REGIONAL EVENTS

REGIONAL EVENTS

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the Southwest Regional Championship at Ridgeview Ranch in Plano, Texas, hosted by Bruce Sims.  This was my first regional tournament and I hope not my last. Regional tournaments like this have a number of positive effects.  Prior to the tournament, I played a few rounds to prepare, which is never a bad thing.  Getting the competitive juices flowing this early in the season is a great start to the opening of our golf season in the Midwest.  My students are excited to hear that I’m playing in a tournament, which leads to great conversations with them about what they want to do with their game. Once there, I reconnected with some old friends.  Golf is an amazing game, and as teaching professionals, the bond we share is lifelong.  I have known some of the participants for over 15 years.  Listening to their successes in an open forum to talk about the business is a great way to learn new ideas about golf teaching while surrounded by a great, supportive atmosphere. I also met a few new members, which is such an exciting thing for me.  To see someone who has just joined the USGTF and their passion for teaching the wonderful game of golf is inspiring.  Or to meet a member who is just playing in their first tournament.  The people part of this organization is probably the highlight of tournaments for me. Between helping each other’s swing faults, to having dinner, to playing in competition, I would recommend to anyone who has the opportunity to attend our regional events and our US and World Cups to do so.  There is no better way to engage with other teaching professionals and help build your own skills.
NEW IDEAS FOR THE TEACHING PROFESSIONAL

NEW IDEAS FOR THE TEACHING PROFESSIONAL

Teaching golf has been done the same way for decades:  The pro offers 30- or 60-minutes lessons, along with a series of six lessons for a discount from the per-lesson price.  Go to any course in America today and there is a good chance you will see lessons being marketed in this manner. But what if there was a different way?  Can we come up with ways to give lessons that don’t necessarily involve the traditional model?  The innovative teacher would most resoundingly say “yes” to this.  Here are three ideas that can work for you: Lesson Memberships Many golf courses offer playing memberships, making it more economical for the frequent player to play golf, and lesson memberships can do the same for players seeking more than just an occasional lesson.  USGTF Master Golf Teaching Professional Jim Perez got his start this way, offering a three-month unlimited-lesson package for $99.  Over 200 people bought the package, so do the math:  Jim was able to put over $20,000 into his pocket in one fell swoop.  Even if you spread that out over a 3-month period, that still comes out to $6,667 per month – a good income no matter where you are.  In addition, Jim was able to sell individual lessons to people wanting more personal time. Lessons by the Minute Noted golf personality Peter Kessler is on record as saying the optimal lesson time is 10 minutes!  The pro gives the student one thing to work on and no more, and puts all the focus into that one thing.  When I conduct golf clinics, I’ve noticed a quick bit of instruction and a minute or two spent with that individual often work wonders.  Now, I know there are teachers out there who say, “I don’t give tips.  I have a lesson program.”  To me, tips are Band-Aids.  If the “tip” is a solid fundamental and what the student needs, then in effect it is a mini-lesson program. Offering lessons by the minute is a creative way to teach people the game.  Of course, you won’t be able to schedule any lessons while doing this and all your business will be walk-up business, but at a busy facility it might be worth a shot.  Students who might not be willing to pay the amount of a longer lesson might find it worthwhile to pay, say, $5 for the first minute and $1 per minute afterward.  And you will probably be surprised at how efficient and good you get teaching this way. Ongoing Golf Schools USGTF professionals Mike Stevens and Kathy Hester offer an innovative difference to the traditional golf school with On Target Golf Schools.  Instead of multiple days of lessons on consecutive days, Mike and Kathy offer multiple days spread out once a week.  This gives the students time to digest the lesson from the previous week, and some students are willing to invest in individual lessons between sessions.  The sessions are also convenient because they are held in the evenings after most people are finished with work. Summary The business model of golf often lacks from innovation, and the business of teaching golf can also fall victim to this.  Keep an open mind, find a way to fill a void, and you’ll separate yourself from others too afraid or not interested in trying something different.
So You Want To Play On The PGA Tour – Evaluate

