2019 Winter Issue Archives - United States Golf Teachers Federation

30 Apr 2019 admin

Keeping Connected to the USGTF

We are happy to announce that the United States Golf Teachers Federation is implementing a new social media marketing program. Through this program, it is our goal to provide an increased level of engagement and support of our members via our primary social media platforms. In order to facilitate this new engagement program, we would like for all members that are active on social media to take the following actions:

• Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/USGolfTeachersFed
• Follow us on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/us-golf-teachers-federation
• Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/USGOLFTEACHERS
• Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/usgolfteachers
• Follow us on Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/usgtf/boards

It isn’t necessary to have us or follow us on all social media platforms. If you have one in particular that you use as your primary source, then that would be the best platform for us to interact with you on. If you already follow one or all of our social media platforms and we aren’t following you back, please send us a direct message through the relevant platform and we will follow you back.

It is likely that most of you are already Facebook members, so it certainly makes sense to like and follow our Facebook page. Be sure and let us know through a direct message if you have a golf page that you would like us to follow back. Once we are following, we will, from time to time, like and share relevant posts/stories from your page to ours!

For LinkedIn followers: When you follow us, we will receive notification and will follow you back. If you already follow us, please send us your business page URL and we will follow you back. We will like and/or comment, and/or share relevant posts that you make on your business page. It would be greatly appreciated if you would do the same for us!

For Twitter followers: Once we follow you, we will add you to a Twitter list titled USGTF Members. This is a great tool for us be able to view your posts and interact with you without having to scroll through thousands of posts of others that we follow. When we see relevant and appropriate tweets that you make, we will like and/or retweet your posts. It may also be beneficial to you to add one of the three following hashtags to your profile and/or relevant posts: #usgtf, #usgtfpro, #usgtfmember

For Instagram followers: You should consider adding #usgtfmember or #usgtfpro, or simply #usgtf to your profile. Not only does this help us find you, but it may also help a potential customer or friend find your profile! We highly recommend that you add one of the above hashtags to any posts that you make that you believe are relevant to our relationship. We actively follow the three hashtags that are listed above, and will like and engage with posts that we feel are beneficial to both yourself and the USGTF in regard to advancing our goals as golf professionals.

For Pinterest followers: Once we have followed you back, please be sure and include a #usgtfmember, #usgtfpro or #usgtf hashtag to any pins that you create and that you believe are relevant to our relationship. We actively follow the three hashtags that are listed above and will like and engage with posts that we feel are beneficial to both yourself and the USGTF in regard to advancing our goals as golf professionals. We will add relevant professional quality pins to one of our appropriate boards given the subject being addressed. Just as a heads-up, we are primarily looking for pins in the categories of Golf Tips, Golf Fitness, Golf Teaching, Golf Coaching and Golf Psychology.

We look forward to interacting with you out in the virtual world. We believe that through our joint interaction we can more effectively reach out to future golf professionals, and help our members reach out to more potential clients.

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23 Apr 2019 admin

Heavy Matters: Swingweight

When it comes to clubfitting and club building, swingweight is one of the most enduring aspects of having a consistent set. If you go to any club manufacturer’s website and click on the specs link for their clubs, you will see the swingweight of that particular club listed.

Exactly what is swingweight, and what role does it play? Swingweight is the ratio of the weight of the lower end of the golf club compared to the upper end. A swingweight scale features a fulcrum point 14 inches (35.6 cm) from the end of the grip. The club is placed in the scale, and a sliding weight with a mark on it is used to balance the club on the scale. The mark on the sliding weight will correspond with a reading on the scale which is a letter/number combination, and that is the swingweight of that particular club.

Swingweights are designated from A0 to A9, B0 to B9, etc. For men, typical swingweights are in the D0-4 range, and for women in the C2-5 range. Club manufacturers try to get the swingweights of their iron sets to be consistent, but due to manufacturing tolerances, there may be a slight variation in swingweight from iron to iron, but would be undetectable to most golfers, even touring pros.

Changing the weight of the clubhead, grip, or shaft will change the swingweight of the club. The general rules are that a two-gram change in clubhead weight will change the swingweight one point (heavier = higher swingweight); a five-gram change in grip weight will change the swingweight one point (heavier = lower swingweight), and a nine-gram change in shaft weight will change the swingweight one point (heavier = higher swingweight).

