USGTF Embracing Golf’s History
By Mike Stevens USGTF Member, Tampa, Florida
Teachers in any given field are the protectors and disseminators of history. History is something that has happened and is factual. Is it important? Some would say, “Who cares what happened in the past?” That is especially true in these modern times. History, however, is important to a society. It provides a sense of respect and pride in a given discipline. In sports, baseball comes to mind as a game that truly honors its past. On just about any broadcast, an announcer can immediately cite a statistic from the origins of the game. Stories about the legends of the sport are passed down from father to son to grandson…daughters and granddaughters, too. Why? Because as humans, we are heading somewhere, and the past helps us in that endeavor.
Golf is almost as old as baseball in this country. It has a grand history despite constant changes to equipment and courses over the years. Golf’s past is a fascinating story worth telling all new and regular participants of the game.
The United States Golf Teachers Federation has been a staunch ally when it comes to embracing and encouraging its members to teach and experience golf’s roots. The USGTF regularly sponsors events that recreate the game as it was first played in America with the use of hickory-shafted golf clubs. The organization encourages its members to participate in these events, because understanding golf’s origins makes for better teachers. The United States Professional Hickory Golf Championship and the World Hickory Open are two of the most significant events on the hickory calendar each year that are sponsored and supported by the USGTF.
There is no better way to share the experience of our fore-fathers than to play with the instruments of those years. Fortunately, there are still plenty of them in circulation and plenty of tournaments around the globe in which to compete.
Teaching golf is very rewarding, especially when you can share some of the history of the game with your students. It will give them a better appreciation and respect for this honest and decent endeavor.
Just hit a hickory club and wonder about its story. The experience will enrich your life.
Confidence is a Choice
By Dr. Gregg Steinberg USGTF Sports Psychologist, Nashville, Tennessee
This past April, Patrick Reed won the Masters. What impressed me most was his second shot on #15 on Saturday. It was rainy and a bit risky to go for it, but he nailed his shot and his ball just cleared the water. From there, he made a birdie which helped him win the tournament.
Patrick Reed has complete confidence in his abilities. Remember, early in his career he said he was a top-five player in the world, although he was not even close to that ranking at the time. The media admonished him for that, but that showed me that this guy is a winner and will be a winner!
Patrick Reed gets it. Confidence is a choice. This is one of the most powerful mental-game ingredients that I can share with you. No matter how many bad shots you just hit or how many easy putts you just missed, you can still choose to be confident. Regardless of outcome, you can always be confident, but that mental skill is supremely difficult.
Another story that relates to this mental skill that I love to tell at all my seminars relates to the great Tom Watson. Most golf fans will remember his remarkable chip-in on the 17th hole at the 1982 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, where he went on to victory. However, on the seventh hole, he missed a putt from two feet. Watson didn’t lose confidence in his putting; he merely told himself that even great putters miss an occasional easy one.
Winners, like Reed and Watson, choose to be confident regardless of the situation or past disaster. This is what makes them champions. Here are a few suggestions for you to help your students build their confidence:
- Create a confidence journal. In this journal, write a confidence statement everyday such as, “I choose to be confident” or “I am a great putter” or “I am good out of the bunker.” This journal will help to make a habit of making confidence statements when you are in a pressure situation.
- Record the time when you were very confident. Record the shot you hit as well as why you were confident and what it really feels like to you, because everyone is unique in this regard. When you feel your confidence sliding, just glance at this journal to get a quick jolt of confidence.
Make confidence a choice and a habit, and you will increase the chances of playing your best in every situation!
About the author: Dr. Gregg Steinberg was ranked by Golf Digest as one of the world’s greatest sport psychologists and is the USGTF sport psychologist. If you want to learn how to teach your students key mental-game aspects, the International Golf Psychology Association (IGPA), endorsed by the USGTF, has created an on-line course at www.MasteringGolfPsychology. com. This course was created by Dr. Steinberg, and members of the USGTF can access the course for half price using the promo code iggy199. In addition, Dr. Steinberg just completed the Masters Level Golf Psychology Webinar Series in April and plans on conducting another Masters Level Golf Psychology Webinar series in October, 2018. If you have interest or any questions, please contact him at mentalrules24@msn.com.
