Remembering Important Golf Events Forgotten With Time
18 Oct 2018

Remembering Important Golf Events Forgotten With Time

By Mike Stevens USGTF Member, Tampa, Florida 2018 Champion, Dylan Malafronte A distant sound of the High-lands gently wafted in through the grand oaks and morning mist. There must be golf about to commence. Indeed, the thud of a well-struck brassie was in the offing as the 2018 United States Professional and Amateur Hickory Golf Championships were about to get underway. Once again, the game as it was originally played here in 1922 at the opening of Temple Terrace Golf & Country Club in Tampa, Florida, was on display, with gentlemen and gentlewomen in proper golf attire vying for the title of champion golfer. The day is a celebration and remembrance of three historical events that have long since been forgotten with time. From 1895 to 1897, the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Open were played concurrently on the same golf course in the same week. Both amateurs and professionals play on this day for their respective trophies. Those trophies are dedicated to America’s first golf pro and protégé, John Shippen and Oscar Bunn. Shippen was an African-American who played in the 1896 U.S. Open and finished sixth. Bunn was a Shinnecock Indian who helped in the building of the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club that hosted the tournaments that year. Lastly, in 1925, the Florida Open was hosted by Jim Barnes at Temple Terrace and billed as the greatest gathering of professional golfers for a sporting event. The Temple Terrace Golf & Country Club, laid out by noted architect Tom Bendelow, was described by the Tampa Tribune as a brute of a course stretching out over 6,400 yards. Probably not worthy by today’s standard, but a stout test for the century-old clubs used back then. It was the centerpiece for the first planned community in the United States, spearheaded by Bertha Palmer, a socialite from Chicago. But the area predates the community, as Spanish explorer Don Francisco Maria Celi made his way up the Hillsborough River looking for pine trees to use as masts for his ships. The extensive pine forest made the area popular for turpentine production and logging. Ms. Palmer purchased 19,000 acres on which the homes and golf course were created. The city of Temple Terrace was named for the new hybrid Temple orange, which was first grown here in the surrounding groves that were established on the property. All in all, the links held up well against some excellent modern-day hickory golfers, with Ocala, Florida’s Dylan Malafronte carding an even-par 72 to grab the John Shippen Cup, a margin of two strokes clear of Mark Harman from Ridgeland, South Carolina. On the amateur side, Virginia’s Deal Hudson won the Oscar Bunn Trophy with a score of 81. Not to forget our fair maidens, the low ladies’ pro this year was repeat winner Jennifer Cully of St. Petersburg, Florida, with an excellent round of 86. A big thank you goes out to the USGTF for their title sponsorship of this tournament and continued support for the history of our game.
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So You Wanna Play Pro Golf?
10 Oct 2018

So You Wanna Play Pro Golf?

Pebble Beach, Augusta National, TPC Sawgrass and Harbour Town. These are just some of the famous courses that the top tour professionals play year in and year out. Ah, the good life, right?

Well, yes. But the journey to get to the top of the mountain of professional golf is far from easy. The fact of the matter is it takes a lot of time, effort and money to even attempt this journey. And that’s assuming the player has the talent and ability in the first place.

More than a few times per year, USGTF examiners hear a candidate in his 40s say that he plans to “chase the senior tour” when he gets near 50. Then, some of these same candidates fail to break 80 during the playing ability test.

This is not to discourage those who want to chase their dreams. However, let’s paint an accurate picture of what it takes to someday “make it.” As teachers, a lot of us undoubtedly have students who truly aspire to playing on the PGA or Champions Tour. They may think they’re good enough. They may be right, but more often than not…

Playing Ability

All of the time, effort, and money in the world won’t do one bit of good unless the player has the ability, or at least the potential, to shoot low scores consistently on tough courses. Take our hometown hero, for example. He can average 72 on his home course, which means he breaks par almost half of the time. So far so good, right?

Upon closer examination, he plays the white tees with the boys at 6,400 yards on a course rated 70.0. Since most golfers in the scratch range average about two strokes over their handicaps, this means our hometown hero is a legitimate scratch golfer, handicap 0. So far so good, right?

Now, some of the old-money boys at the club think they have a real hotshot on their hands, and if he could only play full-time, he’d no doubt be playing with Dustin and Jordan someday. So, they pool their money and send their man out on the mini-tour circuit. So far so good, right?

Much to their surprise, after six events he hasn’t even come close to cashing a check. So far, uh, not so good. What happened?

Most mini-tours pay only the top 1/3 of the field. They play their events on courses not rated at 70.0, but perhaps 73.5. To cash a check, a two-round score of 144 (even par) is normally reasonable. This means our hometown hero must play to a +3.5 handicap standard (the average handicap of someone who averages 1.5 below the course rating) just to cash a check!

