Editorial

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!

13 Aug 2013 Corina Pelloni

PUTTING LESSONS: THE LESSONS THAT ARE OFTEN FORGOTTEN

For the longest time, I didn’t understand why people ask for putting tips, but never ask for a putting lesson.  Many people don’t understand the importance of putting, and if they do, they can’t rationalize spending the money for a putting lesson.  About a year ago, I started offering putting lessons for $20 for 20 minutes. I found out a few things by doing this.  I increased my hourly wage, and I was able to generate a lot of lessons from people who weren’t taking lessons prior.  My hourly lesson rate is $45 per hour, and at three putting lessons per hour, I increased my hourly wage to $60 per hour.  Obviously, more money is never a bad thing, but the extra students gained and having my name associated with that of being a specialized putting coach was an added bonus. After a few months of advertising putting lessons, I started having students take a putting lesson, even though they might already have a swing coach.  It helped differentiate myself from other teachers, and now people consider me a “putting guru.” When it comes to any business, you need to have something to distinguish yourself from your competition.  It could be price, location, style, or even something basic like offering putting lessons that other teaching professionals don’t advertise. Happy teaching!

12 Aug 2013 Corina Pelloni

WHO DETERMINES THE RIGHT TO PRIVACY?

We all want it: The right to be free from someone telling us what we can and can’t do. As long as it is within the law and does no harm to someone else, it should be no one’s business what we do in our daily lives. The Open Championship was held at Muirfield this year, a private men-only golf club. A lot of people in the press and public office decried the fact that the Royal & Ancient Golf Club, which runs the championship, held the tournament here.  How can you put on such a public event at a location that discriminates against women, was the cry! I think sometimes people read into the meaning of words a bit too much. To discriminate means simply to differentiate between things. One can, however, put intent behind a word and elevate the meaning, but there has to be an expressed intent. I see no evidence that male-only clubs were formed with the express intent to hurt women or vice versa. There are female-only golf clubs in existence. The Ladies Club in Toronto a prime example. Sometimes, people like to be together with others of similar background, beliefs, and, dare I say it – gender. So what? Stop making a federal case out of it. It’s the Girl Scouts, the National Organization of Women, the Ladies Professional Golf Association, or any number of associations geared for specific forms of activity or recreation. As a society, we should only be concerned when such groups raise the dialogue to intentionally exclude or harm others. I don’t see any evidence that the Honorable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, who are based at Muirfield, are going around trying to keep women from playing golf. If they want to have a men-only golf club, they should be free to do so. That is what freedom is all about, as long as there is no intent to harm anyone else. Time to lighten up a bit. I take the stance of Groucho Marx, who said, “I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.”

12 Aug 2013 Corina Pelloni

TEACH CORRECT WARM-UP TECHNIQUES

Fitness research has shown that proper warm-up technique does not start with stretching.  This goes against traditional thinking.  Stretching is the same as activating or using a muscle.  Just as in lifting a dumbbell, when stretching a muscle group the muscles must expand and then contracts to complete the task.  Imagine walking into the gym and curling a 60 lb. dumbbell without warming-up. The correct technique is to warm up slowly before stretching.  This could include a slow jog, but more realistically for the golfer, simply striking a few short shots with an easy swing.  The best way is to make short 20-30 yard pitch shorts then slowly working into ¾ pitch shots.  After a few minutes, begin stretching out the muscles focusing on the major muscle groups for golf.  Some important golf muscles groups: back, shoulders, forearms and wrist, leg and hamstrings. Remember to never “bounce” when stretching, but to hold the position for a few seconds and return to the relaxed position. As golf is an athletic game, learning correct warm-up techniques will help your clients have a more enjoyable golfing experience.  It also decreases the risk of injury, therefore promoting continued lessons requested from the client.

11 Jul 2013 Corina Pelloni

“GOLF IS A GAME OF HERITAGE AND TRADITION”…REALLY?

