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12 Feb 2020 admin

Follow The Sun

By Thomas T Wartelle, USGTF Master Golf Teaching Professional Washington, Louisiana

I was a kid who loved sports and the outdoors. For me, every season had a sport assigned. Baseball gloves that were soft from use in the summer became cold in the winter. Basketballs were worn out in the winter, but hardly moved in July. Sports and the outdoors were a way of life. If I wasn’t playing some game, I was trekking in the forest.

Although I played every sport offered in our area, I was always drawn to individual games like tennis. I was also a huge John McEnroe fan, mostly because he was left-handed. After baseball season was finished, my morning summer routine was to wake up as early as possible. I would eat breakfast on the fly. Then, I would ride my bike to the public park a few miles away. I would literally play tennis from sunrise to sunset. Most of this time was spent on the cracked courts at the park creating tennis mischief with my best friend Bo. He would later become influential in my golf life, and he even caddied for me on several tours around the world.

My life changed dramatically one day. I saw the shimmer of a silver shaft in the trash can near the gate. I was hoping it was some tennis-related treasure. A few months earlier in that same trash can, I found a wooden Wilson Jack Kramer tennis racquet that just needed a new grip. I was anxious to discover this day’s new find. To my surprise, it was not a tennis racquet this time. It was a golf club with the shaft broken 3/4 of the way up. What a score!

When I got home, I wrapped duct tape on the end and formed a grip. The neighbor had a few old balls in his storeroom. I took a few swings and was instantly hooked. There was one minor issue: I was left-handed and this club was for a righty. Oh well, at least it was free!

I started carrying that little five-iron everywhere, even to school. I would sneak away at recess to hit balls in the field behind the gym. I think the coach must have said something to Pop, because he asked me about it. Pop said that I needed a proper set. We drove to JCPenney and he bought me a set of Northwestern golf clubs. It was a full set, including a bag. He probably didn’t spend more than $100 for the lot. But I was so proud of that set of golf clubs. It was “high cotton” for this kid who grew up in rural Louisiana.

I decided to join my school’s golf team. During the tryouts, I shot 68 for nine holes! The coach told me I was not a golfer and to go back to baseball and tennis. A little over a year later, I was a scratch golfer. That coach sure welcomed me back with open arms.

One day, Pop decided that driving 20 miles to the public golf course was too far. He brought me down to the local private country club. Even though it was a basic small town goat ranch, one would have thought it was Augusta National. The members thought highly of themselves and the club, as well. I was an outsider around the affluent kids with their Hogan Apex irons. My homemade swing and cheap golf clubs would soon conquer their terrain.

In those days there were still a few caddies, and there were plenty of odd jobs for a 14-year-old kid to do. I occasionally caddied, picked up range balls, and became head cart boy and shoeshine expert. Along the way, I hit a lot of balls and played every chance I could get. I read every golf book at the public library twice. I wore the pages out of the books Golf with Tony Jacklin and Ben Hogan’s Five Lessons. My golf journey had begun.

My Pop was truly a special man and one of a kind. Pop liked to let you figure things out on your own. He guided and mentored, but never dictated. His sense of humor was amazing. Most of all, he was always passively supportive. When I finished my last final exam in college, I told Pop that I was going to turn pro and fly over to Europe to play the European Tour. He told me to follow my dreams. I didn’t even go to my college graduation. I turned pro the next day and drove to Florida to play mini-tour events until my venture to Europe that autumn. For the next 30 years, the game of golf took me to over 40 countries playing and teaching with some of the most influential people in my life. Pop gave me that gift with a cheap set of golf clubs from JCPenney. What an investment he had made!

Fast forward 30 years: spring turns to summer; summer turns to fall; fall turns to winter. Pop passed away late this summer. He was 90 years old. Pop had a good run and a colorful life. He was a cowboy as a kid; always had a great story, served his country, drank beer with Hank Williams, the country-and-western legend; raised six children and was married 60-plus years. He was a revered local legend in the community. Pop was the best of men. He was like the sun to me, always shining, even in his last days. His youngest son decided to pursue a passion. Pop always encouraged this pursuit. I am proud to be a professional golfer. Although Pop didn’t really play the game, he gave it to me as a lifetime gift.