Winning? That might be a score of 136 or lower. If he wants to win or be one of the top finishers (where the real money in mini-tour golf is), he needs to play to at least a +6 handicap standard in that tournament.

Now the old-money boys are accusing their man of not trying hard enough, of not putting in enough effort. But he is. He’s practicing more than he ever has, and he is showing some improvement. In fact, his tournament handicap is +1. Yet, he still hasn’t made a dime – why not?

Unless a golfer can play to at least a +2 handicap in competition, he probably has no future in the pro game – not even in banging out a few bucks on the mini-tours, even at the senior level.

Lee Trevino suggested a test many years ago to see if someone was ready for pro golf. Take him to six courses he’s never played before and have him play the back tees. If he can shoot no worse than +6 total for the six rounds, playing under strict USGA rules, Trevino said, you might have a winner on your hands.

The late USGTF examiner John Nichols, a former PGA Tour player, had a unique perspective on what it takes. He suggested taking the prospective tour player to the up tees and having him play from there. If or when the player could shoot at least a 65 from these up tees, he needed to move back one set and repeat the process until he reached the back tees. If the player could shoot a 65 from the back tees, John said, only then would he be ready for pro golf.

Time And Effort

We all hear stories how Vijay Singh hits balls for hours on end each and every day, how Ben Hogan would work from sunup to sundown, and how Trevino would chastise rookies by saying, “The sun’s up, young man – why aren’t you playing golf?”

It’s not necessary to put in such yeoman work in order to play one’s best, but these anecdotes underscore the fact that it does take a lot of time and effort to reach the top echelons of the sport. Some players from the past, like Bruce Lietzke, are famous for not working much, but they are few and far between.

If a mini-tour player is playing two or three competitive rounds per week, he or she had better be playing and practicing all but one day the rest of the week (it’s okay to take one day off to re-charge). A typical non-tournament day might include an hour of warming up, playing 18 holes, and then practicing for at least two hours afterwards. In other words, it’s a real job, seven or more hours per day.

Money

Talented baseball, basketball, and football players are lucky – someone is willing to foot the bill for them to play. Not so in professional golf.

Let’s say someone has qualified to play the Mackenzie Tour, a feeder tour into the Web.com Tour. First, he had to pay $2,000 plus expenses just to go through the qualifying tournament. Next, he has to find a way to pay the entry fee each week, plus travel, hotel and meal expenses. For simplicity’s purposes, let’s say this player lives at home with a generous mom and dad who don’t charge for room and board.

We’re still looking at close to $30,000. There are cheaper alternatives, but they generally don’t offer a very big field or purse. And let’s not forget the Web.com Tour Q-school: $5,200 plus expenses. Frankly, unless someone is ultra-talented to where he can produce a positive cash flow almost immediately, it’s a rich person’s game, unless a very generous – and patient – sponsor is involved.

Summary

Playing professional golf is an extremely difficult endeavor, and many have unrealistic beliefs about their abilities and potential. Talent and ability are only the starting points in this most arduous of journeys.

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared in the Winter 2010 edition of Golf Teaching Pro and is another in a series from the magazine archives. It was selected for its content, which remains relevant today. It was updated slightly to reflect the current state of the game.
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Truths Your Students Need To Hear
2 Oct 2018

Truths Your Students Need To Hear

Golf breeds a certain amount of optimism in just about everyone who plays it, from the junior player who aspires to be a world-famous professional to the everyday golfer dreaming of shooting in the 70s. Some of this optimism is deserved; for others, it’s nothing more than a fantasy when you consider other realities.

If you’ve taught golf for a certain length of time, you will run across students who have certain goals and expectations for themselves that may or may not be realistic. They also might have certain expectations of their teacher or coach that also may or may not be realistic. Here are some things that students need to hear and understand, not only about the teaching and learning process but about themselves and how the game actually works:

Realistic expectations

If you work on what you were taught, you will improve. It might take some time, but you will improve. A lot of students seem to have this notion that they are in complete control of their bodies, and that if they are told and shown what to do, they will automatically be able to do it with no adjustment period. The fact is, it takes most people a lot of correct repetitions over several weeks, at minimum, in order to effect a change. Professional golfers who have made changes, such as Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods, have been known to not see any improvement for 18-24months while they were working to fully implement the changes. Patience is the key.

You should be clear on what your plan of action is. Proper communication is definitely something you should expect from your teacher or coach. There should be no questions in your mind about the proper course of action laid out for you when you leave the lesson tee. If there is anything you are unclear on, ask! The teacher will not take offense, and instead will be glad that you are interested enough to make sure what needs to be done.

