Coaches

16 Dec 2014 Arlen Bento, USGTF Level IV Member

The Golf Swing is Like Steering a Boat

By: Arlen Bento, WGCA contributing writer It is not uncommon for good players to struggle with little changes to their swings, even though they know that making the change will improve their game. I just started working with a mini-tour player who has a lot of talent but tends to drop the club inside too much in the downswing, causing him to hit a lot of weak toe shots.  His angle does not allow for a firm compression strike in the middle of the club face. We have been working at changing his lower body rotation so he can feel like he covering the golf ball more.  When he does it, he this the ball squarely on the clubface and with a lot more distance and accuracy.  The shot is more straight with a slight fade on misses – very different from what he normally does and expects. We are working hard at getting the ball to start more left instead of right of target line, a big change, but to get better and to improve ball striking this is important. One of the big things is to get all players to lower expectations when working on a change.  When making a change, players have to understand that they will go back to their tendencies in an attempt to make what they are working on feel good or to feel comfortable.  If a swing change starts to feel comfortable too soon, it is probably not changing.  “Trust” the change, commit to the idea; if a bad shot comes out, think, look at what you did, understand, make the correction, and try again. I tell all my students the golf swing is like driving a boat – if you veer right you have to bring it back left; if you veer left you have to bring it right. You are never ever really going straight – just moving.  The better player you are, the more your veer is minimal, almost non-existent.

26 Sep 2014 Ben Bryant USGTF contributing writer

Good Team Practice Isn’t An Accident

By: Ben Bryant, WGCA contributing writer “Hey Coach, what are we doing today?” That’s a question that should never have to be asked at a high school golf practice.  By the second or third practice of your season, your players should know what to expect out of a typical golf team practice.  How you organize and run your golf team practices says a lot about you as a coach, and will have a great effect on the ability of your players.  Putting out a couple of buckets for your players to hit while you sit in the pro shop, or peruse the Internet on your phone is fine, but it won’t do much to help your players compete, and it certainly won’t do much to help earn you their respect. Creating a successful golf team program requires careful planning and consideration of your players’ abilities, your own ability to teach the competitive game, and how successful you want your program to be. The Warmup (5-10 minutes) The first part of any successful practice begins with the warmup.  Before any balls are hit, you may find it useful to perform some team stretching exercises.  Have your players stand in a circle and run through a set of stretches.  Choose one of your team captains to lead the stretching.  You can use the time to talk to each player one by one, but it should last no longer than 5-10 minutes.  You can choose to participate yourself or not.  This ritual is useful not only to avoid injury for those players who want to rip some drives first thing in the afternoon, but it also serves as a signal that practice has started.  It’s important to flip that mental switch to let your players know that it’s time to work.  Additionally, it will help build a team atmosphere as all players – both team veterans and new players – go through the same routine every day.  The Range (15-20 minutes) Time on the range can be structured or unstructured, based on your team needs and your ability as a golf instructor.  In a structured range session, you may have all of your players hitting balls with certain restrictions in place, such as all players using the same club, hitting for the same flag, etc.  This might be useful in some circumstances, but most players will lose interest very quickly.  It could be useful for a team full of brand new players and therefore you need to keep their attention on you.  More commonly, time on the range is unstructured, meaning they are free to warm up as they see fit.  As the coach, your job is to move from player to player as needed and offer assistance if asked, or if a player is particularly struggling.  Lastly, it is important to emphasize range safety at all time. Drill Baby, Drill (10 minutes) Drills aren’t fun.  So despite being a necessary evil, they should be kept short.  Drills might be something you organize for the whole team or for an individual player if you notice a glaring need. For example, if during a golf match, you notice several players struggling to hit good bunker shots.  During the next practice, make that an area of need for the team and conduct a brief 10-minute bunker drill after range time. Get On The Course (As Long As You’ve Got!) Ultimately, there is little practice better than actually playing the game on a golf course.  Hopefully, you will have access to one for your practices.  The majority of practice time should be spent on the golf course.  Players should be divided up into groups based on ability.  However, there’s nothing to stop you from creating heterogeneous groups if you have a compelling reason, such as giving a player an opportunity to learn from his more talented and experienced teammates.  As the coach, your job will be to move between groups, giving assistance where needed and requested. If you are a coach who is not well-versed in the golf swing or adept at giving teaching advice, there is still the opportunity to remind players of things like etiquette, speed of play, etc. The vast majority of your daily practice time should be spent on the golf course. Putt It Out (5-10 minutes) All practices should end on the putting green. You can choose one on the course, or make it the practice green near the pro shop to ensure that all players have returned from the course.  It’s a good idea at the end to have some reflection time about what your players should be focusing on that day or week or month.  A fun way to end practices is with a friendly putting competition between your players. Not only is it good practice, but it once again serves to build the bonds of your team. Conclusion A well-run practice does not happen by accident.  It is going to require a great deal of planning and preparation, especially early in the season.  You’ll find, though, that by sticking to a well-regulated schedule such as the one above, your practices will begin to run themselves. Ideally, you want to be able to focus on the more important things like ensuring your players are learning and enjoying themselves on the golf course.

