21 Feb 2017

Progress Report

In school we normally received a progress report every semester. It showed where your grades were and would give you a good idea of where you were doing well or where you needed to improve. In golf, we need to do this also, but it comes in two different forms.

As a player, we need to assess where we are, both good and bad. It can be like a report card with A, B, C, D or F grades. Beyond the grade, we need to add notes that get specific on what needs to be worked on. Once we have our progress report, then we can design our practice routine to help our improvement. This is called self-evaluation, something a lot of us are already doing.

Our students need help in this area, too. While they might perform self-evaluations, their judgment can be biased a bit. If you visit with your students about their progress, it will help their “report card” become better defined and more accurate. Plus, it gives them a great chance to develop their practice routine with their professional golf instructor.

From PGA Tour players to the weekend warriors, everyone needs to assess where their game is, with both strengths and weaknesses. Developing a plan is the only way to get better. Your students are lucky to have someone who is professionally trained to help them with through this process.
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15 Feb 2017

Breaking Out of a Slump

Not long ago, Rory McIlroy was the number one player in the world. With four majors, amazing power and youth on his side, it seemed like Rory would dominate golf for years to come. Then he fell into an amazing putting slump. Rory recently mentioned that he lost his confidence so bad that he only believed that he could make three-footers. Anything longer than that would be a struggle and it was! Then Rory did something very smart to break out of his putting slump. He changed everything. He changed his putting instructor, his grip and his putter. It worked. He went from one of the worst putters on the PGA Tour for the past two years to having one of the best putting performances at the Deutsche Bank Championship. He won this event with his laser-like irons along with his amazing putting! Rory McIlroy was following a psycho-logical process to break out of a slump: change can help eradicate a slump. Newness of a grip or club gives you a different mindset, and with this renewed mindset comes renewed confidence. Next time you are in a slump, or you have a student in a slump, you may want to try a simple strategy: change. This small step can result in a huge leap in performance for the better. Please visit www.MasteringGolfPsychology.com for more articles on the mental game, and your free mental game e-book. Also, visit this site to get certified as a mental game coach by the International Golf Psychology Association. The IGPA is the coaches division of the USGTF and the program is highly endorsed by the International PGA. About the author: Dr. Gregg Steinberg is ranked by Golf Digest as one of the world’s greatest sports psychologist. He is the head sports psychologist for the USGTF and IGPA. He has worked with Tour winners such as Brandt Snedeker and Brian Gay, as well as NCAA championship golf teams such as the University of Florida and the University of Alabama.
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Bagpipes and Golf Clubs
10 Feb 2017

Bagpipes and Golf Clubs

As the gentleman left the last green and headed for his golf cart, he was muttering under his breath and whacking his putter into the ground. His playing partner politely asked, “What’s up, Herbie?”“Well, I will give you a hint,” replied Herbie. “The same people that invented golf think that music comes out of bagpipes!” Scots will have you believe they invented golf and they invented the Great Highland Bagpipe. Neither is true, but there is no doubt the Scots have taken possession of the myth and have made each what they are today. We can thank them and curse them, as we often do. Playing golf and playing bag-pipes are equally difficult, even at the beginner stage! I have been playing golf for 40 or so years. I got my handicap down to 10 at one time, but so long ago it is a distant memory. Now I am about a 20, golf once per week with my golf buddies, and we tee off from the “old guys” tee box, just one back from the forward tees. I also play the bagpipes but started just eight years ago. Why and how I got started is a story for another day, but suffice to say I thought that with just nine notes, playing the pipes should be easy. I am about a 20 handicap with the pipes, as well. There is a big pipe and drum summer camp at the resort where my wife and I live. There are about 200 pipers and drummers at this camp every week and range in age from eight years to 80. One of the “more mature” pipers asked the head instructor if there was any chance for older pipers to become good on the pipes. He answered, “Well, we know of one older chap that became a world class piper.” “How old was he when he started,” asked the ancient. “I think he was 12,” was the answer. There is no substitute for youth. They are generally fit and they have no fear. They learn the pipe tunes quickly and their fingers are nimble. When they golf, they watch and they do. I started the pipes when I was a ripe old 67 years of age. My fingers are bent and stiff and I have to work at remembering tunes. When I started, I took a weekly lesson and attended band practice twice a week for over a year. I can now play the simple tunes bands play when they are marching down the street, am able to stay in step, and when I make a mistake, I make sure I do so “on the beat” so no one notices. As well as playing and marching at the same time, I am able to sidestep the piles of horse-apples that seem to be an inevitable part of parades. (Those parade organizers really have to change the horse’s diet or not put them just in front of the pipe band, as there is no soft peddle on the volume we create.) Now that winter is approaching, I look forward to teaching cross-country skiing. How does this all tie in? It all has to do with fitness. The X-C skiers that come to us for lessons are usually older adults. The sport demands the skier have the ability to balance on one gliding ski at a time, and the folks really need some strength in the legs and a matching strength in the arms/upper body. Unfortunately, the students generally have strong-ish legs as they spend some time walking, but they are not able to balance on one ski for any length of time and are not able to add the push with their ski poles to balance the push from their legs. Stance and balance! Sound familiar? The same is true for beginner golfers or golfers wanting to improve. The lad I take golf lessons from and I agree that the biggest hurdle we have to overcome with students is that we can teach them the proper technique, but we cannot teach them fitness. As with my golf, the bagpipes continue to be a challenge. For the instructors out there, if you have forgotten what it feels like to be a beginner, try learning the Great Highland Bagpipes. You just might be able to get an additional gig as the piper that many golf resorts around the world employ who pipe the sun down at the end of the day. That would give you the chance to do what I refer to as a Great Scot’s Triathlon: Teach golf during the day, pipe the sun down in the evening and repair to the club bar in your kilt and have the members shout you a dram and a Guinness!
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7 Feb 2017

Forget Trying To Play Like A Pro Unless You’re Willing To Put In The Time

From 1977 to 2013, there were six rounds of 59 scored on the PGA tour. That is a span of 36 years. Already this year there have been two rounds under 60. There was even a 58 shot on the Web.com tour. Professional golfers are overpowering courses of late. Justin Thomas just shot 27 under par to win the Sony Open with the lowest 72-hole total in history. At the recent Tournament of Champions, seven golfers hit drives over 400 yards with Dustin Johnson topping the charts at 427. I would need a driver and 3-iron to get where Dustin did in one shot. I guess this is the future of golf.

The question I pose: Is all this good for golf? For the pros, maybe, but for the average guy, it is hard to say. I can’t tell you how many students come to me and ask why they only hit their driver 240 yards. They want me to teach them how to hit it 300. When I ask them why, they say because that’s how far the professionals hit it. Okay I tell them, here’s the plan. First you should lose about 40 pounds and start going to the gym every day. Then you must hit about 300 balls after. And guess what the answer is – “Well, I don’t have time for all of that.” So, my advice to all you tour wannabes is fuhgeddaboudit. You’re not playing to put bread on the table, so play like you have a day job. You’ll have a lot more fun.
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