Coaches

28 Oct 2015 David Hill, USGTF Level IV Member

COACHING VERSUS TEACHING – A DIFFERENT TRAJECTORY

By: Dave Hill, WGCA contributing writer Today, the term “coach” is thrown out there more often than ever, as opposed to “teacher” when referring to whom touring professionals are working with regarding their swings. Aaaah…wrong term, folks! One who teaches the golf swing, but rarely, if ever, enters into a holistic approach to game improvement, is not a coach but a teacher. A golf coach is a “jack of all trades and master of one.” The “one” happens to be golf technique instruction. However, a coach has a broad enough knowledge in many areas to recognize where help is also required. Furthermore, a coach is geared toward working with future or competitive athletes, be it a child, an adolescent, amateur competitor, or touring professional. Coaching is not reserved for the recreational golfer for a couple of important reasons, time constraints and physical constraints. Okay, time constraints one can understand. Career, family, other interests, etc., are factors, but physical constraints? One could perceive such a notion as insulting. Many adults are good athletes, so why wouldn’t one be able to tackle the demands it takes to become a better player if it fits into his or her schedule? Some may, but the easy answer is physical literacy. So, what is physical literacy? Physical literacy is a well-known term in the world of coaching. It covers three distinct movement groups or categories of movement that humans can perform, but more importantly, should perform within key windows of development starting at birth to approximately to the age of pre-pubescence. Most of these key movements can be achieved via simple play time with an introduction to all sorts of games and sports in a non-formal, non-instructive environment. It is well researched that humans learn best when at play, and children love to play. As an adult, we love it, too. Hence, the reason we play golf and many other games. When introducing formal instruction accompanied with one-sport specialization too early in a child’s development, a recipe for failure later on is almost certain. A few exceptions to the rule are body balance and control sports such as gymnastics, figure skating, and diving. We, of course, wish to focus on golf, which involves other skills along with different development timelines and career longevity. Fundamental Movement Categories Stability – Involves balance and body coordination including rhythm, balancing, centering, falling, spinning, floating, etc. Locomotion or traveling skills – Running, jumping, skipping, swimming, climbing, skating, etc. Object manipulation/control skills – Throwing, catching, dribbling, hitting, kicking, etc. What’s interesting is that not only are many of the movements incorporated through children’s play, but all enhance each other, helping a youngster become physically literate to excel in a sport of his or her choice. Without these fundamental movements learned within the opportune time frames of a child’s development, the percent chance they become a high-level performer in their chosen sport decreases. This is why, for those who teach golf to adults only, there are often be many questions as to why two athletic-looking 40-year-old men taking up the game can differ vastly in ability. Mr. Smith and Mr. Jones have never played golf in their lives, yet Mr. Smith picks it up with ease, but not Mr.Jones. By delving into their respective histories, one would discover Mr. Smith did it all in terms of play and sport during the magic years of physical literacy, while Mr. Jones did not. This isn’t assumption; this is science and fact. The moral of the story is when coaching an individual who is attempting to climb the competitive ladder, their physical literacy history is the first place a coach needs to research together with his or her athlete. Please see the diagram below to further understand the magic years for Fundamental Movement Development.  