6 Sep 2014 Gregg Steinberg, USGTF Level IV Member

Superstar

By: Gregg Steinberg, WGCA contributing writer That is the vision for Rory McIlroy.  In a recent interview, Rory did not tell the media that he wants to win more tournaments or majors, or even stay #1 in the golfing world. His vision is much greater. By winning the PGA Championship, Rory McIlroy has four majors under his belt at the ripe age of 25. But, he sees well beyond his years, as his vision is more than just to be a bright star on the PGA Tour. Rory proclaimed to the world that he wants to be the superstar of golf. Vision boosts your commitment to excellence. Rory’s vision will make him work harder every day. He will never rest on his laurels. He will dig it out of the dirt, when needed.  His vision will help make his talent shine upon the golfing world. Vision guides your destiny.  This truth has been known for thousands of years. The ancient philosopher Seneca proclaimed, “When a man does not know what harbor he is sailing for, no wind is the right wind.”  Zig Ziglar, a present-day motivational guru, has noted that the happiest people he knows are those who are working toward a vision, whereas the most bored and miserable people are drifting along with no worthwhile objectives in mind.  People who are vision-less will sail with any wind. Vision shines our motivational light. Psychologists have discovered that when mice were placed in a tub with no way out, they would stop swimming after 45 minutes and drown. However, if the mice had a light shining upon them, they would continue to swim for an unbelievable 36 hours. Our vision will keep us swimming upstream, regardless of the obstacles we will face on a daily basis. What is your vision for yourself in golf? Unfortunately, most golfers don’t have a clear vision and, most importantly, don’t allow their vision to propel their game to the next level. Here are a few steps to create a vision that you can share with your students: Step 1:  Get a vision. It is that simple. Pick a vision that is challenging but something you greatly desire. Perhaps their vision is to win the club championship, make their college team, or to be the superstar of their high school team. Step 2:  Have them select three strategies to attain their vision. If it is to win the club championship next year, then one of their strategies should be to practice  putting four times a week for 15 minutes. Step 3:  Have them visualize their vision as a reality. They need to visualize what it would feel like when they attain their vision. This will greatly promote their commitment to making the vision a reality. Henry David Thoreau once stated, “In the long run, people hit only what they aim at.” I would add, “We need to know where to aim.” Dr. Gregg Steinberg is the sports psychologist for the USGTF. He is a  regular guest every Wednesday on “Talk of the Tour” heard on Sirius/XM PGA TOUR Radio. 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. Please visit him at www.drgreggsteinberg.com.

