Editorial

16 Dec 2016 Corina Pelloni

High School Golf: The Beginning

This past fall I received a call from a local high school coach about helping their freshman team. While some high school programs have experienced players, most don’t, especially when it comes to girls’ golf. Some of the players have never played or even been on a golf course.

This particular golf coach wanted me to teach the players about golf course etiquette, rules and course strategy. The first day we all met in the clubhouse to go over Golf 101. Lots of diagrams and basic information. The girls did a great job asking questions.

For the next few practices we walked a couple of holes on the course. We discussed basic concepts: where to stand when someone is hitting, who plays their golf shot first, rules infractions, where to put their golf bags when on the green, and how to play ready golf. Remembering that many of the players have never been on the golf course, we kept it simple and fun.

The players really took to what we were showing them and you could see their excitement for the game growing; that is what is most important. By volunteering my time, the girls learned some basic skills that helped them become more comfortable on the course and during the tournaments. I had four players sign up for private lessons, also.

Don’t be afraid to reach out to the high school coaches to offer your expertise. You will help their program, the players, and also grow this wonderful game of golf. As golf teaching professionals, continuing to develop the future of the game is a very important responsibility.

30 Nov 2016 Corina Pelloni

TECHNOLOGY, MODERN TEACHING

When I started teaching golf twenty years ago, there wasn’t very much technology available to the average player.  If you were lucky, you might have had a video camera to film someone’s golf swing.  You would video your student, take the tape out of the camera, and then go inside to find a television to watch and break down their golf swing.  Times have changed! Today, technology is in every part of golf, from fitting clubs and teaching the golf swing to looking at the putting stroke.  While watching the game on TV, you see the ProTracer technology in use.  Launch monitors have changed the way golf is taught, because they provide instantaneous feedback.  No longer do you have to wait to see your golf swing; each shot can be analyzed on the range. Technology can be expensive.  Some of the launch monitors are over $20,000.  After adding additional high-tech video equipment, it can become overwhelming.  Some of you might use technology already, and that’s great.  If you are not, then you need to take a different approach and consider how students of today learn best. I’m not saying you need to invest in thousands of dollars in equipment.  However, you’d be amazed how much you can do with an iPad and downloading a teaching app.  Most apps can be purchased for under $20 and will allow you to break down your student’s swing on the driving range.  After reviewing at the tee, you have the ability to email them the file for future reference. Don’t be afraid to invest in yourself and your business!  The dividends you and your student will receive are worth it.

29 Nov 2016 Corina Pelloni

FLEXIBILITY

As winter enters most areas of the country, now is a great time to brainstorm with your students on things they can do to improve their golf games for the spring.  One area most players want to improve is gaining distance.  One of the quickest ways to improve distance is to increase your flexibility. As people get older, they lose their flexibility and have to make a conscious choice to work on it.  As golf teaching professionals, we can recommend programs to them to help improve in this area.  If they work on their flexibility all winter, come spring they will be ready to jump back into lessons and already be on the right track to improve their game. A few years ago, I partnered with a local fitness instructor to offer packages to my students.  Having a trained fitness professional design programs for your students is a great way to help them reach their goals.  I was pleasantly shocked on how my students eagerly jumped at this opportunity.  Working with the fitness instructor over the winter months gave most of the students increased flexibility and strength. Sometimes we need to think outside the box of normal golf teaching to help students improve.  Try this with some of your students over the winter and you will be amazed with their results!

27 Oct 2016 admin

Belief And The Competitive Player

By Mark Harman USGTF Master Golf Teaching Professional

When I first picked up a golf club at the age of 12 in 1974, I immediately dreamed of playing on the Tour and making a living as a professional golfer. I always enjoyed competition, whether it be Little League baseball, golf, or playing in a pickup football or basketball game.

That first year I played, I was shooting around 50 for nine holes by the end of summer, so I made double bogey my “par.” I remember playing in “tournaments”as I tooled my way around the course, my imagination running wild as I tried to better my personal par of 54. When I got into high school, I went out for the golf team but wasn’t good enough to crack either the varsity or junior varsity (JV) lineup as a freshman. I kept at it, and as a sophomore I was able to make it as a regular on the JV team.

