U.S. Cup And Pro-Am Update

Oak Creek Country Club in beautiful Sedona, Arizona, will host the 24th annual United States Golf Teachers Cup Monday and Tuesday, October 7-8. New to the tournament this year is a concurrent pro-am, and USGTF members are encouraged to bring an amateur partner to team up with. Amateurs are required to have a verified USGA GHIN handicap and will receive 80 percent of their course handicap. The team format will consist of a four-ball format, using the best score between the pro’s gross score and the amateur’s net score.

The entry fee will be $475 for both professionals and amateurs, and participants will receive: Two tournament rounds of golf with range balls before and after play; prize money, gift certificates and chance to win daily prizes; a clinic featuring USGTF teaching professionals; a welcome party with a goody bag and closing banquet/awards ceremony. Entry information will be made available shortly, as will information on a recommended hotel.

Abraham’s Team Wins League Title, Tournament

USGTF member Walt Abraham, head golf coach of Athenian High School in Danville, California, led his squad to the BCL-East league round-robin regular season title and also the league post-season tournament title. The team finished 9-1 in match play and next heads to the Division 2 championship tournament. The league title marks the seventh time in Abraham’s 11 seasons as head coach that Athenian has taken that honor. Athenian fields a young squad of three freshmen, one sophomore and two juniors, with three players earning all-league honors.

usgtf logo

USGTF Regional Action Begins This Month

USGTF regional championships are a great way to compete and enjoy some camaraderie among your fellow members. Regional championships offer a way to get together without traveling extremely long distances, in most cases.

Southwest Region – The USGTF Southwest Region Championship will be held Saturday and Sunday, May 4-5, at Ridgeview Ranch Golf Course in Plano, Texas. Region director Bruce Sims is the host. A practice round is available Friday, May 3, for a cart fee, and a dinner will be held that evening. The entry fee is $225, and an optional $20 skins game is available. For more information and to enter, please contact Sims at (214) 475-5168, bsimspro@hotmail.com.

Southeast Region – May 18-19, 2019, at GlenLakes Country Club in Weeki Wachee, Florida. This private course is challenging, beautiful and impeccably maintained. Mature stands of oak and pine, water features, undulating hills and sand traps provide endless variations of play. A prize fund of $1,000 and the Southeast Trophy is assured with a field of 12 players. Entry deadline is May 10. Send entries to

USGTF National Office 200 S. Indian River Drive, Suite #206 Fort Pierce, FL 34950

If paying with credit card, call the office directly at (888) 346-3290.

Questions? Please contact USGTF Southeast Regional director Mike Stevens at ams1127@msn.com.

Central Region – The 2019 USGTF Central Region Championship, a 36-hole stroke play event, will be held Sunday and Monday August 4thand 5th at Pheasant Run Golf Course in Canton, Michigan. For more information and to register, please visit http://www.mogtt.com/central-championship. Questions can be referred to region director Brent Davies at btkadavies@comcast.net or (248) 701-6843. The Michigan/Ontario Golf Teachers Tour also boasts a complete summer schedule. Please visit http://www.mogtt.com for more information.

Northeast Region – The 2019 USGTF Northeast Region Championship will be conducted Friday, June 21 at Mercer Oaks West Course in West Windsor Township, New Jersey. Region director Bob Corbo serves as the tournament host. The entry fee is $165. For more information and to enter, please contact Corbo at simductivegolf@gmail.com.

“PRO” File – Touring Professional Marilyn Smith

She made her last public appearance in March, greeting LPGA participants as they left the 18th hole green during the Bank of Hope Founders Classic in Phoenix, Arizona. A couple of short weeks later, Marilynn Smith passed away at the age of 89. Smith was one of the founding members of the LPGA Tour in 1950. She would go on to win 21 tournaments and two major championships. As an additional claim to fame, Smith became the first woman to work as an announcer on the broadcast of a men’s tournament. Today, the familiar voices of Judy Rankin and Dottie Pepper can be heard on the airwaves, but Smith was the pioneer. According to GolfChannel.com, “As one of the 13 women who founded the LPGA in 1950, Smith filled so many roles vital to the organization’s growth. She spent time as tour president, secretary, business manager and public relations specialist. She fulfilled sales and marketing duties and tournament operation responsibilities.” Smith’s passing leaves only two LPGA founders still alive, Shirley Spork and Marlene Hagge.