18 Jul 2014 Steve Williams, USGTF Level IV Member

Coaching A Mini-Tour Player Player To The Next Level

By: Steve Williams, WGCA contributing writer My experiences of working with many touring pros over the years have convinced me of some rather sad facts that I would like to share with you!  I use the word “sad,” because these facts keep many passionate, talented players from making it to the PGA Tour.  Typically, they play mini-tours for several years with dreams of making it to the big time, but other than qualifying in a few four-spotters over the years, never do they make it to the Tour. I see the frustration on their faces after they place decently high in a mini-tour event one week, only to miss the cut the next week.  Then, I see them work harder on the range to hone their swing planes or maybe synchronizing arm and torso motion…while they’re thinking that their inconsistent ball striking under pressure is the result of their overactive hip rotation. Great!  I like it when players work harder on the range!  They certainly need to build a repeating swing.  However, for many of them, their biggest impediment to not making it to the PGA Tour is not as much swing issues as it is a lack of focus, due to a lack of discipline. So, I have listed 12 traits of the typical mini-tour player and the typical touring professional.  While we must understand that there are exceptions to every rule, the traits of each of these talented golfers listed below are not at all uncommon. There are many other things that can be listed, but these 12 should create enough contrast for you to get the point that I would like to make. Typical professional golfer who never makes it further than mini-tours: 1. Plenty of physical talent to play on the PGA Tour. 2. Practices enough to play on the PGA Tour. 3. Has enough tournament experience to play on the PGA Tour. 4. Likes to party with his buddies. 5. Doesn’t set short- and long-term goals. 6. Has too many distractions to be able to focus intently. 7. Blames too many of his high scores on bad luck or…being hungover or…bad playing partners. 8. Possesses enough knowledge to have excellent course management, but lacks the confidence and patience necessary to form a game plan and stick to it. 9. Enjoys impressing people with the fact that he is a professional golfer. 10. In his quest to justify prolonged years of playing mini-tours, constantly says things to others about how great of a golfer he is, which add more pressure to his mindset. 11. Constantly faces the same issues over and over because he refuses to accept that he needs to grow up and be careful to learn from past failures. 12. Has a good short game.   Typical professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour: 1. Relatively equal to or slightly better physical talent than the mini-tour player. 2. Practices close to or slightly more than the mini-tour player. 3. Doesn’t possess a whole lot more tournament experience than the mini-tour player. 4. Realizes that the more discipline he has, the less he’ll want to party. 5. Has created the habit of setting and reaching short- and long-term goals. 6. Makes a habit of keeping distractions to a minimum. 7. Knows that blaming his high scores on bad luck or…being hungover…or others, keeps him from dealing with the issues that keep him from making it to the next level. 8. Knows his strengths and weaknesses, and forms his course management decisions upon that knowledge, and then remains committed to his plan. 9. Doesn’t see the need to broadcast to everybody what he does for a living, but just lets his clubs do the talking. 10. Has learned the fine art of habitually saying things to others in a way that constantly takes pressure off of himself. 11. Has experienced enough failures that he finally came to the conclusion that if he was ever going to make it, he had to make sure that he didn’t keep making the same mistakes over and over again. 12. Has a very, very good short game. So what is the point that I was trying to make?  Making it to the PGA Tour is more in a player’s control than he would like to admit! It’s not easy for me to mention to a fellow who works hard on his game on the range that he lacks discipline…or is stubborn when it comes to admitting and accepting responsibility for his weaknesses…or that he doesn’t learn very well from past mistakes…or maybe that he simply needs to grow up. It’s part of my job, though!  If I have to make a player mad at me by telling him the truth, I can live with that. Understand this. though: There are few things that give me more fulfillment in my work than helping someone to get past weaknesses that have plagued them for their entire life, and seeing them accept that if they want to accomplish their dreams, they have to change their way of thinking because nobody is going to do it for them…and then seeing them do it! Good golfing!

7 Jul 2014 Gregg Steinberg, USGTF Level IV Member

When The “Squeeze” Is On

By: Gregg Steinberg, WGCA contributing writer With the oppressing heat of the summer comes lots of perspiration. In psychological terms, pressure can also make us perspire under the heat of competition. Besides the sweat factor, pressure also makes us go to our dominant response. This is one of the oldest psychological principles:  we go to our main habit under stress. I call this the “squeeze factor,” and this is one of the differentiating factors between those golfers who are successful and those golfers who choke under the heat. To illustrate the squeeze principle, imagine you have an orange in your right hand. If you squeeze the orange, what comes out?  Orange juice, of course.  Now, here is a harder question. Why does orange juice come out? Orange juice comes out because that is what is inside, of course. The same goes for you. What comes out of you when you get the squeeze? Is it fear and negativity, or is it positivity and joy? When you have a terrible day on the course, and you make one mistake after another after, what emotions come out?  If you put the emotions of negativity, anger, and de-motivation into your system on a daily basis, when the pressure is on, this is what will come out. The bad days will give you the squeeze and you will release your dominant negative emotions on the course. But, if you make positivity, joy, and compassion as your dominant habit and have these emotions on a daily basis, then, when the squeeze is on, you will showcase these emotions on the course. It is so easy to be confident and positive when times are good. Unfortunately, as with life and golf, there are many bad things that will happen to you. But, if you put the right ingredients inside with doses of positive self-talk, images of greatness, and thoughts of gratitude, when you get squeezed, the only thing that will come out is the juice of success. Bio Dr. Gregg Steinberg is a professor of human performance at Austin Peay State University. He has been the mental game coach for many PGA Tour players. He is the author of the Washington Post bestselling business book, Full Throttle. Dr. Steinberg is a motivational business speaker who speaks to businesses about mental toughness and overcoming adversity. If you are interested in have him speak to your group, please contact him at mentalrules24@msn.com. You can see more about him at www.drgreggsteinberg.com.

