Editorial Archives - Page 17 of 32 - United States Golf Teachers Federation

14 Nov 2014 Corina Pelloni

COMPETITIVE GOLF

Someone once said there are the two games of golf: golf with friends and tournament golf. It goes without being said that each game is completely different than the other. Either you play golf, or you play competitive golf. As golf teaching professionals, it is important for us to teach both. A majority of our work will be with the average golfer, helping them learn the game. Maybe one student wants to break 100 for first time, while another doesn’t want to be embarrassed at their annual work scramble. For those who desire to play non-competitively, we have all the answers. We can work fundamentals and teach them to develop a better short game. After awhile and when they become more confident in their game and their performance, some students begin to consider playing in tournaments, dreaming of winning their club championship. As their instructor, this is where we need to begin teaching them about the competitive aspect of the game. Most of us have played tournaments at some level: high school, college, mini-tours, or even taking our PAT. We know competitive golf. We know what it’s like to battle nerves on the first tee. We know how doubt can creep into our thoughts. We know what it feels like to have our hands shaking on a three-foot putt. However, for the most part, we also know how to control those situations. These are the life lessons of playing competitive golf that we are responsible to teach our students. They need to know we can relate because we have experienced those feelings – and still do. A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of playing in the US Golf Teachers Cup in Las Vegas. Even though I have played in many tournaments, it amazes me how nervous I still get before I hit my first tee shot. Coming back from that tournament, I was able to communicate with my students about my successes and failures, things I learned, and things I need to improve on. After sharing my stories, I was amazed at how they opened up about their experiences. Before, they were afraid to admit how they were feeling; now they were relieved to hear that even their instructor battles nervousness on the course. They didn’t just learn about how I got out of different shot scenarios – they learned about the trials and tribulations of competitive golf. We are all busy, and sometimes it’s difficult to make the time for tournament play. My challenge is for each of you to sign up for one in the next few months. You will be amazed what you will learn about yourself and how much you can teach your students from your experiences.

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28 Oct 2014 Corina Pelloni

USGTF Official Statement On PGA Of America And Ted Bishop

On Thursday, Ocotber 23, Ted Bishop, then president of the PGA of America, used social media to call professional golfer Ian Poulter a “lil girl” and compared him to a “little girl squealing at recess.” Bishop’s remarks were in response to Poulter’s criticism in his new book of six-time major winner Nick Faldo, who had become a good friend of Bishop’s. On Friday, October 24, the PGA of America’s board of directors voted to dismiss Bishop from his position as president due to these remarks. Although his tenure as PGA president will be recognized, he will not be accorded the position of an honorary past president as is customary. Since the USGTF was founded in 1989, we have had a record of inclusion and opportunity for all, including women. The USGTF does not approve or condone in any way Bishop’s remarks. Having said that, the PGA of America’s punishment does not fit the crime. Bishop has had a long history of promoting women’s and girls’ golf, in addition to promoting the game for all. The actions of Bishop in this arena have been nothing short of exemplary, including the formation of the inaugural Women’s PGA Championship and calling on the R&A to admit women members. Interestingly, the PGA of America has itself had a long history of discrimination, including African-Americans, women, and today older people. The current structure of the PGA of America’s apprentice program makes it virtually impossible for an older person to become a PGA of America member. In contrast, the USGTF has always welcomed people of all ages and backgrounds. The USGTF is also on record as saying the PGA Tour should sharply reduce its entry fee for qualifying for the PGA Tour, in order for more qualified minorities to be able to afford the process. Unlike the USGTF, the PGA of America has remained silent on this matter, and therefore is complicit in the lack of minorities on the PGA Tour. Bishop has apologized for his remarks, which we are convinced do not reflect his personal beliefs regarding female golfers, given his long track record in this regard. When you take into account his entire body of work, it is obvious to us that the PGA of America’s action towards Bishop was unwarranted and has unnecessarily tarnished him and his legacy. We believe a public reprimand and allowing Bishop to gracefully apologize, which the PGA of America did not permit him to do, was the correct course of action.