28 Oct 2015 Gregg Steinberg, USGTF Level IV Member

POSITIVE SELF TALK

By: Gregg Steinberg, WGCA contributing writer Serena Williams almost had a tennis season for the ages. In September, she came within two matches of winning the calendar grand slam for 2015. Williams won the first three majors, but lost in the semi-finals at the U.S. Open. Although disappointing, Williams has had a fabulous year, as well as an amazing career. When you look at Serena Williams, you see an amazing-looking athlete. She is extremely fit and muscular. She regularly out-powers her opponents, and according to most experts, Williams has the greatest serve of all time. Underappreciated, however, is her supreme mental toughness. And one of her key mental toughness weapons is her positive self-talk.  A wonderful example of her self-talk process happened when Williams was playing doubles with her sister Venus Williams. They have won 21 titles together, but on this afternoon, they were losing decisively. They needed to grind it out to win this match, but Venus was not particularly focused and looked despondent about their chances of winning. Usually during a changeover, the sisters talked about anything from movies to shopping, but during this changeover, Serena gave her older sister an earful. She said, “Listen, I don’t care what you do on your side of the court, but I’m not going to miss on my side. We will not lose this match.” Then Serena went on to say, “Look, Venus, no matter how you feel about your game, you have to show up at the court, right? You have a choice about whether you want to compete well or compete badly. I’m going to make the choice to compete well. Why don’t you do that, too!” All champions use positive self-talk. All successful golfers use self-talk. They routinely pump themselves up with the right words at the right time. Serena Williams talks herself and everyone around her into a winning mentality. Here are two key methods to help your students talk themselves into becoming a champion on the course: 1. Develop a Best Friend’s Journal. Get a small notebook and call it your best friend’s journal. At the start of every day, write one positive self-statement like:

• I will have great confidence today.
• I will have great energy today.
• I will focus well today.
• I will have a great attitude today.

But do more than just write one positive statement. Reread them over and over again. Then, when the pressure hits, your habit will be to talk yourself into greatness — just like Serena. 2. Snap out of it. Get a rubber band and wrap it around your wrist. Every time you say something negative, snap it. Then replace the negative thought with a positive self-statement. Over time, you will find your negativity diminishes while your positivity increases. You can keep wearing the rubber band for a fashion statement, if you wish. There is a reason why greatness happens. And it all starts with positive self-talk. Dr. Gregg Steinberg is a professor of human performance at Austin Peay State University. He is the sports psychologist for the USGTF. He is the author of the golf psychology book MentalRules for Golf, as well as the Washington Post bestselling business book Full Throttle.  Steinberg speaks about emotional toughness to Fortune 500 companies, as well as coaching business executives to develop greater confidence and creativity. Please email mentalrules24@msn.com with any questions and visit www.drgreggsteinberg.com.

27 Oct 2015 Arlen Bento, USGTF Level IV Member

YOU TRAIN, YOU TRAIN, YOU TRAIN – THEN YOU FALL APART. NOW WHAT?

