WGTF News from Japan – Naoki Yoshida
USGTF-Japan member Naoki Yoshida teaches a number of prominent touring professionals, but his foray into teaching and coaching wasn’t a direct route. As a kid, he started playing golf but preferred baseball, tennis and soccer. Golf was pretty much last on the list.
At the age of 18, he attended a golf academy in Australia headed by one of their prominent coaches. Yoshida found that the coach’s disdain for video was counter-productive, at least in his case. “All I could do then was to feel and understand what he said,” said Yoshida. “In the process of mastering a swing, it is not effective to depend only on feeling. When players understand the method and make it an automatic motion, feeling-based learning requires much more time. So, I bought a video camera to check my swing. I devoted myself to testing my physical motion during the swing, as well as the clubface angle and the shaft plane. I practiced every day until midnight to master the ideal positions of the swing.” Yoshida’s goal was to be a touring professional, but found that there was more to it than just having a great swing. “I thought the perfect, high-level swing would contribute to making a great score on the course,” he remarked. “As you know, however, it is a huge mistake. Good scores result from a repeatable and consistent swing, distance control, and short game skills. The perfect swing is not necessary for the goal.”
After uploading some of his swing and golf theories to YouTube, Facebook and other social media, Yoshida was contacted by Hideto Tanihara and Shingo Katayama for coaching. Their success with him led to more touring professionals seeking out his counsel, and today he has a number of Japanese touring pros under his tutelage. His philosophy is as follows: “When teaching golf, there are numerous pieces of the puzzle that we should consider. For example, we are required to check their address, grip, joint range of motion, length of their body parts, behavior patterns, thought patterns, and so on. I set up a plan suitable for each of the students by combining these countless puzzle pieces.”
Tournament Central
USGTF regional events are a great way to compete against and meet your fellow USGTF members. If you’d like to play in one, simply contact the regional director.
Southeast – Tournament completed.
Northeast – June 17, Mountain View Golf Course, Ewing, New Jersey. Entry fee $165. Contact region director Bob Corbo at simductivegolf@gmail.com.
Central – August 1-2, Pheasant Run Golf Course, Canton, Michigan. Entry fee $215. Contact region director Brent Davies at btkadavies@comcast.net.
Southwest – September 10-12, Golf Club at Twin Creeks, Allen, Texas. Entry fee $225 (includes Friday night dinner). Contact region director Bruce Sims at bsims@pga.com.
Northwest – September 22-23, Northern California, more info to come. Contact region director Nathan Guerrrero at prtime.ng@hotmail.com.
Be sure to visit www.USGTF.com in the Stay Informed section for registration details and updates.
INSIDE NEWS
A recent USGTF onsite certification course held in Fort Pierce, Florida, on April 5-9 had seven candidates. Interest in USGTF certification has increased in 2021 and indications are this trend will continue. USGTF certification courses are being held nationwide to meet this demand as we head into the heart of the golf season for most of the country. Also, in response to many requests, a new certification site in the Midwest will be realized when Evansville, Indiana, joins the roster of locations. The course will be held in September. The exact time and location will be decided shortly.
USGTF Launches New Student Spotlight Section
Last month, we featured a new section in our monthly e-newsletter where we highlighted a student of a USGTF member and their success. If you have a student and are interested in featuring them in one of our upcoming newsletters, please complete the form at the following link: https://www.usgtf.com/student-profile-form. We will select one student to be featured each month. In addition to the feature on the student, the teacher can provide other information, such as giving a brief description of what the instruction entailed and how it helped their student, etc.
EDITORIAL – The Pyramid of Pressure
The legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden had what he called a “Pyramid of Success.” At the very top of the pyramid was “competitive greatness.” Can there be such a pyramid in golf? Certainly, but let’s attack it in a slightly different direction, as some of the building blocks in Wooden’s pyramid involve aspects of team play that aren’t relevant to golf. So let’s call it the “Pyramid of Pressure,” and here are its elements, from lowest to highest pressure: 1) Practice shot, 2) casual round, 3) competition, 4) contend, 5) win.
A practice shot on the range has virtually no pressure at all, but this is an ideal time to also practice being under pressure. Set a goal for yourself or your student (such as hitting five drives between two landmarks out on the range), and if you succeed, reward yourself with a refreshment. If you fail, you can either try again or “punish” yourself by, for example, handing a stranger a $5 bill.
A casual round might have a little pressure from the elements of the course, but again, this is an excellent time to practice being under pressure. A target number of fairways and greens hit can provide some pressure, for example.
The jump to competition is perhaps the biggest leap in the pyramid. The key here is proper preparation, both physically and mentally, and this preparation should have been executed during the practice shot and casual round phases.