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7 Oct 2014 Corina Pelloni

KNOW YOUR SHOT

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of playing in a charity scramble with some local business owners. All three members of our team were 10-15 handicappers. Most of the time in these events, people ask for advice on their golf swing. After a few holes, two of the golfers asked for me to look at their swings and help them. This went on for a bit, with me giving them some tips to help their games. The other member of the group didn’t ask for any help. He hit a big hook on every shot. His clubface was extremely closed at the top of his swing with an extra-strong grip. But…he aimed right on every shot and played the hook. When I asked him about his game, he told me that the hook was his shot and he played it. He explained he didn’t want to change anything, because most of the time he knew where his ball was going. He had no dreams of being a scratch golfer; he just played what he knew. How many students have we seen consistently hit a slice or hook, but always set up to play a straight shot? I would guess it has to do with a player’s ego, wanting to hit the perfect shot versus playing their natural shot shape. How many players would score better if they had a “go-to shot?” Most of our average students don’t practice enough to hit straight golf shots. As teaching professionals and coaches, we need to teach our students to play their natural shot shape. We also need to teach them to have a “go-to shot.” Under pressure, our students will score much better knowing they have a shot shape to consistently rely on.

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15 Sep 2014 Corina Pelloni

JUMPING THE GUN ON THE DEATH OF GOLF

Headlines about golf have made CNN’s, CNBC’s, Fox News’, and many other TV news’ broadcasts lately. Normally, that would be great. A new Tiger Woods that the public, golfers and non-golfers, are excited about wasn’t the news headline. The reports were all about how the game of golf was in trouble and the game was in jeopardy of going the way of the dinosaurs. Let’s put some perspective on the situation. These uninformed opinions are based on three things. Let’s examine those things that have brought about such a panic. First, golf OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) sales have been dragging for well over a year now. Second, Dick’s Sporting Goods dismissed 468 golf professionals in one day. Third, golf courses are closing at a rate of 160 per year. For the OEMs, the problem is serious. The flood of merchandise on the market is overwhelming the equipment business. Consumers have greater outlets to get rid of equipment they don’t want by using the Internet or the PGA trade-in program. The great news about this for the OEMs were the sales numbers from 2006 through 2012. The bad news derived from this is that it created a false market ceiling. The OEMs hired more employees and expanded their product lines. They also increased distribution significantly, all based on a retail market that was somewhat of a fantasy, much the same way as the false housing market for which our economy paid the painful price the last six years. Now the sales have plummeted for some companies and their retail accounts. This has led to bad publicity when earnings reports are announced every quarter. Of course, this has also unfortunately led to layoffs. To make matters worse, sales increases in 2012 were based on one product, the original Taylor Made Rocket Ballz line of clubs. It was easily one of the most successful product launches in golf equipment history. The problem with a successful product line such as this is the near impossible task of increasing or even matching the sales the following year. Short product cycles are another sin of the OEMs. This practice really turns off consumers. In my opinion, the companies are getting exactly what they deserve right now. For Dick’s. the situation is complicated and many-faceted. The easy answer is what we covered about OEMs: a successful product launch, a false growth of sales. With the combination of poor management, poor hiring and poor training, the professionals employed by Dick’s were doomed. Only unrealistic sales could have saved them. I worked for Dick’s for two years, so I have very intimate knowledge of their issues. Regardless, this obviously makes the golf business health look worse than it is. Finally, all the courses closing. Very simply and honestly, we built too many golf courses in the early 2000s, and too many difficult courses. With the advent of online discount sites like GolfNow, greens fees plummeted. The laws of supply and demand were bound to catch up with the golf courses eventually. So, here we are. Is it as bad as the news would lead you to believe? No, not even close. Golf will never die, and the gloom and doom is offset by many positive signs. Junior participation is better than ever. Some regions of the country are showing increased rounds played. Executive courses and shorter courses are getting more popular. Country club memberships are on the rebound. Will the big international equipment companies continue to downsize? Yes. They need to. Will more courses close? Yes. They need to in order to balance the supply and demand system and increase green fees. Don’t believe all the negativity. The indicators the media focuses on are not indicative of reality. Just because a huge corporation is having issues does not mean golf is doomed. The game of golf will be fine, and its strengths are the all the things we love about it: fresh air, exercise, beautiful courses, the enjoyment of watching the ball fly, and the challenge of the game. Our obligation as teachers and golf professionals is to be positive and be great ambassadors of the game.

