United States Golf Teachers Federation

20 Aug 2019 admin

The Vision Telescope

By Norm Crerar, USGTF Contributing Writer Vernon, British Columbia

I have been in the recreation business for over 50 years, both actively and lately as a consultant. Most of my time was spent in the ski industry as an active player and the golf industry a participant and consultant. I ski recreationally – and still do some teaching – and golf recreationally. As a result of my unique background, I have trouble just going out there with a clear mind just skiing or golfing. I am constantly looking around at what is out of place, asking myself why doesn’t someone fix this or adjust that, make a subtle change here or there that would give the visitors a better experience, or save the company some money. I love it! I am concerned, though, as both the ski industry and the golf industry are suffering from the same thing, declining numbers of participants. Some of this was due to the economy, but most is due to the Baby Boomers getting older or disappearing for health reasons. Shockingly, there are very few programs designed to get more people skiing and/or golfing more often.

Back in the 1970s, skiing had a program called GLM (Graduated Length Method). The clients started on very short skis on very gentle terrain, and as soon as they could turn the skis easily, they graduated to slightly longer skis and were taken to the top of the mountain, where they skied down a specially-tailored run that got them to the bottom quickly and safely. This was instant success for almost everyone. These thousands of people were the ones who bought the first condos at Vail and Whistler and allowed the ski industry to really take off. This same age group took up golf and found the time and money to take lessons, buy memberships, rent carts, hit thousands of range balls, find new and better equipment and buy resort properties. Both industries are now struggling to find new members and new markets.

Most of the early golf and ski resorts were started with a person or a few persons with a vision and little money. As the Baby Boomers passed through, both industries matured, the ski lift systems and grooming got better, and the golf courses were greener and opened earlier and closed later. Both were able to employ and train professionals, run things more efficiently, buy bigger and better equipment, add services, etc., but the prices started to rise and have continued to do so.

Now both the summer and winter resorts are heading in a difficult direction. Look at this as a triangle: The very few at the top do not care what the cost is; they pay their money and are off to play. The ones in the middle can afford to pay and play but decision time is around the corner; the many at the bottom will drop off at the next price rise, leaving the triangle smaller and with fewer people. Enter the accountants. Their training is to count beans. When the beans are black, they are happy. When the beans are red, they know only two things, raise prices and cut expenses (which means cutting services). People drop off the bottom line of the triangle. The triangle is now smaller. Cut expenses again. Smaller triangle, and on it goes. Sadly, this is where the “telescope” comes into the equation. For some reason, the accountant types have only been trained to look from the big end to the small end of a telescope and only see the very small picture, usually only the bottom line.

The USGTF was started with a vision born from necessity and opportunity. Looking from the other end of the telescope, your current president could only see the big picture, found a few like-minded people, offered some courses on learning how to teach golf, and the rest is history.

But the challenge remains. Both the golf industry and the ski industry need the same thing. They desperately need people to look out of the right end of the telescope and see the big picture and need to find ways of getting more people skiing and golfing more often. Doing nothing is hard, because you never know when you are finished.

What end of the telescope are you looking through?

Read more 0

12 Aug 2019 admin

When Adversity Strikes

Why then ’tis none to you; for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” – Hamlet, by William Shakespeare

Sometimes we are forced to play in adverse conditions, but this article isn’t talking about the weather. No, we are talking about something that is rarely spoken about except for perhaps at the 19th hole after the round – people who are difficult to play with.

Difficult playing partners run the gamut with all sorts of behavior. We can let it affect our own games or we can ignore it. Granted, ignoring certain behaviors can be quite hard to do, but if you or your students want to play your best, you’ve got to figure out a way to work your way through it.

Let’s keep in mind that, absent any sort of physical altercation or making noise in your routine or swing, what someone else does has no direct bearing on what we are doing. We can only let it affect us when we put a negative judgment on a person’s actions, as Hamlet stated. And once we make a negative judgment, it tends to get into our psyche and then, by definition, we are focused on that person and their behavior. When we’re trying to put up a score or just have fun on the golf course, that goes out the window when we do that.

As hard as it may be to not get upset with certain people or their actions, it is imperative that we stay in our own world when that type of adversity strikes. There are several types of difficult playing companions that all of us have encountered at one time or another:

usgtf golf teacher certified golf coach pga

The Club Thrower

Let’s be honest. Most of us have tossed a club in the past. Rory McIlroy famously hurled his 3-iron into a lake at Trump Doral in Miami during the tournament, and other examples abound. Club breakers also fall into this category. But most of us either matured or realized that our stature in the game demanded a better showing of class, so we no longer do it. If we’re paired with a club thrower or breaker, instead of putting a negative spin on it at the time, we have two choices: to let it affect our game negatively or not. Of course, if the club thrower is firing clubs left and right and endangering others, this is not to be tolerated, and at that point we might have no choice but to get worked up about it. But most club throwers are only making fools of themselves, in the end.

