Editorial

4 Dec 2013 Corina Pelloni

TECHNOLOGY OR TRADITION – WHICH IS BETTER FOR TEACHING GOLF?

Legendary teacher Bob Toski never got on board.  Nor did the late USGTF teaching professional Julius Richardson, a member of Golf Magazine’s Top 100 Teachers list.  There are a number of other teachers who didn’t, either.  To what am I referring? Technology.  Things like video, computers, the K-Vest, etc.  “Old school” teachers like Toski rely on their eyes to tell them everything they need to know about what’s going on in the swing – even finely honed swings like a tour player’s. So, we see it’s possible to teach at a high level without technology.  This brings up a question:  Which is better, old school or new school? A few years ago in one of the golf magazines, they attempted to answer the question of which school was “better.”  The writer first went to a traditional old-school teacher in Scotland who taught by feel, and then he went to a teacher in the US who used high-speed photography, training aids, and launch monitors.  The “new-school” teacher was apprised of what the old Scot’s instruction had been, and he dismissed it by saying it wasn’t going to fix the problems that the launch monitor had identified with the writer’s ball flight, nor would it fix the problems with his swing that had been identified through video analysis.  In the end, the writer said he got better results from the old-school methods. I’ll also never forget watching Julius give a lesson one day to a lady who was struggling.  It was easy to see mechanically what she was doing wrong, and so I figured Julius would focus on that.  Nope.  Instead, he simply told the lady to “soften your shoulders through the swing.”  Huh?  I never saw that coming.  Well, the next shot she hit was a beauty, and she was thrilled.  She continued to hit shot after shot much better than what she was doing before. Let’s keep something in mind.  Both Bob Toski and Julius Richardson were great players as younger men.  Teachers who were legitimately tour-level, or even plus-handicappers, know what a truly sound, fundamentally correct swing feels like.  If you’ve played to this level and have taught for many years and made a concerted effort to study the craft, you can probably find great success with teaching through “old school” methodology.  If you don’t have all that going for you, you probably need some help through technology.  That’s not to say teachers who are/were fine players who know a lot can’t benefit from using technology; many do.  I prefer it myself.  The key is to be able to transfer the numbers and video images to feel. The definitive answer to the question, “Which is better, old school or new school?”, is elusive.  What do you think?

4 Dec 2013 Corina Pelloni

PRINCIPLES OF PRACTICE

The following are solid principles to follow that will help to develop your teaching skills: Only perfect practice makes perfect Golf is a skill; therefore, practice golf in pressure conditions.  This is the major difference between learning a skill and learning a technique.  Keep practices sessions short and frequent when working on a new skill.  Use practice time efficiently.  Students should experience a reasonable amount of success at each practice session.  Make practice fun as well as challenging. Positive Attitude towards Learning No matter what the standard of the player, a good instructor will make him or her better. It is important that any learning situation should focus toward success. The attitude of the teaching professional and student should be characterized by two qualities:

• An open mind to receive new ideas.
• An enquiring mind to question new ideas.

Organization Learning is based upon memory and students will recall more information when the material is organized.  Think of our memory system like a file cabinet.  The more organized the material is filed, the easier it is retrieved. Thus, instructors need to devise their lesson plans.   This allows the student to easily organize the material. Teaching is about creating environments that enable players to develop at their optimal rate.  

8 Nov 2013 Corina Pelloni

REACHING THAT NEXT LEVEL

Do you want to reach that next level as a golfer?  Tour players have consistent practice routines that they follow to prepare themselves for “playing the game of golf” on the actual golf course.  The following are some tips to help you improve your full swing practice routine. Warm-Up

• Always start with a warm-up routine such as making slow swings with a shorter club such as a 9-iron.  Hit a few easy shots and then stretch your back, shoulders, and wrists.

  Mechanics

• About 5 -10 balls with every other club starting with the 9-iron or wedge.  Use a guide or training aids for alignment and path.  Work your way up to the driver using every other club in the bag.  Then work your way back down to the short irons.  The goal is good contact and technique.  Stop / rest, and then repeat later if necessary.

  Distance Control

• Hit to certain targets with the target-specific club.
• Practice full swings and ¾ swings (and less) especially with your short irons.  Learn to “flight” your golf ball.

  Playing the Game

• Play your favorite hole on the driving range.  Imagine the situation and be target specific.
• Work on different distances, different lies, different trajectories, different elements such as wind, and various club selections.
• Golf Course:  Stop keeping score.  Become more “task-at-hand oriented.”  Keep stats such as fairways hit, greens in regulation, up and downs, and putts.
• Play every round as if it is an important tournament; however, do not keep score.  Stay in the moment of present / present future.