20 Jun 2014 Arlen Bento, USGTF Level IV Member

Lowering Your Score is Sometimes more Mental than Physical

By: Arlen Bento, WGCA contributing writer

As we reach the full start of the summer golf season, I wanted to write about how important it is to understand that lowering your score in golf is sometimes a lot more mental the physical.

I work with a lot of junior players over the summer months preparing players for the high school golf season in Florida and summer junior golf events. For the advanced junior players that have good swings and control of the golf ball, the biggest hurdle for lowering scores is the mental side of the game.  I have always coached my players with the idea that every miss in golf has a reason.  I have devised a simple way for my players to identify the reason the miss happened, based on assigning a “miss idea,” to show them how and why they miss on the course.

The first miss that we identify is a physical miss.  This is a miss caused by a bad swing or a physical error. The second miss that we identify is an intellectual miss. This is a miss caused by a player trying to hit a shot that just was not possible.  An example of this would be trying to hit a soft flop shot off or hard pan or firm uncovered ground, or flying through a gap in the trees off of pebbles or unstable ground.

The third miss that we identify is the mental miss.  This is a miss caused by a player who did not commit to a shot, and the player is making a swing with indecision or a bad idea in their head.  This could be as simple as letting a noise or sound distract them as they swing, or letting the thought of a bad shot from the previous hole cause a lack of focus and a swing error.

I ask all my players at the end of their rounds to count how many times they missed in their round and to identify the miss.  In almost all cases, the miss is caused my mental error. Because the mental error is so prominent, we are always working at improving our technique to eliminate mental errors. One of the best ways to eliminate mental errors is to really focus on the mental checklist of a shot before a player makes a swing.  I always tell my players that every shot you will ever hit has a value. That value is the yardage plus the calculations of the particulars like lie, wind, and miss zone.  By focusing on the value of the shot, then applying a club selection and swing thought to match the value of the shot, players can all but eliminate mental errors on their score cards, thus lowering their 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.

2 May 2014 Arlen Bento, USGTF Level IV Member

Trip Of A Lifetime

By: Arlen Bento, WGCA contributing writer This past April I was fortunate to experience the Masters in Augusta, Georgia, for the first time. It was a special trip with five of my varsity players from my boys Pine School state tournament team and our lone varsity girl player, who won the Florida state championship. As you take in the Masters and Augusta National, you can’t help but be impressed with the conditioning of the golf course. When people who have been to the tournament say they grass is perfect, they mean perfect. There is not one weed, blemish, or discolored spot of grass on the entire property. The greens look unreal and the fairways look like the best greens you putt on at your local course. The course is big, long, and very, very undulating. Playing golf in Florida, we have relatively flat courses. Augusta National has the most up and down challenging holes you will ever see in golf. The first time we walked up #10, I thought it was Mt. Everest. It felt like we were walking straight uphill. I thought, “How do the members play this course? You would need two days to recover just from the walk.” The course is very tree-lined, with trees that tower over each fairway. The pines of Augusta National are so tall that it makes every hole seem like it is its own course. When these holes are lined with fans, it makes each hole take on a personality of its own. As a group, we walked the course from back to front. We walked the back nine for the most part the first day and the front nine the second day. We spent a lot of time on the par-3 holes, where it seemed like we got better views of the players as they made their way through the course. As we watched each player, we could all see how simple their swings were: compact, clean, no awkward moving parts. Most players had narrow stances with their irons, and they made simple shoulder turns with great lower body rotation through impact. Their swings are what we all teach, want, and hope gets instilled into our students and players. As we made our way around the course, the tee shots became very impressive. What I noticed is that players would take a line at trees that were unreachable. I noticed these high tee shots, moon shots that were smashed at a pine tree with no intention of hitting the tree, were allowing the shot to hit its apex before landing in the fairway. This vision made me think about my own game and how sometimes I just look down the fairway and swing. The next time I went out to play, I tried to swing at a distant target and I tried to hit the ball up high in the air, really high, and guess what – I drove the ball great that day. The greens at the Masters, as we all know, are incredibly fast – fast and with many ridges and spots that, if you miss a putt, it will end up 30 to 40 feet in a different part of the green. Putting was a major problem for players, as was the short game. I thought that how the players took their time for their chips and pitches was very interesting. Because the greens were so tough, players had to take extra time to plan where they were going to land their golf balls on their chips and pitches. This made the short game seem like another game within the game, as one mistake could lead to an almost certain bogey or worse. The final thing that was very noticeable was the approach game. Because the greens of the Masters are so tough, and the pin placements so demanding, having the right yardage into a hole is critical. All players and caddies were very conscious of placing their approach shots in exact yardages. It is so important to hit shots the correct distance, because most shots have to be hit to placements that have nothing to do with the hole location. Players have to hit to spots, spots that feed the ball to the hole and give the players a chance to score. This was a lesson that we talked about as a team, how players have to calculate and play for yardage, not just blast drives and fire at pins. The next time you get out to play, or are working with your students on the range, I hope you think about some of the things that I have mentioned in this article. Great golfing! 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, on his blog http://arlenbentojr.blogspot.com, or on his business website www.abjgolfsales.com.

