HAVE YOU TAKEN A LESSON LATELY?
11 Jul 2013

HAVE YOU TAKEN A LESSON LATELY?

As teaching professionals, we must continue to learn.  We have to better our skills and possess the desire to learn more.  There are many ways to learn:  Read books written by the top teachers, visit with other teaching professionals (at events like the USGTF’s US Cup), and take lessons. By taking lessons from accredited teachers, it will help you learn to communicate with your students better.  We have all had lessons when the student didn’t understand what we were trying to convey.  This didn’t mean we didn’t know what we were talking about, but it meant we weren’t communicating properly with this particular student.  Listening to other teachers describe a problem or how to perform a certain drill helps you learn other ways to speak with your students. This spring, we had a teaching professional move into a local country club.  His bio was very impressive.  I called and scheduled a lesson with him.  At the time of our lesson, he told me he was shocked that I called him for advice.  We talked awhile about the passion for learning, which provided a great opportunity to discuss ideas about teaching styles, techniques, swings, theories . . . the list goes on.  Our 30-minute lesson turned into two hours of great conversation and also turned in a good friendship. Don’t be afraid to learn from any available avenues.  When taking a lesson from another teaching professional, ask questions, stir up conversation, and listen.  By growing this listening and clear-communication skill set, your students will see a difference and your business will grow.
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THE VALUE OF TRAINING AIDS
11 Jul 2013

THE VALUE OF TRAINING AIDS

With some students, words, demonstrations, and even drills aren’t enough. In these cases, the use of training aids can provide the teaching professional with an additional option to help improve a student’s understanding. Training aids are just as the name implies: An aid to assist in teaching and to assist the student in learning. The myriads of training devices available seemingly address every aspect of the golf game. These aids come in all types, from inexpensive and homemade (such as a cut-down broom, a towel under the arms) to expensive and elaborate. In the minds of some, teaching devices fall in to the category of gimmicky, running from questionable to worthless. True, there are some bad teaching aids, which tend to drag the good ones down. In using a training aid, the student should have enough repetitions until they truly feel what the aid is teaching them. At this point, the student can then make some practice swings and hit some balls without the aid.  Your job as the teaching professional is to make sure that the student is incorporating what they learned from the training device. The most effective training aids have proven to be the ones where the student actually gets to swing a club and hit shots. Training aids that do not involve a student in swinging a club have proven to be less effective, but nevertheless can still provide some merit. Training aids that do too much of the work for the student do not teach the students as effectively as training aids which require the student to do his/her fair share of the work.
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Haas’ look-and-go
2 Jul 2013

Haas’ look-and-go

Bill Haas makes birdie on No. 10 during the final round of the AT&T Classic. (Stan Badz/PGA TOUR) By Dr. Gregg Steinberg, official WGCA sports Psychologist.  This is the season for great putting advice from the veterans. At the WGC-Cadillac Championship, Steve Stricker suggested to Tiger Woods that he should square his stance a bit and weaken his left hand. This helped lead to a victory that week for Woods. This week putting guru Brad Faxon recommended that Bill Haas get less mechanical and just “look and go” with his putting routine. The new reactive putting method was key in Haas’ win at AT&T National. The look-and-go method can greatly benefit your game as well. Here are a few reasons how this method can greatly help you make more putts: 1. Many amateurs (and some pros) take too long over the ball when putting. Some even seem frozen! As a result, muscle tension builds and you can lose the fluidity in your stroke. To prevent the mind freeze, incorporate a trigger into your putting routine. For example, my trigger is when my eyes track back from the hole and as soon as I see the back of the golf ball. That is when I start my putter back. 2. You may not like the look-and-go method. That is, having only one look at the hole may make you feel rushed. In that case, I would recommend having two or three looks at the hole, whatever you prefer. But the rub is to be consistent in your looks at the hole. If you prefer two looks, then do two looks every time. This consistency in looks will buffer anxiety because your body will not know if it is a practice round or the club championship. 3. How you look at the hole will impact your rhythm. One of the secrets in putting is that when you look at the hole in a fast manner, your stroke will be fast. The same goes if you look slowly. Look at the hole at the same rhythm you want to stroke the putt. Free up your stroke and your putting mind with the look-and-go method. But make it your own style because we are all unique and we all have unique strokes.  
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