Growing The Game
17 Aug 2016

Growing The Game

By: Dave Hill WGCA contributing writer I woke up Sunday morning, August 14th, thinking about the Olympics and the day’s events. Going to be an exciting day as the gold medal will be decided and, oh yeah, I think there’s golf. The gold medal I’m talking about is, of course, the fastest man on earth. No need to mention a name, because we all know who won. Oh yeah, who won the golf again? Wait, let me check…oh okay, it was Justin Rose…oh, and look at that, the champion golfer of the year won the silver. Who got bronze? Not sure, but me being Canadian, it was incredible and a proud moment to witness Andre DeGrasse get the bronze medal head-to-head against Usain Bolt and the bond they developed. It is clear Bolt clearly recognizes his successor. Okay, back to the golf. Course looks alright. Wonder when the Olympics are over if anyone in Rio is going to play there? Other than soccer, it is apparent beach volleyball is the other fixture for Brazilians. Who can blame them with the spectacular beaches of Rio, warm climate and the low cost of the sport? Okay, back to the golf. Wait, it was just playing on the CBC (Canada’s national network)! Oh, okay, now they’re showing beach volleyball with boxing to follow. Cool! Is golf playing on the Golf Channel?.. no of course not; they don’t have the television rights. Oh, here we go, it’s on TSN2 (TSN is Canada’s national sports broadcaster). Wonderful; I don’t have that channel in my package. No biggie, back to the beach! Oh, here we go, more golf… sorry it’s just an update…Rosey and Stenson are tied, but it’s early…back to the beach, followed by women’s 3-meter diving. Cool, we have a Canadian in contention for a medal! Oh, okay, now the golf is back on. Let’s check out Facebook and see what’s going on. Can probably mutli-task while watching golf. Let me see…Rob Kleabir laughing at the low medal count of team Canada compared to the U.S. in spite of the fact we have nine times less population… all in jest and good fun. Okay an interesting article on growing the game. Making it younger via dress code, cell phone/social media on course and simply being more welcoming for our youth. Some of it makes sense. Here’s an interesting comment by a young professional in Utah stating there is an influx of new young professionals employed at golf courses and developing incredible youth programs through their passion and exuberance. He’s very excited about the future growth and health of the game in his state! Et voila! This is not the first time I’ve professed my views how golf in the Olympics will not grow the game. Let’s call a spade a spade here. Some of the best players in the world, including numbers 1 and 2, bowed out, along with Rory McIlroy, who stated how he did not grow up watching the Olympics or dream of winning gold. He dreamt of winning the Claret Jug and a green jacket. I realize he was attacked for his comments, but the truth hurts. Golf’s reintroduction into the Olympics was a big yawn-fest. I can’t speak for other countries; however, golf in Canada has one of the highest participation rates in the world, yet we showed very little of the event on our main networks. I’m not sure what this says about its appeal as an Olympic sport, but we’re a golfing nation and there was little interest. Makes one wonder how this Olympics’ version of golf will help grow the game. Fortunately enough, the golf aired on our national network was so not awe-inspiring that it propelled me to multi-task and discover the game is doing quite well in some regions. This also made me realize the game can grow via internal measures from those employed in the industry and who are in the trenches every day, welcoming and teaching existing and new people to golf of all ages. It will take vision, effort and courage to grow the game, but as a like-minded collective group of professionals, we can accomplish this feat and regain our true status as the stewards of the game.
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17 Aug 2016