8 Apr 2014 Arlen Bento, USGTF Level IV Member

Among The Azaleas

By: Arlen Bento, WGCA contributing writer So, I am going to the Masters. You know, the little tournament in Georgia started by Bobby Jones at the Augusta National Golf Club. Have you heard of it? Pretty big stuff; you get an awesome green jacket if you win! Now, why I am going and how I am going are two very interesting things. First, I am going because of my golf coaching. I am very fortunate to coach at a great high school that has a lot of great connections to golf. I have been able, with the help of great players and families, to build a very good golf program in the last nine years with many great players, many great accomplishments, and more to come. As a team over the last few years, we have been rewarded with a personal visit with Arnold Palmer after winning our second state district title. After our third district title, Mr. Palmer took a liking to our program and was able to donate our team uniforms for our 2012 season. Our players were even invited to participate in a great charity event where my senior players we able to caddie for Mr. Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, and Lee Trevino. In the summer of 2013 as we started to plan for our fourth state district and a legitimate run at our first state Florida high school championship, an incentive was put into place to motivate the team: Win the district, advance to the regional and play in the state tournament, and go to the Masters. No small feat in Florida…from our region, if you get to the state, you win the state. Very tough golf in our area. Well needless to say, guess what? We win the district, finish tied for first at the regional, and make it to our first state championship. And, now we get to go to the Masters. Now, let’s talk about how we are going. Well, we are traveling with our five players from the state team and our girl’s individual state champion – and myself – for a weekend at the Masters. We leave on the Friday of the tournament from our local jetway via private plane. We arrive at Augusta, where we will be transported to our accommodations on property at Augusta National Golf Club. On Friday night, we have a dinner planned, then a quiet evening on the grounds to get ready to watch the weekend at the Masters. Can you imagine! Saturday and Sunday at the Masters, up close and personal, plus staying on property, walking from your private home to the event. For any golfer, this would as good as it gets, maybe better. I really hope we have good weather and I really hope that I can learn from being at this type of event, taking in the feel of golf and what it takes to get players to bring their games to the next level. As a golf coach, I am always talking about the little things, the one putt, that one chip, that one bunker shot that takes a player to the next level. Well, this April we are going to be looking at the next level, maybe the ultimate level, the level that we all dream about, the level that transcends golf and sport. My only hope is that someday, one of my players makes the field at the Masters, and that would be my ultimate experience in golf. For now, we are working at a first state title, I think the motivation of the Masters helped! 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 face book at www.facebook.com/arlenbentojr or on his blog http://arlenbentojr.blogspot.com/ or on his business website www.abjgolfsales.com.

5 Mar 2014 Arlen Bento, USGTF Level IV Member

Let go of what you used to be or did in golf and get better!

