Do You Have What it Takes to be a Golf Club Manager and Leader?
30 Jun 2011

Do You Have What it Takes to be a Golf Club Manager and Leader?

By Dr. Patrick J. Montana USGTF Level IV Member & National Course Director US Golf Managers Association OBJECTIVES 1. To learn more about the skills required for being a leader and manager. 2. To assess your own leadership and managerial ability INTRODUCTION Managers cope with complexity: They look at what needs to be done (planning and budgeting), pull together the people needed to get the job done together (organizing and staffing), and ensure that people do their jobs (controlling and problems solving). Leaders, however, cope with change: They look at what needs to be done by setting a direction rather than planning and budgeting, pull people together to do the job through alignment rather than organizing and staffing, and ensure people do their jobs through motivation and inspiration instead of controlling and problem solving. The purpose of this exercise is to assess your skills and determine if you have what it takes to be a leader and manager. INSTRUCTIONS Read each of the following statements and circle the number that best represents your self-perceptions, where 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = neither agree nor disagree, 4 = agree, 5 = strongly agree. Keep in mind there is no right or wrong answer. 1. I can separate my personal life from work/school 1 2 3 4 5 2. I see myself as a good coach 1 2 3 4 5 3. I communicate my ideas clearly 1 2 3 4 5 4. I regularly prioritize what I need to get done 1 2 3 4 5 5. I am on time for meetings/classes 1 2 3 4 5 6. I am positive and upbeat 1 2 3 4 5 7. I am results-oriented rather than problem-oriented 1 2 3 4 5 8. I take responsibility for my actions 1 2 3 4 5 9. I do not blame others for my mistakes 1 2 3 4 5 10. When working in a group, I work with members to solve and prevent problems 1 2 3 4 5 11. I don’t have to redo things because my work is thorough and complete 1 2 3 4 5 12. I do not procrastinate on projects/tasks 1 2 3 4 5 13. I do not get distracted when working on projects/tasks 1 2 3 4 5 14. I work well in a group 1 2 3 4 5 15. I am people oriented, not just results oriented 1 2 3 4 5 16. I listen to others beyond just the words being spoken 1 2 3 4 5 17. When working in a group, I am more concerned with the group’s success than my own 1 2 3 4 5 18. I adjust well to different communication styles 1 2 3 4 5 19. I praise others when they are doing a good job 1 2 3 4 5 20. I work at getting ahead, but within appropriate boundaries 1 2 3 4 5 TOTAL _____________ SCORING & INTERPRETATION Compute your score by adding the responses for all 20 items. The questions in this survey were designed to give you feedback on your skills in the following areas: (1) personal stability, (2) productivity, (3) self-management, (4) communication, (5) boundary setting, (6) work quality, (7) teamwork. All of these skills are found in good managers and they represent necessary skills for leaders. Arbitrary norms for leadership skills: Excellent leadership skills (95-100) Good leadership skills (85-90) Moderate leadership skills (75-80) Low leadership skills (65-70) Poor leadership skills (60 & below) If you’re thinking about a career in golf club or golf resort management, you may want to consider enrolling in a United States Golf Managers Association Certification course and increase your employment opportunities in this growing global field by developing your managerial and leadership abilities even further. For additional information, please check out our website at www.usgolfmanagersassociation.com [Questions for this survey were adapted from interlink Training and Coaching, The Leadership Assessment Tool,” www.interlinktc.com/assessment.html. Training and coaching, 3655 W. Anthem Way, Box 315, Anthem, AZ 85086.]
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Teacher Talk
27 Jun 2011

Teacher Talk

Jack Nicklaus once said, “A strong grip, a weak swing”. There is no doubt Jack’s grip was considered to be neutral leaning toward weak. To this day I can’t say I agree with Jack as we have witnessed countless players reach the highest levels of competitive golf whilst employing a strong grip such as Paul Azinger, Fred Couples (top hand),David Duval and Zach Johnson to name a few.

This is not to say a neutral grip is not ideal but is it a prerequisite to play good golf? I don’t believe it is and therefore it should be considered an option in the same way overlap, interlock, ten-finger, double overlap (Jim Furyk), reverse overlap (Steve Jones), intermesh (Greg Norman) and countless other finger formations are chosen by a variety of world class players.