From The USGTF Pro Shop

Mental Rules for Teaching Golf by Dr. Gregg Steinberg is on sale for $12.95, which includes shipping through the end of May. This invaluable guide to the mental side of golf and teaching is a must-read for all USGTF members. Please contact the USGTF National Office at (888) 346-3290 to obtain your copy today.

Editorial – Is Slow Play Really A Problem?

Slow play seems to be a big topic these days on both Golf Channel and PGA Tour Radio on Sirius/XM. Groups routinely take around five hours to play on Friday and Saturday, when play is in threesomes, but the pace does pick up considerably on the weekend when twosomes are the rule.

It is said that the average golfer models their playing habits after the professionals and adopt their habits, but in all the places I’ve played nationwide, on courses both public and private, I really have yet to see this. Slow play, in my opinion, mainly stems from too many players on the course at one time. This is not to say that there aren’t slow players, but I seriously doubt that they are mirroring what they see on TV every weekend. I am lucky in the regard that where I play, mainly in courses around the Savannah, Georgia, area, slow play is really not an issue. If I get stuck behind a group taking 4 1/2 hours, that’s a long day by our standards here.

There are two things that courses can do to speed up play if slow play is indeed a problem at their facility: 1) Use a more reasonable tee-time interval. Yes, I know revenue is all-important, but many courses of all stripes have 9-minute intervals. Courses who use anything less than this are inviting trouble. 2) Empower course marshals and rangers to take care of the problem. When I rangered in Tallahassee, Florida, when I lived there, I would approach the offending group in a very diplomatic way, asking them to either pick up the pace as groups behind were waiting, or let them through. Not once did I receive any pushback.

One thing I would urge courses not to do is tell groups to pick up their ball and move ahead. These people paid to play 9 or 18 holes, not 7 or 16. As I mentioned before, diplomacy and awareness go a long way.

By Mark Harman, USGTF National Course Director

Reach Over 25,000 Golf Teaching Professionals!

How would you like to get the word out about your products to people who can actually help sell your products? Golf Teaching Pro® magazine goes out to every USGTF member and interested parties twice a year. This publication has articles and advertisements specifically geared towards teaching professionals, who are influential in their students’ purchasing decisions on equipment, training aids, apparel, etc. Ad space is still available for the upcoming Summer issue, click here for more details or contact our national headquarters at 1-888-346-3290.
Keeping Connected to the USGTF

Keeping Connected to the USGTF

We are happy to announce that the United States Golf Teachers Federation is implementing a new social media marketing program. Through this program, it is our goal to provide an increased level of engagement and support of our members via our primary social media platforms. In order to facilitate this new engagement program, we would like for all members that are active on social media to take the following actions:

• Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/USGolfTeachersFed
• Follow us on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/us-golf-teachers-federation
• Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/USGOLFTEACHERS
• Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/usgolfteachers
• Follow us on Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/usgtf/boards

It isn’t necessary to have us or follow us on all social media platforms. If you have one in particular that you use as your primary source, then that would be the best platform for us to interact with you on. If you already follow one or all of our social media platforms and we aren’t following you back, please send us a direct message through the relevant platform and we will follow you back.

It is likely that most of you are already Facebook members, so it certainly makes sense to like and follow our Facebook page. Be sure and let us know through a direct message if you have a golf page that you would like us to follow back. Once we are following, we will, from time to time, like and share relevant posts/stories from your page to ours!

For LinkedIn followers: When you follow us, we will receive notification and will follow you back. If you already follow us, please send us your business page URL and we will follow you back. We will like and/or comment, and/or share relevant posts that you make on your business page. It would be greatly appreciated if you would do the same for us!