The Power of Mindset and Positive Self-Talk

By Brian Burke USGTF Associate Member, Tampa, Florida We have all been victims to some form of negative self-talk, played golf with someone who beat themselves up verbally during his/her round, or had a student that lashed out at themselves during a lesson. As a golf teaching professional, I have seen about everything from grumbles under their breath to throwing clubs in frustration in learning new techniques. Even some of the best players in the world have been caught on film and fined on the tour for their verbal escapades on the course. This negative self-talk may seem funny at first to those who witness the show of emotion, but it can lead to a round that spirals out of control, and leaves your playing partners with no plans for you to join them in future outings. I ask my students a simple question: “Would you tolerate someone talking to you that way?” This simple question can bring attention to what they just did. Sometimes they don’t even notice that they are beating themselves up. As an instructor, you can work with your students to evaluate their behavior. It is as simple as deciding between two mindsets. Carol Dweck wrote Mindset: The Neuropsychology of Success, in which she divides mindsets into two distinct groups that can be used to overcome the negative tendencies our students may be experiencing. The two mindsets that Dr. Dweck describes are the fixed and growth mindsets. If individuals are in a fixed mindset, they believe that intelligence is static and not able to change or learn new concepts. It avoids challenges, gets defensive with change, ignores useful negative feedback, and gives very little, if any, effort to overcome obstacles in its way. In the growth mindset, individuals believe knowledge can be developed for new swing ideas and techniques. They embrace change and give their best effort to overcome obstacles. They see criticism as an opportunity to grow to levels that would not be possible alone without outside observations and correction. Some years ago, I caddied in a local pro-am event and got paired up with a retired corporate-level executive. While hitting balls on the range, we conversed in small talk and I told him about my background, and he notified me that if I saw anything that I could help him out with, he was open to my input (growth mindset). While he was warming up, I noticed a few things that he was doing well and others that he could make some small corrections to. I made some small alignment and ball-position adjustments that increased his directional control, and he ended the range session hitting the ball very well, with solid contact. During the round, he started reverting back to his previous alignment and ball positions with negative results. He became frustrated and disgusted with himself. Here he was, playing with a pro and a famous guitar player from a touring band, and he could not even hit the ball in the fairway. This went on for a few holes, and he obviously forgot that I was on his team as his caddie (fixed mindset). I asked him if he would like my input, like on the driving range, and I could tell that he totally zoned out and thought he was on his own. Once he came around, he was very receptive to my input again. The next hole was a par-3, around 150 yards. As he was lining up, I corrected his alignment, and suggested ball placement where he had it on the driving range when he was striking it so well. He was totally in the growth mindset, listening to every word on the adjustments. As he struck the ball he remained in balance, the ball flight was true, and it stopped three feet from the pin. His eyes lit up, the whole group was clapping, and he was on top of the world. As you could guess, I gained his trust that he could do great things with me on his bag. For the rest of the round, he continued to be open to feedback before each shot to ensure he was set up correctly, to give himself the best possible opportunity to hit a good shot. Now, do you think the outcome would have been the same if he would have remained in a fixed mindset? If he would have thought that he had all the answers? Of course not. By aligning our students with a growth mindset and positive self-talk, we can move them in a direction for positive change and improvement. Our students are not always going to be the best ballstrikers in the game or wizards of the short game, but as long as they are aware of both mindsets, they can make the choice to go with the one that most suits them to enjoy the game and allows for continuous improvement.
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Getting Worse Before Getting Better (more to the story)
17 Aug 2016

Getting Worse Before Getting Better (more to the story)

Golf professional helping young man with his swing

“You have to get worse before you get better” is a mantra of golf teaching professionals throughout the years, and is also generally accepted by most golfers. This saying refers to making swing changes, with the belief that a person’s performance will suffer during the transitioning phase from getting rid of old habits and ingraining new ones.

You might see someone undergoing a swing change who hits almost every ball poorly, but they stick with it under the guise of getting worse before getting better. However in fact, this person may not actually be on the right path. The question becomes, how can we distinguish between someone getting worse who will eventually get better, as opposed to someone getting worse before…staying that way?

We can start with these two tenets: 1) Students who execute our instruction properly during a given swing should hit the ball better with that swing. 2) Students who execute our instruction properly, but either don’t see improvement or hit the ball worse, means that our instruction is incorrect.

Now, the student who sees ball striking improvement with our instruction may get worse in terms of consistency. That’s the key word. In most cases they’re still going to hit more poor shots than good ones initially, but as long as they’re hitting some good shots and seeing a better ball flight on occasion, then we’re on the right track. Here’s an example:

Bob is chicken-winging his left elbow through impact, which we diagnose to be his major problem. We get Bob to turn his body better through impact, eliminating the chicken wing. He hits some good shots, but also some bad ones. Do the bad shots mean he’s not executing our instruction correctly? In a very narrow sense, yes, but that’s too strict of a measure. The key here is that Bob is seeing an improvement in his ballstriking on some shots, but he has yet to learn the nuances involved in the new move, making it understandable why he hits many poor shots initially. We’re on the right path. Bob’s scores may suffer for a while, but eventually he’ll turn it around and start improving. Here’s where “getting worse before getting better” makes sense.

