Teach your students to make every course be thier favorite course
18 Jan 2013

Teach your students to make every course be thier favorite course

There’s an old saying in golf: “Different horses for different courses.” Some players just think and play better on certain courses.  This mental game principle fits Steve Stricker to a tee. Defending his crown, Stricker raced to a strong second-place finish at the 2013 Hyundai Tournament of Champions in Hawaii.  Stricker stated, “This is a special place to start the year.” Clearly, his enjoyment for the Plantation Course at Kapalua has propelled his play to great heights. Even with a pain racing down his left leg due to a pinched nerve, Steve proceeded to shoot a 69 on Sunday, and impressively, hit every green in regulation. But Steve Stricker is not unique in having a playing affair with a certain course.  Ben Hogan played so well at the Riviera Country Club that it has been dubbed “Hogan’s Alley.”  Pebble Beach holds the same magic for Mark O’Meara, who won the U.S. Amateur and five PGA Tour events there. Many factors influence why a certain course provides great play for a particular player. One is that the layout of the holes just fits a player’s eye.  If most of the holes go left to right, and your bread-and-butter shot pattern is a fade (for a righty), then this would make you feel very comfortable over every tee shot. Another factor is that some courses get the juices flowing more than others. I heard “Bones” (Phil Mickelson’s long time caddy) say how much his player loves Augusta National and gets amped up to play there. Perhaps that is a big reason why Phil has worn the “Green Jacket” three times (once at a fast food drive-thru with his family, but that is a different story). On the flip side, consider all-time great Lee Trevino, who’s won every major except the Masters. Trevino has stated that Augusta National and he were not a good fit. If he felt the love as Phil does for that “old nursery,” then he may have won there (and at least finished higher than a T10). What about your students? Do they talk themselves out of playing well on certain golf courses? Do they talk themselves into playing poorly on certain holes? It is really that simple. Self-talk has immense influence over the outcome of our efforts. You must convince you students to like every course, and every difficult hole. Remind them to enjoy the course with its wonderful layout and great greens. In that case, they will enjoy the course even more because they played so well. When they make every course their favorite, they will find their scores improve in return. Bio: Dr. Gregg Steinberg is a tenured professor of sports and has been the official sports psychologist for the United States Golf Teachers Federation for the past 15 years. Dr. Gregg has been the mental coach for many golf teams including the University of Florida 1993 NCAA Men’s Championship team. He also enjoys helping young golfers to “think better scores.” Golf Digest ranked him as one of the best golf psychologists. Dr. Gregg is the author of “Mental rules for Golf” and has appeared many times on Golf Channel.  You can see more about him at www.drgreggsteinberg.com and if you have any questions about the mental game, please e-mail him at mentalrules24@msn.com.
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Play the front tees to go low
18 Jan 2013

Play the front tees to go low

All players have a comfort zone when playing the game.  However, when you stray from the zone, say when you’re on pace to break 100 for the first time, or when you’re several under par early during a round, it’s easy to get nervous.  These emotions are natural, and it takes visualization and training to keep them under control.  There are several ways to do this when playing great golf.  One very successful drill I use with my students, to ensure a sense of calmness when entering the zone, is to play a few rounds from the front tees. When students play from closer tees, it helps them hit more greens in regulation, getting to par-5s in two and maybe driving some par-4 greens.  I want my students to have opportunities to get up and down for birdie, not par.  I want them to feel the excitement of draining a lot of putts inside 10 feet for birdie, not lagging from 40 feet.  The excitement which comes from consistent putting, translating into a low round, introduces positive nerves, which cements the experiences into memory recall.  Rather than reverting to the negative mindset of “don’t blow it,” the student can draw upon those positive memories and welcome an attitude of “how low can I go” to experience the thrill that only a great round provides. This aggressive behavior is beneficial in many ways.  The student won’t focus on the milestone that they are close to achieving.  It helps them focus solely on going lower, and not maintaining their current level of performance.  How many students have told you, “If I knew I could have made par on the last two holes, then I would have broken 100 for the first time”?  We want our students to think about making another birdie, making another par, not, “How much longer can I keep this up?” By playing more forward tees in practice rounds, your students will learn to shoot lower scores, and thus, you are training them to go low.  This will help keep your students calm when they are in the “zone,” allowing them to finish good rounds strong and turning great rounds into their best rounds!
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Who is really to blame for slow play?
7 Jan 2013

Who is really to blame for slow play?

An issue that comes up constantly when the talking heads discuss the state of the game is slow play. I can understand when two professionals playing for millions of dollars take their time to complete a round of golf, but five to six hours for the rest of us seems a bit extreme. When I was a young lad caddying for my dad’s group, we always finished in 3 ½ hours. The last round I played with my regulars took 5 ½ hours. I’m not talking about guys who score in the 100s, either. The highest score was 83. So, what’s happened and who’s to blame? The knee-jerk reaction from most is always people are imitating the pros, taking numerous practice swings, or standing over a two-foot putt forever. In my observation over the years, however, rarely do I find the fault of slow play being caused by the players. When I play my local municipal course that has been in operation for close to 100 years, the 19th hole is always less than four hours away. The number one culprit responsible for slow play these days is course design. My local muni length is 6,214 yards. The average newer course now stretches well over 7,000. That right there probably adds half an hour. Add in the eight or ten bunkers each hole seems to have, green speeds of 12 on the Stimpmeter, and another hour can easily be go by. Don’t forget the 300-yard cart drive often from one green to the next tee and several more minutes will ensue. Don’t just blame golfers for slow play. Sure, there are always some that are the cause, but for the most part lay it squarely on the shoulders of an industry that got out of control and an organization (the USGA) that failed to do a good job regulating the issue.
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What it takes to be a great coach
3 Jan 2013

What it takes to be a great coach

By: Ben Bryant, WGCA contributing writer “You want me to coach swimming?” That was the question I had for my new principal. I had just been hired as a high school teacher and they needed someone to coach the swim team. Since I was low man on the totem pole, that job fell to me. The fact that I had never swum competitively didn’t seem to matter. The expectations for the swim team at the inner-city high school where I worked in Tampa, Florida, were not very high. That was good, because it meant I couldn’t screw things up too badly. We didn’t win too many swim meets that year (none, as a matter of fact), and the next year I ended up switching schools, where I was able to take over the golf and tennis teams, sports of which I am far more proficient. But, what I found is that no matter the sport, there are several characteristics you must have if you want be a successful coach.

