Time To Change The Message – (Part 1)
3 Oct 2016

Time To Change The Message – (Part 1)

By: Dave Hill, WGCA contributing writer During a recent lesson with a gentleman who’s been playing for over 55 years, I was able to reaffirm my belief about how golf swing instruction took a wrong turn a few decades ago.  Soon to follow is the movement toward specialized fitness for golf. I’m fully aware of the controversy of such statements, but it is imperative as golf instructors and coaches that we have a solid grasp as to why so many continue to struggle with the game. This will be a multiple-part series, and for many readers, very little may be groundbreaking information. After all, the golf swing has never truly changed throughout the years. However, our knowledge of how it can/should be performed is always improving due to research into kinesiology and technology. Interpretation, or maybe more in the case of teaching professionals, “observation” of golf swing technique, determines the approach to instruction adopted by both individuals and as a collective group. I’d like to preface the series with the notion that restricting hip rotation and weight transfer during the backswing are two instructional elements to which I don’t subscribe.  The restriction of hip rotation in order to achieve more “torque” between the upper body (shoulders if you will) and lower body (hips) in order to maximize distance need go the way of the dodo bird. It should never have been part of the instructional equation to begin with. Yet, to this day it remains pervasive throughout the golf teaching industry, so my apologies if I have insulted any readers who continue with this practice, but I implore you to cease and desist immediately or stop reading now. Returning to my lesson, the gentleman who was somewhere in the vicinity of 65 years of age plays to about a 6 handicap but was once a scratch. Naturally complaining about distance, he was under the “torque” spell, as I prefer to call it, yet he admitted he had difficulty turning. I asked him a leading question along the lines of, “There must have been a time when it was easy to turn?”  He then referred to when he was a teenager caddying at a nearby club that had hosted the Canadian Open during his tenure. The head pro was a fine player who competed during the week alongside Palmer, Player, a young Jack Nicklaus, and other greats of that generation. When the tournament was over, he asked his head pro how he could hit the ball further based on the prodigious distances all the pros could hit the ball. The answer was short and sweet: “ Keep your weight on your left foot (front foot) on the backswing.” Fast forward a couple of decades and the tune changed. We had to load on the rear foot, followed by pushing from the rear foot in order to transfer back to the front foot. Easy stuff! My goodness, whatever happened to Sam Snead’s “turn inside the barrel” advice? In returning to the lesson, it was summed up with the fact there is a difference between weight transfer and distribution of pressure on the feet. There is no need to move the COM (center of mass) laterally during the backswing in order to feel weight on the rear foot. By virtue of moving the arms, club and body rotation away from the target, pressure, rather than weight, into the rear foot can occur. In this instance, one key was implemented where the new movement quieted a former movement. Rather than stabilizing hip rotation, we increased it. How? By straightening the rear leg during the backswing. This is commonplace within most, if not all good golf swings to some degree. If I may digress, our observations, or buying into the observations, of some created a culture of misconception amongst golf instructors over decades. Next article (Part 2) – The rear leg, weight distribution, how the spine turns
Read more 0
3 Oct 2016

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

Words similar to these were once written about Ben Hogan’s legs after his near-fatal crash in Texas. Arnold Palmer was a hero to everyone in the golf world. There have been tons of tributes, all richly deserved. Like many young lads, he is the man who got me interested in golf. I remember watching the Masters with my dad when Arnold rolled in a putt on 17 that propelled him to a win in 1958 or 1960. I can’t remember which, but does it really matter? I instantly became one of his army. I regaled in his victories and agonized in his defeats. I never actually met him in person, but there are two times that he touched my life. The first was when I was in college at the University of Miami in the late ’60s. I was fortunate to go and watch him play at Doral. Can’t remember how he played that day, but getting up close enough to watch him strike the ball was quite a feat. The army was always four or five deep. I went ahead two holes so I could get a spot directly facing where he would tee it up. As he waited for the group in front to clear, he looked me directly in the eye and winked. I gave him a nod like he was my best friend and I was there to cheer him on. Then like a flash he was gone. I’ve never forgotten the moment. My next encounter was when I started the United States Professional Hickory Golf Championship in 2010. I had the audacity to send Mr. Palmer an invitation to play in the event since it was a tribute to the history of our game, knowing his fondness for its heritage. I figured, what the heck, never expecting anything. A few days later an envelope arrived from his office. Inside was a personal letter from Arnold thanking me for the invitation but telling me that he would be in California and would be unable to play. He did offer to send some memorabilia to help raise funds for the charity the tournament was supporting. This is the man he was and why he was so beloved. If more high-profile people were like him, the world would be a better place.
Read more 0
Long Live The King
27 Sep 2016

