YOU TRAIN, YOU TRAIN, YOU TRAIN – THEN YOU FALL APART. NOW WHAT?
27 Oct 2015

YOU TRAIN, YOU TRAIN, YOU TRAIN – THEN YOU FALL APART. NOW WHAT?

By: Arlen Bento, WGCA contributing writer My very talented high school golf team had a setback the other day in a state district tournament. After playing very well all season, we shot our highest score of the season at the worst time. What is it about golf that makes it so hard to play well with the pressure is on? No one is trying to tackle you or disrupt your swing.  No one is calling you names or trying to get you upset.  Yet, anyone who has played golf at a high level will tell you is that their nothing harder in sport than to play golf well when it counts. The good thing for my team is that we did finish second and still have a shot at the state regional.  In Florida, the top two or three teams advance from a district championship to the state regional.  The top two teams from the state regional advance to the state finals.  Each time, the slate is wiped clean, so you have to regroup and find a way to play well. Let me give you an overview of my team.  I am not using names, and I have to tell you that I have really good players. The reality is that other than my one best player, my other four players are 75-shooters.   Now, they are all 1 to +1 handicaps at their home courses, they have all shot under par in events, but on my team, playing tough golf courses under tough conditions, they average right under 75. My best player is ranked in the top five in his class and is averaging three under par.  He is a very good player and is a +4 handicap at his home course with numerous college scholarship offers. All season long, we work on our games, we talk about expectations, we focus on one shot at a time.  We track our stats, we all know we all play better when we hit more fairways and greens, and we get our putters to have a nice pace.  We all understand that golf is hard, and sometimes our games just don’t feel right.  It is the true test of champion players to be able to understand this and be able to accept when the golf game just is not right and still be able to play to our average or better.  Not play great, play well, go low, think that if we just try harder we can turn the game around, just hit driver over the corner, just go for the par-5s in two, or just attack the flag. Even though we know that our game is off, what we should be doing is getting it in play, hitting to the middle of the green, making par and letting our short game do the work. This is exactly what happened to four of my players this week – they went the wrong way.  They just could not help themselves. Now, these are 17-year-old young men, not mature, not grown up, still forgetful and disorganized, so we have to give them a little bit of slack, but if they really want to be great, this is what they have to do. First, they have to let go of the last event and focus on the next event.  Get back on the range, work on the short game, get the swing feeling good. Second, they have to think about their misses from the last event and how they are going to improve their scores by playing golf smarter, not harder. They have to understand that every day on the golf course is different, every day is a new challenge, and that expecting something great is just setting them up for failure. Third, they have to prepare for the next championship with the same game plan that they have used all year: 10 fairways, 10 greens, keep your putts in the low 30s, and see what happens. Start slowly, level, nothing hard.  Hit the driver down the middle, hit the iron to the middle of the green, roll the putt next to the hole at the right pace.  Then do it again, and again and again. If a putt goes in, great, don’t get too excited.  If you hit an iron close to the hole, great, don’t expect the putt to go in; just give it a good roll.  Miss a green, no problem. Chip it close, make the putt.  Driver not working? Go to the 3-wood. Three-wood not working? Go to a hybrid.  Nothing working?  Then tighten up the swing, hit low running shots, and just get around. We play all kinds of training games in practice: no greens allowed, three clubs only, no flag sticks. Every player on my team can break 80 with three clubs.  Every player on my team can shoot 75 with no greens. So, why can they not shoot 75 in a big event with all their clubs? Because they think they are better then they really are!  They think that they are going to play the best round of their lives that day. They all have expectations that are just too high.  Expectations kill great golf! Now, anyone reading this post needs to understand that I am talking about very highly skilled players. Just young, just not ready to play golf with the maturity that the game requires.  But they will. I hope that they listen, stay calm, stay confident, and play with low expectations.  It is amazing what happens when a few putts roll in and bogeys turn into pars and pars turn into birdies – championships! Master Teaching Professional Arlen Bento Jr. is a golf coach, golf sales business owner, golf product developer and golf writer living in Jensen Beach, Florida.   He is a former professional tournament player and is a national award-winning head golf professional at the PGA Country Club at PGA Village in Port St. Lucie, FL.  He can be reached via Facebook at www.facebook.com/arlenbentojr or on his blog http://arlenbentojr.blogspot.com or on his business website www.abjgolfsales.com
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DO WE REALLY NEED A PRESIDENTS CUP?
6 Oct 2015

DO WE REALLY NEED A PRESIDENTS CUP?

I love the Ryder Cup. Lots of tradition dating all the way back to 1927 at Worcester Country Club. Unfortunately, it’s a course that would never be considered for any event in the modern era. But that’s another discussion. I always look forward to the Ryder Cup matches. The Presidents Cup, not so much. Not that there aren’t good players involved; it just seems to be a contrived event to me. I believe it was started out of envy. The PGA Tour, not involved in the Ryder Cup, decided to create an event to call its own. It does get plenty of attention, so in that aspect I guess most of the golf world is happy. I just don’t find it that interesting. But hey, that is just me. Something I think would be really exciting would be a way to incorporate another team into the Ryder Cup. A triangular match between the USA, Europe, and the rest of the world. That would be cool. Impossible you say. What about all that tradition I mentioned? Well, there is precedent. Remember, the Ryder Cup was originally contested by the U.S. and Great Britain. It got so one-sided that Jack Nicklaus suggested that players from Europe be added to even the score. Maybe it is time to consider a new wrinkle. Golf is an international game more so now than ever before. A worldwide Ryder Cup competition would really be electric. Could it happen? Maybe. Will it happen? Unlikely. Too many cooks to spoil the broth.
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BAD COURSE CONDITIONS
6 Oct 2015