For Twitter followers: Once we follow you, we will add you to a Twitter list titled USGTF Members. This is a great tool for us be able to view your posts and interact with you without having to scroll through thousands of posts of others that we follow. When we see relevant and appropriate tweets that you make, we will like and/or retweet your posts. It may also be beneficial to you to add one of the three following hashtags to your profile and/or relevant posts: #usgtf, #usgtfpro, #usgtfmember

For Instagram followers: You should consider adding #usgtfmember or #usgtfpro, or simply #usgtf to your profile. Not only does this help us find you, but it may also help a potential customer or friend find your profile! We highly recommend that you add one of the above hashtags to any posts that you make that you believe are relevant to our relationship. We actively follow the three hashtags that are listed above, and will like and engage with posts that we feel are beneficial to both yourself and the USGTF in regard to advancing our goals as golf professionals.

For Pinterest followers: Once we have followed you back, please be sure and include a #usgtfmember, #usgtfpro or #usgtf hashtag to any pins that you create and that you believe are relevant to our relationship. We actively follow the three hashtags that are listed above and will like and engage with posts that we feel are beneficial to both yourself and the USGTF in regard to advancing our goals as golf professionals. We will add relevant professional quality pins to one of our appropriate boards given the subject being addressed. Just as a heads-up, we are primarily looking for pins in the categories of Golf Tips, Golf Fitness, Golf Teaching, Golf Coaching and Golf Psychology.

We look forward to interacting with you out in the virtual world. We believe that through our joint interaction we can more effectively reach out to future golf professionals, and help our members reach out to more potential clients.

Heavy Matters: Swingweight

Heavy Matters: Swingweight

When it comes to clubfitting and club building, swingweight is one of the most enduring aspects of having a consistent set. If you go to any club manufacturer’s website and click on the specs link for their clubs, you will see the swingweight of that particular club listed.

Exactly what is swingweight, and what role does it play? Swingweight is the ratio of the weight of the lower end of the golf club compared to the upper end. A swingweight scale features a fulcrum point 14 inches (35.6 cm) from the end of the grip. The club is placed in the scale, and a sliding weight with a mark on it is used to balance the club on the scale. The mark on the sliding weight will correspond with a reading on the scale which is a letter/number combination, and that is the swingweight of that particular club.

Swingweights are designated from A0 to A9, B0 to B9, etc. For men, typical swingweights are in the D0-4 range, and for women in the C2-5 range. Club manufacturers try to get the swingweights of their iron sets to be consistent, but due to manufacturing tolerances, there may be a slight variation in swingweight from iron to iron, but would be undetectable to most golfers, even touring pros.

Changing the weight of the clubhead, grip, or shaft will change the swingweight of the club. The general rules are that a two-gram change in clubhead weight will change the swingweight one point (heavier = higher swingweight); a five-gram change in grip weight will change the swingweight one point (heavier = lower swingweight), and a nine-gram change in shaft weight will change the swingweight one point (heavier = higher swingweight).

When it comes to changing the weight of the shaft, this gets to be a tricky matter as some shafts have proportionally more weight nearer the grip end than they do the clubhead end. So merely changing from a 60-gram shaft in a driver, say, to a 70-gram shaft doesn’t necessarily mean the swingweight will be increased approximately one point. If the 70-gram shaft has proportionally more weight towards the grip end than does the 60-gram shaft, it’s possible the swingweights of both shafts will be the same. So the nine-gram rule of thumb for shafts assumes the weight is distributed the same throughout both shafts.

A change in the length of the club plays a role in swingweight. Adding or subtracting a half-inch (1.3 cm) to a club’s length changes the swingweight by three points (shorter = lower swingweight).

Wedges traditionally were proportionally heavier than the rest of the iron set, the belief being that the higher swingweights would allow for a more rhythmic swinging of the club. However, many wedges today are being built with similar or even lighter swingweights than in the rest of the iron set. The thinking here is this allows for a more surgical touch on the partial shots that are typically hit with the wedges.