When it comes to changing the weight of the shaft, this gets to be a tricky matter as some shafts have proportionally more weight nearer the grip end than they do the clubhead end. So merely changing from a 60-gram shaft in a driver, say, to a 70-gram shaft doesn’t necessarily mean the swingweight will be increased approximately one point. If the 70-gram shaft has proportionally more weight towards the grip end than does the 60-gram shaft, it’s possible the swingweights of both shafts will be the same. So the nine-gram rule of thumb for shafts assumes the weight is distributed the same throughout both shafts.

A change in the length of the club plays a role in swingweight. Adding or subtracting a half-inch (1.3 cm) to a club’s length changes the swingweight by three points (shorter = lower swingweight).

Wedges traditionally were proportionally heavier than the rest of the iron set, the belief being that the higher swingweights would allow for a more rhythmic swinging of the club. However, many wedges today are being built with similar or even lighter swingweights than in the rest of the iron set. The thinking here is this allows for a more surgical touch on the partial shots that are typically hit with the wedges.

There is also a school of thought that matching swingweights throughout the iron set actually isn’t ideal, as the longer clubs will feel heavier than the shorter clubs. The concept of “moment of inertia” of the entire club is used by some club builders. Under this concept, from the shortest irons to the longest, the club’s swingweight is reduced by one-half swingweight point from club to club, which MOI proponents say results in a set of irons that truly feels the same, weight-wise, throughout the set. Ping, for example, has shafts that get progressively lighter as the iron gets longer, as do True Temper’s Dynamic Gold AMT shafts. Whether this trend will continue remains to be seen.

Matching driver and fairway wood swingweights to the irons is something that may or may not be necessary, depending upon the golfer. Titanium drivers have lightweight graphite shafts, while irons for the most part still have heavier steel shafts. With the length of the driver being so much longer than an iron, a clubfitter needs to fit the driver separately from the irons in terms of swingweight.

The static weight of a club should not be confused with the swingweight of a club. Remember, swingweight is the ratio of the weight of one part of the club to the other. A club can be extremely heavy overall but have a light swingweight, and vice versa. Goldwin Golf, a now-defunct company, tried this years ago with extremely light static-weight clubs featuring heavy swingweights in the D7-8 range. While their premise was logical, it was likely too radical of a departure from what most golfers were used to. Dave Pelz went the opposite route in the 1980s with his Featherlite clubs, with swingweights in the B5 range. Again, while the science behind the idea may have been sound, golfers also preferred what they were used to in this case.

Swingweight is one aspect of what goes into making a golf club, but it’s an important one. If you or your students are unsure whether their clubs are matched for swingweight, a quick trip to the nearest club repair shop is in order.

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16 Apr 2019 admin

Patching Up A Slice

It’s the bane of many golfers worldwide, and one that frustrates them to no end the dreaded slice. On courses far and wide, slicing reigns supreme, especially preying upon those with double-digit handicaps.

Every golf teacher knows that the slice is the result of a clubface angle that is open to the clubhead path to a much greater degree than is desired. A clubface angle that is only slightly open to the clubhead path results in a fade, a much-sought-after ball flight among many skilled golfers.

Dustin Johnson, for example, became dominant when he was able to consistently fade the ball into the fairway with his driver. The difference between a fade and a slice is sometimes difficult to discern, but in general, a fade features a ball flight where one part of it is mainly straight. You might see a ball go up to its apex in a fairly straight manner and then curve gently on its downward flight, or curve slightly going up and then falling straight down. A fade is a ball flight that is in control and lands gently. A slice, on the other hand, features the ball constantly curving throughout its flight, and when the ball lands it tends to roll out.

Let’s review the setup first as it relates to a slice (we will assume the golfer is right-handed for the rest of this article). Most slicers have a left-hand grip that is too weak, with the V pointed to the left of the chin, and sometimes the club’s grip is held in the lifeline of the palm. Ball position tends to be too far forward, which results in a clubhead path traveling outside-in through impact in comparison to the stance line. Stance alignment may be either open, resulting in a clubhead path traveling left of the target line through impact, or closed, resulting in an over-the-top move during transition. Shoulder alignment for a slicer also tends to be quite open in relation to the stance line, a likely result of the ball position being too far forward. But even with a proper ball position, most slicers still have open shoulders, so this needs to be corrected.