Your teacher or coach should be well-trained. Prior to the existence of the USGTF, apprentice professionals would be charged with giving lessons, even though they never received any formal training. They were expected to learn through experience with some input from the head professional. Thankfully, those days are for the most part over. Although everyone has to start somewhere and by definition there are inexperienced instructors, if they are well trained, such as through the USGTF program, they are qualified to give instruction. Prior to the existence of the USGTF, apprentice professionals would be charged with giving lessons, even though they never received any formal training. They were expected to learn through experience with some input from the head professional. Thankfully, those days are for the most part over. Although everyone has to start somewhere and by definition there are inexperienced instructors, if they are well trained, such as through the USGTF program, they are qualified to give instruction.

Unrealistic expectations

Your teacher, not your effort, is mainly responsible for any improvement. Nothing is more frustrating to a golf teaching professional to hear that the student practiced either sparingly or not at all since the last lesson. As mentioned in the previous section, it takes a lot of correct repetitions before a change becomes automatic. A belief that still exists among some is that it takes 60 correct repetitions for 21 days to create a new habit, but the fact is these are made-up numbers that haven’t held up to the scrutiny of motor-learning studies. Factors such as inherent talent, work ethic and complexity of the change all play a role in how long it takes to change or develop a new habit.

One lesson is all you need to fix your problems. Just as one chiropractic adjustment won’t permanently fix whatever your problem is, one lesson is probably not enough to fix whatever ails your golf game. Most people need to take a series of lessons or a golf school to see some lasting change.

You’re going to play the tour one day. Virtually everyone who has played the game has had this fantasy, and for a select few, it becomes reality. Then, there are those who are actually serious about his goal. But even for them, the odds are greatly against this happening. For the PGATour, there theoretically can be a maximum of 50 rookies a year, but in actuality the number is far fewer, because many of these 50 spots are taken up by former players returning to the Tour. If you aren’t one of the very best players in your state, you have no chance. As for PGA Tour Champions (for the 50-and-over set), it’s even worse. There are only five new fully-exempt members of that tour each year with another seven conditional spots.

You can learn to be as good as you can without the benefit of instruction. For some reason, golf seems to be one sport that has a fair share of participants who take great pride in being a “self-taught” player. Most people wouldn’t think of learning to play a musical instrument without a competent teacher, or playing in a team sport where there is no coaching, but in golf, this is unfortunately commonplace. If you want to get good as good as you want, you need to get instruction from a competent teacher and/or coach.

Golf is a great game, as we all know, and is the reason we came to the game in the first place. It’s also fun, but challenging, and to attain a certain level of competency requires a certain amount of effort. It also helps greatly to have a mentor in the form of a well-qualified teacher or coach, and combined with realistic expectations, a golfer will get the most out of the game that they can.
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Nerves Exist But…Anxiety Doesn’t Have To
24 Sep 2018

Nerves Exist But…Anxiety Doesn’t Have To

Can butterflies really turn into full-blown anxiety and create worry, doubt and fear? Years ago, I’d get ready to give a presentation and my nerves would pop up. For me, the nerves start with the physical manifestation and then move to my brain. It would start with butterflies in my stomach and an increase in heart rate. Then it would lead to me thinking all kinds of negative, irrational stuff.

What was the outcome? Inevitably I’d get on stage and feel nervous. I’d stumble through the first five minutes stuttering. Yes, stuttering.

Recognize Anxiety

When I realized what was going on (after much insight gained through my M.A. in sport psychology), I knew I needed to change what was happening prior to my presentations. It was time to develop a pre-presentation routine. I tried several things – music, movies and meditation. They all helped to a degree, but I still wasn’t feeling as confident as I would like.

My next step was to develop a mantra, something short and sweet that would calm the nerves and get me feeling excited about presenting. My mantra was and still is, “I am so excited.” I sometimes add, “I can’t wait to do this!” My nerves start the night before a presentation. As soon as I start to feel the nerves, I say my mantra, out loud (if I am alone) or in my head. Two seconds later, when the nerves pop up again, I say my mantra. Two seconds after that, when they are still there, I say my mantra again. It takes some persistence.

Reality of Anxiety

Anxiety is something everyone deals with at some level. There are three important things to understand about anxiety:

1. Nerves, which we often interpret as anxiety, don’t have to get that big. Learn to let the nervous thoughts flow in and flow out. If you add to those thoughts, you make them bigger, and that’s when the thoughts grow and become full-blown anxiety. 2. Nerves will always exist. They are the way our brain tells our body that something big or important is about to happen. 3. You do have a choice how you deal with them.

Anxiety is a negative emotional state often characterized by worry, doubt, fear and nervousness. Anxiety appears cognitively through worry and fear. It also appears somatically through things like butterflies and increased heart rate.

There are many theories on anxiety. One is called catastrophe theory. Catastrophe theory states that low worry, increased arousal, and somatic anxiety are related to performance in an inverted U-way. With a lot of worry, the increases in arousal improve performance to a person’s optimal zone. If arousal continues beyond the zone, there is a rapid and dramatic decline in performance. Once a person’s performance has rapidly declined due to increased arousal levels, they would need to greatly decrease their physiological arousal before being able to regain previous performance levels.