There is also a school of thought that matching swingweights throughout the iron set actually isn’t ideal, as the longer clubs will feel heavier than the shorter clubs. The concept of “moment of inertia” of the entire club is used by some club builders. Under this concept, from the shortest irons to the longest, the club’s swingweight is reduced by one-half swingweight point from club to club, which MOI proponents say results in a set of irons that truly feels the same, weight-wise, throughout the set. Ping, for example, has shafts that get progressively lighter as the iron gets longer, as do True Temper’s Dynamic Gold AMT shafts. Whether this trend will continue remains to be seen.

Matching driver and fairway wood swingweights to the irons is something that may or may not be necessary, depending upon the golfer. Titanium drivers have lightweight graphite shafts, while irons for the most part still have heavier steel shafts. With the length of the driver being so much longer than an iron, a clubfitter needs to fit the driver separately from the irons in terms of swingweight.

The static weight of a club should not be confused with the swingweight of a club. Remember, swingweight is the ratio of the weight of one part of the club to the other. A club can be extremely heavy overall but have a light swingweight, and vice versa. Goldwin Golf, a now-defunct company, tried this years ago with extremely light static-weight clubs featuring heavy swingweights in the D7-8 range. While their premise was logical, it was likely too radical of a departure from what most golfers were used to. Dave Pelz went the opposite route in the 1980s with his Featherlite clubs, with swingweights in the B5 range. Again, while the science behind the idea may have been sound, golfers also preferred what they were used to in this case.

Swingweight is one aspect of what goes into making a golf club, but it’s an important one. If you or your students are unsure whether their clubs are matched for swingweight, a quick trip to the nearest club repair shop is in order.
Patching Up A Slice

Patching Up A Slice

It’s the bane of many golfers worldwide, and one that frustrates them to no end the dreaded slice.  On courses far and wide, slicing reigns supreme, especially preying upon those with double-digit handicaps.

Every golf teacher knows that the slice is the result of a clubface angle that is open to the clubhead path to a much greater degree than is desired. A clubface angle that is only slightly open to the clubhead path results in a fade, a much-sought-after ball flight among many skilled golfers.

Dustin  Johnson, for example, became dominant when he was able to consistently  fade  the  ball  into the  fairway  with  his  driver.  The difference between a fade and a slice is sometimes difficult to discern, but in general, a fade features a ball flight where one part of it is mainly straight. You might see a ball go up  to  its  apex  in  a  fairly  straight  manner  and  then curve gently on its downward flight, or curve slightly going up and then falling straight down. A fade is a ball flight that is in control and lands gently. A slice, on the other hand, features the ball constantly curving throughout its flight, and when the ball lands it tends to roll out.

Let’s review the setup first as it relates to a slice (we will assume the golfer is right-handed for the rest of this article). Most slicers have a left-hand grip that is too weak, with the V pointed to the left of the chin, and sometimes the club’s grip is held in the lifeline of the palm. Ball position tends to be too far forward, which  results  in  a  clubhead  path  traveling  outside-in  through  impact  in  comparison  to  the  stance  line. Stance alignment may be either open, resulting in a clubhead path traveling left of the target line through impact, or closed, resulting in an over-the-top move during transition. Shoulder alignment for a slicer also tends to be quite open in relation to the stance line, a likely result of the ball position being too far forward. But even with a proper ball position, most slicers still have open shoulders, so this needs to be corrected.

Once  the  slicer  is  in  a  proper setup  position,  he  now  has  a  fighting  chance  to  hit the ball straight, or at least with a manageable fade. The key now is to swing into a position at the top of the  backswing  (actually  a  position  within  transition) from  where  the  golfer  can  have  a  more  correct clubhead  path  and  clubface  angle.  Most  slicers and  double-digit  handicappers,  for  that  matter start  the  downswing  with  their  arms  and  hands instead of the lower body. No less than Ben Hogan wrote in his book  Five Fundamentals that the hands should do nothing active until just above hip-height on the downswing, carried there by the turning and movement of the hips.

Most golfers would be surprised if they could feel what a good golfer feels at the start of the downswing. A good golfer’s arms and hands are literally doing nothing at all, just falling and moving in response to the action of the lower body. This is a key element that  must  be  learned  by  a  slicer,  or  else  they  will continue to struggle. The “pump” drill can be effective here. In this drill, the golfer starts the downswing by keeping  the  angle  intact  between  the  lead  arm  and club shaft until the hands are just above hip height, then  bringing  the  arms  and  hands  back  to  the  top of  the  backswing,  “pumping”  the  club  down  again before returning the club to the top of the backswing a second time, and then swinging through and hitting the ball.