My junior and senior years I played #1 on the varsity (although it wasn’t that tough to do, as no one else besides me could average better than 88 for 18 holes). I played golf at NAIA-level Franklin College in Indiana, where I was the two-time MVP averaging about 80.(Today, shooting 80 at Franklin might not even qualify for the team.)

However, since I wasn’t good enough to turn pro after college, I found a job as a bill collector/computer programmer for a division of Chase Manhattan. After most workdays from April through October, I would hit the course and play and practice as much as I could. My life consisted mainly of work and golf and little else.

Eventually I worked my way down to a 1 handicap, and through a connection with Geoff Bryant, I moved to Tallahassee, Florida, and started teaching at The Florida Golf School. Although I was teaching, I still harbored dreams of playing with the best players in the world. Except…there were a few problems with that.

The most pressing problem was that I only hit the ball about 240 off the tee on my best shots and I hit 7-iron from 150. Even in the early 1990s, this was short for a professional player. The second obstacle was I had no money to play mini-tour events full-time.

Finally, and most importantly, when I teed it up in competition, I got so nervous and anxiety-ridden that, more often than not, I played horribly. I can remember starting a 36-hole mini-tour event bogey, double bogey, and having a six-inch putt for a quadruple bogey on the third hole. I picked up my ball at that point, knowing I had no chance to break 50 for nine holes, apologized to the guys in my group, and said I was quitting as I didn’t want to be a distraction for them. They said no, keep playing for fun…and wouldn’t you know it, with the pressure off, I shot a 33 on the back nine.

About this time in my life, I got to know Gregg Steinberg, who became and still is a very good friend of mine. Gregg, as you may know, is the longtime USGTF sports psychology consultant. He gave me some tools that helped refine my mental skills and was a great help in my improvement.

By 1995, I had some money saved up, and Gregg urged me to give the mini-tours another try. I told him I didn’t think my game was good enough. He told me something I’ll never forget: “You might get good enough if you start playing.”

And he was right. I played maybe a dozen events in 1995 and cashed in my last eight events, and in 1996 I cashed in almost every one. What was the difference?

In one word, belief. I came to believe that I was going to play well each and every time I teed it up in competition. There was no doubt in my mind that I was going to be in the money for those events. I eventually wound up winning four times on the Emerald Coast Golf Tour,defeating the likes of present and former Tour players like Boo Weekley, Ben Bates, and Iain Steel along the way.

In the end, I didn’t make the big tour because of two factors:1) I never was able to gather the consistent financial support that was needed in order to play full-time without working, and 2) I just hit the ball too short. I think I played about as well as I could have playing part-time. Learning to shoot lower scores with my lack of distance required playing full-time.

Think about the Ryder Cup. Why have the Europeans dominated for the past three decades? Why do the Americans always seem to play poorly? Various commentators have said that the European players have a closer bond with each other, or that they are more used to match play, or that they have a greater desire than the U.S. players. Based on my own experiences and observations, along with comments made by the U.S. players themselves, I believe none of these reasons are valid.

What I think happens is that the European players expect to win, while the U.S. players hope to win. That’s a huge difference,and it means everything. When I competed and hoped to do well, I almost never did. When I expected to play well, I almost always did.

If you’re coaching competitive players, they need to have a genuine belief that they are going to succeed. If you hear them make statements like,“I’m just going out there to have fun,” then you know they are in trouble. Sure, having fun is important to both a recreational and competitive player, but without the belief that they are going to play well, they won’t. They just won’t.

Listen to what your competitive players tell you. Know when they have belief and when they don’t. The USGTF has a number of wonderful resources to help you develop your competitive players’ belief systems, among them Gregg’s book Mental Rules for Teaching Golf and the online course through the International Golf Psychology Association, found at <a href=”http://www.MasteringGolfPsychology.com”>www.MasteringGolfPsychology.com</a>.

Someone once said, “I’ll take the man with 50 percent talent and 100 percent heart over the man with 100 percent talent and 50 percent heart any day.”

So would I.