The Rules Expert

From anecdotal evidence, it appears women are more guilty of this than men. Stories about where a strict adherence to the Rules of Golf is demanded by the matriarch of the group, and even the most minor violations are met with great scorn and the figurative hammer. If you are the victim of a USGA and R&A wannabe, simply thank them for their information and move on. You’re not going to get them to change their ways, and just make it a point of not playing with them anymore. If they’re part of your regular group and this can’t be avoided, they’ve surely annoyed others, too. A group intervention should be convened for the sanity of all.

The Golf Instructor

You lifted your head” is something you may hear after you hit a poor shot, especially one that was topped, as if that was the sole cause of your poor shot. If keeping your head down was the magic secret to golf, there would be no need for real golf teaching professionals, and everyone could enjoy magical ballstriking for the rest of their lives. Even if you’re not taking lessons from a golf teaching professional (and plenty of teaching professionals take lessons from other instructors), just inform the person you’re working with so-and-so and you and your teacher/ coach are aware of the problem.

The Chatterbox

Some of us are extroverts; some of us are introverts. Some of us take time to warm up to people; some of us can be lifelong friends after five minutes. Some of us are serious on the course; some of us are fun seekers. Those who tend to be quiet can be very easily rattled by someone who is not, but rarely is vice versa the case. Jim Peters, the winner of the 2018 Harvey Penick Trophy for Excellence in Golf Teaching, said some of the best advice he ever received was that we have two ears and one mouth, so use them in proportion. If you’re paired with the Mouth of the South, let him or her ramble on. Or, with the acceptance of listening to music on the course these days, you can pop some ear buds in and tune them out.

The Narcissist

This person thinks mainly of themselves, both through their words and actions. If you’re in the same cart and he’s driving, he’ll often drive right by your ball and go directly to theirs, nevermind that your ball is 30 yards back. Or, at the slightest hint of being in trouble, they make a beeline to their ball, all the time lamenting how he didn’t keep his head down or his left elbow straight. They keep up a running monologue of their game and sometimes their life. It can be exhausting to play with such a person, but remember that you’re not going to change who they are in one round of golf. As best you can, put your focus on something else, maybe the beauty of the course or the interesting design of your current hole.

The Complete Hacker

People new to the game are not going to be very good. There are also some long-time players who aren’t very good, to put it mildly. If they keep it moving, fine. But if they insist on looking for every errant ball and refusing to pick up when they’re on their 10th stroke 100 yards from the green, you have every right to say something, even to the point of abandoning them and going ahead.

The Cheater

There is a difference between cheaters and rule breakers. Cheaters deliberately break the rules, while ordinary rule breakers do so unknowingly. If you’re simply playing a casual round, it’s not a big deal. However, if you’re in a tournament, it can, of course, become a very big deal. But surprisingly, it also may not be.

An example of the latter is a cheater or rule breaker whose score is not going to win them any prizes in the competition. After the round is over and the scorecards are signed, you can advise them of what the rule is that they broke. But be careful that you are 100 percent — and we mean 100 percent — certain that you are giving the correct information. If the cheater/rule breaker is violating a rule and they are in contention for a prize, you have an obligation to say something on the spot. After the scorecards are signed is not the time to speak up. Yet, even here it may be inadvisable to say something. We hate to separate rules into “minor” or “major” categories, but if the person gained absolutely no advantage (such as having his son carry his putter to the green while employing another caddie, a violation of the one-caddie rule), then it might be best to remain quiet. Cheaters/rule breakers who are called out almost always react in a volatile manner, so this definitely calls for extreme discretion and diplomacy.

Wrapping Up

We are not advocating condoning rude or ill-mannered playing partners. But we are saying that there is often little one can do to change the situation for the better, as we’re dealing with people with long-ingrained habits. Speak up when appropriate, as when someone damages the course or other course property, but keep in mind that most behavior we find distasteful is simply annoying. Play your game and enjoy the rest of the day by focusing on those aspects you find satisfying. Your sanity might depend on it.