Key Considerations of Anxiety

There are four key considerations to think about when it comes to anxiety:

1. Identify your optimal arousal-related emotions. Think of arousal as an emotional temperature and arousal regulation skills as a thermostat. Your goal is to find your optimal emotional temperature (under what conditions you perform optimally) and then learn how to regulate your thermostat. Regulating your thermostat is done by either psyching up or psyching down. 2. Recognize how your personal and situational factors interact. It’s important to understand the interaction of personal factors (self-esteem, state, and trait anxiety) and situational factors (event importance and uncertainty) to get the best predictor of arousal, state anxiety and performance. 3. Recognize your signs of arousal and anxiety. You can better understand your anxiety level when you become familiar with the signs and symptoms of increased stress and anxiety. Learn how to regulate the levels of symptoms based on your optimal performance level. The quantity of symptoms depends on the individual. It’s the quality that’s important to keep in mind. Try to notice changes in these variables between low-and high-stress environments and learn to make changes when necessary. Here are some of them:

Signs of Anxiety Cold, clammy hands, Butterflies, Feeling ill Frequent urination, Profuse sweating, Headache Negative self-talk, Cotton mouth, Increased muscle tension, Difficulty sleeping, Inability to concentrate

4. Develop your confidence and perceptions of control. You can develop confidence by being positive and putting yourself in positive situations/environments. When you are positive, you surround yourself with other positive people and positive situations/environments. One other way to develop confidence is by learning to feel okay about mistakes.

Deal With Anxiety

Self-reflection is a critical component of being a consistent athlete. After a performance, write down how you felt before, during and afterwards (positive and negative). Keep track of your thoughts, feelings, physiological symptoms, your perception about whether the performance was easy, moderate or hard; what importance did you place on it, etc. You can use this information to become aware of what helps you play well and what gets in the way of your performance. Self-reflection allows you to see the patterns and adjust the negatives to make a more positive change.

Other techniques to deal with anxiety:

•Smile when you feel the anxiety. It’s difficult to be mad when you are smiling, and it takes the edge off anxiety-producing situations. •Think fun. Highly skilled athletes have a sense of enjoyment and fun while they are performing. Most of them look forward to the challenge of pressure situations. This does not mean they don’t get nervous. •Breathe. Breath control and focus produce energy and reduce tension. •Use a mantra. Saying and thinking personally-generated positive words or phrases can be energizing and activating. Some examples are: I can do it, push to the top, I can present this material as well as anyone else, etc. •Build confidence with a pre-performance routine. Once you perfect some of the techniques for dealing with your anxiety, you can incorporate these into a pre-performance routine. A pre- performance routine is a systematic sequence of preparatory thoughts and activities you use to concentrate effectively before performing. These routines help train your mind to focus on what’s important versus focus on the anxiety. By concentrating on each step of a well-thought-out routine, you learn to focus on what is in your control.

Don’t try these for the first time the day of your performance. All the above techniques for dealing with anxiety take practice. It’s something that you want to get in the habit of developing during less-pressure training sessions, so you have a fully developed, personalized plan for the big game day, just as you would do for the physical aspects of your performance.

Transform Your Anxiety Into Your Zone

Your performance can be hindered significantly by how far your anxiety pushes your level of arousal. At the lower end of the arousal scale, an athlete is not aroused enough to perform optimally. With a little psyching up, you can find your zone or optimal performance level. This zone is very small as compared to the lower and upper ends of the arousal scale. That is why it takes a lot of awareness, understanding and refinement to stay in that zone and not drop off the other side into the psyched-out zone, where performance drastically declines.

Remember, you aren’t going to change your anxiety levels overnight, but the great news is you can immediately begin to become aware of what your anxiety levels are and almost immediately figure out how to work on regulating your anxiety for optimal performance.

Dr. Cleere is an Elite Performance Expert and can be reached through her website www.DrMichelleCleere.com. She can also be accessed on Facebook and Twitter.
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Frequency Of Lessons
31 Aug 2018

Frequency Of Lessons

By Cole Golden, USGTF Member, Wichita, Kansas

I was recently asked by a student how often he should take a lesson. I usually let the student take the lead on this type of conversation to get a feel for where their head is at, and how serious they are about improving their game. I carefully considered the student’s question to provide him with the best possible answer. While I would love for a student to take a lesson every week so that I could carefully watch and help them, is that what is right for the student?

I told this particular student that I would like him to practice at least twice between lessons. There is a “method to my madness.” It gives a student time to work on the recommended adjustments and comprehend any positives or negatives from the previous lesson. Maybe we are working on containing a good spine angle, and after a couple of practice rounds they feel like they can’t get through the ball.

