes.
The Cicero Stewardship Program formalizes a simple but profound shift. As measurement becomes software, the role of the human expert evolves from being the primary interpreter of incomplete information to becoming a steward of truth-based systems—protecting measurement integrity, constraining drift, and ensuring delivery remains ethical, effective, and athlete-first.
Until very recently, access to true polymath-level knowledge—the combined understanding of physics, biomechanics, neuroscience, mathematics, and applied research—was rare, fragmented, and prohibitively expensive. That condition has ended.
Today, brute force computing has democratized access to the accumulated knowledge of human science at a scale that was not available months ago, let alone years ago. As this acceleration continues, interpretation ceases to be authority. Measurement plus science becomes authority.
When the right measurement is paired with the right science, there is—at least in theory—one optimal path for each individual. No guru can compute that. No method can substitute for it. What matters now is ensuring that the systems capable of delivering truth remain accurate, governed, and responsibly applied.
That is the purpose of Cicero Stewardship.
“I did not select gurus. I selected stewards—people whose first loyalty is to the science and the outcomes,” said Bill Bales, founder of Clarity.Golf. “A steward protects measurement and ground truth regardless of trends, fame, or fortune, because the only thing that matters is what is true, what works, and how responsibly we deliver it to humans.”
Clarity.Golf confirmed that five Performance Stewards have been selected to guide Cicero’s initial stewardship framework across the core domains of golf performance:
Performance Biomechanics — Jean-Jacques Rivet
Jean-Jacques Rivet is a deeply passionate biomechanist whose work has shaped how elite golf performance is measured and understood. Beneath the surface of a world that often demands self-promotion lies a rigorous, tireless thinker driven not by branding, but by a genuine desire to understand how humans move and how golf can be taught with greater precision and honesty. His commitment to biomechanics is not academic posturing—it is lived work, pursued with intensity, humility, and a clear eye toward leaving something meaningful behind.
Performance Fitness — Karen Palacios-Jansen
Karen Palacios-Jansen is the antithesis of a guru. She is one of the most compassionate, credible, and dedicated advocates for golf fitness in the world, combining deep playing experience with exceptional communication and care. Her life’s work reflects a rare balance of athletic credibility, scientific curiosity, and genuine concern for the golfer as a whole human being. There is no one better suited to steward the fitness dimension of golf with intelligence, warmth, and responsibility.
Performance Cognition — Dr. Jon Page
Dr. Jon Page is a radical outlier. Largely unknown in golf, he is nonetheless one of the world’s foremost authorities on training the human brain under extreme stress. His research has demonstrated seven- to fifteen-fold improvements in cognitive performance for fighter pilots, soldiers, and emergency responders—results that save lives. That same science applies to the most pressured moments in sport. Jon Page does not care about golf celebrity or instruction culture; he cares about how the brain actually works, and his work will quietly change what golfers believe is possible.
Performance Coaching — Dave Bisbee
Dave Bisbee is one of the most observant, thoughtful, and systems-oriented minds in golf performance. Known to many as a long-time General Manager and Director of Golf at Seven Canyons, his true strength lies in how clearly he sees people, learning, and performance over time. He has spent decades watching what actually works—and what doesn’t—under real conditions. His insight is earned, not theorized, and his presence grounds Cicero in lived truth.
Performance Fitting — Eric Kobylinski
Eric Kobylinski is a progenitor of modern technology-based fitting and teaching. Long before it was common—or comfortable—he helped bring serious measurement indoors, scaling it responsibly and effectively. He was tapped to build and launch the technology-driven fitting and teaching systems for PGA TOUR Superstore, fundamentally changing how equipment and instruction intersect at scale. Eric is not defined by titles; he is defined by what he built, what he proved, and what he continues to see with unusual clarity.
The Cicero Stewards are not tasked with inventing new methods or personalities. Their role is stewardship: to define standards, guard boundaries, identify failure modes, and ensure that truth remains intact as tools become more powerful and more accessible.
Cicero’s mission is not to diminish the human role in golf—but to protect it. As measurement becomes software, stewardship becomes the difference between wisdom and noise.
Press Contact
Bill Bales
bill@clarity.golf
