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30 Apr 2021 admin

Student Spotlight – Steve Haigler

Steve Haigler, a high school teacher in Tampa, came to my six-week golf school about eight years ago. He started with the maximum handicap of 36. After completing the class, he applied all he learned and started to really improve. Today, he plays to a 22 handicap and regularly shoots in the mid to low 90s. Steve later followed in his instructor’s path and started playing with hickory golf clubs as a member of the Florida Hickory Golfers. That makes the improvement in his handicap even more significant because of the difficulty playing with clubs used 100 years ago. Steve has traveled to Scotland to participate in several World Hickory Opens at courses like Carnoustie, Gullane and Panmure, where Ben Hogan practiced for the Open Championship. He also played on the U.S. hickory team in 2018 that competed against teams from Europe and Scotland at the Old Course in Musselburgh, contributing to the U.S. victory in the matches. He has certainly taken to the game and can be seen regularly on the links at the MacDill Air Force Base golf courses.

Reason recommended by teacher: In today’s modern world of golf technology, it is unique to find someone who values the history of golf and the men who played with equipment far less forgiving than that of today. I think Steve would be the first to tell anyone how much he has enjoyed golf, especially hickory golf, and the opportunities it has afforded him for travel and meeting interesting people the world over. In addition, it is always satisfying when a student finds success and enjoyment on the golf course and knowing you had a minor hand in that journey.

Mike Stevens – USGTF Teaching Professional

WGTF News from Japan – Naoki Yoshida

USGTF-Japan member Naoki Yoshida teaches a number of prominent touring professionals, but his foray into teaching and coaching wasn’t a direct route. As a kid, he started playing golf but preferred baseball, tennis and soccer. Golf was pretty much last on the list.

At the age of 18, he attended a golf academy in Australia headed by one of their prominent coaches. Yoshida found that the coach’s disdain for video was counter-productive, at least in his case. “All I could do then was to feel and understand what he said,” said Yoshida. “In the process of mastering a swing, it is not effective to depend only on feeling. When players understand the method and make it an automatic motion, feeling-based learning requires much more time. So, I bought a video camera to check my swing. I devoted myself to testing my physical motion during the swing, as well as the clubface angle and the shaft plane. I practiced every day until midnight to master the ideal positions of the swing.” Yoshida’s goal was to be a touring professional, but found that there was more to it than just having a great swing. “I thought the perfect, high-level swing would contribute to making a great score on the course,” he remarked. “As you know, however, it is a huge mistake. Good scores result from a repeatable and consistent swing, distance control, and short game skills. The perfect swing is not necessary for the goal.”

After uploading some of his swing and golf theories to YouTube, Facebook and other social media, Yoshida was contacted by Hideto Tanihara and Shingo Katayama for coaching. Their success with him led to more touring professionals seeking out his counsel, and today he has a number of Japanese touring pros under his tutelage. His philosophy is as follows: “When teaching golf, there are numerous pieces of the puzzle that we should consider. For example, we are required to check their address, grip, joint range of motion, length of their body parts, behavior patterns, thought patterns, and so on. I set up a plan suitable for each of the students by combining these countless puzzle pieces.”

EDITORIAL – The Pyramid of Pressure

The legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden had what he called a “Pyramid of Success.” At the very top of the pyramid was “competitive greatness.” Can there be such a pyramid in golf? Certainly, but let’s attack it in a slightly different direction, as some of the building blocks in Wooden’s pyramid involve aspects of team play that aren’t relevant to golf. So let’s call it the “Pyramid of Pressure,” and here are its elements, from lowest to highest pressure: 1) Practice shot, 2) casual round, 3) competition, 4) contend, 5) win.

A practice shot on the range has virtually no pressure at all, but this is an ideal time to also practice being under pressure. Set a goal for yourself or your student (such as hitting five drives between two landmarks out on the range), and if you succeed, reward yourself with a refreshment. If you fail, you can either try again or “punish” yourself by, for example, handing a stranger a $5 bill.

A casual round might have a little pressure from the elements of the course, but again, this is an excellent time to practice being under pressure. A target number of fairways and greens hit can provide some pressure, for example.

The jump to competition is perhaps the biggest leap in the pyramid. The key here is proper preparation, both physically and mentally, and this preparation should have been executed during the practice shot and casual round phases.

Contending for the win is another big jump, and here, the player really needs to faithfully stick to the pre-shot routine and stay in the present. Thinking back to past shots or forward to possible outcomes is a sure way to derail the train.

Finally, at the top of the pyramid we have winning. This is the culmination of all the elements that came before. But the player needs to be careful to not try too hard to win. Maintaining oneself in the present and, as the old cliche goes, “playing one shot at a time” give the best chance to hold the trophy at the end of the competition.

By Mark Harman, USGTF Director of Education

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