Read more 0

5 Aug 2019 admin

Hogan’s Five Lessons In Our Modern Game

Sixty-two years after its release, it still remains the game’s most groundbreaking book. Ben Hogan’s Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf resulted from a series of articles in Sports Illustrated and is still the holy bible of instruction for many who read it.

Today, we have super-slow-motion video, force plates to measure weight distribution throughout the swing, biomechanical studies of the “ideal” swing and the use of technology to measure the kinesthetics of the swing. This begs the question: How valid is Hogan’s instruction in our modern game with our modern understanding? Here, we examine a few of Hogan’s ideas and what we believe today.

Swing plane

The most enduring contribution Hogan made to the modern school of thought is the concept of the swing plane. Hogan described it as a line extending from the ball through the top of the shoulders, and the idea was for the lead arm to remain below this line at the top of the backswing.

Hogan used the image of a pane of glass to illustrate this point.

Today, we have a somewhat different idea of what the swing plane is. Most teachers use the initial shaft plane at address – assuming the student has a proper setup.

The idea here is, at the top of the backswing, the lead arm would be parallel to the initial shaft angle at address, as represented by the blue line. Coming down into the ball, the shaft would at some point get parallel to the blue line, resulting in a swing path that should go towards the target at impact.

Verdict: Hogan’s idea of the swing plane works for some people, but not all, as shorter golfers tend to go above that plane and taller golfers below. The more modern understanding works well for the vast majority of players.

Grip

Hogan advocated a grip that was fairly weak by modern standards.

He wanted the top-hand V to point towards the rear ear and the lower-hand V to the middle of the chin.

Today, most golf teaching professionals want to see the Vs pointed more toward the rear shoulder. Dr. Ralph Mann, who pioneered extensive research of the golf swing, found that the average touring professional pointed their top-hand V between the chin and rear shoulder, while the lower-hand V was just inside the rear shoulder.

Verdict: Hogan fought a hook for much of his career and developed this grip to combat it. Most golfers today, including tour professionals, would fade or slice the ball with his grip.

Pivot

On the backswing, Hogan said the hands moved first, followed by the arms, shoulders, torso, hips and legs. On the downswing, the hips led the action with the torso rotating next, followed by the arms and hands. Hogan said the hands should do nothing active on the downswing until just above hip-height, carried there by the turning of the hips.

Today, the school of thought on the backswing is for the hands, arms, shoulders and torso to rotate virtually simultaneously. The modern tour professional, while still starting the downswing with the lower body, doesn’t do it nearly as early as the golfers from Hogan’s era.

Verdict: Hogan’s ideas on the pivot retain great value today. The most highly correlated mechanical factor between skill levels is how well someone transitions from the backswing to the downswing. The better the player, the more likely he or she is to have passive arms and hands starting down, with the lower body leading the way.

These are three of the main ideas Hogan gave us, and much of what he wrote has great importance to today’s teacher and student. This classic book is available at bookstores and online, and is likely to never go out of print. If you haven’t read this timeless tome, do yourself a favor and pick one up as soon as you can. It remains a highly compelling read.

Read more 0

16 Apr 2019 admin

Patching Up A Slice

It’s the bane of many golfers worldwide, and one that frustrates them to no end the dreaded slice. On courses far and wide, slicing reigns supreme, especially preying upon those with double-digit handicaps.

Every golf teacher knows that the slice is the result of a clubface angle that is open to the clubhead path to a much greater degree than is desired. A clubface angle that is only slightly open to the clubhead path results in a fade, a much-sought-after ball flight among many skilled golfers.

Dustin Johnson, for example, became dominant when he was able to consistently fade the ball into the fairway with his driver. The difference between a fade and a slice is sometimes difficult to discern, but in general, a fade features a ball flight where one part of it is mainly straight. You might see a ball go up to its apex in a fairly straight manner and then curve gently on its downward flight, or curve slightly going up and then falling straight down. A fade is a ball flight that is in control and lands gently. A slice, on the other hand, features the ball constantly curving throughout its flight, and when the ball lands it tends to roll out.

Let’s review the setup first as it relates to a slice (we will assume the golfer is right-handed for the rest of this article). Most slicers have a left-hand grip that is too weak, with the V pointed to the left of the chin, and sometimes the club’s grip is held in the lifeline of the palm. Ball position tends to be too far forward, which results in a clubhead path traveling outside-in through impact in comparison to the stance line. Stance alignment may be either open, resulting in a clubhead path traveling left of the target line through impact, or closed, resulting in an over-the-top move during transition. Shoulder alignment for a slicer also tends to be quite open in relation to the stance line, a likely result of the ball position being too far forward. But even with a proper ball position, most slicers still have open shoulders, so this needs to be corrected.