Or maybe we have been working on a certain shot shape and they get it down, ready to move onto the next.

Giving a student a chance to work on drills outside of a paid lesson is a more efficient and effective use of your time and theirs. If a student doesn’t practice, it doesn’t matter how many lessons they take. While you want to help them along, they must have time to work on things prior to moving on to the next lesson. Some instructors offer ten-minute lessons that are good for students who don’t practice a lot. This is a “quick look” type of lesson and it serves a purpose.

Having a well-thought out, personalized game plan with your students shows them that you care about their progress as a player. It also helps you manage your schedule more efficiently.
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Everyone’s Obsessed About Distance, Distance, Distance
24 Aug 2018

Everyone’s Obsessed About Distance, Distance, Distance

Turn on Golf Channel or access virtually any golf media source, and one of the main topics of 2018 is “how far the ball is going,” or in other words, how far tour pros are hitting the ball these days. After years of saying there was no problem, the USGA and R&A are now claiming that something has to be done.

Jack Nicklaus has long advocated for rolling the ball back, and he was saying this 25 years ago when balata balls were still in use and the median driving distance for tour pros was 260.5 yards. For the most recent completed golf season, 2016-2017, that number is now 292.5. Based on 14 tee shots per round, that means tour venues today effectively play 448 yards shorter as compared to 1993. To keep up, that 6,900-yard course in 1993 must be stretched out to 7,348 yards to have equivalent approach yardages.

The gatekeepers of the game and media pundits say that golf architects today are “forced” to design such behemoth courses in order to “keep up with the ball.” That only makes sense if such courses are planning to host world-class competitions. Otherwise, there is really very little necessity in doing so. The average golfer hits the ball nowhere near 250 yards off the tee, the minimum distance a scratch golfer is expected to hit the ball, according to the USGA. Most courses have scratch golfers, not tour pros, as their best players, and you would be hard put to find scratch golfers who hit the ball much farther than 275 yards. A 6,900-yard course is more than adequate to test these golfers from a distance point of view.

What’s really behind this focus on how far tour pros hit the ball? Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley said during his annual news conference at the Masters that the par-5 13th hole was designed by Bobby Jones so that going for the green in two was a “monumental decision.” Ridley pointed out that today’s players routinely have a middle or short iron into the green, and that the decision on the second shot is no longer “monumental.” He expressed confidence that “something will be done.”

Unbelievably, it could actually be inferred that all of the talk about how far the ball goes comes down to how the 13th and 15th (another par-5) holes at Augusta National are played by the pros! Think about it – those who run Augusta National are powerful figures who have the ear of the USGA and R&A, and yes, they are listening.

First, most players do not “routinely” hit middle or short irons into that hole. That is reserved for the longest hitters in the game, but right now, many of them are the top players, so naturally they are getting the most attention. If the average driving distance is about 294 yards today, that still leaves a 216-yard approach shot to the 13th hole, which is 510 yards. For most touring professionals, that is not a middle iron, but probably a 4-iron or even a 3-iron, contrary to what you may have been led to believe. And with today’s club lofts being stronger than in years past, that 4-iron and 3-iron are actually closer to the 2-and 1-irons the older fellows hit back in the day.

What are the options that the USGA and R&A have? Here are three of the possibilities:

Enact a local rule allowing for a tournament ball. This would ostensibly solve the “problem” of the ball going too far for touring professionals and at the same time allowing amateurs to enjoy the game. But this presents a myriad of other problems. Elite amateurs who qualify for professional events would have to either learn to play a new ball, or be playing it already but sacrificing his game to those who are not using the shorter ball. Players entering qualifiers for USGA national championships would have to adjust in some manner, too. The handicap system would be in chaos, because someone could use a shorter ball to establish a handicap and then use the longer ball in amateur competitions such as the city or club championship.

Chances of this happening: Minimal.

Roll the ball back for everyone. This would involve making the ball fly shorter than it currently does. Many ranges have limited-flight balls, and the high-quality ones do not feature a ball flight that is markedly any different, other than they go shorter. You can still work the ball left and right, high and low with such balls. Critics say that this will reduce the popularity of the game, for who wants to hit a 5-iron into the green where previously they hit an 8-iron? But it likely presents fewer problems than bifurcating the rules, as a local rule would do.

Chances of this happening: Possible.

Do nothing. Many who favor doing nothing say that the way to reign in tour professionals is to narrow the fairways, grow the rough and firm up the greens, all to prevent the pros from shooting low numbers. But they are missing the point. The pooh-bahs of the game are not concerned with the actual scores the pros are shooting; they are concerned with how the game is being played at that level, and Chairman Ridley’s statement is proof. They don’t want to see pros hit middle and short irons into long par-4s, nor do they want some pros to be able to hit 550-yard par-5s in two shots. That’s the crux of the problem for them, not the scores. They see the “integrity” of courses being challenged. But par is based on what the shortest-hitting scratch golfers can do, not what tour professionals can do. And if a hole’s original “integrity” is lost, a new challenge can take its place. For example, if we go back to the 13th hole at Augusta National, one pro made the insightful comment that the new challenge is now the tee shot and negotiating the bend of the fairway, where in the past no one had any strategic decision to make. They just hit it to the middle of the dogleg with driver, because that’s all they could do.