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12 Sep 2014 Corina Pelloni

DOES THE TEACHER GET TOO MUCH CREDIT?

Sean Foley and Tiger Woods have gone separate ways. Tour pros hire instructors. Tour pros change instructors. Instructors sometimes coerce pros to hire them with some formula they claim is the secret to better golf. Does the instructor really make the pro? I believe more often it is the other way around. Most of the players are special talents to begin with, and messing with their natural abilities might not be the smartest course of action. The best advice I ever got was from Hall of Fame instructor Bob Toski, who said to me, “Teaching great players is easy, just don’t screw them up.” Certainly, the golf swing has benefited from technology, but at what point does it become too much? Does it really matter if a player knows what synapses are firing or what muscles are connecting or how gravity plays a role during that one-second motion? It’s not complicated. Get the club squarely on the ball. How it is done can be very individual and unique. I wouldn’t begin to tell Jim Furyk or Lee Trevino or Miller Barber that they would become better players if they worked on stacking their weight more and improving their shaft lean. The golf swing is about execution under pressure. The method is not crucial; it is executing the method that is essential. That requires repetition, which tour players have been doing from a very early age. But even then, the best players screw up. They are not robots. There is a lot that goes into a shot – lie, wind conditions, ground condition, pin placement, and nerves. I don’t believe you can rely strictly on a single method for each shot. The other thing method instructors tend to say is that their method will produce solid shots all the time. I remember the headline on a Golf Digest cover with a tag line – “Hit every shot solid.” That is unrealistic unless Iron Byron is doing the swinging. Hogan said the secret is in the dirt, and although he claimed to have a specific move, he spent hours every day working on it, and still said he only hit about four perfect shots a round. Golf instructors will come and go as will players. Theories and terms will pop up and disappear. However, it always come down to the player’s talent and his work on the dirt.

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11 Sep 2014 Thomas Wartelle, USGTF Level IV Member

HELPFUL TIPS FOR STUDENTS

In the continuation of the series “Helpful Tips for Students,” we move on to preparing for the tee shot. The Tee Box Choose the Correct side of the Tee Box: Don’t just plop the tee and ball anywhere between the markers. Remember that you have the right to tee the ball up anywhere between the markers and up to two club-lengths behind the markers. The smart player uses this to his advantage. If a right-hander tends to fade the ball, he hits from the right side of the tee box; if he tends to hook the ball, he hits from the left side of the tee box. This can also help if there is trouble on one side of the fairway. Always tee the ball on the side of the tee box that has the trouble and shoot away from the danger. Tee the Ball High for a Hook and Low for a Fade: A ball teed high will tend to promote a sweeping swing, making it easier to draw the ball. Teeing the ball low will promote a steeper swing, promoting a fade. Use a Tee on Par-3s: When playing a par-3, too often I see players simply drop the ball between the markers. Use a tee to your advantage by creating a perfect lie. A ball teed low just slightly above the ground level will mimic a perfect lie in the fairway. This will increase the chances of a solid strike. For Your Target, Have Tunnel Vision: As you prepare to hit a shot, choose a target and try to hit the ball only at that target. Many players immediately look for all the danger and spend more thought on what can go wrong, rather than positive images. A good player has “tunnel vision” and simply aims at a single small target. The subconscious mind does not understand negative words. Therefore, when you tell yourself “don’t go O.B.,” you are just telling your subconscious mind to “go O.B.,” therefore reinforcing negative images! Plan Your Strategy for Each Hole: Use the correct club to tee off. It is not necessary to hit driver on every hole. If you watch the pros, they hit driver as little as 3-4 times a round. A good strategy is to figure out what distance off the tee will give you a comfortable approach shot to the green. For example, a 325-yard par-4 may require as little as only 200 yards off the tee to leave a “comfortable” wedge shot. Often, this strategy applies to par-5s, as well.