Be Organized

There is a considerable amount of information to keep track of as a coach. On the swim team, it was important to keep track of my swimmers’ times. It served as a way of seeing whether or not they were improving throughout the season. If you watched the London Olympics recently, you could see just how many different races there were. With over 20 people on the team, it can end up being a lot of information! The same is true on the golf course. I always have my players keep track of not only their daily scores, but also things like how many putts they take. Just writing it down isn’t enough, though. For the more tech-savvy out there, there are now apps available for all kinds of devices which can keep track of things like this for you. With this kind of information, you can then tailor your practices to target key problem areas for your players.

Positive Coaching

Coaching can oftentimes be a frustrating thing. If you have a player who continues to make the same mistakes again and again, even after addressing them at practice, it can be easy to take it out on the player. Staying positive even in the face of this kind of adversity is key to being a successful coach. At every practice and every match you are going to find problems and mistakes that you want your players to be aware of. But, if the only kind of feedback you ever give is negative, your players are going to end up just tuning you out.
I have found one of the best techniques for giving criticism is something called the compliment sandwich. It is a very simple idea. When you must draw attention to a fault a player is having, start out by addressing something they are doing well. Then, address the problem the player is having. After that, another compliment. So, it would go something like this: “You’re making great contact with the ball!” “Try to keep your head down all the way through contact, though.” “But, you’re tempo is wonderful, keep that the same.”
It might seem overly simple, but, especially when you’re dealing with a teenager or someone who might be just starting out in the game, this can keep you from becoming overly negative. Keeping a player feeling confident about their game is always more important than fixing whatever minor technical issue they may be having.

Dealing with the Team

The swim team that year was pretty awful. Not everyone is Michael Phelps, and a lot of that season was spent teaching the extreme basics of swimming. Literally, I ended up teaching one teenager HOW TO SWIM, as in, not drown when in the water. But, we did have one standout swimmer on the team. She was our one competitor that swimmers on other teams knew by name. The same has been true every year I’ve coached golf. On the first day of practice, I never know what to expect in terms of the ability levels of players. No matter the sport, coaches will always have to deal with a wide range of not only abilities, but also of attitudes, aptitudes, and drives to improve. One extremely effective method for dealing with a situation like this is to develop “player- coaches.” Inevitably, the players on the team with less ability and less talent will come to look up to those on the team with more ability
and more talent. Getting those high-performing players to serve as role models can do wonders for the team. For example, you may want to choose a team captain and have that player give input in terms of how practice is run. Or, you can have them work with an individual player who is having trouble, which allows you to focus on the rest of the team. For high schoolers, this can be a tremendously useful tactic, as teenagers tend to listen to their peers more than adults.

Develop a Reward System

After every golf match, I like to take a few minutes to recognize a player who had the best performance that day. It might not be the player with the lowest score, but maybe someone who had a personal best, or had a tough up- and-down out of a bunker to save par, or maybe a player who broke 50 for the first time on nine holes. That player is declared “Raven of the Day” (raven being our school mascot). It’s a purely symbolic reward, but my players always vie to be the one chosen. It means a lot to them and they work hard to try to earn it. This kind of reward system can bring out the best in your players. Just ensure that the reward is symbolic and not something of actual value. No giving out cash for birdies!

Be Able to Teach and Know When to Ask for Help

Luckily, even though I had never swum competitively , I knew more about swimming from growing up near the beach than did many members of the swim team. I was able to teach the basics of each stroke, and, of course, I did quite a lot of reading to learn what I didn’t know. For golf, I know quite a bit more and am far more in my comfort zone. But, occasionally coaches encounter an issue that they just can’t fix on their own. A player is still slicing the ball after all the fixes you can think of. Or, maybe you’re just not sure why a player keeps topping the ball. Or, maybe a player wants to know how to hit a flop shot and you’ve just never taught it before. Not knowing is okay. Not asking for help when you need it or teaching the wrong thing because you’re embarrassed is not okay.
Being a great coach doesn’t mean you will have the answer all the time. It also doesn’t mean that you have the best golfer in the world. I’ve often had players who can outplay me. It should be noted that some of the greatest coaches in the world just weren’t that great at playing the sport they coached. But, I would be willing to wager that those coaches knew when to ask for help.

Reflection

Spending a few minutes to think about your coaching can be a great way to improve. After each practice or match, take a minute to examine what could have been done differently. Ask yourself, what situations could have been handled better? How did those drills go and what can I do to make them more effective next time?
This can also be a useful tool for your players. Have them stop to think about the round they just played. Ask them to think about the highs and lows of the round. If they had one shot to make again, what would they do differently? What was the best decision they made on the golf course today? These debriefing periods get players thinking about their game while you think about your coaching.

Conclusion

I will probably never coach another swim team again, but the experience taught me a lot of things about being a coach that are pretty universal. The tactics I’ve outlined above are by no means a comprehensive list. However, they can serve as a starting point in the discussion for what makes a great coach.
   
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