The Dreaded Yips
By Bert Jones, USGTF Member, Loomis, California
Don’t even say the word, as you might get infected. If you do say the word, say it in a hushedtoned in a quiet place. The yips are deadly and candestroy even the best game of golf.
Don’t feel bad. Even professional golfers have theyips. Professional golfers seriously afflicted by the yipshave included Padraig Harrington, Bernhard Langer(thus the long putter), Ben Hogan (maybe it was thecar accident), Harry Vardon, Sam Snead (rememberthe croquet-styled stance outlawed by the USGA?),Ian Baker-Finch and Keegan Bradley, who missed asix-inch putt in the final round of the 2013 HP ByronNelson Championship due to the condition (althoughhe may also have been suffering from strabismus, amisalignment of the eyes).
The Mayo Clinic found that 33 to 48 percentof all serious golfers have experienced the yips. Itwas Tommy Armour who coined the term; thanks,Tommy. Over the years, others referred to it as thejerks, the waggles, the shakes, and even whiskey fin-gers. I like the latter term the best – don’t you? It’spainful to watch, and I have to turn my head.
It is believed that the yips are caused by focaldystonia, whereby the brain sends electrical signals tothe muscles in an incorrect sequence. There are twokinds of yips, rotational and acceleration. Most of uscould figure out the latter!
As teaching professionals, we must think aboutproper diagnosis of the problem and determinewhich type of yip the student has. Video and a prod-uct called Blast Motion are great ways to help youdetermine what the heck is going on. When using video, you need to place your iPhone at ground level(go to www.EyeLine.com and take a look at slow-motion as a useful tool). Your iPhone has a slow-motion button and can be operated by a Bluetoothremote. I use my iWatch remote function to controlmy iPhone. Video using a bi-colored ball can easilypick up on acceleration yips. Blast Motion is anotherdevice that you place in the butt end of the putter.Using an app on your iPad, it produces some excel-lent metrics to diagnose rotational yips. Students lovethe quick and accurate feedback.
Now, let’s talk about a cure. For those that wantto flip their right hand at impact (assuming aright-handed golfer), I suggest a grip change suchas a pencil, claw, or left-hand-low grip. Placing aSharpie on the wrist and taping it, or using a rubberband, is a cheap way to help the student feel the flip.Acceleration yips are a programmed response, and weneed to create new neural pathways to create change. Try providing a series of balls of different kinds –ping-pong, tennis ball, balls of steel, etc. Have thestudent putt these balls in a series, followed by a realgolf ball (repeat the drill over and over again). The drill is designed to break the cycle of anticipation.Eyeline Golf also has a product called the Putting Pen-dulum to help provide proper sensation and rhythm.
Students and teachers need to understand thatthe rotational yips are an over-rotation of the putterthat leaves the putting plane. It is hard to believe, butevery stroke has arc – even the straight-back-straightputting stroke. A simple fix is the use of the PuttingRail from eyeline.com as a means to help the studentfeel and stay on plane.
Lastly, I offer two other ideas for your consid-eration. The first is placing a large ball between thewrists or forearms to help the student stay connected.The last drill is the two-ball drill, whereby the studenttries to putt two balls at the same time which areplaced side-by-side. Both drills help the student withover- or under-rotation.
No more three-putts, and don’t forget to analyzetheir equipment!
The Snow Board
By Larry Van House, USGTF Member, Camp Hill, Pennsylvania
“Hit the small ball before the big ball.” This is the most important skill to achieve to develop a golf swing…period. When a client can learn to do this successfully 90 percent of the time, his or her golf experience will improve drastically.