With Pop gone, I now look at my own 14-year old son in a different light. I try to mentor my son the same way Pop taught me. It is funny; when I see my son from afar, I see my Pop’s mannerisms. There is definitely a genetic component at work. He inherited many of Pop’s qualities. My son loves the game of golf and works really hard. He even plays left-handed, mirroring his father’s right-handed swing. This boy (young man) has new dreams and aspirations. He will have to follow his own path in life. I will be there to caddy and to occasionally suggest the right shot. However, I have no doubt that he will follow the sun.

10 Feb 2020 admin

The Wisdom of Julius Richardson

He came to a USGTF certification course in January 1993 in Naples, Florida. It wasn’t long before he captivated everyone with his demeanor: confident yet humble, quiet yet with plenty to say, and dignified yet playful.

“He” was the late Julius Richardson, whose legacy lives on in the thousands of students he’s taught over the years. Richardson was named the USGTF’s Teacher of the 20th Century. He also is a member of the USGTF Hall of Fame and the African-American Golfers Hall of Fame, and was part of the USGTF’s first Master Golf Teaching Professional class in 1995. He is also the first – and so far only – African-American to be named to Golf Magazine’s Top 100 Teachers list.

Born in 1921, Richardson enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War II and learned to play golf while in the service. When the war ended, Richardson entered a number of military tournaments, winning many of them. He earned the nickname “Sprinkler Head” because of his unerring accuracy with the driver, reflective of a time when sprinklers were in a single row down the middle of the fairway.

Because the PGA had a Caucasians-only clause in its constitution until 1961, Richardson was unable to join that organization. But it didn’t stop him from teaching as a sideline while he forged a career as an insurance agent. Upon retiring in 1986, he moved to Chicago, Illinois, and began to give lessons there.

Richardson’s teaching style was reminiscent of Harvey Penick’s in that he did not impart a whole lot of technical advice. But don’t be fooled: Richardson knew the mechanics of the swing as well as anyone and he could speak in-depth on the most intricate areas of the swing. Then touring professional Eric Booker was a student of Richardson’s, and Booker had previously had instruction from David Leadbetter and Ken Venturi. Booker wrote a letter of praise about Richardson, saying he was the equal to those two teaching greats.

What made Richardson’s approach unique is that beginning golfers never hit a ball for the first four lessons they took with him. He showed them the fundamentals of a proper setup, and made sure his students put their hands on the grip correctly. He then had his students go through a whole program which consisted of making movements which mimicked the proper golf swing. (Think of the movie The Karate Kid, where Mr. Miyagi had Daniel execute a series of chores with specific motions that seemingly had nothing to do with karate, but in the end had everything to do with  that discipline.)

After those first four lessons, only then would Richardson allow his students to hit a golf ball. Now some would question this teaching approach, and certainly it wasn’t for everyone. But Richardson was adamant that this was the best way to learn to play golf as correctly as possible, likening it to the way he was taught skills in the Army. He outlined his approach in his book Better Golf: A Skill Building Approach. While the book is out of print, it is readily available on the internet and it is a highly worthwhile read.

Although Richardson was successful teaching golf prior to 1993, after he earned his USGTF certification was when his career really took off. In addition to getting his instruction book published and being named to the Golf Magazine Top 100 Teachers list, Richardson appeared on Golf Channel’s Golf Academy Live in 2001 with host Peter Kessler. Richardson was able to present his teaching approach to a live national television audience, and his appearance drew much positive feedback. Also, as the result of his ascending career, Richardson was asked to teach at the prestigious Pine Meadow Golf Club outside Chicago. The club is owned by the famous Jemsek golf family and featured a stable of top teachers. Richardson fit right in and soon earned a loyal following.