Chances of this happening: Probable.

The “Great Distance Debate” of 2018 will undoubtedly last for a while until a final decision is issued by the governing bodies. Until then, people will continue to play golf, and given the overall health of today’s game, wonder what exactly the problem is.
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How to Get More Distance In the Golf Swing
23 Aug 2018

How to Get More Distance In the Golf Swing

By Arlen Bento Jr. USGTF Member, Jensen Beach, Florida

If you play golf and love the game, at some point you will notice a loss in distance. Usually, this is due to age, just getting older, losing flexibility and strength.

Over years, many golfers just don’t realize how much distance they have been losing, because over time, they have been making adjustments to their equipment, changing shafts, finding better club technologies and switching golf ball designs. Ultimately, the loss of distance reaches a point where the golfer gets discouraged and starts to seek answers.

For over 20 years I have been helping people with their golf games, and the number one reason people come to see me is that they want more distance. Here is a plan that can help any player that is looking for more distance:

TIP: Learn to use your hips and legs properly in your golf swing to create more speed and distance.

Get your swing analyzed with computer video and fix your flaws. Sometimes, players just have bad technique and are giving away distance. Alot of recreational players that don’t have good golf fundamentals will notice a larger drop in their distance as they get older, because they have learned to use non-fundamental power sources to create speed. Look at older players like Tom Watson, who still generates lots of club speed even at age 68 and is still competitive on the Tour. Watson obviously has a good golf swing, but he swings with tempo, using his legs and hips as well as his arms to create speed. Most recreational players never learned to use their hips and legs properly in the golf swing, and this flaw becomes very noticeable with age.

TIP: Get your club speed, ball speed and launch data analyzed on a launch monitor regularly to make sure your clubs are correct for your speed.

One of the best things you can do as a golfer is to get your club speed, ball speed and launch data analyzed at least once a year if you play golf on a regular basis. Ultimately, it all comes down to physics, and if you don’t have the correct equipment, you are at a huge disadvantage as it relates to distance. Based on how fast you swing, the ball speed you create and how you launch the ball, you need equipment that matches your abilities to get more distance.

TIP: Start a golf fitness and stretching program.

Start a golf-specific fitness and stretching pro-gram to help your body swing faster. Your body is an incredible thing. You will be surprised how just a little effort in working on your body will have amazing results in your golf swing and the ability to generate more distance. Many people don’t understand that your legs have a critical role in the golf swing, much like jumping. When you jump, you use the big muscles of your legs, your core and parts of your body that need to be strong and flexible. I have a great little drill that I offer to clients that anyone can do. Just sit in a sturdy chair, cross your arms across your chest. Using your core and your legs, just stand up, sit back down and repeat8-10 times. Try to sit down slowly to keep your legs engaged. This exercise really helps use your legs and core, which will help your golf swing. If you have medical conditions, please speak with your doctor first before starting any fitness program.

If you are one of the millions of golfers that are struggling with losing distance, make sure to get your swing analyzed, have your equipment checked and start a simple golf fitness program.

You will be on your way to more distance in no time.

Arlen Bento Jr. is an award-winning golf coach, “Top100” world-recognized golf instructor and club fitting expert living in Jensen Beach, Florida. He operates his own indoor golf academy in Stuart and is the co-host of Golf Talk Radio on WSTU 1450 AM. You can listen to his radio show on Wednesday evenings from 6-7 p.m., or watch online at www.golftalkflorida.com. Bento can be reached for instruction at (772) 485-8030, by email at arlenbentojr@gmail.com, or on his website www.arlenbentojrgolflessons.com.
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A Look At Old Vs. New Technology
20 Aug 2018

A Look At Old Vs. New Technology

By Mark Harman, USGTF Course Director, Ridgeland, South Carolina

“Distance is ruining the game!” cry the purists.“All it is on tour is driver/wedge, driver/wedge every hole! Why, back in the day, pros were actually hitting long irons into par-4s!”

It’s helpful if we compare “back in the day” with the modern game in terms of driving distance. The PGA Tour began compiling various statistics in 1980, one of them being driving distance. Comparing the first three years of 1980-82 – when almost everyone used a persimmon driver and a balata ball – to the most recent three years (2015-17), we see that the median driving distance increased from 258 yards to 291, a gain of 33 yards. Some of that is due to the golf ball, some due to the driver, and some due to the stronger athletes now playing the pro game.