We’ll use the same example for the second tenet mentioned earlier. We get Bob to turn his body better through impact, eliminating the chicken wing, but he can’t hit a good shot to save his life. Should we just tell Bob he needs to just grin and bear it, that you have to get worse before you get better? No. And what’s worse, that’s lazy teaching. We may have correctly diagnosed Bob’s problem and come up with the correct solution, but people aren’t like robots that we can program to be automatic.

So now we have to find a way for Bob to start seeing some good results at least once in a while. For example, maybe he had to stand too close to the ball with his old swing because of the reduced radius; now he’s got a bigger radius and is not used to it. Standing farther away may help his cause. Whatever the reason Bob is struggling, we have to come up with a way for him to hit the ball better– at least occasionally – before the lesson ends. More often than not, this involves giving him an additional key to focus on, or making a secondary change to go with the main one.

One aspect that needs to be discussed is when we accurately diagnose the problem, give the proper cure, and the student just cannot get it, no matter what. It’s tempting to send the student on his way, telling him to just keep working on it and to remember that you have to get worse before you get better. But such action is akin to teaching malpractice. It may be hard to abandon what we know to be the correct solution, but if it becomes obvious the student will never get it, we must change course.
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Three Ways To Boost Confidence In Your Athletes
12 Aug 2016

Three Ways To Boost Confidence In Your Athletes

By: Dr. Shaunna Taylor, Ph.D Start by encouraging them to examine their core beliefs about themselves. Every coach has struggled with building confidence in their athletes and team, and yet, there are surprisingly few resources that help address this important challenge. While every athlete has their own individual profile and history, there are some important foundational theories that apply to all. Confidence really begins with the idea of belief. It emanates from an athlete’s core beliefs and is combined with the effect of real-life evidence. Core beliefs are formed throughout childhood and are integral to how we operate in our lives. They are foundational and affect the way we view the world— many of these beliefs are set by the time we reach the age of ten. They tend to drive our actions and the way we navigate life. Belief is the “director” that often runs the entire production. Early in life, we are heavily influenced by the people who cared for us, and the early experiences that formed our worldview. Our core beliefs involve such things as whether we believe most people are essentially good (or bad), whether we are capable and powerful (or incapable and powerless), or whether life can be satisfying and joyful (or a struggle and full of sadness). Beliefs are the lens through which we determine if the glass is half full or half empty. Although beliefs are forged at a young age, they do not have to dictate our destiny. In fact, when we re-evaluate them later in life, we can come to see that many core beliefs aren’t based on fact. But unless we examine and critique the core beliefs that drive our actions, they will continue to run the production, and we may find ourselves limited (versus being set free) to make the necessary choices that can move us in new, positive directions in life. In light of this, here are three concrete steps coaches can consider to help athletes increase their confidence:
  1. Help them become aware of — and challenge — their core beliefs.
Some of the athletes you are coaching will have very positive and empowering core beliefs. When mixed with a strong work ethic and a solid base of skills, this can be a potent combination. But you may also have athletes with a strong base of skills who also have negative core beliefs. As a result, the confidence levels — and performance record — in this second group may often be more inconsistent and volatile. One way to help athletes put their core beliefs to the test is to challenge them with evidence. For example, show athletes (through videos, storytelling, recalling past performances as a group or individually) that they are capable of overcoming adversity, or achieving past positive performance outcomes. Create a highlight reel, or encourage them to come up with one of their own. Show them the evidence of their past accomplishments. If your athlete has a generally negative self-view, or you observe negative body language, it can help to offer up evidence of their capabilities. Talk about your belief in them, and provide them with goals to override their defeatist perspective. This can serve to build competency which, in turn, can lead to greater confidence over time. 2. Build a confidence and evidence inventory. One form of irrefutable evidence that can demonstrate an athlete’s capability is examples of past wins and strong performances. But sport is a dynamic and often heartless arena, and wins come and go. Coaches need to build a steady bank of strong past performances, and include current examples of how the athlete’s strong work ethic is paying off — as well as evidence of skill progression and mastery— in order to challenge an athlete’s negative core beliefs. Athletes can also incorporate visualization while reviewing techniques and tactics through mental rehearsal. Coaches can also encourage them to engage in constructive self-talk that involves optimistic, evidence-based statements. 3. Keep your standards high. Coaches who maintain high expectations for their athletes and teams should also follow up with constructive and encouraging actions. If you believe an athlete can reach their goals and you have faith they can improve, then be sure to act like this is the case. Expect hard work and commitment, factors that are within your athlete’s control and have nothing to do with outcomes. This will translate into a greater probability of encouraging a self-fulfilling prophecy in the athlete. It also cultivates a culture of continual improvement and striving for yourself as a coach and leader for your program. The belief we have in ourselves drives our actions and our ability to strive for positive performance. Don’t compromise or lower your work ethic, be sure to create a positive environment, and incorporate a relentless pursuit of daily improvement and mastery. Setting the bar high will drive everyone — athletes and coaches included— to rise up and feel confident when it comes to aiming for their goals. Editor’s note:  This article first appeared in Coaches Plan magazine and can also be accessed online at www.CoachesPlan-Digital.com. Reprinted by permission. Dr. Shaunna Taylor, Ph.D., is a sport leader at Pacific Sport Okanagan and co-chair of the managing council of the Canadian Sport Psychology Association, as well as an adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia in the Masters of Coaching program. She has been consulting with coaches and athletes from the grassroots level to the Olympic/Paralympic level for 15+ years.
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Is Teaching Golf Getting Too Complicated?
10 Aug 2016