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11 Sep 2014 Corina Pelloni

HELPFUL TIPS FOR STUDENTS

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11 Sep 2014 Corina Pelloni

Teaching Amputee Golfers

BY: John Savage, Langhorne, PA Level IV Master Teaching Professional & Course Examiner One of the most important things to an amputee is to find some sort of physical activity. It lifts their spirits and gives them the feeling that they can accomplish more than just being able to walk. They must find a place where they can have fun. Some have found golf. There are many associations they can join, should they seek a competitive outlet. There are numerous clinics conducted across the United States that are sponsored by the Amputee Associations. These clinics are geared towards the hospital and rehab organizations. The clinic basically introduces and demonstrates the devices that have been invented to accommodate the various amputee situations; such as arms, hands, and legs. Golf pros are invited to donate their time for one morning and give brief lessons to the handicapped attendees. When it’s over, the pros go home, and rarely (if ever), get in touch with the rehab people again. Because of the present war, the amputee population is unfortunately growing. When working with a handicapped person, there are a lot more considerations involved when making swing corrections than with a non-handicapped golfer. After a swing correction is offered and tried by the player, you must ask how the movement affects balance. When you get that answer, you have two options; 1) continue along the lines of the correction, or 2) take another approach because of the affects on balance.

You can see this man has golf shoes on, but they do not contain his feet. That little square box where the red lines are pointing to on each leg, acts as his foot in the prosthetic device. It’s like trying to play golf on stilts. Wearing prosthetics is similar to walking across a very slippery surface. When you walk on a surface like that you use your muscles in a different way in order to keep from falling. Some muscles are tightened up, some are relaxed, and you walk with great caution. Eventually, the body adapts to the movement and muscles get realigned to work with the prosthetic. Your visional perception also changes. Try turning your head while you are walking on that slippery surface: it gets scary. So when a double amputee moves, his head goes with him. When I first started working with this individual, his left leg was air actuated. When he swung you could actually see and hear it pull up into the body when he shifted his weight on to the leg. His right leg is computer actuated and does a thousand commands a second. The only drawback is that the computer doesn’t know when he has stopped climbing a hill or riding a bike. So he has to stop and let the computer re-boot or the leg will react as if it is still on the bike or climbing. His left leg has since been changed to be vacuum actuated. The vacuum actuated leg makes it easier for him to get his weight onto his left leg during the downswing. Without rotors on his legs, an amputee is very limited in making any type of golf swing with a rotary motion. Usually they compensate with lateral movement and an overuse of their arms, which is where we began our lessons. After two lessons, I asked him to see if he could get rotors. In his circumstance, the VA pays for the legs, so money was not a problem. A rotor is a device that allows some pivot motion in one direction or another. The limited movement of the rotor is for balance. Rotors are about the size of a silver dollar, and about ½ inch thick. They are set equally at 15 degrees to the left and right on his left leg. The prosthetics can adjust them for more or less rotation. They are activated by twisting or turning the body. For golf, he pushes his upper body down and activates his hips to turn the rotors. When a rotor is added, the height of the foot on the prosthetic device must be narrowed. The left leg rotates in two directions. The right leg rotates 5 degrees for the backswing, allowing him to open his right hip slightly on the backswing. There is no rotor for the forward swing. A double amputee must keep his prosthetic feet flat during the entire swing. Those little square boxes around ankle height can not tilt, because if they do, he will fall. There is no such thing as coming up on the rear toe to complete the forward swing. As we progress with downswing movement and better hip rotation, we might be able to add a rotor on the right leg for forward movement in the swing. If that rotor is added we will again address the balance issues that the rotor creates. This gets us back to: the more questions you ask a physically handicapped golfer, the better the golf lesson will be.