So You Want To Play On The PGA Tour – Evaluate

By: Arlen Bento, WGCA contributing writer For the next 12-18 months, I am going to be writing about what it takes to get to the highest level of of golf – the PGA Tour. As many of you know, I have been coaching golf for many years and have built a very nice elite-player program in my area, and the only thing I do not have is a bona fide PGA Tour player that I can say I developed.  So, here is my truly first attempt to see if what I have been teaching to my top high school players and college players will carry to the professional game. My new student to coach is a great young man from Indiana.  At the time we started, he was 30, and had been playing professional tournament golf for a few years when he came to see me in my training studio in Florida.  He had played a lot of golf during high school and some college and a lot of money games in his hometown, where he became one of the best players in the area. He had some good scores as a pro, notably a 67-73 in a recent Florida mini-tour event, but no consistency. On our first conversation over the phone, I asked him some basic questions. At the time he did not know I was interviewing him, but I was.  At my current stage of my career, I know the kind of player I like to work with and I am not interested in players that are full of themselves or think they know everything. He was not like that at all.  He was well spoken, a former athlete, and according to him, a great putter. He had taken a job delivering pizzas at night so he could work on his game and play tournaments on the weekends.  The more I spoke with him, the more I liked him. So, I invited him to my lesson studio in Stuart for our first swing session. Once we meet, I let him do most of talking, giving me his life story, telling me about his golf, his successes, his struggles and frustrations. I took a close look at this clubs, which were in need of some TLC and upgrading.  It is tough on mini-tour players who have to pay for their equipment to keep up-to-date on products. His clubs were good, but the could be better. He told me he was having a terrible time hitting the ball solid; all of his contact marks were on the toe of the club.  We went through his bag on video and launch monitor and he had some very interesting numbers. He had developed a very inside attack from a very upright take away that required a ton of hand action at impact to keep the ball online. His swing was on plane, but the club was very closed that the top and he had learned to really drop the club under the plane in the downswing, causing all kinds of issues. He had developed a very low hand setup at address and was doing everything that he could to try to keep the ball online.  Because of his issues, he was standing up at impact, getting his hands up and in front of him to keep the shot from hooking and hanging on.  After he hit a lot of shots, my first impression was, WOW, this guy must be the best putter in the world if he can shoot 67 with that move. His clubhead speeds were good, but he had a weak smash factor because of his angles, which is why he was not hitting the golf ball nearly as far or as hard as he should for the speed he was generating.   He had potential. 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.
SEEING THE FOREST FOR THE TREES

SEEING THE FOREST FOR THE TREES

Bubba Watson has won two of the three previous Masters; Tiger Woods has not won the same tournament in 10 years. Bubba has never been coached or had a coach as far as we know; Tiger has been coached his entire life. Bubba’s style of play is exciting but is not consistent week in, week out. Tiger’s style of play was beyond exciting and expected. Not anymore. The unexpected is fast becoming the expected and theories abound as to why. A golfer of yesteryear once dug it out of the ground. According to him, he would have arrived at his high level of play 10 years earlier had the advent of a video camera been at his disposal. He was not coached per se, but was open to advice during his evolution as a player. Yet another golfer, known for his quirky style and even quirkier personality, paralleled this same approach. He dug it out of the ground and took advice from few, let a couple of idols. Tiger Woods has espoused the view of wanting to “own his swing,” according to him, “the way Ben Hogan and Moe Norman owned their swings.” I have always had an issue with this statement as it is erroneous by nature. The procurement of such a viewpoint is perhaps the reason for the slide in Tiger’s performance the last few years, and it does not hold him in good stead as he enters the twilight of his PGA Tour career. First and foremost, many golfers own and have owned their swings. Lee Trevino, Bruce Lietzke and George Knudson certainly come to mind, as does the club member who shoots 86-90 day-in and day-out like clockwork. Lietzke developed his patented fade as a teenager and never looked back. He seldom, if ever, practiced during his PGA Tour career, taking long sabbaticals from touring life to spend time with his family and enjoy his favorite pastime, fishing. When he did show up at tour stops, as he needed to make a living, his swing and game never failed him, with top-10 finishes and the occasional victory. None other than Payne Stewart was awed. Getting back to Bubba and Tiger, is it possible there is a happy medium between no coaching and being over-coached? Yes. My opinion is Tiger has been over-coached and has a difficult time seeing the forest for the trees. During the 2002 US Open at Bethpage, I noticed a small flaw in Tiger’s swing which wasn’t allowing him to post effectively on his left side through impact. Not long afterward, he mentioned to Butch Harmon he wanted to take it to another level, wanted to “own his swing.” Butch’s response was one of maintenance. At the time and in my opinion, Tiger needed to modify his setup, which in turn would save his knee. I believe Sean Foley made the appropriate setup change to accomplish this, but to be honest, Tiger’s swing experiments since 2002 have been simply that, and have done little in his quest for perfection. Coaching today is taking on the role of over-coaching in epidemic proportions. Quality versus quality must always be the rule of thumb.