Is Teaching Golf Getting Too Complicated?

It used to be that a golf student would come to a teacher, explain what was wrong and what the desired outcome was, and the teacher would come up with a simplistic plan to fix the problem. In perusing the Internet these days, some people make it seem like you need a Ph.D. in teaching golf to be effective. Below are some real quotes from golf forums and the like found on the Internet: “External cues and Socratic method teaching.” “Would it be logical to assume that the more v (speed) the more A (centripetal) will line up with the line between the weight and the fulcrum?” “20% Technique, 20% Golf IQ, 30% On-Course Decision Making, 30% Peak State of Performance.” “We have been working to correct his swing plane number 60 to 50 with driver and 70 to 60 with 6-iron thus far. A byproduct has been his path going from 3-4 right to 8-10 right.” “The joint moments and GRF curves are of GREAT interest to me in better understanding how this golf swing develops.” “For the angular motions, up-slopes mean left rotation, posterior tilt, and right lateral tilt, vice versa.” “Creating compression with forces in the backswing creates ‘increased weight applied to the feet’ thus increasing traction to support body torque.” Whew! Anyone else’s head spinning? It’s not that the above statements are so hard to understand necessarily, but it demonstrates the effort some teachers go through in order to learn more about the golf swing and the science and study behind it. While the USGTF always welcomes its members learning as much as they can about techniques, it seems a whole industry has thrived in making teaching golf as much as an egghead activity as possible. It just didn’t start with the advent of the Internet, of course. Back in 1969, Homer Kelley published his book The Golfing Machine, a tome so difficult to follow that only the most intelligent and/or persistent among us can understand what it is saying. As the years went on and Kelley’s book became the gospel according to many teachers, a school of thought even developed among some in this fraternity that if you didn’t understand Kelley’s book and failed to use its methodologies, you weren’t even qualified to teach golf! Undoubtedly a similar sentiment holds true today among many golf teaching geeks, where if you aren’t up-to-date on the latest technology, methodologies, and in-depth science behind the swing and ball flight laws, you aren’t worth your weight as a teacher. If this were true, one would have to wonder how Jack Grout was able to develop Jack Nicklaus as a layer, simplistically holding young Nicklaus’ hair in an effort to keep his head steady. Or Deacon Palmer, who told 3-year-old Arnold to hold the club this way, and saying, “Boy, don’t you ever change it.” In 1957, the year that Ben Hogan’s iconic book Five Lessons was published, there were probably a few golfers scratching their heads over Hogan’s concept of the backswing plane vs. the downswing plane. But for the most part, Hogan wrote a highly technical book in a very simplified manner that didn’t require a degree from Harvard to understand. This brings up a challenge to the modern-day 21stcentury teacher: How to make use of all the information and technology available, utilizing it in a manner so that ordinary students can benefit. One of the credos the USGTF has held since its inception in 1989 is to teach the game in a simplified manner. That credo is valid today as it was 27 years ago, when any golf instruction was imparted in person, in print, or through video means. One way to do this is to put yourself in your student’s shoes, and realize that they most likely know very little of the technical aspects of the game. Talk to them almost as if talking to a child. This is not condescending. This is effective communication of potentially complicated subject matter. We’ve said it before on these pages, and we’ll say it again: Teaching golf comes down to the basics that have been utilized by great champions throughout the years. These basics consist of the setup, properly pivoting, matching up the arm swing with the pivot, and knowing the ball flight laws. By all means, yes, explore all there is out there in the technological world. Engage in in-depth theoretical discussions on the Internet. But remember that it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to teach golf – even in 2016.  
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Working With A New Student
8 Aug 2016