By: Arlen Bento, WGCA contributing writer My very talented high school golf team had a setback the other day in a state district tournament. After playing very well all season, we shot our highest score of the season at the worst time. What is it about golf that makes it so hard to play well with the pressure is on? No one is trying to tackle you or disrupt your swing.  No one is calling you names or trying to get you upset.  Yet, anyone who has played golf at a high level will tell you is that their nothing harder in sport than to play golf well when it counts. The good thing for my team is that we did finish second and still have a shot at the state regional.  In Florida, the top two or three teams advance from a district championship to the state regional.  The top two teams from the state regional advance to the state finals.  Each time, the slate is wiped clean, so you have to regroup and find a way to play well. Let me give you an overview of my team.  I am not using names, and I have to tell you that I have really good players. The reality is that other than my one best player, my other four players are 75-shooters.   Now, they are all 1 to +1 handicaps at their home courses, they have all shot under par in events, but on my team, playing tough golf courses under tough conditions, they average right under 75. My best player is ranked in the top five in his class and is averaging three under par.  He is a very good player and is a +4 handicap at his home course with numerous college scholarship offers. All season long, we work on our games, we talk about expectations, we focus on one shot at a time.  We track our stats, we all know we all play better when we hit more fairways and greens, and we get our putters to have a nice pace.  We all understand that golf is hard, and sometimes our games just don’t feel right.  It is the true test of champion players to be able to understand this and be able to accept when the golf game just is not right and still be able to play to our average or better.  Not play great, play well, go low, think that if we just try harder we can turn the game around, just hit driver over the corner, just go for the par-5s in two, or just attack the flag. Even though we know that our game is off, what we should be doing is getting it in play, hitting to the middle of the green, making par and letting our short game do the work. This is exactly what happened to four of my players this week – they went the wrong way.  They just could not help themselves. Now, these are 17-year-old young men, not mature, not grown up, still forgetful and disorganized, so we have to give them a little bit of slack, but if they really want to be great, this is what they have to do. First, they have to let go of the last event and focus on the next event.  Get back on the range, work on the short game, get the swing feeling good. Second, they have to think about their misses from the last event and how they are going to improve their scores by playing golf smarter, not harder. They have to understand that every day on the golf course is different, every day is a new challenge, and that expecting something great is just setting them up for failure. Third, they have to prepare for the next championship with the same game plan that they have used all year: 10 fairways, 10 greens, keep your putts in the low 30s, and see what happens. Start slowly, level, nothing hard.  Hit the driver down the middle, hit the iron to the middle of the green, roll the putt next to the hole at the right pace.  Then do it again, and again and again. If a putt goes in, great, don’t get too excited.  If you hit an iron close to the hole, great, don’t expect the putt to go in; just give it a good roll.  Miss a green, no problem. Chip it close, make the putt.  Driver not working? Go to the 3-wood. Three-wood not working? Go to a hybrid.  Nothing working?  Then tighten up the swing, hit low running shots, and just get around. We play all kinds of training games in practice: no greens allowed, three clubs only, no flag sticks. Every player on my team can break 80 with three clubs.  Every player on my team can shoot 75 with no greens. So, why can they not shoot 75 in a big event with all their clubs? Because they think they are better then they really are!  They think that they are going to play the best round of their lives that day. They all have expectations that are just too high.  Expectations kill great golf! Now, anyone reading this post needs to understand that I am talking about very highly skilled players. Just young, just not ready to play golf with the maturity that the game requires.  But they will. I hope that they listen, stay calm, stay confident, and play with low expectations.  It is amazing what happens when a few putts roll in and bogeys turn into pars and pars turn into birdies – championships! Master Teaching Professional Arlen Bento Jr. is a golf coach, golf sales business owner, golf product developer and golf writer living in Jensen Beach, Florida.   He is a former professional tournament player and is a national award-winning head golf professional at the PGA Country Club at PGA Village in Port St. Lucie, FL.  He can be reached via Facebook at www.facebook.com/arlenbentojr or on his blog http://arlenbentojr.blogspot.com or on his business website www.abjgolfsales.com

18 Sep 2015 David Hill, USGTF Level IV Member

BELIEVE AND YOU WILL ACHIEVE

By: Dave Hill, WGCA contributing writer As the end of the 2015 campaign on the main professional tours is coming to an end, I got to thinking. Here I am as a Master Golf Teaching Professional in the USGTF and a 25-year PGA member with over 27 000 hours of lessons and coaching behind me, and my, how the game keeps confounding us. As Jack Nicklaus once stated, we never stop learning in golf. Harry Vardon, and in particular Bobby Jones, were by no means short hitters. Neither were Sam Snead or Ben Hogan. Of course, there was Arnold Palmer, only to be surpassed by Nicklaus’ prodigious length. Then came Tom Watson, Greg Norman, Tiger Woods, and now Rory McIlroy, Bubba Watson and Jason Day, who led and are leading the way during their times of glory.  In the women’s game, we had Babe Zaharias, Mickey Wright, Laura Davies, Annika Sorenstam, Michele Wie, Yani Tseng, and finally Lexi Thompson. One could easily surmise the longest hitters in the game have most often dominated, or have they? Based on the aforementioned list of players, this is what one would believe. This is what we are training our young athletes to believe. Tiger painted the picture for us all that golf is a sport, hence training for it is paramount. In time, Tiger took on the look of a linebacker or tight end and dominated the game for a period like no other. We must train in order to create power and speed if we are to compete at the highest level. This is the message being transmitted to our young up and coming talented junior golfers. Hmmm? Don’t get me wrong. Hitting the ball a long way is important, and length off the tee (when in play) leads the way in the “strokes gained” statistic on tour. However, upon further research and reflection into this obsession with power, is this what really makes great golfers so great? Perhaps for some, yes, as statistics don’t lie. However, in the world of coaching competitive players, we witness some attributes among champions that in many cases cannot be measured, and of course some that can. Why were certain players throughout history able to compete with and often beat the giants of the game? Francis Ouimet, Gene Sarazen, Gary Player, Lee Trevino, Nancy Lopez, Nick Faldo, and now Lydia Ko, Inbee Park, Jordan Spieth, and even Zach Johnson have had great success. Are they outliers? Perhaps in specific areas of the game, yes. However, they are talented and developed a steadfast belief in themselves and their athletic prowess despite the fact none were/are long bombers. This is the first lesson in coaching and the commitment it takes to the process of developing a high level competitive player. It starts with recognizing talent and passion. One can never judge too early who will make it out there or not based on how long they can hit the ball.  There is a golden age to develop fundamental speed, which at a later age can be enhanced with a specific training regimen. This, however, is but a small piece of the pie. Ultimately, it is the one intrinsic element that it is difficult to measure, but as a coach, it is an imperative responsibility to convey in a manner that relieves any of our young athletes of pressure. It is never too young to start, but more importantly, the message must be perpetuated…the message of belief. Happy coaching!