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11 Sep 2014 Corina Pelloni

Teaching Special Olympics Golf

Written By: Lee Koukes USGTF Member, Chatsworth, CA About two years ago, I became acquainted with a little girl and her grandfather. They had been on the driving range many times and I was aware that the little girl had a handicap. The grandfather was so dedicated and the little girl so determined, that I stopped to see if I could be of any help. Amber had no use of her right hand and arm, and even though she was swinging with her left hand and arm, she was still using a right-handed person’s stance. We tried a few things, and it soon became apparent that she had pretty good control using her left hand and arm, but using the left-handed person’s stance. Right then, I decided that I wanted to work with this little girl even more. After a couple of weeks, I got her a new set of golf clubs that I had specially made and tailored for her capabilities. I gave her lessons every Monday afternoon for several months and the results and progress were amazing. Her grandfather and I took her out on the course one day to play a few holes and we couldn’t believe what we were witnessing. While she could only hit the ball 15 to 20 yards or so, she was right in the fairway every time. She was sinking putts that even I had trouble with. What a transformation! I learned that Amber was involved in Special Olympics Gymnastics. Being a curious person by nature, I decided to inquire around and see if there were any Special Olympics for golf. After several phone calls to various areas, I finally was put in touch with a local chapter in Ventura County, California and called to see how I might get Amber qualified to play in some tournaments in the area or if they even had anything organized. I was told that there were a number of people with various handicaps who would like to learn to play golf but there just wasn’t anyone who could teach them. I told them what I had been doing with Amber and let them know that I would certainly be interested in working with them to start a golf program locally. Since they did not have a formal program organized, I spoke with my General Manager, who was very supportive of the idea and offered to give us the use of the driving range, golf carts when we went out to play a few holes, free golf balls, etc. We have a group of 12 athletes who range in age from 11 to 28. We have a tremendous amount of fun and all of this has been observed by others who have generously come forward and volunteered to assist with these fine young athletes. The volunteers are not only former and present students of mine, but golfers who have observed and heard of what we have been doing and wanted to get involved. I am especially proud of the teenagers who have been my students and are on the high school golf team – they have volunteered to give something back to the community and really look forward to coming out on Thursday evenings to help with our Special Olympics Team. My ultimate goal is to have my Special Olympic Golfers practice at UCLA one day, where a big Special Olympics Event takes place every June. I cannot begin to tell you what a rewarding experience this has been for me, when I look at the progress that each of the athletes has been able to achieve and I see that look of accomplishment and satisfaction on their faces, along with the joy their parents have voiced. It really makes me feel very fortunate to be a part of this. Maybe in a very small way, I really am making a difference. Many thanks to the USGTF. Without the excellent training I received, I would not have had the confidence to undertake this task. If you have any questions and would like to start a program like this in your area, please send me an email or fax so I can get in touch with you. It can be frustrating at times, but the rewards far outweigh the challenges. My fax number is 818-885-6044, or you can e-mail me at CandLinLA@aol.com.

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11 Sep 2014 Corina Pelloni

Teaching the Mentally Challenged

By: Pat Church, USGTF Level IV Member Eugene, Oregon During my experiences with the Special Olympics golf team the biggest lesson learned has been PATIENCE!!! Many of the golfers have mental, as well as physical disabilities, so constant repetition is a key to their success and sometimes testing our patience. The practice sessions I use for Special Olympics’ golfers, closely mimic what they will face in their regional & state competitions, thus providing a level of comfort and confidence to them. In the case of many of the Special Olympic golfers I have trained, the golf swing has been secondary to the fact that I am giving them a chance to have a new experience. I would assume that if a once physically abled golfer becomes disabled, we would be providing the chance to enjoy their “freedom” again. Perhaps the greatest experience in working with mentally challenged golfers can be the simple joy to their reactions……..sinking a 5 foot putt, hitting a straight shot or just hitting the ball can be the cause for great jubilation! I strongly recommend to all my fellow teachers – Volunteer some time to the Special Olympics’ program in your area. The things learned with this group will make you a better teacher and your reward will be long lasting!

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