Working With A New Student

By: Steve Williams, WGCA contributing writer It can be very easy for a golf instructor, working with a new student, to just pick out swing faults, and then tell a person how they’re doing it wrong. Then, that teacher shoves their knowledge of the golf swing down the student’s throat until the student feels intimidated, embarrassed, or even angry at that teacher.  All this can happen while the teacher has no idea what has happened. Weeks or months later, though, they may realize that they didn’t hear back from that person again regarding golf lessons. When working with a new student, we simply have to go through an interview process.  In that discovery period, I am trying to ascertain many things that simply must be understood before I can have any realistic chance at helping that student to experience the excitement, improvement and fulfillment of taking lessons, thing such as: *Average score *What defines fun for them while playing golf *What their goals might be *Physical limitations *Work ethic *Time available for practice *What they hope to gain from lessons *Any preconceived ideas of what it takes to improve This is just a basic outline of things I need to understand.  There will be more questions as we proceed and I find out certain things about that individual. It is necessary for me to acclimate each student to what my intentions are during our time together.  I actually have to reprogram the vast majority of new students to a new thinking pattern regarding lessons, if we are to make progress at a rate which makes lessons and the improvement process…FUN! How much fun they are having is directly proportional to how long they will work with me.  Fun – not being defined as laughing – but more in the aspect of excitement and anticipation of what boundaries they will break through as we proceed.  Additionally though, fun can be defined as them overcoming obstacles that have controlled them in the past. Believe it or not, oftentimes I have to eliminate prior thinking patterns which were placed there by other instructors, or possibly even by me in times past. I also have to (and this can take weeks) train that person that their improvement will be a result of us developing a relationship, built upon trust.  That trust is not the result of me showing them how much I know about the golf swing, or trying to make them believe that I am the best teacher they have ever met.  It is built upon us exchanging thoughts.  It is built upon me understanding them by listening to their frustrations, their fears, what makes them excited, and what discourages them. It is built upon me looking them in the eye when I talk, and when they talk. They will become fascinated if I listen well enough to their words, to actually tell them about obstacles I see, which they have created and suspected were present, but had not really shared with me up until that time. If a person is not comprehending more about themselves, including their weaknesses and their strengths as we work together, I am simply not doing my job as well as I could.  When a student starts to gain epiphanies about themselves – and what has held them back in the improvement of their golf game – they will start to see that many of those same obstacles have held them back in life.  When our time together reveals those things, we start to form a bond that makes our time together rich, exciting and full of anticipation for our next lesson. I must always remember that although I am the expert being sought out by the student, I will learn things as I work with that person.  But that fact, if not kept in balance, will slow our progress if I forget that it is my responsibility to stay in control of the lesson and motivate that person to leave their comfort zones, both mentally and physically.  I have to lead them away from old habits which may have been destructive, without them knowing. I still get goose bumps when I see a person start to overcome a swing fault.  I also get goose bumps when I see the light go on in a person’s mind, about inefficient and destructive thinking patterns in which they have dwelt for far too long.  Nothing creates more passion for me and my job than seeing their expression and life-changing results when they realize that their boundaries are only defined by the prison doors they have erected themselves, through the years of them being defeated by their own lack of focus, understanding and fears. I’ve had people tell me that I don’t really work because I am teaching people to play a game, rather than something that is worthwhile or necessary.  Unless they have seen the richness of seeing people change through what we endeavor to do together, and the richness of our relationships together as we both experience the highs and lows of working through problems while we identify obstacles which have held them back, they have no idea. Each new person I work with is a new adventure for me. Each person I work with helps me to discover more of my weaknesses. Every person has a puzzle to put together. Puzzles can be fun and exciting. The puzzle pieces are already present in that person’s life.  All I do is help them to see the actual picture of the puzzle so that together, we can start to identify each piece. Getting older doesn’t have to be boring. In fact, getting older can be more fun than when we were young if we stay on the edge of self-discovery. I don’t just teach a game!  I help people to discover more about themselves and grasp the fact that although their time on earth is getting shorter, it can become richer through self-discovery, diligence and hard work. Golf is simply the vehicle with which we use to illuminate these things!
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Feel Is Real…Or Is It?
8 Aug 2016

Feel Is Real…Or Is It?