Once the slicer is in a proper setup position, he now has a fighting chance to hit the ball straight, or at least with a manageable fade. The key now is to swing into a position at the top of the backswing (actually a position within transition) from where the golfer can have a more correct clubhead path and clubface angle. Most slicers and double-digit handicappers, for that matter start the downswing with their arms and hands instead of the lower body. No less than Ben Hogan wrote in his book Five Fundamentals that the hands should do nothing active until just above hip-height on the downswing, carried there by the turning and movement of the hips.

Most golfers would be surprised if they could feel what a good golfer feels at the start of the downswing. A good golfer’s arms and hands are literally doing nothing at all, just falling and moving in response to the action of the lower body. This is a key element that must be learned by a slicer, or else they will continue to struggle. The “pump” drill can be effective here. In this drill, the golfer starts the downswing by keeping the angle intact between the lead arm and club shaft until the hands are just above hip height, then bringing the arms and hands back to the top of the backswing, “pumping” the club down again before returning the club to the top of the backswing a second time, and then swinging through and hitting the ball.

Many slicers also overuse the right hand and arm during the downswing, throwing the clubhead outside in an over-the-top manner and perhaps early releasing before impact. These golfers are dramatically underusing their left side. Two drills that can help are swinging one-handed with the left arm only (holding the upper part of the left arm with the right hand), and letting go with the right hand at the moment of impact. This helps train the left side to do its fair share of the work. Swinging one-handed with either hand also helps train the correct clubhead path into the ball, as golfers should find it impossible to do anything but swing the way they are aiming.

Another problem slicers have is they tend to open up their shoulders too quickly on the downswing. The right shoulder needs to move more downward instead of out towards the target line. A golfer may feel the shoulders dramatically tilting by doing this, but this is the correct feel if they open up their shoulders too quickly. It can also help if the golfer tries to keep his back to the target on the downswing as long as possible, as this helps to deliver the clubhead from the inside.

The root cause of all of this, of course, is failure to start the downswing properly with the lower body. In the USGTF Technical Committee’s experience, getting a golfer to more properly use his lower body to start the downswing is a difficult chore for the teacher. Golfers who started the game as kids tend to use the lower body effectively, because when they started playing the club was relatively heavy to them and they naturally used and trained their lower body to start the downswing. Golfers who take up the game as adults mostly find the club relatively light, hence their propensity to have an arms-and-hands-dominated swing. But training the lower body is still encouraged.

As for squaring the clubface to the clubhead path at impact, the most common problem is failing to allow the clubhead to release properly through impact, where the clubhead rotates counter-clockwise. Golfing legend Tom Watson advises players to feel the left hand rotating from palm down before impact to palm up after. A golfer using a split-hands grip and making some practice swings will find that the clubhead will rotate naturally through the impact area. There are also training aids on the market that will give the student a feel for this, but swinging a broom also achieves the same aim. Finally, the teacher can physically move and rotate the student’s arms and hands through the impact area to give the student the feeling of proper release and rotation through impact.

Some teachers will tell you that the release should just happen naturally, the result of the lower body leading the downswing and the upper body, arms and hands following. This is technically correct, but if a student is not allowing the clubhead to rotate through impact, whether from tension or for any other reason, this movement must be trained. And how do we know that a slicer is releasing the clubhead properly through impact? Video won’t lie, and virtually everyone has a smartphone today with high-speed replay capability. Another way of knowing the player is releasing the club properly is if they are now hitting at least a gentle fade. A straight ball or a draw is not necessary in order to know the release is more correct.

There is debate among teachers whether the club-head path or the clubface angle must be addressed first, and this leads to an interesting observation. While ball flight laws tell us that the clubhead path must travel reasonably close to down the target line to hit a fade, draw or straight ball close to the intended target, many times a student is able to square the clubface angle to the clubhead path while pulling the ball to the left, and it may be impossible to get these students to swing parallel with the way they are aiming. In these cases, it may well be desirable to have the student simply aim right and pull the ball back to the target. With the driver in particular, we know that a golfer hitting the ball on the upswing will be swinging slightly left of the low point of their swing, so this may be something even good players need to do. Films of Hogan and Sam Snead show them doing just that with the driver.