Long Live The King

By: Dave Hill WGCA contributing writer Arnold Palmer came from humble beginnings. As a boy, he was not permitted in the clubhouse at Latrobe Country Club, where his father oversaw the duties as head professional and greenskeeper. However, this did not stop him from becoming the legend everyone could not help but love. We could give Arnie every admirable adjective under the sun to describe his character, and he’s deserving of them all. Arnold Palmer truly brought the game to the masses. He took nothing for granted, which is likely a tribute to his roots and upbringing in the small working-class town of Latrobe, Pennsylvania. On the day following his passing, I’m thinking about the state of the game when he entered the scene compared to now. It makes me think we’ve perhaps forgotten about the roots of the game, a game Arnold not only loved, but wanted everyone to play by sharing his passion in a such a modest and humane fashion, which was his gift to us all. Is it fair to state one person can change the tide of an industry or culture? If anyone did, it was certainly Arnold Palmer. In the history of the game, there has been no one like him. Yes, we had Walter Hagen’s bravado, which broke down doors for professionals, and John Daly’s appeal to the working-class guy. However, the persona of Arnie was all-encompassing, not only in North America, but worldwide. In Japan alone, the Arnold Palmer brand is iconic, as it is fashionable and expands well beyond the world of golf. Perhaps the best way to describe Arnold is in the form of an oxymoron – “a humble jetsetter” – and in literal terms, he was. So the question or questions now are, is it possible to ask a player, any player, to take on such a role? Is there a player out there who can, wants to, or has the persona to do so? Perhaps not, but what we are witnessing is a younger, newer breed of professionals who seem to be getting it right. The first name that comes to mind is Rickie Fowler. His brand seems to have crossed over to different demographics. He is the consummate gentleman, has a swashbuckling appeal both on and off the course, and his game shows signs of brilliance at times. He is no doubt a fan favorite, but the torch in today’s game is too big to carry alone. It is important for the growth of the game that today’s and tomorrow’s biggest names take a page out of Arnie’s legacy and continue to carry the bright torch he carried throughout his life.
Read more 0
22 Sep 2016

TIME FOR A CHANGE

We see it happen on the PGA Tour all the time: a player leaves a golf teaching professional for another teacher.  There can be a number of reasons, such as the player is not improving, there is a difference on what direction the player should go, or the player feels that it is time for a fresh start.  As a golf teaching professional, how do you handle this decision?  When is it time to make a change? Some teachers take it very personal to the point where they hope the student doesn’t have the same caliber of success.  On the other hand, there are a number of teachers who will do everything they can to make the transition a positive one.  I once heard of a top teacher who would send his former student’s old swing videos to the new teacher in efforts to set that student up for success. Sometimes change is a good thing, even if it hurts our feelings.  We need to wish our students well and let them know we will be there if they ever want to talk or work together again.  As a professional, it is not in anyone’s best interest to “put down” the other instructor or their methods.  Many eyes are on you during these times; you can easily lose students if your attitude is poor. Rory McIlory recently left Dave Stockton, his long time putting coach, for Phil Kenyon.  This was not blown up in the media like some of the other major teaching changes because all parties were professional.  Rory needed a change, plain and simple.  I am sure that Stockton was very happy when Rory won the Deutsche Bank Championship a few weeks ago. There are times when change is needed; it’s part of life.  Do what’s right for you and your students.  It should all work out in the end.
Read more 0
The Four Stages of Learning and What They Mean to Teachers
19 Sep 2016