11 Sep 2015 Arlen Bento, USGTF Level IV Member

Golf Is Great No Matter What Your Age

By: Arlen Bento, WGCA contributing writer Golf is a great game, no matter what your age!  No other game or sport in the world is as age-friendly as golf on the highest level of competition. Davis Love III, an icon in professional golf, proved that even after injuries and surgery,  a great golfer can find a way to win on the PGA Tour.  Love put together a stellar final-round 64 at Sedgefield Country Club on Sunday at the Wyndham Championship to claim his first PGA Tour win since 2013.  Love is the third-oldest player to win on the Tour. If you had a chance to watch this great event, you could see why Davis was able to have such success.  He drove the ball well, hit a lot of greens, and hit a lot of his approach shots into close birdie range. For many of you that follow my posts, you know I have devoted a large part of my golf instructional life to coaching competitive players.  Over the years, I have developed a complete strategy for helping better players lower their scores, especially teaching them how to get under par.  In the last few months, one of my professional players had his best two-day professional event, posting rounds of 68-64.  This player has been working on his game and his metal processing to help get his second shots closer to the hole on a regular basis, giving his putter a much better chance to make a putt for birdie. Here is my 10-10-30 breakdown for shooting lower scores.  I am sure that if we break down the round that Davis Love just shot on Sunday, his stats would be commensurate with my theory.  First, if you want to lower your score, you have to achieve these statistics with these three parts of your game: 1.  You have to drive the ball in play.  Your goal is to hit a minimum of 10 fairways per round.  If you don’t have the distance to give yourself a mid-iron into the green on your second shot on a par-4, then you are playing tees that are too long.  You have to be able to get the ball into your mid-iron scoring range off the tee to have a chance to shoot par or better. 2.  You have to be able to hit your regulation iron shots into the middle of the green a minimum of 10 times in your round.  That means you have to be able to hit a par-3 in one shot, a par-4 in two shots, and a par-5 in three shots.  You don’t have to aim at the flag; just hit the middle of the green.  When you can hit 10 or more greens in regulation, you can start to work on hitting at targets closer to the hole. 3.  You have to be able to two-putt every hole and be able to control your first-putt speeds so that you are always with in 12 inches of the hole on every first putt, short or long. The reason you have to control speed is that if you master the pace of your ball rolling on the green, you have a much better chance of making a lot more putts. When you roll the ball at the proper pace, you can be less accurate on your lines, because at the right pace, the ball will go into the cup from more angles if the speed of the putt is right.  If you putt too fast, you shrink the size of the hole. Now, there is much more to cover to take your game under par, like learning to hit your irons to sections of the greens, working on the short game so that you improve your up-and-down scoring when you do miss a green, and learning how to trust your pre-shot routine and the shape of your ball flight, but if you can achieve 10 fairways, 10 greens in regulation, and keep your putts near 30, you will have some of your best scores.   Master Teaching Professional Arlen Bento Jr. is a golf coach, golf sales business owner, golf product developer and golf writer living in Jensen Beach, Florida.   He is a former professional tournament player and is a national award-winning head golf professional at the PGA Country Club at PGA Village in Port St. Lucie, FL.  He can be reached via Facebook at www.facebook.com/arlenbentojr or on his blog http://arlenbentojr.blogspot.com or on his business website www.abjgolfsales.com.