Healthy human beings are gifted with five senses: sight, sound, feel, smell, and taste. And three of those can be used in imparting golf instruction, unless someone has found a way to also incorporate smell and taste into a lesson. Now, wouldn’t that be interesting! In many lesson scenarios, it’s common to hear the teacher keep up a running monologue for the duration of the lesson. Such teachers are sound-based, or audio-based, where most of the instruction is imparted via the spoken word. Other teachers like to demonstrate often during the lesson by hitting many shots. One has to wonder whether they’re just trying to sneak in some practice on their own games by teaching this way. However, there actually may be some merit in this type of teaching, as it addresses the visual portion of our senses. Less common is the lesson where the teacher is actively putting the students into swing positions, helping them move throughout the swing, or having them do drills for the majority of the lesson. This is a feel-based lesson, and for some reason it seems to be the least-used method of teaching. Teachers who teach mainly with a sight-based or sound-based method of communicating should realize that the student needs to eventually translate this instruction into feel. Regardless if the student learns best by sight or sound, or is analytical, he or she uses feel to move the club throughout the swing. Speaking of which, the teacher needs to determine which sense the student learns best with. Some players only need to hear what they need to do and can then translate this into feel; others need to see it in action. The sense of sight The two ways for a student to gather information in regards to sight are watching others or watching themselves, such as through video or still pictures. Students who learn best through sight can benefit from a teacher who hits many shots during the lesson, especially if the teacher has a fine swing. Think about it: A lot of people love to hang out at the range at a tour event, watching the players hit shot after shot. The late Moe Norman used to give clinics where he mainly hit shots for a couple of hours, with a minimum of instruction and speaking. People were fascinated with his abilities, and were content to just watch. Some clues that may indicate a student learns best by sight is if they like to watch golf on television, like to look at swing sequence pictures, or are often videoing their own swings. Such students may benefit with the teacher also videoing the student’s swing throughout the lesson, instead of just filming a couple of swings to start the lesson, which is more the norm. When giving demonstrations, teachers should take great care in making sure the demonstration is accurate, and that the demonstration matches up with the verbal explanation. The sense of sound Some students prefer to hear what they need to do. Highly-skilled players are experts at this, as they tend to have all their senses heightened when it comes to golf. Amateurs and club players may also tend to prefer verbal instruction if their overall comprehension skills are at a high level. Such people may include writers, editors, and people who do a lot of public speaking in their jobs. People who love to read books about golf may also be verbal-based learners. When giving verbal instruction, the teacher needs to make sure the instruction is easily understood and accurate, and that the communication is clear. A good way to do this is for the teacher to speak to his or her students as if they are in grade school. This is not to say the students should be spoken to in a condescending manner, but rather, in a simplified manner. The sense of feel As was mentioned earlier, all instruction needs to eventually be translated into feel by the student, and feel is an individual thing. Two golfers may be making the same move and yet feel it in totally different ways. In helping a student translate visual and verbal instruction into feel, the teacher needs to ask the student what it feels like, instead of telling them what it should feel like. It’s okay to give some suggested feels, but the final judge is the student. The headline of this article asks whether feel is real or not. A lot of teachers have pointed out that throughout the years, various tour players aren’t really doing what they say they are doing. With video being so prevalent, this doesn’t happen as much as in the past, but you still hear it. Mark O’Meara, in a Golf Magazine cover story a number of years ago, said he started his downswing with his arms and hands, although any video analysis clearly showed he started it with his lower body. Another case where feel isn’t real is the student who drags the club back inside and then comes over the top. To them, they may well feel like they’re taking it back and through on the same plane. When they actually do take it back and through on the same plane, it will in all likelihood feel as if they’re taking the club back outside and looping it to the inside. We can conclude feel is real when the student makes a move different than he or she is used to, but may not be when it comes to making their normal move. Golfers often give a feel-based analysis of what they did wrong after a poor shot, and generally this is an accurate feel of what went wrong. Our jobs as teachers involves not only making sure the student has the right feels, but feels them accurately. If we can do this, the student will have the minimum of trouble making the desired change.
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3 Aug 2016

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.  
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