10 Oct 2016 Corina Pelloni

GROWING THE GAME

There has been a lot of recent discussion about the game of golf losing golfers.  There have been many theories about why this seems to be happening.  In my opinion, this is a natural ebb and flow that has been exaggerated and misunderstood.  Let’s explore some of these issues. The National Golf Foundation (NGF) numbers are showing a net loss of golfers in America compared to a decade ago.  However, what is hidden in this statistic is that the NGF numbers were greatly inflated by counting “very” occasional golfers who play only a few outings a year.  In the past, these golfers were lumped into the avid golfer category.  This grossly inflates the numbers.  For example, if you ask random people if they have played golf, many will say yes, albeit this could be a driving range experience or hacking it around once with college buddies. Another often-heard argument is that the game needs Tour players to make it popular.  The game is bigger than any one golfer.  Great and dominant professional golfers come along every so often, and golfing lore has had many of them:  Old Tom Morris, Young Tom Morris,  Harry Vardon, The Great Triumphant, Bobby Jones, Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead, Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Tom Watson, Seve Ballesteros, Greg Norman, Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, and on and on.  There are too many to list.  Some created more interest than others, but none were bigger than the game.  The game of golf has and will continue to march on regardless of who is at the top of the PGA Tour leaderboard.  To build the Tour or a golf industry around one great player is folly.  All glory is fleeting.  The sun rises and a new day comes, or in this case, a new golfer takes his place. There were too many high-end golf courses built when the inflated golfer numbers where at their prime a few years ago.  Anyone who is in the golf industry knows that golf courses are very expensive to operate.  When the economy was truly roaring, many investors thought that a new high-end golf course development was a sure shot at a good return.  What they didn’t calculate were the heavy expenses of construction and maintaining a golf facility.  The days of mediocre, small-town “goat ranches” are a thing of the past.  With the construction of the newer courses, the agronomic course conditions rapidly improved.  The public got a penchant for good, fast greens and grass in the fairways.  High expectations for top course conditions became the norm.  This comes at a cost: higher dues and green fees, and higher input costs to maintain the new expectations.  Older courses with mediocre agronomic conditions fell by the wayside as they couldn’t keep up with “the new TPC course” down the road.  However, the newer-constructed courses have also struggled to balance high maintenance expectations and profitability. The transformation of our society has also played a role in the golf industry.   Today, everyone is on the go.  We live in a much more instantaneous society than a few decades back.  In the old days, a typical golfing dad would spend all day on Saturday at the local country club playing golf and cards with the his colleagues.  In most golf clubs today, those days are gone.  Dad is more likely spending the day at soccer games and other family engagements.  Many golf facilities failed to keep up with changing family patterns.  Instead of making their facility more family friendly, many clubs fell by the wayside of nostalgia.  They failed to be innovative in their marketing.  Many facilities neglected to promote golf to ladies and kids.  In my opinion, golf should also be marketed as a fun, athletic and healthy family activity.  The health industry is one of the fastest, most consistently growing industry in the USA.  Why not tap into this resource? The cost of participation and material is quite expensive compared to other sports and activities.  Some of this blame can be placed on the industry’s greed such as the never-ending quest to put out new golf equipment.   Greens fees are often too high for beginners or people with less disposable income.  We need more user-friendly golf facilities for entry-level players.  The game has to be more accessible and family friendly.  I like the idea of 6- and 9-hole golf courses that are inviting to all golfers. All in all, I think the game is still strong and in a good place.  Can it be stronger or better?  Of course, but the key is not to place the future of the game in world-class Tour players or high-tech equipment advances.  This only results in superficial and inflated numbers of players, not avid lifetime golfers.  The real key in growing the game is to make golf more accessible and family friendly.  This can be achieved by simple instruction and creative ideas incorporating the wants and needs of today’s families.  Golf instructors, share your passion, for you are the true gatekeepers of the future of the game!