I decided to test the one aspect of this that I could, the golf club. At my disposal were my current driver, a 45-inch 10.5° Callaway Big Bertha Alpha 815, a 44-inch 9° Callaway Big Bertha Warbird from the early 1990s, and a 43-inch Wilson 4300 persimmon driver, given to me courtesy of USGTF examiner and good friend Mike Levine. Both Callaways have graphite shafts, while the Wilson has the original steel shaft that came with it. All clubs are standard length for their time, except for my current driver, which I cut down ½”.

Over the course of two different sessions on two different days, I hit 12 shots with each driver each session, resulting in 24 shots with each driver. I used a Callaway Chrome Soft ball, and for measurement purposes, an indoor simulator using the GC Quad from Foresight Sports.

I eliminated the shortest 12 shots for each driver, to better measure the solid strikes as my goal was to measure the technology differences in regard to distance. I suppose using the overall averages could give a window into the forgiveness factor for each driver, but that’s another discussion.

A quick note for those of you familiar with Trackman numbers: The “smash factor” (ball speed divided by the clubhead speed) is lower than what is obtained with TrackMan. Why this is, I’m not exactly sure, but in doing some research and some comparisons, it appears TrackMan measures clubhead speed a little lower and ball speed a little higher than GC Quad.

The distance results are what you would expect: The modern titanium driver is longer than the 1990s-era steel driver, which is longer than the1980s-era persimmon driver. The distance results, at least in this simulation, are linear. In terms of clubhead speed, the longer modern driver is the fastest, while the shorter and heavier persimmon wood is the slowest – again, what you would expect.

What I didn’t necessarily expect was the smash factor for the Wilson persimmon driver was higher than the Warbird’s, and almost on a par with the Alpha 815’s. (For the record, I have tested my driver against the newer 2018 models and find no differences in terms of ball speed, spin rate and carry distance.) I remember reading advertisements and articles from the late 1980s and early 1990s claiming persimmon drivers went farther than the then-newsteel drivers, and this gives credence to that claim.

When we further examine the data, we can see that launch angle and backspin play a significant role in distance, as well as the obvious ball speed number. This is why the Warbird, with higher launch and lower backspin, provides more distance than the Wilson. Had I been able to launch the Wilson higher (which was tough given its low loft), I might have been able to match the Warbird’s distance.

Another unexpected development was the backspin rates of the older models. The Warbird had by far the lowest number, while the Wilson and Alpha 815 were virtually identical. As for the Warbird, a club that I used for six years, the original RCH 90 stock shaft splintered from so much use, and in its place is a ProForce XL, a turn-of-the-century shaft featuring a very stiff tip, so that may have had something to do with the low backspin rate.

Because of USGA limits on driver and ball technology, it’s highly unlikely, if not impossible from a physics standpoint, for equipment to provide any more distance gains in the future. Predictions of “everyone” at the tour level being able to hit the ball 400 yards, or even 350, appear to be greatly exaggerated. While long-drive competitors can attain those distances, they do so by making an extremely aggressive swing that is simply not built for competitive golf, rendering them too inaccurate. I suppose one day someone may be able to figure out a way to keep their 350-yard drives in play often enough to compete, but I doubt it. Currently, former long-drive champ Jamie Sadlowski is making a go of it in the professional competitive ranks, but so far he has yet to achieve any notable success. Dennis Paulson, winner of the 1985 long drive championship, did make it to the PGA Tour and in fact won an event in 2000, but he dialed back his distance significantly in order to do so.

In conclusion, I don’t believe the sky is falling in terms of excessive distance ruining the professional game. Instead, let’s marvel at these players’ skill and ability, and keep in mind that the element of human competition is the most important factor in making golf as compelling as it is at the highest level.

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Ground Forces and Bobby Jones
16 Aug 2018

Ground Forces and Bobby Jones

Robert Tyre “Bobby” Jones Jr., circa 1921, Heritage Auctions

By Thomas T Wartelle, USGTF Member, Washington, Louisiana

Robert Tyre Jones, Jr., or “Bobby Jones,” was one of the greatest competitive golfers of all times. He won 13 majors (4 U.S. Opens, 3 Opens, 5 U.S. Amateurs and 1 Amateur). He was also a very learned man with a degree in mechanical engineering and a practicing lawyer.

Bobby Jones was fond of saying that those who are golf instructors are continuously searching for a new way to say the same thing. I could not agree more! In today’s day and age, we have modern technology to analyze and dissect every movement of the golf swing. I certainly am fond of technology and biomechanical study of athletic movement. However, it amuses me to hear of all the “new” breakthroughs of modern teaching. One such example is the phrase “ground  forces.” Today, there are advanced analytical tools such as force plates that can measure the transfer of pressure throughout the golf swing.