Many  slicers  also  overuse  the  right  hand  and arm  during  the  downswing,  throwing  the  clubhead outside in an over-the-top manner and perhaps early releasing before impact. These golfers are dramatically underusing their left side. Two drills that can help are swinging one-handed with the left arm only (holding the  upper  part  of  the  left  arm with  the  right  hand), and  letting  go  with  the  right  hand  at  the  moment of impact. This helps train the left side to do its fair share of the work. Swinging one-handed with either hand also helps train the correct clubhead path into the ball, as golfers should find it impossible to do anything but swing the way they are aiming.

Another problem slicers have is they tend to open up their shoulders too quickly on the downswing. The right shoulder needs to move more downward instead of out towards the target line. A golfer may feel the shoulders dramatically tilting by doing this, but this is the correct feel if they open up their shoulders too quickly. It can also help if the golfer tries to keep his back to the target on the downswing as long as possible, as this helps to deliver the clubhead from the inside.

The root cause of all of this, of course, is failure to start the downswing properly with the lower body. In the USGTF Technical Committee’s experience, getting a golfer to more properly use his lower body to start the downswing is a difficult chore for the teacher. Golfers who started the game as kids tend to use the lower  body  effectively,  because  when  they  started playing  the  club  was  relatively  heavy  to  them  and they  naturally  used  and  trained  their  lower  body  to start the downswing. Golfers who take up the game as adults mostly find the club relatively light, hence their propensity to have an arms-and-hands-dominated swing. But training the lower body is still encouraged.

As for squaring the clubface to the clubhead path at impact, the most common problem is failing to allow the clubhead to release properly through impact, where the clubhead rotates counter-clockwise. Golfing legend Tom Watson advises players to feel the left hand rotating from palm down before impact to palm up after. A golfer using a split-hands grip and making some practice swings will find that the clubhead will rotate naturally through the impact area. There are also training aids on the market that will give the student a feel for this, but swinging a broom also achieves the same aim. Finally, the teacher can physically move and rotate the student’s arms and hands through the impact area to give the student the feeling of proper release and rotation through impact.

Some  teachers  will  tell  you  that  the release   should   just   happen   naturally, the  result  of  the  lower  body  leading  the downswing  and  the  upper  body,  arms and  hands  following.  This is technically correct, but if a student is not allowing the clubhead to rotate through impact, whether from tension or for any other reason, this movement must be trained. And how do we know that a slicer is releasing the clubhead properly through impact? Video won’t lie, and virtually everyone has a smartphone today with high-speed replay capability. Another way of knowing the player is releasing the club properly is if they are now hitting at least a gentle fade. A straight ball or a draw is not necessary in order to know the release is more correct.

There is debate among teachers whether the club-head  path  or  the  clubface  angle  must  be  addressed first,  and  this  leads  to  an  interesting  observation. While  ball  flight  laws  tell  us  that  the  clubhead  path must travel reasonably close to down the target line to hit a fade, draw or straight ball close to the intended target,  many  times  a  student  is  able  to  square  the clubface  angle  to  the  clubhead  path  while  pulling the  ball  to  the  left,  and  it  may  be  impossible  to  get these  students  to  swing  parallel  with  the  way  they are  aiming.  In  these  cases,  it  may  well  be  desirable to have the student simply aim right and pull the ball back  to  the  target.  With  the  driver  in  particular,  we know  that  a  golfer  hitting  the  ball  on  the  upswing will be swinging slightly left of the low point of their swing, so this may be something even good players need  to  do.  Films of Hogan and Sam Snead show them doing just that with the driver.

Many of you reading this are experienced teachers who are well versed in fixing slices, so please consider this material as a refresher. For those of you newer to teaching, hopefully you will have found an additional teaching tip or two to help you solve one of the most frustrating problems in all of golf.