Contending for the win is another big jump, and here, the player really needs to faithfully stick to the pre-shot routine and stay in the present. Thinking back to past shots or forward to possible outcomes is a sure way to derail the train.
Finally, at the top of the pyramid we have winning. This is the culmination of all the elements that came before. But the player needs to be careful to not try too hard to win. Maintaining oneself in the present and, as the old cliche goes, “playing one shot at a time” give the best chance to hold the trophy at the end of the competition.
By Mark Harman, USGTF Director of Education
Student Spotlight – Dylan Meyer
In nearly 35 of teaching, I have had five students who were gifted enough to play golf professionally, and really two who could be successful at the highest level. One of them is Dylan Meyer. I knew in five minutes that he was going to be special. At the age of nine, he had the ability and instincts that surpassed most players.
We immediately set upon a course of practicing with the big picture in mind. Practice sessions were shotmaking discussions about the shots needed to play golf at the highest level. Curving the golf ball, trajectory control, short game maturity and lag putting all are priorities. To win a golf tournament, a player must develop an advantage over the field, something he does better than anyone else. Dylan’s forte is accuracy, especially with the driver.
Dylan was an All-American three times at the University of Illinois. He shot 64 in his first team practice and won his first tournament, one of seven collegiate victories. He also won the Western Amateur and made the final eight in the U.S. Amateur. He rose to #1 amateur in the world in the Golfweek ranking, and #2 in the USGA ranking. His first professional tournament was the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, where he had a top 15 finish. Now, he is working his way up the professional ranks and recently played in the PGA Tour event in Puerto Rico.
Michael Wolf – USGTF Teaching Professional
Teaching “Pro” File – Arlen Bento Jr.
USGTF Master Teaching Professional Arlen Bento Jr. is an award-winning golf coach and golf professional, and has been a member of the USGTF and the WGTF for over 20 years. He has long been a WGTF Top 100 Teacher.
He resides in Jensen Beach, Florida, and operates his own indoor golf learning center in nearby Stuart, and his “Shoot Par Now” golf academy in Port St. Lucie, Florida, at the Saints Golf Course. He is the former head golf professional at the PGA Country Club at PGA Village in Port St. Lucie, and the former director of golf at Eagle Marsh Golf Club in Jensen Beach. Bento also owns interests in multiple businesses, and operates his own digital marketing company that helps other business owners succeed online. He has been married to his wife Julie for 25 years and has two sons, ages 24 and 22, two stepdaughters and four grandchildren.
Bento provides nearly 2,000 private lessons each year and has a very busy academy program with clinics, classes and golf schools at the Saints Golf Course. He is known in his area as a junior golf leader and coach. Bento credits his golf success to hard work, a quest for knowledge, perseverance, and the ability to learn how to use digital marketing to promote his businesses.
He can be reached via his websites:
https://arlenbentojrgolflessons.com
https://www.shootparnow.com
Tour “PRO” File – Matt Jones
Matt Jones burst onto the PGA Tour with much fanfare in 2008 after a great season in 2007 on what is now the Korn Ferry Tour. However, success at the top level came slowly for the Australian, and he had to go back to the fall qualifying tournament (Q-school) after his first season. He was able to keep his card and gradually improved, having a number of top-10 finishes in 2013. In 2014, he finally won his first tournament in Houston, defeating Matt Kuchar in a playoff.
Since that time, he’s been a steady if unspectacular player. He did win the Australian Open twice, in 2015 and 2019, showing the promise he has always held. Finally, this past March he won the Honda Classic for his second PGA Tour victory. Jones took control of the tournament with statistically one of the best ballstriking performances in the past 20 years. It remains to be seen if Jones will build upon this success. Now that he is 40 years old, the maturity and experience he’s gained should bode well for the next few years.
WGTF News From Trinidad and Tobago
By: Anthony Benny
Greetings from Trinidad and Tobago to all my family and friends of the USGTF and WGTF. Today, I write about the game we all love and play. In Trinidad and Tobago, there was a time when I would ask where are all the golfers. The course was empty with very few players, but then COVID-19 happened. Now, I ask where are they all going, as there is no room on the tee box, the course is almost filled, and there is an increase of about 100% more players. That is good for the golf clubs’ membership and it’s also good for the teachers.
At present, I am teaching at two golf clubs, St. Andrews Golf Club and Point-A-Pierre Golf Club. Both programs are growing in numbers, the cost is reachable, and our more experienced junior players are improving rapidly, with the low handicap at about +2 in 2021.
Chris Richards Jr., our best junior male player, has won the last four events he played in competing against all comers. His last victory was the T&T Open Amateur, Championship Division, played at St. Andrews Golf Club this past March 18-21.
The future of golf certainly looks bright here in Trinidad and Tobago!