Humans have been playing golf hundreds of years. There is nothing new to athletic motion, swinging a stick, and hitting an object. The great baseball player Ted Williams wrote one of the finest instructional books on hitting a baseball nearly 50 years ago. This was long before specialized equipment to analyze motion. Likewise, many decades ago Bobby Jones, among others, spoke about the importance of ground forces to powerfully strike a golf ball. Today, many fine players are examples of using ground forces, which in essence means ample use of the torso, hips and legs while maintaining a stable head or spine. One such Tour player is Justin Thomas, who creates tremendous clubhead speed for a smaller-stature athlete. Like many other Tour players, Bubba Watson is also a fine example of someone who maximizes these forces.

Bobby Jones knew and spoke about ground forces in the 1930s. The same can be said of Ben Hogan, who obviously understood the relationship of the clubface at impact to true ball flight laws and the “modern” D-plane theories. As teachers, we must learn to embrace modern technology; however, we must respect and give a nod to the past, as there really is nothing new to striking a golf ball. As Bobby Jones said, “Those of us who strive to explain the golf swing are continually searching for new ways of saying the same thing in the hope that some new slant will appeal to those who have missed the older explanations.”

As golf instructors, we must continue to learn, acknowledge the past, and push on to the future. This will lead to more growth as a golf instructor.
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Taking It From the RangeTo the Course
14 Aug 2018

Taking It From the RangeTo the Course

“I can’t hit the ball on the course as well as I can on the range…I’ve won several U.S. Opens on the range…I’m a scratch golfer on the range but a 15 on the course…” These comments have been made by innumerable golfers over the years.

It’s one of the great mysteries of the game: How can someone hit the ball so well on the practice tee and yet so poorly on the course? Why do people lack the consistency on the course that they have on the range? Fortunately, there are solutions to help our students with this most perplexing of problems.

We must consider that the game as played on the course is completely different than what is happening on the range. On the course, we hit one shot every few minutes, and we’re using a different club each time (except for putting). A normal driving range session consists of using the same club for several consecutive shots, with little or no break between shots.

On the range, most people are using what is called a massed and blocked schedule. Massed means taking virtually no time between repetitions, and blocked means doing the same thing over and over. On the course, that schedule changes to distributed and random. Distributed means taking time between repetitions, and random means that something about the activity changes from repetition to repetition – different distance, direction, club, etc. So right off the bat, people just aren’t practicing the same way that they play the game, not to mention they aren’t practicing on the same venue. In other sports such as baseball and basketball, practice sessions take place on the actual playing surface, but in golf we practice on a practice green and a tee box.

Nevertheless, there are strategies to make practice more effective and mirror what is happening on the course, and we as teachers need to be aware of these. There are three areas that are the emphasis of focus, and utilizing all three are necessary to maximize our students’ ability to take it from the range to the course:

Use a distributed and random practice schedule.

Motor learning research shows us that a massed/blocked practice schedule will give us the best practice results, while ironically, a distributed/random schedule is best for retention of skills and performance, even if practice performance isn’t as good. Most people would think getting into a groove on the practice tee by hitting the same good shots over and over will lead to superior results on the course, but this isn’t the case.

Utilizing a distributed/random practice schedule on the range isn’t difficult. Our students need to change clubs with each shot and take their time between shots. Instead of having the bag right next to them, they can place it five to ten yards away so they have to walk back to the bag each time to get another club. This will help with the distributed portion of a practice session. Around the practice green, this means either using a different club each time, or at the very least, a change of targets from shot to shot.

Visualize on-course situations on the range.

Along with utilizing a distributed/random schedule of practice, it’s extremely helpful to visualize on-course situations on the range. Students should not only “see” a hole or a shot situation, they should also “feel” the situation. In other words, they should mentally place themselves there. Golfers who do this may be surprised at how their on-course mentality permeates their on-range thinking, which may lead to poor range shotmaking, but this is beneficial so they can learn to handle these mental aspects when they play. Some teachers like to recommend that their students “play” a hole or holes on the range, and this is an excellent way to take this to the ultimate level.

Use the same pre-shot routine on the range and course.

Most golfers do not use the same pre-shot routine on the range as they do on the course. It therefore becomes difficult to find a decent rhythm and sense of mental comfort on the course if someone is not using their on-course routine in practice sessions. Golfers on the range tend to rake-and-hit, rake-and-hit, while on the course they take far more time to hit a shot. It’s not necessary to use the same routine for each practice shot, but it should be used at least half of the time.

Golfers who use a distributed/random practice schedule, visualize on-course situations and faithfully use their pre-shot routine on the range and practice green will find that it will become far easier to take their practice performance to the course. Unfortunately, this is not commonly done today, but with our help, our students can be at the forefront of a practice revolution that one day may be commonplace in the game of golf.

…there are strategies to make practice more effective and mirror what is happening on the course, and we as teachers need to be aware of these.  
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