26 Jun 2015 Arlen Bento, USGTF Level IV Member

Jordan Spieth Uses Powerful Visual Imagery To Win US Open With Help From Caddie Michael Greller

By: Arlen Bento, WGCA contributing writer After watching the 2015 US Open Chambers Bay in Washington, you really have to think that Jordan Spieth has the ability to carry American golf for a long time.  Spieth displayed a lot of heart and focus in giving himself a chance to win the US Open, even with a disastrous double bogey coming down the stretch. Watching Dustin Johnson three-putt the last hole to miss a playoff was brutal, but watching Spieth navigate what looked to be one of the toughest courses ever set up for a US Open was incredible.  Spieth, who did not have full control of his golf ball all week, was a master at visual imagery with the help from his caddie Michael Greller. Greller, who had been previously employed as a caddie at Chambers Bay, did a masterful job of keeping Spieth focused on the task at hand. Throughout the telecast, you could hear Greller telling Spieth to paint a picture, trying to get his player to focus on the shot at hand.  This is a very powerful tool in playing competitive golf at the highest level. Being able to focus on the shot and what a player wants the shot to do helps tremendously in playing great golf. Many times with a lot of the players that I coach, players forget to hone in on this powerful tool. If you really want to improve your game, you really have to work at your mental imagery when you play. Here is a checklist on how to improve your mental imagery skills: 1.  Paint the picture – Before you select your club, stand behind the ball and commit mentally to the shape of the shot that you want to hit.  Be very clear in your mind what your shot will look like in the air after you make your strike.  If you are a draw player, you have to trust the shape you see in your mind.  If you are a fade player, trust the shape you see. 2.  Commit to your yardage – A lot of my younger players don’t do this well or with as much commitment as they should.   Yardage is just not the numbers on the marker or the distance to the pin; it is the calculating of where you want to land the ball to have the best chance at getting close to the hole, taking into consideration the playing conditions. 3.  Commit to your club – Once you have your picture and your club yardage, you have to commit to your club.  Once you have selected your club, you have to get into your pre-shot routine to get ready to make your play on the ball. 4.  Routine – Now that you have your picture image of your shot, commitment to your yardage and a commitment to your club, it is time to trust your pre-shot routine and make your play.  All of my players start behind the golf shot, painting the picture of the shot once more before they move into the hitting area.   Once a player starts to the hitting area, practice habits take over and the player just has to get through what they do before the hit the shot.  I encourage all of my players to have the same swing routine on every play, especially if they are playing well.  I coach a one-swing or two-swing pre-shot to get the feel of the play once the player has moved next to the golf ball, all the time keeping in mind the visual image of the shot. 5.  Let it go!  Once the player has gotten into the ballstriking position, the easy part of the game just takes over.  With the mind clear, focus on the shot and trust in the swing, the player has the best opportunity to make solid contact with the golf ball, dramatically increasing the opportunity to hit the shot in the way that they visualized. I hope this helps improve your golf game and that of your students! Master Teaching Professional Arlen Bento Jr. is a golf coach, golf sales business owner, golf product developer and golf writer living in Jensen Beach, Florida.   He is a former professional tournament player and is a national award-winning head golf professional at the PGA Country Club at PGA Village in Port St. Lucie, FL.  He can be reached via Facebook at www.facebook.com/arlenbentojr or on his blog http://arlenbentojr.blogspot.com or on his business website www.abjgolfsales.com.