Richardson had a keen eye and seemed to be able to diagnose any golfer’s problem quickly. He wintered in Florida and often could be seen at USGTF certification courses held in the winter there. He once observed a struggling female golfer on the range and went over to see if she could use some help. After Richardson advised her to loosen up her shoulders, the lady immediately started hitting solid shot after solid shot. The lady was thrilled beyond belief. In the tech-laden world of golf instruction, Richardson’s simple advice worked wonders and left onlookers in awe of his teaching prowess.

He eventually began slowing down and learned that he had throat cancer, a disease that would take his life in 2007. If there is any testament to the greatness that is the American dream, Richardson certainly personified it.

28 Jan 2020 admin

Daily Junior Golf Clinics: Discover These New All-the-Rage Tactics to Teach Golf to Kids

By Jordan Fuller USGTF Contributing Writer, Omaha, Nebraska

It’s important to the growth and continued success of golf to introduce children to the game in a way that allows them to enjoy it and succeed quickly. Golf can be a very difficult game to learn at any age, but kids are actually uniquely suited to understand and develop good swing habits. So, it’s incredibly important to make sure they’re having fun while learning the building blocks that will translate into a lifetime of fun and success on the golf course.

Here are a few tactics to make sure your junior clinics keep everyone entertained while teaching them important golf lessons!

Putting contests

The classic putting contest is still one of the best ways to foster friendly competition and teach kids the importance of getting the ball close to the hole on their first putts. However, a traditional method of simply pitting children head-to-head is best reserved for the last day of a clinic. Prior to that, the contests should be more individually focused, so kids can set a baseline of performance and improve on it through the week.

I like to use large rings to create a 2-3 foot circle around the hole, and set up “tees” for them to start from. You can also use strings on tees to guide them around the putting green on a specific “course.”

They’ll receive a point for getting the first putt inside the big circle, then three more points for making their second putt. If they actually hole the first putt, they get ten points. If they take three putts, they’ll get a single additional point. This scoring system where they accumulate points is easier to explain than trying to have them make a “par” of two or three on each hole. It also gives them a high number to shoot for the next time, and drives them to try the course again and again to achieve more points.

It’s also important to reward each child for their performance. While you can have a cool prize for the single highest point total, you can also give a reward (maybe a sleeve of balls or a towel) for improving their score, or making the most one-putts.

While “everyone gets a trophy” is often ridiculed, golf is a game that most of us play for fun. Sure, some of the kids may grow up to be tournament winners, but for most of them you’re trying to develop a lifelong love affair with the game. It’s important to reward improvement as much as achievement.

Individual instruction

When demonstrating a basic skill, such as a bump-and-run chip, it’s tempting to simply explain it and demonstrate it a few times before letting the kids loose to try it themselves. But while they’re out there working on it, take a few minutes with each child individually to lightly direct and heavily praise the job they’re doing.

With very young kids, too much technical input will just muddy the issue; it’s best to give them minimal direction (just enough to make sure they’re making half-decent contact) and praise their good instincts. For older kids (8 and up), you can start drilling down on fundamentals (such as how to hit the ball properly) to make sure they’re not developing any bad habits that will take years to undo.

This extra level of individual instruction and praise is what the kids will tell their parents about: “Coach Jones helped me with my chipping grip, and I won this sleeve of balls when I chipped one into the hole!” is much better feedback than “Billy and I got to play a lot of Fortnite.” One-on-one time is key to keeping kids engaged and letting their parents know that you’re really interested in developing their kids’ skills.

Once kids have been to a few clinics and are ready to hit the links, the PGA Junior League has great programs for innovative competitions and tournaments that appeal to particular ages and skill levels. Rather than sticking to traditional 18-hole stroke play formats, PGA Junior League tournaments have different scoring systems and are played on fewer holes. Kids learn about golf, but also teamwork and self-reliance. It’s a great program to move them from beginner clinics to championship golf.