I love baseball. Here is a game rich with tradition and time-honored practices. Over the years, I’ve seen my share of well-executed double plays or a bullet thrown from deep short to beat a runner by a single step. Year after year, and yet I never tire of it. Golf claims to have such a legacy, but today’s game is nothing like the game that first took hold in this country or the game I played growing up in the 1950s and ’60s. In fact, if golf does have a tradition, it is one of constant change. The driving force behind all of it is one thing – distance. Everyone is obsessed with it. Just about every new lesson starts with, “How do I get more distance?” It has spawned an industry that spends most of its working days building stuff for the sole purpose of getting the ball to fly farther. That has created another industry of mankind dedicated to holding the line to keep the game from getting too easy. A lot of people claim that golf has to do such things to grow, that today’s golfer is different than his or her parents or grandparents. I have mixed feelings. Certainly, regular innovation in equipment and balls is good for business. Golf employs a lot of people. So, who is to say that what has constantly gone on with golf evolving is a bad thing? On the other hand, I like playing older courses that have not been modernized. People should be able to play the game in the manner that pleases them most. Baseball can adhere to tradition – the average Joe is an observer of this, game not a participant. Anyone can play golf and play for the rest of their lives. Whatever makes them happy or makes the game easier is generally what the public will gravitate to. In that sense, it is not really a game of tradition. Maybe there is nothing wrong with that.

11 Jul 2013 Corina Pelloni

HAVE YOU TAKEN A LESSON LATELY?

As teaching professionals, we must continue to learn.  We have to better our skills and possess the desire to learn more.  There are many ways to learn:  Read books written by the top teachers, visit with other teaching professionals (at events like the USGTF’s US Cup), and take lessons. By taking lessons from accredited teachers, it will help you learn to communicate with your students better.  We have all had lessons when the student didn’t understand what we were trying to convey.  This didn’t mean we didn’t know what we were talking about, but it meant we weren’t communicating properly with this particular student.  Listening to other teachers describe a problem or how to perform a certain drill helps you learn other ways to speak with your students. This spring, we had a teaching professional move into a local country club.  His bio was very impressive.  I called and scheduled a lesson with him.  At the time of our lesson, he told me he was shocked that I called him for advice.  We talked awhile about the passion for learning, which provided a great opportunity to discuss ideas about teaching styles, techniques, swings, theories . . . the list goes on.  Our 30-minute lesson turned into two hours of great conversation and also turned in a good friendship. Don’t be afraid to learn from any available avenues.  When taking a lesson from another teaching professional, ask questions, stir up conversation, and listen.  By growing this listening and clear-communication skill set, your students will see a difference and your business will grow.

11 Jul 2013 Corina Pelloni

THE VALUE OF TRAINING AIDS

With some students, words, demonstrations, and even drills aren’t enough. In these cases, the use of training aids can provide the teaching professional with an additional option to help improve a student’s understanding. Training aids are just as the name implies: An aid to assist in teaching and to assist the student in learning. The myriads of training devices available seemingly address every aspect of the golf game. These aids come in all types, from inexpensive and homemade (such as a cut-down broom, a towel under the arms) to expensive and elaborate. In the minds of some, teaching devices fall in to the category of gimmicky, running from questionable to worthless. True, there are some bad teaching aids, which tend to drag the good ones down. In using a training aid, the student should have enough repetitions until they truly feel what the aid is teaching them. At this point, the student can then make some practice swings and hit some balls without the aid.  Your job as the teaching professional is to make sure that the student is incorporating what they learned from the training device. The most effective training aids have proven to be the ones where the student actually gets to swing a club and hit shots. Training aids that do not involve a student in swinging a club have proven to be less effective, but nevertheless can still provide some merit. Training aids that do too much of the work for the student do not teach the students as effectively as training aids which require the student to do his/her fair share of the work.

7 Jun 2013 Corina Pelloni

ARE WE KEEPING IT SIMPLE?