3 Oct 2016 Corina Pelloni

His Body Wasn’t Strong Enough To Carry His Heart Any Longer

Words similar to these were once written about Ben Hogan’s legs after his near-fatal crash in Texas. Arnold Palmer was a hero to everyone in the golf world. There have been tons of tributes, all richly deserved. Like many young lads, he is the man who got me interested in golf. I remember watching the Masters with my dad when Arnold rolled in a putt on 17 that propelled him to a win in 1958 or 1960. I can’t remember which, but does it really matter? I instantly became one of his army. I regaled in his victories and agonized in his defeats. I never actually met him in person, but there are two times that he touched my life. The first was when I was in college at the University of Miami in the late ’60s. I was fortunate to go and watch him play at Doral. Can’t remember how he played that day, but getting up close enough to watch him strike the ball was quite a feat. The army was always four or five deep. I went ahead two holes so I could get a spot directly facing where he would tee it up. As he waited for the group in front to clear, he looked me directly in the eye and winked. I gave him a nod like he was my best friend and I was there to cheer him on. Then like a flash he was gone. I’ve never forgotten the moment. My next encounter was when I started the United States Professional Hickory Golf Championship in 2010. I had the audacity to send Mr. Palmer an invitation to play in the event since it was a tribute to the history of our game, knowing his fondness for its heritage. I figured, what the heck, never expecting anything. A few days later an envelope arrived from his office. Inside was a personal letter from Arnold thanking me for the invitation but telling me that he would be in California and would be unable to play. He did offer to send some memorabilia to help raise funds for the charity the tournament was supporting. This is the man he was and why he was so beloved. If more high-profile people were like him, the world would be a better place.

22 Sep 2016 Corina Pelloni

TIME FOR A CHANGE

We see it happen on the PGA Tour all the time: a player leaves a golf teaching professional for another teacher.  There can be a number of reasons, such as the player is not improving, there is a difference on what direction the player should go, or the player feels that it is time for a fresh start.  As a golf teaching professional, how do you handle this decision?  When is it time to make a change? Some teachers take it very personal to the point where they hope the student doesn’t have the same caliber of success.  On the other hand, there are a number of teachers who will do everything they can to make the transition a positive one.  I once heard of a top teacher who would send his former student’s old swing videos to the new teacher in efforts to set that student up for success. Sometimes change is a good thing, even if it hurts our feelings.  We need to wish our students well and let them know we will be there if they ever want to talk or work together again.  As a professional, it is not in anyone’s best interest to “put down” the other instructor or their methods.  Many eyes are on you during these times; you can easily lose students if your attitude is poor. Rory McIlory recently left Dave Stockton, his long time putting coach, for Phil Kenyon.  This was not blown up in the media like some of the other major teaching changes because all parties were professional.  Rory needed a change, plain and simple.  I am sure that Stockton was very happy when Rory won the Deutsche Bank Championship a few weeks ago. There are times when change is needed; it’s part of life.  Do what’s right for you and your students.  It should all work out in the end.

13 Sep 2016 Corina Pelloni

I WOULD VOTE OUT BUBBA

On a popular website I was browsing, there was a voting question on the captain’s Ryder Cup picks. The choice was which person to leave off among Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler, J.B. Holmes, Matt Kuchar, or Jim Furyk. When you place your vote the results are posted, and although close, the man out was Furyk. He would seem to be the logical choice, not having won a tournament for some time in spite of recently shooting the lowest score ever recorded at a PGA Tour event. In world rankings, he is lower than the others, also. If I were the captain, however, he is the guy I would want on my team. So the logical question – why discard Bubba? He certainly would get the gallery hopped up. My main reason is the course. Hazeltine National is an Open course, narrow fairways, heavy rough and mature trees. I don’t think it favors Bubba off the tee. Yes, he played well at the Olympics, but that was a wide-open course. At the Ryder Cup, we will need balls in the fairway, and Furyk can certainly do that. We will especially need accuracy off the tee in foursome play, an area where the U.S. team is woeful. I have nothing against Bubba; I just think this course is not suited to his game, and Furyk seems to play well on these types of courses. So he got my vote and Bubba didn’t. In any event, whoever the choice, I anticipate an exciting match, another up-and-down to the wire finish.