Once the slicer is in a proper setup position, he now has a fighting chance to hit the ball straight, or at least with a manageable fade. The key now is to swing into a position at the top of the backswing (actually a position within transition) from where the golfer can have a more correct clubhead path and clubface angle. Most slicers and double-digit handicappers, for that matter start the downswing with their arms and hands instead of the lower body. No less than Ben Hogan wrote in his book Five Fundamentals that the hands should do nothing active until just above hip-height on the downswing, carried there by the turning and movement of the hips.

Most golfers would be surprised if they could feel what a good golfer feels at the start of the downswing. A good golfer’s arms and hands are literally doing nothing at all, just falling and moving in response to the action of the lower body. This is a key element that must be learned by a slicer, or else they will continue to struggle. The “pump” drill can be effective here. In this drill, the golfer starts the downswing by keeping the angle intact between the lead arm and club shaft until the hands are just above hip height, then bringing the arms and hands back to the top of the backswing, “pumping” the club down again before returning the club to the top of the backswing a second time, and then swinging through and hitting the ball.

Many slicers also overuse the right hand and arm during the downswing, throwing the clubhead outside in an over-the-top manner and perhaps early releasing before impact. These golfers are dramatically underusing their left side. Two drills that can help are swinging one-handed with the left arm only (holding the upper part of the left arm with the right hand), and letting go with the right hand at the moment of impact. This helps train the left side to do its fair share of the work. Swinging one-handed with either hand also helps train the correct clubhead path into the ball, as golfers should find it impossible to do anything but swing the way they are aiming.

Another problem slicers have is they tend to open up their shoulders too quickly on the downswing. The right shoulder needs to move more downward instead of out towards the target line. A golfer may feel the shoulders dramatically tilting by doing this, but this is the correct feel if they open up their shoulders too quickly. It can also help if the golfer tries to keep his back to the target on the downswing as long as possible, as this helps to deliver the clubhead from the inside.

The root cause of all of this, of course, is failure to start the downswing properly with the lower body. In the USGTF Technical Committee’s experience, getting a golfer to more properly use his lower body to start the downswing is a difficult chore for the teacher. Golfers who started the game as kids tend to use the lower body effectively, because when they started playing the club was relatively heavy to them and they naturally used and trained their lower body to start the downswing. Golfers who take up the game as adults mostly find the club relatively light, hence their propensity to have an arms-and-hands-dominated swing. But training the lower body is still encouraged.

As for squaring the clubface to the clubhead path at impact, the most common problem is failing to allow the clubhead to release properly through impact, where the clubhead rotates counter-clockwise. Golfing legend Tom Watson advises players to feel the left hand rotating from palm down before impact to palm up after. A golfer using a split-hands grip and making some practice swings will find that the clubhead will rotate naturally through the impact area. There are also training aids on the market that will give the student a feel for this, but swinging a broom also achieves the same aim. Finally, the teacher can physically move and rotate the student’s arms and hands through the impact area to give the student the feeling of proper release and rotation through impact.

Some teachers will tell you that the release should just happen naturally, the result of the lower body leading the downswing and the upper body, arms and hands following. This is technically correct, but if a student is not allowing the clubhead to rotate through impact, whether from tension or for any other reason, this movement must be trained. And how do we know that a slicer is releasing the clubhead properly through impact? Video won’t lie, and virtually everyone has a smartphone today with high-speed replay capability. Another way of knowing the player is releasing the club properly is if they are now hitting at least a gentle fade. A straight ball or a draw is not necessary in order to know the release is more correct.

There is debate among teachers whether the club-head path or the clubface angle must be addressed first, and this leads to an interesting observation. While ball flight laws tell us that the clubhead path must travel reasonably close to down the target line to hit a fade, draw or straight ball close to the intended target, many times a student is able to square the clubface angle to the clubhead path while pulling the ball to the left, and it may be impossible to get these students to swing parallel with the way they are aiming. In these cases, it may well be desirable to have the student simply aim right and pull the ball back to the target. With the driver in particular, we know that a golfer hitting the ball on the upswing will be swinging slightly left of the low point of their swing, so this may be something even good players need to do. Films of Hogan and Sam Snead show them doing just that with the driver.

Many of you reading this are experienced teachers who are well versed in fixing slices, so please consider this material as a refresher. For those of you newer to teaching, hopefully you will have found an additional teaching tip or two to help you solve one of the most frustrating problems in all of golf.

Read more 0