8 Nov 2013 Corina Pelloni

REACHING THAT NEXT LEVEL (PART 2)

Do you want to reach that next level as a golfer?  Tour players have consistent practice routine that they follow to prepare themselves for “playing the game of golf” on the actual golf course.  The following are some tips to help you improve your short game practice routine. Putting Mechanics

• Straight 3-foot putts on chalk line.  Make a set number such as 18, 25, or more.
• Use guide or training aids for alignment and path.

  Distance Control

• Hit five or more long putts only working on feel.
• Work on 15-foot putts using a 14-inch arc behind the hole

  Playing the Game

• Three-putt game – go nine holes, and each time you three-putt you must return to “Q” School, where you must return to the 3-foot chalk line and make 10 more short putts.  A long putt made gives you an exemption from “Q” School.
• Star Drill:  Place five balls in a 3-foot circle around a hole with various breaking putts.  You must make all five or start over.  After completion, graduate to a slightly larger (longer putt) star.

  Short Game Mechanics

• 20 balls chipping to same hole.  Use guide or training aids for alignment and path.  The goal is good contact and technique.

  Distance Control

• Hit three balls to one hole, and then change to another hole.
• Work on different distances, different lies, and various club selections.

  Playing the Game

• Up and down game – go 9 or 18 holes trying to make a chip (or pitch) and a one-putt.  The PGA Tour’s best player’s scrambling average is over 70%.  Set a number such as 60% and try to match or better it.  If you don’t, go back to “Q” School and make 10 short putts.  A chip-in gives you an extra up-and-down.
• Random Drill:  Throw balls around a practice green with various lies, distances, and difficulty.  Try to have all your shots in a manageable putt range around the hole.

  The Top Tour Averages are: (up & downs)  75%; Sand:   65%.

5 Nov 2013 Corina Pelloni

PRE-ROUND ROUTINE

Many of our students don’t practice enough, but then again, that can apply to many of us as well.  An average golfer may rush from his car to the course.  They might take 20 minutes to warm up prior to teeing off; typically, they will hit some shots, maybe putt a few balls, then off to the tee.  It is important to teach our students how to properly warm up for a round of golf, especially when they are rushed for time. To me, it is more important to have a good feeling regarding your short game versus the long game.  Too many players think they need to hit a lot of drivers on the range, because that is the club they will most likely use off the first tee.  We all know that everyone misses greens and the importance of having a good short game, but too often, our students don’t spend the time getting their “feel” ready for the round. I recommend my students embrace a pre-round routine that takes about 10-15 minutes to complete and will help them score better.  To begin, I have them put four tees in a cross shape around a cup on the practice putting green from about three feet.  They putt from each tee.  This will give them a right-to-left putt, left-to-right putt, uphill putt and downhill putt.  I have them go through this drill five times.  They now have confidence to knock down the first three-footer of the day. Next, I have them move their balls back to approximately 30 feet from the hole, keeping the tees in the same position from the previous drill.  They will then putt from this distance, trying to get each ball within the three-foot circle, all the while working on pace.  Getting their speed down for the round will help eliminate three-putts and help lower their score.  After lag putting, they move just off the green and practice chip shots, again to the same cup with the tees, and all the while continuing to focus on feel and speed. The last portion of the warm-up is to move back far enough to hit some pitch shots, again to the same hole.  The student has now worked on short putts, lag putting, chip shots and pitch shots.  They should have a great feel for their short game and the pace of the greens. This quick pre-round routine will help your students to get into the “scoring” mindset versus the “mechanical” mindset.  They won’t worry as much about poorly struck golf shots, because they know their short game is sharp.  I hope your students will enjoy this pre-round routine as much as mine do.

4 Oct 2013 Corina Pelloni

REFINING YOUR GOLF TEACHING SKILL

Three simple elements that will make you a better golf instructor: Positive Communication  Make sure you introduce the skill in a clear and concise way.  Use language that the golfer can understand.  Try to be as brief as possible and create a positive learning environment. • Get the golfer’s attention. • Make sure that the golfer can see and hear everything about the skill that they need to. • Give a reason for learning the skill. Demonstrations Every picture is worth a thousand words.  Shapes you see affect shapes you make.  Show more and talk less.  Ask players to mentally rehearse the movement after they have seen the demonstration.  For your own credibility, it is important that you use demonstration.  If you cannot perform the skill, use the best available model, or even use a video. The Golf Swing is not Static When someone hits a golf ball, the swing is a continuous motion.  Too often the motion is broken down into separate parts, resulting in a loss of the continuity. The golf swing is best taught by correcting a flaw with a key thought or feeling.  Find a simple solution that allows the student to continue the motion of a full swing.  Encourage drills or training aids that promote the complete swinging motion.  These thoughts or feelings are less likely to break down when put under pressure.