6 Sep 2016 Corina Pelloni

TAKING IT TO THE COURSE

Many times, my students talk to me about their inability to score well on the course.  They feel like they strike the ball on the range at a level that would suggest low scores. I take this opportunity to point out the differences between tour pros and everyone else. Tour pros are willing to assess a situation and make the correct decision, based on all of the given circumstances. For instance, in terms of the short game, the pros, the most talented players on the planet, select a club and shot that seems easy to them. They don’t want to use their considerable talent playing hard shots. Instead, they try to play a shot that they are likely to execute 98% of the time. When chipping up a hill, the most accomplished short game players will select a club that allows them to use a small swing and promotes a consistent roll up the slope. Younger players will grab a lofted club that is designed to spin and stop quickly, a club that fights their intent. I put my students through a progression drill. We stand about 10 yards off of the green and pitch to a flag that is 15 yards on the green and up a hill slightly (25 total yards). We begin with a 9-iron. I explain to them that their used to be a “starter” set of clubs that had 3-,5-,7-,and 9-irons only in them; no wedges of any kind. You had to figure out ways to make the 9-iron work. I ask them to open the face slightly with the 9-iron and pitch the ball to the flag. It is important to keep the hands soft and your swing smooth. They soon see that the 9-iron is easy to play the shot with. It flies and bites consistently and rolls to the flag in a dependable manner. Next comes the pitching wedge. They are surprised that the swing that made the 9-iron soft now makes the wedge much softer than normal. The same continues to happen as we progress through the wedges to the most-lofted clubs. This drill takes the violence and unnecessary speed out of our wedge action. My players also see that more loft does NOT necessarily make the shot easier. I explain to them that, as talented players, one of the worst things they can do to themselves is to be one-dimensional. I want my players to look at a shot and know they have four or five clubs in their bag that they could get close to the hole. Advanced understanding of trajectory and spin makes picking landing spots much easier. I need their eyes, and mind, to be wide open. I know of at least one major college golf program that charts proximity to the hole on a short shot like this. I ask my students to picture a person standing by the hole with a clipboard. They are charting the proximity to the hole of every shot and are going to give you an average distance, away from the hole, for each club. Now, logic should tell you to take the club that gives you the best average result. That is the smartest shot. Does the normal student take heed? NO. I know of an instance where a college golf coach took a player out of the starting lineup because he wouldn’t choose the club that was in his best interest. He continued to select shots that were too hard when a simpler option was available. I put a young student through this exercise and was careful to point out the results. From 25 yards, as I described, he was best with the 9-iron. The pitching wedge and gap wedge were progressively worse. The sand wedge was nearly as good as the 9-iron. The lob wedge was not even used. He said to me, “See, the sand wedge IS the best club.” I replied, “Wait a minute. You hit that sand wedge on EVERY shot under 100 yards. It gets all of your focus. Day after day it is in your hands. You hit the 9-iron for 10 minutes and it performs as well, if not better. Doesn’t that tell you something?” Good shotmaking, where balls end up next to the hole, is many times the result of good decision making. Maturity as a player looks like this: You are willing to work on many shots. You become adept at seeing the best shot to play in each situation. Then, you are willing to play the shot with the best club available. You want to use your considerable talent to play a shot that seems easy to you and which you will hardly ever mis-hit. When we understand that our “go-to club” is any club in the bag that simplifies the shot, we have come a long way on our journey to lower scoring. The best players SEE the right shot, PLAY the right shot and USE THE RIGHT CLUB. That is the formula for “taking it to the course.”

3 Aug 2016 Corina Pelloni

A GOLFER’S FEEL

Feel is a part of many sports:  hockey, basketball, baseball, and especially golf, to name a few.  Also common to each sport is the importance of the right mechanics.  When both are executed at a high level, then greatness can be achieved.  There are times, though, that the right feel outweighs the importance of mechanics. Recently at The Open Championship at Royal Troon, Phil Mickelson was in contention from day one.  He was driving it well, hitting good iron shots, putting and scrambling like only Phil can.  During the last round in the now-famous duel with Henrik Stenson, Mickelson did something very few golfers would ever do, especially during in the hunt of the last round of a major. Phil normally putts using a “saw”-type grip.  He moves his lower hand into the “saw” position prior to stroking his putt.  During the last round of the tournament, I noticed Phil using two different grips:  a normal, or convention grip, and also the “saw” grip.  At first, I thought maybe he was using the normal grip on longer putts only, but during the middle of the round, he made a 12-foot putt using the normal grip.  Going back and forth between grips might sound odd to some people, but Phil was very in-tune to his feel that he knew was working.  If his practice stroke felt okay with a normal grip, then he stayed with it; if not, he reverted to the “saw” approach.  Understanding that his feel was spot-on allowed him to play a great round. Unfortunately for Phil, he didn’t win the tournament, but it wasn’t from poor play.  Stenson played better that day.  Teaching your students to trust their feel is an important part of teaching.  We need to show our students that there is more than swing mechanics.  Golf is a game of feel.