BAD COURSE CONDITIONS

If you watch golf on TV every weekend, you will see beautiful golf courses in perfect condition.  The players rave about how good the greens are and how nice the course is.  For most of us, this might not be the case.  Many people may not even be aware that the “tour” courses are closed down for weeks, if not a month, prior to the event.  And most “tour” events are held in locations where monthly dues are extremely high. I recently met with a student who played a tournament on a course that was not in very good condition.  He complained that the greens were bumpy and the fairways were too thin.  If you have played golf at any level, you have experienced this.  I heard a story about the great Gary Player saying that he loved fast greens when he was playing on them; then he said he loved slow greens a few weeks later playing a tournament on slow greens.  When asked which greens he liked, fast or slow, he responded he loved any greens he played on. I told my student this story.  Of course, I also had to add in a few other comments about not complaining and understanding that sometimes golf is not fair.  At the very least, he needed to work on becoming mentally tough, allowing his competition to be the one to complain.  We are all going to show up to an event, either a fun round with friends or a national tournament, and there is a chance the course will not be in the greatest condition.  We have a choice.  We can complain and let it affect our play in a negative way, or we can get excited, knowing a lot of the players won’t be in contention because they can’t mentally handle playing poor conditions.
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PLAYING LIKE A PRO/GOING OLD SCHOOL
6 Oct 2015

PLAYING LIKE A PRO/GOING OLD SCHOOL

The average golfer may not have the physical skills of a pro, but they sure could use the tools of a pro, and I’m not talking the latest and greatest golf clubs. It’s called “six inches”…the gray matter between our ears. True story as recited by a kid I coach while playing a tournament:  He’s standing on a tee box of a par-3, looking at his pin sheet (where exactly the hole is situated on the green…how far on and how far to the right or left). In this case, it was in the middle of the green and 1 yard short of center. The tee blocks are adjacent to the plaque indicating the yardage to the center of the green, and in this case it was 174 yards. One yard short of center, as indicated by the pin sheet, makes the overall distance 173. He slyly asks his playing partner (who is now checking the distance to the hole with his electronic range finder), “What do you have, 173?” After tagging it at 173, he looks at my player and says, “Yeah, how’d you know?”  He just started to laugh, as he has never used a range finder because I never let him. He has learned old school. Walk the course, see the course, feel the course, analyze the course, and you’ll play your best. Let’s face it. Humans tend to take the path of least resistance. GPS for going from point A to Point B and range finders for playing golf. When the electronics fail them, they feel lost. One has to learn to navigate to play their best. Range finders are simply one dimensional – they provide a distance from point A to point B (with the exception of some, which offer elevation options). They do not assist in putting one’s mind at ease in order to have a chance at hitting their best shots, or at least shooting better scores. Let me explain. One’s mind cannot be cluttered with thoughts (be it swing thoughts or “what if?” type thoughts) in order to perform at golf. A range finder offers a distance to an object, hence that object is “Plan A.”  What about “Plan B” and “Plan C”? What are those? Plan B is the contingency plan in case Plan A doesn’t work out. Plan C is simple…it is where you don’t want to go, or in other words…CRAP! Consider this:  “Alright, I have my yardage to the left-center-side-of-the-green pin based on my trusty range finder…148…perfect, a stock 8-iron. Geez, my lie is not the best, but I can still get it there, just hit it a little harder. Oh, pulled it a little, but it should be good. Damn, caught the bunker!! I was sure I had enough club, I can’t believe it, I hit it well too. Geez, maybe there’s something wrong with my ball or maybe I’m losing distance. Maybe I’ll get a lesson or check my numbers on a launch monitor. Might have to get lighter shafts to get my clubhead speed back up.” There you go, so how’s that fancy range finder working out for you? How about a real yardage book so you know the carry distance over that bunker in case you do pull the ball, which is often the case when one tries to hit the ball harder? Then, you’d know the 8-iron is not the club, but the 7-iron was. But wait! If you hit the 7-iron left and it clears the bunker, there is very little green to work with and the greens are firm. The ball may bounce over, down the hill and into the hazard behind the green (uh oh…Plan C). Knowledge is key! Ignorance on the golf course is anything but bliss. Plan A is center right of the green and plan B is short or short right of the green. The 8-iron is the club; don’t try to hit it harder because you may pull it in the bunker or worse. Now the golfer can hit the shot with an ease of mind, resulting in a clear thought process and relaxed body. Why? Because they’ve taken the “what if?” out of the equation. What if they don’t execute perfectly? It doesn’t matter, because the ball won’t end up where the sun never shines. Plan B is available and now part of the commitment to the shot. We all know we’d like to hit it to Plan A, but sometimes even that is not possible because that would be considered plan A+. Plan A must be modified, because the goal in golf is to not put pressure on oneself to hit the perfect shot. Plan A means good execution to a well thought out risk/reward scenario. Plan B is where the ball could end up in case one does not hit the shot as well as planned. Plan C is about ALWAYS assessing one’s options and committing to a decision that never places one’s ball in a position from where it is impossible to recover or a penalty stroke will occur. We can choose to navigate toward our beacon of light (the flagstick) with a compass (a rangefinder), or use a map (a yardage book and our brains). I’ll take the latter every time. Why not the an electronic yardage book? It doesn’t offer all the variables golf presents in its ever-changing environment day to day. These variables can be written down in a yardage book. A yardage book gets us out of our lazy ways. I’ve never met a lazy golfer who is a consistently good golfer in my 40+ years of playing the game. Ever!
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