By: Arlen Bento, WGCA contributing writer Over the years, I have given many golf lessons to many different kinds of people. With the success of my junior golf teams, a lot of my instruction and coaching has been focused on younger players. Now that I have reopened my indoor learning center, I am working with all levels of players or a regular basis. I have a student that has become a familiar case in my years of coaching and teaching golf. This student is a mid-60s male who used to have a pretty good golf game 20-30 years ago. The problem is that his 14 handicap from 20 years ago was developed with a very bad over the top move that makes it almost impossible to strike the golf ball solid at this player’s age and stage in life. He is a 35-handicap and thinking about quitting golf. This is a very common problem with players, usually men who played golf with strength and eye-hand coordination. They learned golf by playing, never really took coaching or lessons; they just went out and played golf. For many, aiming left with the driver, closing down the club face with the irons, and learning how to putt and chip made the game playable. Now, with age creeping up and the loss of physical strength that comes with aging, the golf swing just won’t work. So, with lessons – especially indoors – this player is able to make swing adjustments that provide an acceptable delivery of the club into impact and decent shots with a smooth pace. As soon as this player tries to add speed, the movement breaks down and the over-the-top take over. I have been spending some quality lesson time in the studio with this student, and we had scheduled an outdoor playing lesson. Surprisingly, we never made it to the tee box, because on the range, all the things that we were doing in the studio had disappeared. All the divots were going left. The only club that could make face contact were the 8-iron and 7-wood, and at best the shots were not going more than 100 yards. As I inquired about what happened, the student told me that he had hit balls for hours the previous day and that he thought he had figured out the problem. “Ah” – figured out the problem. The student continued to explain how he warmed up, taking some of the instruction – a straight-back, one-piece takeaway – and it all started to click. However, when he tried to take it to the course, the swing broke down. He could not understand why on the range it worked, and on the course it did not. I went through the whole process on what we had been working on in the studio, and this is where I got the “I don’t understand why I used to be able to play this game.”  And, this is where the problem is for most players that are going through this type of struggle. Players who have played with poor technique have to let go of what they used to do and focus on what they have to do to get better. It takes some work and some time, but it mostly takes a mindset of change. Players with this over-the-top issue have to focus at changing swing path so divots are square; they have to work at the feeling of moving their hips after making a shoulder turn in the backswing to deliver the club into impact correctly. I was using a drill where we were trying to take the power of the right hand (right-handed player) out of the swing, focusing on the left side pulling the club using the hips. I call this a “right-hand release drill,” and it really creates a great-looking golf swing. The funny part is that with this player, when he looked at the ball and tried to hit it, he went back to the old swing over the top. The only way I could get him to make the good swing is to do the swing with his eyes closed. The best shot of the day was an eyes-closed driver that he hit with no effort that went right down the range; no effort, great sound, great speed and great finish. The student was amazed at the shot, and it really made him realize that he could make the swing change if he would just let go of what he used to do and focus at what he needs to do at this stage in his golf game to get better. (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.)

14 Feb 2014 Gregg Steinberg, USGTF Level IV Member

Mental Game: Make every course your favorite, Like Phil

By: Gregg Steinberg, WGCA contributing writer Do you know why Phil Mickelson does so well at the Masters? Bones McKay, Mickelson’s caddy, has remarked many times how Phil has declared his love and admiration for Augusta National. Phil states that he gets goose bumps every time he drives up Magnolia Lane. With the Masters coming up in a few months, this is a teachable moment for your students. A declaration of love (or great admiration) for a course can help your play. Like Phil does at Augusta National, you are psyching yourself up to play well—regardless of condition or difficulty. Joy of a course can help expel any excessive feelings of anxiety. Ultimately, you are transforming adversity into an enjoyable challenge. Let’s take the flip side. You can talk yourself into playing badly on a course or a hole. How many times have you and your students been psyched out of a hole by telling yourself how much you dislike that particular hole? Perhaps the hole did not fit your shot pattern or fit your eye. In either regard, a dislike for a hole decreases the joy while increasing the stress you will feel, usually leading to a poorer score. I know it is easy to find something wrong with every course you play, or letting a hole psych you out. But I would highly recommend to your students to take Mickelson’s mental game lead. Talk yourself into enjoying every golf course that you play. Find something about the course that you really admire. Perhaps it’s the piece of property and its beauty or its unique par 3’s. You should also recommend to your students to find something they like about every hole. It is easy to do, especially if this becomes a habit. When you make every course and every hole your favorite, you will enjoy the game even more because you played so well. (Dr. Gregg Steinberg is the sports psychologist for the USGTF. He is regular guest every Tuesday on “Talk of the Tour” heard on Sirius/XM PGA Tour Radio. 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 Golf, and you can get your autographed copy at www.DrGreggDteinberg.com.)