3 Apr 2015 Arlen Bento, USGTF Level IV Member

So You Want To Play On The PGA Tour – Hit It Solid

By: Arlen Bento, WGCA contributing writer It is not uncommon for recreational players to hit the ball all over the club face, but for an aspiring tour player, solid contact is a must. I have been working with an aspiring PGA Tour player for the last few months, and we are starting to make some major improvements. There were a lot of tough indoor swing sessions in my studio and a lot of frustrating outdoor practice sessions before the contact points on shots became centered on the club face. Technically, because of a swing path that came from too-inside the target line, a quick hand release was needed to create a straight shot.  The problem is that many of the hits were towards the toe of the club, creating inconsistent distances and shapes. We changed posture, moving slightly more upright, which got the hands at setup away from the body, and we worked on hitting shots from an open stance. We spent a lot of time working on letting the body start the downswing with a hip rotation, trying to avoid the right shoulder from dipping down too much which created the inside approach that required the hands release, which was a major problem. We worked for hours at covering the shot, feeling like the right hip and right shoulder made impact at the same time as the club with some shaft lean at impact. Indoors, it worked great; path was square, an improvement of 5-7 degrees.  The problem was the hand release.  Because of old habits, we had a closed club face and a hooked shot almost every time. It is very frustrating for a good player to make a change that is not always rewarded with a great shot, especially when the swing does not feel good since it is different.  Even very subtle changes can be catastrophic. What had to be done is creating trust in the change and getting the player to understand that the end result is worth the effort.   For this player, he understood that hitting the ball on the toe, and the inconsistent scores, were all part of his issues.   He listened; he understood that to be a real professional player, he had to improve his ball striking and his playing statistics. So we went to work, swinging with an open stance, feeling like the club face never releases, trying to keep the club face square at impact and through impact for a long time, and keeping the shoulders level in the swing. We worked on my three swing positions: Dead hands (#1) swing at waist level in the back swing; wrist hinge (#2) swing at waist level with grip pointing to the golf ball.  We worked on rotating the hips and right shoulder into impact (#3), creating a much more level-plane golf swing and a much improved swing path and impact. We talked a lot about my coaching swing theory, playing theory, how we were going to get to the next level, and I introduced my driving a boat analogy, which is that the golf swing is like driving a boat: You are always drifting right or left, never really stopping, always moving, floating.  The best players keep their boats on a straight line by working all the time at one direction, then bringing it back to the other direction to keep it straight. Now we have to make it feel good and create confidence in the swing before we can take it out to the course and competition.  This is not going to be easy. Master Teaching Professional Arlen Bento Jr. is a golf coach, golf sales business owner, golf product developer and golf writer living in Jensen Beach, Florida.   He is a former professional tournament player and is a national award-winning head golf professional at the PGA Country Club at PGA Village in Port St. Lucie, FL.  He can be reached via Facebook at www.facebook.com/arlenbentojr or on his blog http://arlenbentojr.blogspot.com or on his business website www.abjgolfsales.com.