The Four Stages of Learning and What They Mean to Teachers

Noel Burch worked for Gordon International Training in the 1970s, a company founded by Dr. Thomas Gordon to help train people in various disciplines such as leadership, conflict resolution, personal development, and teaching. Burch came up with a learning model titled “Four Stages of Learning Any New Skill,”and he and Gordon co-authored a book in 1974 titled T.E.T., Teacher Effectiveness Training. The aim of the book was to help teachers to bring out the best in their students and for parents to aid in their child’s learning development. It has been said that great teachers are also great thieves, as they “steal” the proven ideas of others in order to be the best that they can be. Burch’s model works well with teachers in all fields, and golf is no exception – so we’ll “steal” it for our purposes. The model consists of four parts: 1) unconsciously incompetent; 2) consciously incompetent; 3) consciously competent; 4) unconsciously competent. UNCONSCIOUSLY INCOMPETENT Golfers in this stage are doing exactly what this description indicates: They are doing something wrong, but they have no idea what it is, or even if they are indeed doing anything wrong. (Studies have shown that incompetent employees have less stress than competent employees, because since they are basically clueless, they don’t have enough knowledge to know if they’re doing a good job or not – but that’s another topic entirely.) When students first come to us, this is the stage that they find themselves in. We as teachers are tasked with identifying the problems, making the student aware of them, and coming up with the solutions. Students in this stage need a teacher who will be a strong guiding force. This is not to say that student input on the direction they want to go should be ignored, but in the end, the teacher should lay out a game plan and do it authoritatively. This helps instill confidence in the student regarding the teacher’s ability, but more importantly, it gives the student a firm path from which not to deviate, helping to eliminate doubt. CONSCIOUSLY INCOMPETENT The student now is aware of what the problems are and what remedies are needed. It’s okay for them to make some repetitions in this phase with the goal of becoming aware of what their flaws are. Teachers should take great care to still be a strong guiding force in controlling the direction of the lesson. Student feedback is sought, but only for the teacher to modify the direction he or she has laid out. It is detrimental to allow the student to guide the direction of the lesson in this stage, or for the teacher to reduce his or her control. CONSCIOUSLY COMPETENT This is the “turn the corner” stage, where the student has made the change. The student has to consciously think about what he or she is doing, and must be constantly aware of the feel of the change. This is also a “turn the corner” stage for the teacher, who at this point should back away and let the student engage in self-discovery. It is tempting for the teacher to keep reinforcing the instruction given, but it is more important for the student to simply engage in the learning process. This means the teacher should reduce the feedback dramatically, offering instruction only if the student is reverting back to bad habits or is struggling excessively with the new ones. In one sense, control of the lesson has now been handed over to the student. Another option is for the teacher to offer feedback only if the student requests it. Granted, that’s a pretty unconventional approach and isn’t often used, but one that studies have found to be quite effective. A mistake some teachers make in this stage is to assume that the student has successfully made the change, so it’s time to introduce another one. Wrong!  The great Byron Nelson said he only worked on one change at a time, because it was all he could handle. It’s great advice for golf teachers to heed, too. However, this needs to be explained further. Some students may need to make two changes at a time, perhaps one on the backswing and one on the forward. This is fine for most golfers. The admonishment to avoid multiple changes is when you’re working on one change and then decide to add another one to the mix. UNCONSCIOUSLY COMPETENT This is the ultimate stage, where the student is now executing the changes without conscious thought. Think about driving a car: If a car suddenly pulls out in front of you, you automatically and reflexively put on the brake. The same thing applies to golf. The student will now be able to swing without consciously focusing on the new habit. After this occurs, any new changes can now be introduced.
Read more 0