I was on my way to the lesson tee a few weeks ago, and one of the other teaching professionals was giving a lesson to a six-year-old boy.  Glancing at the boy’s swing, I would classify him as a beginner.  I overheard the pro telling the youngster and his dad that his clubface was too closed at the top of his swing.  Walking to my lesson I kept asking myself, “Do I keep things simple for my students . . .  especially children?” When teaching children or even beginners, we can often over-complicate things.  Many of us speak a language very few understand.  Swing plane, clubface angle, forearm rotation and spine angle are everyday terms in our world, but not many students know what they mean or how it applies to them.  Most people do not like to ask questions or admit they don’t know what we are talking about.  When you ask a student if they understand you, they usually say yes. For me, I like to make sure we are on the same page.  I will ask them to demonstrate what they think I am telling them to do.  This opens the communication line and also shows me as their teacher whether my style or word choice is being comprehended.  Students get excited when they demonstrate a proper drill or idea; they are engaged and their confidence builds. With children, keep is simple.  Have kids figure out how to hit the ball high or low, bump a shot through the fringe, and keep it fun.  As children develop and understand the game, you can begin to discuss more technical terms with them.  Don’t forget:  This form of simple communication should also be directed towards the parents.  In the beginning, perfect swing mechanics are the least of things with which young players should be concerned.  Our job is to help people enjoy the game, not bog it down with terms students they don’t understand.

4 Jun 2013 Corina Pelloni

WILL THIS YEAR’S US OPEN TELL US ANYTHING ABOUT MODERN GOLF?

Many people in golf believe that the distance people are hitting the golf ball these days is detrimental to the game. Yet, the governing bodies don’t seem to be overly concerned about it. Even though they acknowledge that the pros are hitting the ball farther, they counter with statements that the scoring has not changed very much. Rarely do they point to the fact that golf courses have gotten much longer to offset yardage gains. This year could have been a perfect opportunity to compare just how much modern equipment has changed the game, or not. The US Open is being played at the Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pennsylvania. In all previous Opens, the course ranged from 6,480 yards to 6,550 yards. That is what Merion played to in all previous Opens from Bobby Jones to David Graham. The opportunity to compare has been lost, as for this year’s tournament, the course has been lengthened to just under 7,000 yards. Rarely in this day and age do professional tournaments play on courses under 7,200 yards. Remember when the 600-yard hole at Firestone was considered a brute? Players reach this hole in two now, and some with irons. If equipment and balls have not mattered, then why the need to keep adding yardage? The only way to determine the true effect is to play on a course exactly as it was built. That won’t be the case, however, this year when there was a perfect opportunity to do so. Instead, we’ll get an altered layout with overgrown rough, and in the end, they will say the distance issue is a moot point. Oh yeah, and the moustache painted on the Mona Lisa looks real good too.

6 May 2013 Corina Pelloni

WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM ADAM SCOTT

This year’s Masters tournament provided a lot of great lessons we can learn from and teach our students.  The one that stands out the most in my mind is the patience that the winner, Adam Scott, exemplified during his final round.  Patience is something many of us preach to our students, or even try to work on in our own game, but it is more difficult to integrate than other skills. During the final round, Scott began his round with a bogey on the first hole.  His demeanor walking off the green was very calm; one couldn’t tell if he made a par or worse.  He parred the next hole, which is a par-5 that many players think is a birdie hole.  Again, he walked off the green very calm, not upset for making par.  Many players, including yours truly, start to press if they feel they are falling behind the leaders.  Scott kept calm and birdied the next hole. He then parred the next nine holes in a row, missing many makeable birdie putts.  His conduct never changed.  He stayed patient, knowing that he was hitting the ball well and that the putts would start to all.  If he would have started to press his game when he was not making birdies, he would have started to put more pressure on his ballstriking, possibly resulting in poor execution and possibly some bogeys. Scott made three birdies on the last six holes, eventually winning in a playoff.  His patience and calm demeanor allowed him to take advantage of great shots and not get in his own way, winning his first major.  It took me a long time to learn how to play this way.  I would always feel that missing short putts or not making birdies meant that I was falling behind the leaders.  Tournament golf is a long process.  You must stay patient and let the good scores come to you.