20 Mar 2015 Arlen Bento, USGTF Level IV Member

So You Want To Play On The PGA Tour – Evaluate

By: Arlen Bento, WGCA contributing writer For the next 12-18 months, I am going to be writing about what it takes to get to the highest level of of golf – the PGA Tour. As many of you know, I have been coaching golf for many years and have built a very nice elite-player program in my area, and the only thing I do not have is a bona fide PGA Tour player that I can say I developed.  So, here is my truly first attempt to see if what I have been teaching to my top high school players and college players will carry to the professional game. My new student to coach is a great young man from Indiana.  At the time we started, he was 30, and had been playing professional tournament golf for a few years when he came to see me in my training studio in Florida.  He had played a lot of golf during high school and some college and a lot of money games in his hometown, where he became one of the best players in the area. He had some good scores as a pro, notably a 67-73 in a recent Florida mini-tour event, but no consistency. On our first conversation over the phone, I asked him some basic questions. At the time he did not know I was interviewing him, but I was.  At my current stage of my career, I know the kind of player I like to work with and I am not interested in players that are full of themselves or think they know everything. He was not like that at all.  He was well spoken, a former athlete, and according to him, a great putter. He had taken a job delivering pizzas at night so he could work on his game and play tournaments on the weekends.  The more I spoke with him, the more I liked him. So, I invited him to my lesson studio in Stuart for our first swing session. Once we meet, I let him do most of talking, giving me his life story, telling me about his golf, his successes, his struggles and frustrations. I took a close look at this clubs, which were in need of some TLC and upgrading.  It is tough on mini-tour players who have to pay for their equipment to keep up-to-date on products. His clubs were good, but the could be better. He told me he was having a terrible time hitting the ball solid; all of his contact marks were on the toe of the club.  We went through his bag on video and launch monitor and he had some very interesting numbers. He had developed a very inside attack from a very upright take away that required a ton of hand action at impact to keep the ball online. His swing was on plane, but the club was very closed that the top and he had learned to really drop the club under the plane in the downswing, causing all kinds of issues. He had developed a very low hand setup at address and was doing everything that he could to try to keep the ball online.  Because of his issues, he was standing up at impact, getting his hands up and in front of him to keep the shot from hooking and hanging on.  After he hit a lot of shots, my first impression was, WOW, this guy must be the best putter in the world if he can shoot 67 with that move. His clubhead speeds were good, but he had a weak smash factor because of his angles, which is why he was not hitting the golf ball nearly as far or as hard as he should for the speed he was generating.   He had potential. Master Teaching Professional Arlen Bento Jr. is a golf coach, golf sales business owner, golf product developer and golf writer living in Jensen Beach, Florida.   He is a former professional tournament player and is a national award-winning head golf professional at the PGA Country Club at PGA Village in Port St. Lucie, FL.  He can be reached via Facebook at www.facebook.com/arlenbentojr or on his blog http://arlenbentojr.blogspot.com or on his business website www.abjgolfsales.com.

9 Mar 2015 Gregg Steinberg, USGTF Level IV Member

The Mental Game: Positive Imagery

By: Gregg Steinberg, WGCA contributing writer

Brandt Snedeker’s positive vibes at Pebble Beach helped him to victory. He won the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am for the second time in three years, shooting 67 on a very difficult Pebble Beach course.

While Brandt has reworked his swing under Butch Harmon, I believe another important influence to his great play on Sunday was the positive imagery he had from his previous win at Pebble Beach.  That winning image — or what I call a “golden nugget” — gave Brandt a needed bolt of confidence, which helped him to perform his best under pressure and achieve victory.

Recalling successful experiences is paramount to developing a strong mental game and mastering your emotions. Golfers who can replay key successful moments in vivid detail have an enormous advantage over those who lack that skill. As with Snedeker, numerous situations have happened on the golf course when you performed brilliantly. Here are some strategies to fill your mind with golden nuggets:

1. Develop a golden victory log. Sometimes, our memories can fade or be suspect. Do more than just keep these golden nuggets locked in your mind. Keep them in a victory log. When you have a great day on the course, record what happened in that journal. Also, record the time and date, as well as how you felt. Every so often, refer back to your victory log to keep your greatness fresh in your mind.

2. Collect golden photos. Allow technology to build your mental game. With your iPhone, take a photo of the course where you had that wonderful round. Even better, have a friend take a picture of you standing proudly on the 18th green with your scorecard. Keep this photo handy, and refer back to it before you go play.

Like Snedeker, deposit golden nuggets into your memory bank so that you can make key withdrawals when necessary. In that way, you will be rich in mental and emotional toughness.

By Dr. Gregg Steinberg USGTF Sports Psychologist & Contributing Writer

(Dr. Gregg Steinberg is a regular guest on “Talk of the Tour.” He is a tenured professor of sports psychology and has been the mental game coach for many tour players. Dr. Steinberg is the author of the bestselling golf psychology book MentalRules for Teaching Golf, and you can get your copy from the USGTF Pro Shop . If you have any mental game questions, he would love to hear them at mentalrules24@msn.com.)

