Blog

7 Aug 2014 Corina Pelloni

Time to stop ignoring the game’s heritage

As I was watching the Open from Royal Liverpool, a graphic came on the screen showing all the Championship winners at that venue going back to 1897. They were some of the giants of the game: Hagen, Hilton, Jones, Taylor, Thompson, and De Vincenzo, just to name a few. Then the commentator for the American broadcast said the following: “And for golfers in the United States, the only familiar name in the group is Tiger Woods.” The two professional golfers in the booth said nothing. I, on the other hand, would have said something like, “Come on, give the American golfer a little more credit than that for historical knowledge.” Then again, very little effort goes into presenting the historical perspective on a golf broadcast these days. It is sad, really, that a game as old and steeped in tradition as golf has just about abandoned its past. I can be watching a baseball game, and if something out of the ordinary happens, immediately the crew will have details about the last time a play like that occurred, even if it was 100 years ago. I have often wondered why golf is not like that. A few years back, I wrote a column for Golf Teaching Pro magazine titled, “Don’t just teach golf, teach history, too.” Maybe golf history is not that important on the grand scale of life. But, regardless of the subject, history is relevant to our understanding of other people and ourselves. There are valuable lessons to be learned from the actions of our forbearers. Growing up, I devoured books about the past. When the subject was golf, I learned about honesty from Bobby Jones and competitiveness from Walter Hagen. In a word, history taught me values. Too bad golf pays so little attention to it today. On the same broadcast, they joked that Bubba Watson had no idea who the Beatles were. Is that something to be proud of? I grew up with the group, but I also know Louie Armstrong, Sinatra, Jolson, and Goodman. That’s because in my time, people thought the past should be remembered. I just wish more people in golf today felt the same way.  

6 Aug 2014 Corina Pelloni

Look at the hole

Anyone watching this year’s Masters tournament heard the commentators talk about Jordan Spieth’s unusual putting routine of looking at the hole while putting shorter putts inside five feet. He would go through his pre-shot routine, and right before starting his putting stroke, he would look at the hole. Why? If a player is having a problem releasing the putter or accelerating through the putt, this is a great way to help with that. With your eyes focused on the hole, it is natural for your hands to swing freely towards the target. With the green speeds at Augusta National, it is understandable why someone would be timid with their putting stroke. Jordan must have felt he was not putting freely enough to do this during the last few rounds of the tournament when he was in contention. Most of us have seen our students decelerate their putting stroke or stop the putter at impact. By having them set up and look at the hole, they will learn the proper sensation of accelerating the putter through the entire stroke. At first, when you have them try this drill, they will often hit the putt harder than normal; this is due to proper release and more acceleration. I hope this will help with your students’ putting strokes. It has helped with mine. My youngest daughter was struggling on her distance control on her putts this summer. I had her start looking at the hole every time. By doing so, the putter was allowed to have a more consistent swing and rhythm to the stroke. Her speed improved and she made more shots, thus increasing her confidence. As we all know, confidence is key to doing well at anything.