27 Jun 2014

ELABORATING YOUR PLAN AND ORGANIZING YOUR TOURNAMENT STAFF

By Marc Gelbke As a continuation from my last editorial, “Developing a Tournament Plan,” I would like to stay along this topic and discuss another couple of important factors when considering organizing a tournament at your facility. Now that we have a general idea of what type of tournament we want to organize, it is time to elaborate your plan and possibly sell your concept for approval to, for example, the board of directors, tournament committee, members, or facility owner. Furthermore, elaborating your plan simply means spelling out the financial and logistical details to gain approval and help organize your event. It is a good idea to prepare a proposal that establishes cost, schedule, profitability, benefits to the community, and benefits to the facility. Your proposal should always included the “four W’s” and the “two H’s” (who, what, when, why, and how and how much). In addition, list all of your specific elements such as type of event, cost per person, number of players, cart requirements, schedule of activities, food and beverage requirements, and staff requirements. The most important element for gaining approval is, of course, your profitability, so carefully consider all expenses, and as a rule of thumb, use 10% for gifts and awards from your initial intake. Once your plan and proposals are complete, start organizing your staff requirements to make preparations and help run the tournament. Consider first what positions need staffing and then find people to fill those positions (employees, club members, volunteers, etc). Be sure to identify all the functions and assign responsibility for each function to a specific person, and assign people to functions you feel comfortable they can handle. Use a checklist to help in planning, and you will improve your chances for a smooth operation. The more you prepare and cover all angles before the tournament, the more you can enjoy your hard labor and feel good about your success come tournament day.
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Lowering Your Score is Sometimes more Mental than Physical
20 Jun 2014

Lowering Your Score is Sometimes more Mental than Physical

By: Arlen Bento, WGCA contributing writer

As we reach the full start of the summer golf season, I wanted to write about how important it is to understand that lowering your score in golf is sometimes a lot more mental the physical.

I work with a lot of junior players over the summer months preparing players for the high school golf season in Florida and summer junior golf events. For the advanced junior players that have good swings and control of the golf ball, the biggest hurdle for lowering scores is the mental side of the game.  I have always coached my players with the idea that every miss in golf has a reason.  I have devised a simple way for my players to identify the reason the miss happened, based on assigning a “miss idea,” to show them how and why they miss on the course.

The first miss that we identify is a physical miss.  This is a miss caused by a bad swing or a physical error. The second miss that we identify is an intellectual miss. This is a miss caused by a player trying to hit a shot that just was not possible.  An example of this would be trying to hit a soft flop shot off or hard pan or firm uncovered ground, or flying through a gap in the trees off of pebbles or unstable ground.

The third miss that we identify is the mental miss.  This is a miss caused by a player who did not commit to a shot, and the player is making a swing with indecision or a bad idea in their head.  This could be as simple as letting a noise or sound distract them as they swing, or letting the thought of a bad shot from the previous hole cause a lack of focus and a swing error.

I ask all my players at the end of their rounds to count how many times they missed in their round and to identify the miss.  In almost all cases, the miss is caused my mental error. Because the mental error is so prominent, we are always working at improving our technique to eliminate mental errors. One of the best ways to eliminate mental errors is to really focus on the mental checklist of a shot before a player makes a swing.  I always tell my players that every shot you will ever hit has a value. That value is the yardage plus the calculations of the particulars like lie, wind, and miss zone.  By focusing on the value of the shot, then applying a club selection and swing thought to match the value of the shot, players can all but eliminate mental errors on their score cards, thus lowering their scores.

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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LONG IRONS: WHY?
11 Jun 2014

LONG IRONS: WHY?

Recently, I was playing golf with a few members of the golf club where I am at.  Both gentlemen are around 45-50 years of age and have about 10 handicaps.  On a long par-3, I noticed one of them pulled out a 3-iron.  He made a decent swing at it, but caught it a little thin and missed the green about 25 yards short and right of the green. When I inquired as to why was he carrying a long iron versus a hybrid, his answer shocked me.  He said that better players played long irons, including 2- and 3-irons. I started laughing at his statement, which started a nice little debate about long irons versus hybrids.  Both players were shocked that the longest iron in my bag is a 4-iron. My point to them was that they needed to think about golf as a game of misses.  Very few golf shots are struck perfectly.  If my miss is a “better” miss than your miss, then I will beat you.  If you mishit a long iron, it does not fly as far or as straight as it would with a mishit hybrid.  By simply changing the clubs in their bag from long irons to hybrids, it would help lower their scores. My next point was to educate them on hybrids, and what they can do for your game.  There are lots of shots where hybrids come in handy:  deep rough, long par-3s, second shots on par-5s and little chips around the greens.  After our conversation, they began to understand this philosophy.  Later that week, one of them got fitted for the new Callaway hybrids to replace his 2- and 3-irons. Make sure you talk to your students about hybrids if they are still carrying long irons.  It will improve their game, lower their scores, and make the game more enjoyable.
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FOOT GOLF. SERIOUSLY?
11 Jun 2014

FOOT GOLF. SERIOUSLY?

I was watching NBC Nightly News over the weekend and one of their segments caught my eye. Some fellows on a golf course were kicking a soccer ball down the fairway and then at a hole the size of a 55-gallon drum in circumference. Apparently, this new sport called “foot golf” is all the rage. I am not necessarily one to cast aspersions on people who come up with new ways to entertain themselves, but I won’t be joining the ranks of foot golfers across the globe…just as I have never played a round of disc golf either. Why? Well, I became an avid golfer because of the challenge. How hard can it be to kick a big ball down a wide open fairway? Want to make it interesting, forego the soccer ball, and use something more like a tennis ball. I can’t wait to see how they handle an uphill fairway when gravity returns the old soccer ball back to their feet time after time. All kidding aside, if people find this to be fun, more power to them. Will this propel interest in the actual game of golf? I doubt it. The PGA thinks it might, but I am skeptical. Humans in this day and age tend not to gravitate from something easy to something much more complicated, difficult, and expensive. The fact that foot golf was even created probably means that someone was looking for an alternative to the challenge of golf. Maybe I am wrong and this foot thing will ultimately help the game of golf. It might also keep people from ever trying real golf in the first place. I hope not. Only time will tell.
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SUCCESSFUL TEACHING FORMULA
6 Jun 2014

SUCCESSFUL TEACHING FORMULA

By Thomas T Wartelle A simple diagnosis of a swing fault leads to a simple remedy.  This leads to positive results and success. Remember that most students are happy to hit the ball straight and 150 yards.  If a student wants to continue his progress, make a plan and work on only one or two swing faults a lesson.  With advanced golfers, find out what their goals are and develop a strategy to make improvements to their game. In teaching the game of golf, it is important not to overload the student with too many swing thoughts.   When many swing faults are diagnosed, too much effort is made in correction.  The student often becomes frustrated and loses confidence in his game.  At this point golf, becomes less enjoyable and the teaching professional has failed. A happy student will take another lesson!  Therefore, to be successful as a teacher, our goal is to guide the student and provide a positive learning environment. The Teaching Professional Chart: Teacher 1:  No technical skills; no empathy (failed results). Teacher 2:  Technical Skills; No Empathy (poor results). Teacher 3:  Low technical skills; Empathy (moderate results). Teacher 4:  High Technical Skills; High Empathy (maximum results). Which teacher will be the most successful?  As a teaching professional, how do you rate on the technical skill scale and the empathy scale?  By making an honest examination of yourself, you can take your teaching to the next level.
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