19 Dec 2014 Steve Williams, USGTF Level IV Member

Helping The Student Who Might Be Spoiled

By: Steve Williams, WGCA contributing writer A spoiled golfer!  Is a spoiled golfer like a spoiled kid?  How do you know if a kid is spoiled?  Maybe because they complain if they don’t get their way.  Maybe they always seem to need something to pacify themselves, or they get distracted and create difficulties. Sometimes, I casually observe a golf teacher giving a lesson.  Usually, after the teacher has told the student what they need to change in their golf swing, he’ll watch the student take some practice swings and then try to hit the ball while implementing the “new move.”  It is quite common to see the teacher waiting for the student to hit a nice shot, and then the teacher will say, “There, now you’re getting it!”  Then the student hits a few more balls that are not hit very well…and they get frustrated, but the teacher encourages them to keep trying.  Finally, after the student hits several bad shots, they hit another good one and the teacher says again, “Great, you’re really starting to get it!” In all honesty, when I see that, something within me would like to take that teacher aside after their lesson and say, “Why in the world are you training that person to judge their progress in incorporating a new move by the criteria of whether they hit a good shot or not?”  In my opinion, that is exactly like a parent who is trying to get their child to not eat so many sweets in the wrong manner:  In order to train them to eat more healthy, they give them a Twinkie just to keep them quiet when the child starts complaining and won’t shut up while the parent is shopping at the mall. Tiger Woods said one time that he used to chuckle at teachers who would suggest that he make some sort of change, whereupon Tiger would not make the change (because he knew that the teacher probably couldn’t see whether he did or not due to the speed of the golf swing) but he would purposely hit the ball well.  Then, Tiger would say, “Hey, that does work well!”  He said he could measure a teacher’s worth by whether the teacher could pick up on the fact that he really didn’t make the change that the teacher suggested, but gave the teacher the impression that he did.  If the teacher was quick to say that Tiger did it well just because he hit a good shot, Tiger knew that they really weren’t much of a teacher. When I read several years ago that Tiger said that, it brought back memories, because I used to do the same thing back in the 70’s when I was in college…and had different people who wanted to share their extensive knowledge of the golf swing with me. I’ve said all of that so that I could make this point: When you’re giving a lesson, have enough confidence in what you’re teaching to keep the student focused on making the swing change that you’re suggesting, that you won’t just wait for them to hit a good shot before you say, “Now you’re getting it!”  Speaking from my experiences, there are far more times in which I have complimented a student on doing the right thing after they’ve hit a terrible shot than I have after they’ve hit a good shot.  Why? Well, not always, but the vast majority of the time when they’re making a swing change, the immediate effect on their ball striking is going to be that they hit the ball worse than before the lesson started.  If they’re a little spoiled, they’re going to lose focus if they don’t hit the ball well immediately. It actually takes a certain amount of time working with a new student, for me to get them “unspoiled,” if I can use the term.  Why were they spoiled?  Because their former teachers may have lacked the confidence to keep them committed to a change they were making.  Again…why?  Maybe because the teacher needed the acceptance of the student so the teacher could feel better about himself.  I have no problem admitting that the quality of the student’s ball striking will be the final criteria by which to determine if I’ve helped them to become a better golfer or not.  And I am more than willing to accept that responsibility with every student I teach. As you become more and more confident with your teaching, you won’t be controlled by the student during a lesson because of your wanting their immediate approval.  You’ll gain the confidence to keep them focused on the task at hand, because you know from your experiences, that good, consistent, predictable ball striking is the result of a golf swing that is repeatable.  A repeatable golf swing, whether it has few or many variables, is of paramount importance in someone becoming a better golfer.  How to determine the amount of variables someone should be allowed to have in their golf swing is a subject for another day! In the meantime, though, be observant and realize when you’re praising a student just to “keep them happy.” By careful observation of all of your experiences as a teacher, you’ll continually gain the confidence necessary to not create more spoiled students. Good golfing!