4 Oct 2013 Corina Pelloni

KNOW YOUR YARDAGE

I have the pleasure of working with some great high school student-athletes who want to play at the college level.  Tournament golf is very different from recreational golf, and scoring average is very important.  As many of you know, the short game is the most important component of scoring, which makes it the place we need to focus most of our practice time. When I begin working with a new student, I walk off 20 or 30 yards, drop a head cover, walk another 30 yards, and drop another head cover.  I will ask them how far the head covers are and after their guess, we shoot the head covers with a laser range finder.  More often than not, they are far off with their guesses.  This exercise is a great segue into talking about the importance of knowing your distance and the impact it will have on your next shot.  If they are off by 10 yards, this equates to a longer putt of almost 30 feet. A great drill to improve your wedge distance control is to measure out 10-yard intervals from 30 to 100 yards.  Drop small towels or range buckets at each increment.  Start hitting wedges with the student’s most-lofted wedge.  Hit 10 balls using a half-swing.  Measure the average of all the shots and record the carry distance.  Move to a three-quarter swing, repeat, and then finish with a full swing.  Replicate this exercise with all wedges.  For me, I prefer to carry four wedges, so I have three swing-lengths with each club, and I have 12 reliable yardages inside the scoring area. Knowing average yardages will allow your students to improve their short game, and in turn, lower their scoring average.  Not only that, you will help your students increase their confidence inside 100 yards, giving them a reliable game plan for shots within that distance.  

4 Oct 2013 Corina Pelloni

STAYING IN CONTROL OF YOUR GOLF LESSONS!

Have you ever felt yourself losing control of a golf lesson? I see it happen quite often, and in all honesty, it has happened to me more than once. Maybe you think you have never lost control of a golf lesson in the past. I’m not talking about the entire lesson being in disarray with you and your student hollering at each other. Hopefully, if you do lose control, it will be much more subtle than that. What can we use as criteria to determine losing control of a golf lesson? How about a breakdown in communication, to the point of your student saying that he/she doesn’t understand what you are saying to them? What about you and your student disagreeing on the objective of that lesson? What if your student was to get frustrated to the point of raising their voice towards you and telling you that you don’t know what you’re doing? I remember losing control of a lesson once, and from all appearances, my student had no idea that I felt that way. Let me tell you what happened! With the help of video, I had shown my student that his trailing leg was bowing outwards during the backswing. I explained that we needed to keep the knee on the inside of the foot at the top. I had the student do some drills, make some practice swings, and then hit some golf balls. After hitting a few balls, the student was getting frustrated because he was hitting the ball so badly. Frustration was rising! Finally, he hit a ball very nicely, and I could see that he was pleased. His pleasure with hitting the ball that way broke the tension that was present. I liked it that he was so pleased, but I said something to him that I really didn’t believe. I said, “Now that was better!” It wasn’t, though. His knee bowed out as bad as it ever had. You see, I lost control of the lesson right there. In one sense, it was an honest mistake, because I really wanted to give the student some praise, and my intentions were to help. However, I allowed my student’s frustration to cause me to lose focus and say something that I knew wasn’t true. I knew better than that, though, and in the years that have passed since, I’ve been careful not to make that kind of mistake again. So, let me give you my opinion about this kind of situation. A few minutes into a lesson, after an evaluation has been made and a certain amount of give-and-take between the student and teacher has taken place, the teacher should make it very clear to the student what they will be working on. The teacher should always remember that the student is sensing a different feel each time they make a repetition of a certain motion or position. If the teacher tells the student that he did well, even though he did not make the correct motion but did hit the ball solidly, the student’s confusion will only be magnified. Remember this:  Although you don’t always need to say everything that is on your mind to a student, you should never say something that you know is untrue, even if you’re doing it to relieve a tense moment. If you are going to stay in control of a lesson, you need clear communication, an objective, and the self-confidence to stay focused on that objective, even when you feel that the student is becoming frustrated. Your students are coming to you because they want you to lead them…so lead them! Many of them can sense when your confidence is wavering. Hold their nose to the grindstone, or to use another term, keep their feet to the fire. Train them that if they will work on the new position and not worry how they hit the ball, they will make more efficient progress. Trust your instincts and teach with confidence. Let me balance that out now! At the end of the day, the quickest path to trusting your instincts and teaching with confidence is by constantly assessing your decisions and actions and having the guts to admit when you were wrong. Good golfing!