If the orientation of our hands and fingers on the club offer many variations then what should we as instructors be standardizing when teaching an EFFECTIVE grip to our students? Firstly let’s get one thing out of the way. A strong grip does not necessarily cause a hook as a weak grip does not necessarily cause a slice. Could they be contributing factors? Yes of course but three of the aforementioned players above hit fades with a strong grip (Azinger, Couples, Duval). The strong top hand position helped create a “cupped” left wrist at the top of the backswing which opened the clubface just enough in order to hit a fade.

As an instructor it requires experience to take a quick snapshot of a student’s swing and observe how the grip correlates to the clubface position and ball flight. If a slice is the order of the day for your student and weak grip is evident then the correction is evident. The same can be said for a large hook and a strong grip. However if your student hits a power fade with a strong grip, then there is no correction of the grip required. What if he/she hits a big slice with a strong grip and his/her swing is on plane? Believe it or not a weaker grip may be necessary as the strong grip causes too much “cupping” of the left wrist (RH golfer) at the top of the back swing resulting in an open clubface. As one can now understand and appreciate, teaching golf and being good at it isn’t that easy and requires years of experience to hone the craft.

Bottom line there are very few elements to the grip which must be standardized but here they are:

1) The middle joint of the thumbs must be snug to the forefinger otherwise the club may rest too much into the palms. This results into either the club slipping or holding tight so the club does not slip. Proper wrist action is inhibited and tension prevails

2) The heel pad of top hand rests on top of club as shown in image below:

3) The pad of the thumbs should rest on the club slights askew from each other. In other words neither thumb rests on the center of the grip (shaft). For the right handed golfer the left thumb rests toward 1:00 and the right thumb toward 11:00

4) The unification of the hands has nothing to do with interlock, overlap (Vardon grip) etc… What unifies the hands is the top thumb fitting snugly in the lifeline (under the thumb pad) of the bottom hand.

There, that’s it!! The rest is up to you in understanding ball flight and how one’s grip affects the clubface and swing plane.

Next month: What does the tool in your hands do?
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IS THERE ANY WAY TO CHANGE INCORRECT BELIEFS?
23 Jun 2011

IS THERE ANY WAY TO CHANGE INCORRECT BELIEFS?

One of my great frustrations as a long-time teaching professional is the proliferation of wrong information that is taken as gospel in the golf world. For example, the belief that high humidity produces “heavy” air and a shorter ball flight. In fact, as highlighted in Golf Teaching Pro, humid air is actually less dense than dry air, and will thus produce a couple of extra yards instead of a reduction. Yet, ask any golfer about the effects of humid air, and 99% will say that the air is heavier and the ball will carry less.

Or, how about incorrect Rules beliefs? Twice in competition my fellow competitors tried to penalize me for holding onto the removed flagstick while tapping in a putt. This is not a penalty, as Decision 17-1/5 makes clear. When I informed these fellow competitors of this Decision, they then say, “Well, it used to be a penalty.” In fact, no, it was never a penalty. Another favorite is practicing on the putting green after you hole out. Again, well-meaning fellow-competitors have tried to call penalties on me for this, saying that the practice is illegal in stroke play but not in match play. In each case, I had to direct them to Rule 7 which governs practice. They are genuinely surprised to learn that it is not a penalty in stroke play, except if local rules provide for it.

The instruction realm is not immune. How many times do we hear that for every club in the bag, the butt end of the grip should be a fist away from the body? The fact is that the longer the club, the farther away the butt end should be from the body. Or how about “the slower the better” when it comes to backswings, backed up with “evidence” that amateurs swing back more slowly than professionals. The truth is that the opposite occurs, and swinging back too slowly is not good for most people. Or how about the downswing should be started by the arms and hands?

There are many more examples, too numerous to list here. So, is there any way to correct all the mis-information that is out there in one fell swoop? Probably not. People believe what they are going to believe. All we can do as USGTF professionals is to know what is factually correct and to pass the correct information along. We can start with educating one golfer at a time, and go from there.
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