The small ball is, of course, a golf ball. The big ball is the earth. Hit the earth first, followed by the ball, and you will have hit a “fat” shot. Much of the energy of the swing and the speed of the clubhead will just sink into the earth. The ball may advance down the fairway, but it will not achieve the distance or backspin it could have. The fat shot will not stop and hold on a green. I am sure that a very large percentage of our clients will hit the earth first. We can teach them all sorts of things about a golf swing, but they will never realize anything close to their potential if they continually strike fat shots.
A deep divot after the ball is not always necessary or desirable. A shallow divot after the strike is fine, but it must start at the golf ball or even slightly in front of the ball.
Strike the golf ball first and then the turf, and all of the good things in golf are possible.
The truth of this is shown in Bobby Clampett’s “Impact Zone” golf teaching. Mr. Clampett shows how a golfer can test himself/herself quite easily by drawing lines in sand or even on grass turf, placing a golf ball on the line, swing, and obtain instant feedback on the quality of the swing – not just fat or thin but directionally, as well. Striking a golf ball isn’t even necessary. Swinging at the line in the sand can be sufficient. This is a perfect diagnostic test of a golf swing. But…how can the golfer make his/her body do the things necessary to hit the small ball before the big ball? Mr. Clampett has answers for that, as well. Helping our clients make this adjustment should be, I believe, also our first and most important task.
This method of drawing lines in the sand or turf works very well when it is possible to practice a golf swing outdoors. But what can we do to bring this diagnostic test indoors when the weather is bad? I worked on this problem for quite a while. I hoped to be able to bring this teaching method indoors to my indoor golf studio in Pennsylvania. I tried several potential high-tech solutions. They worked, but they were expensive and didn’t give the instant feedback that a simple line drawn in sand can give.
I finally settled on a low-tech solution. It is quite inexpensive and works perfectly. I call it my “Snow Board.” I think it may help you in your lessons for clients indoors, or even if it is used outdoors.
My Snow Board is a sheet of plastic (polycarbonate – G.E. trademarks it as Lexan) painted on both sides with black spray paint. The “snow” on my Snow Board is a covering spray of imitation snow – the stuff people use for seasonal decorations at Christmas. This imitation snow stands out bright white on the black background. I tried a lot of other white materials, and the imitation snow has been the best. Foot powder works well, but it takes a few minutes to turn white on the black background. This makes an unwanted delay in the progress of a lesson.
After spraying the imitation snow on the sheet, I draw a few lines on it with an aiming stick. I place a ball on the lines and ask my client to swing away. This is the first thing I do with a new client after they warm up. The results of this little test are, on almost all occasions, a major revelation to my clients, some of whom have been playing golf for many years. They are usually, as the Irish say, gobsmacked.
I think that when golfers go to a driving range, they are too interested in only watching the flight of the ball. They do not tend to examine the turf and the divot their club makes and its relation to the location of the ball. I think that may be why they are so surprised when they see the results their swing made as their club struck the Snow Board several inches behind the ball.
I ask them to make several swings and measure their results in inches behind where the ball was placed. I record this information as a way to measure later success. The Snow Board also provides a record of the direction of the swing. Whether a swing is outside to in, inside to out, or directly at the target, is plainly visible. Then, after discussing the importance of this test and of the great opportunities that will come when the strike on the Snow Board is made in front of the ball in a straight line toward the target, we get to work.
After the session, the Snow Board and the golf clubs can be cleaned easily with just water and a light brushing. The imitation snow that has splattered vacuums up from my golf mats quickly.
The Snow Board is my most important swing diagnostic. In a series of lessons with clients, I use it often as my clients’ swings progress. I would recommend that you consider using a Snow Board or similar device in your lessons, even if the lessons are conducted outdoors. Sand traps are not always readily available for us to use.
The results that appear on a Snow Board seem to be immediately understood by clients. The results are measurable and provide a visual direction for future lessons.
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