9 Sep 2013 Corina Pelloni

KEEPING UP WITH TECHNOLOGY

For anyone in the golf business, especially an instructor, it is imperative to keep up with the latest golf technology. Sometimes it concerns golf clubs, but more often than not, it is the technology related to improving the golfer’s game that is constantly improving. To illustrate my point, if we wrote a book on technology related to teaching the game just five years ago, the book would already be very obsolete. Some of the best products to hit the market heavily this year are the instant golf swing feedback devices. Most of these devices hook onto your golf club. There are even products that are placed in your golf glove. Products like this fall into the same category as video or training aids – they need a professional to interpret the data correctly for the student. That is why I think any serious instructor should invest in one of these devices. In some ways, technology can hurt the teaching business, but in many ways it can help. A student can now instantly see their path or speed, etc. But, they need the instructor to teach them how to improve it. The other benefit is the ability to have verification of what is actually happening in the swing. This is very similar to swing video analysis, except, instead of pictures, you are getting raw data and numbers. So, how do these devices work? The first of these devices came out from Germany and Japan several years ago. The engineering principal is based on measuring what the club is doing as it moves. Originally, string gauges built into the device and then placed on the club would send signals to a computer through Bluetooth technology. The technology behind it and the size has evolved, and the price has come down dramatically. How fast was the club moving? What direction? How much rotation? That is the basis of the feedback the device records. With the advent of smartphones and increased competition, there are more devices to choose from, and they are Apple- or Android-based, or both. No need for the bulky desktop or laptop computer. The specific feedback can vary, but typically it will instantly and accurately record clubhead speed, plane, path, shaft angles, and face position during the entire swing. The feedback shows up directly on your phone or tablet. If you use your imagination as an instructor, you could use this during the lesson to verify changes or improvements. There are so many ways to use this information to improve the swing that it would take several articles like this to cover it all. You could use it easily for someone looking for the keys in their swing to increase their clubhead speed, for example. Another easy example would be swing plane. One of the great things about these devices are the many 3D views you can see of the swing. You could instantly see if a new swing thought produced a different plane or path. A little experimentation by the professional is the best way to learn. Before buying, read the reviews, make sure you can return it if necessary, and pay close attention to how well it stays attached to the club. As I have preached to instructors for years, be open-minded when it comes to things that might help your students. Technology can be scary, but you have to jump in there and experiment. If you are instructor older than 50, it is imperative to keep up. Trust me, the young teachers will be using technology to help their students!

9 Sep 2013 Corina Pelloni

CHARITY GOLF TOURNAMENTS

We have all been asked by a friend or colleague to play in a charity scramble, one of those six-hour tournaments where you swing out of your shoes to kill every drive.  Many golf professionals hate playing scrambles, especially ones that take up the entire day.  If you have to spend an extensive amount of time playing in a tournament such as this, consider it a great opportunity to build your business, and at the same time, benefit the tournament without playing a six-hour round. When I hear about charity tournaments, I call the tournament director or organizer, explain who I am, and that I would like to donate my time and skills to the tournament by giving free five-minute video lessons to the players.  100% of the time, the tournament organizer is ecstatic that you are offering this service. On the day of the tournament, I show up about 1 ½ hours prior to the start of the round.  I always go into the pro shop to say hi to the host golf professionals and let them know what I will be doing that day.  They are normally busy and don’t care that you are there, but I feel it is a great way to show your professionalism.  I find the tournament organizer and introduce myself. Once at the driving range, I fire up my iPad that is downloaded with swing-evaluation software.  I personally use V1 Golf; it is a $4.99 app on iTunes.  The participants will walk over and I will ask them to give me a quick 30-second snapshot of their golf game.  I take two videos: One from directly in front of the student, and one from behind looking down the target line. After giving them a one-minute video lesson, I will show them a quick drill to help their problem.  I explain that normally my lessons are 45 minute long and give them a brief synopsis of what I like to do.  After the lesson, I make sure to seal the deal with a handshake, thank them for playing in the tournament, and then hand them a business card. By donating your time, you are able to build a positive reputation in the community and also generate more lessons.  Most of the tournament organizers help with other tournaments and they call to invite me to other tournaments.  You will be surprised at how two hours of donated free time will help your business thrive and flourish.