Many of you reading this are experienced teachers who are well versed in fixing slices, so please consider this material as a refresher. For those of you newer to teaching, hopefully you will have found an additional teaching tip or two to help you solve one of the most frustrating problems in all of golf.

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5 Apr 2019 admin

Awareness: The Key To Improvement

There is a saying in golf that “feel isn’t real.” What people mean by this is that often, what a golfer thinks he or she is doing is not actually what is happening. As an example, take the golfer who is aligned too far to the left, but in fact thinks he is aligned straight. If we align this golfer straight, what do you think his perception will be? Of course, he now believes he is aligned too far to the right.

This brings up the principle that in order to make a change, a golfer has to feel as if he is doing the exact opposite of what he is actually doing. We emphasize the word feel because it is exactly that, a feel, and not reality. We don’t want the golfer to actually be aligned too far to the right, but the perception has to be as such in order to be aligned properly.

This is where some caution must take place. A golfer who needs to feel as if he is aiming too far right in order to be straight will undoubtedly be aiming too far right at some point, so constant monitoring is necessary. Other examples might be that of a shanker who needs to feel as if he is hitting the ball off the toe of the club – at some point, he is likely to actually do that. Or, a golfer who takes the club back too far to the inside and later is now taking it back too far to the outside. This phenomenon of overdoing a change cannot be overstated enough, and the teacher needs to make the student aware that this could very well happen.

This is where the concept of awareness becomes paramount. Tim Gallwey, in his classic book The Inner Game of Golf, theorized that awareness, as opposed to “do” instructions, was the key to improvement. In other words, making the student aware of what he was actually doing was far more effective than merely telling him what to do.

Although sports psychology and motor learning theory have gotten far more advanced than what Gallwey’s book offered, awareness is still a valuable principle in making motor pattern changes. Have you ever struggled to get a student to change a bad habit? If you’ve taught for any appreciable length of time, you have indeed experienced this. You might have explained to the student what the problem is and how to fix it (verbal instruction); demonstrated what the student is doing wrong and what he needed to do correctly, and/or shown the student a video of his swing (visual instruction), or moved the student through the correct patterns or given him drills to fix the problem (kinesthetic instruction). You’ve used all three senses available for golf instruction, but you have failed to effect a change in the student’s habits.

This is where alternative methods to create or increase awareness come into play. Let’s explore a few of them:

Deliberate bad practice swings
Having the student deliberately create his bad swing habit during a practice swing can give the student insight into what is actually happening. For example, a student is coming over the top but he cannot feel it. You might have him deliberately come over the top on a practice swing and then contrast that to a good practice swing, something that virtually everyone can do. The student might say he feels his trail shoulder being thrown outwards when he comes over the top, but feels it going more downward on a good practice swing. We would then have the student monitor what his trail shoulder does during the actual swing. Gallwey recommends using a scale of 0 to 5, where 0 might be no coming over the top while 5 is the maximum over the top move.

Half-speed swings
When a student is given a “do” instruction and then makes a swing full-bore, his automatic motor response may well kick in and no change will occur. Instead, if we have the student swing at half-speed, the conscious mind takes more control of the action, and most students are able to make a swing with the suggested change…at least to some degree.

Reduced-motion swings
Akin to making half-speed swings, this is where we have the student make a smaller swing. An example would be if we’re trying to teach a student to release the club properly through impact. We might have them do the toe-up to toe-up drill, where the club goes no farther back than horizontal to the ground and the follow-through matches that, concentrating on the release through impact. Or a student might early release. The pump drill, where a student fully cocks his wrists and goes up and down a couple of times in a half-swing motion, can give the student the feel of not early releasing.

Compare/contrast
Sam Snead once said the problem with most amateurs’ games is that they don’t use their practice swing to hit the ball. This is because most golfers, regardless of skill level, can make an acceptable practice swing with proper fundamentals. We can have our students take several practice swings, take note of what the overall motion feels like, and then have them hit a shot. The key here is not to have them try to duplicate their practice swing, but instead compare and contrast their hitting-the-ball swing with their practice swing. Most students should be able to feel the differences and similarities within a few shots.

Summary
We need to accept that some students are completely unable to make any changes to their swings, no matter who is teaching them or what methods are used. A few prominent teaching professionals have written that this has happened to them, too, so you’re not alone. But giving students an awareness of what they are actually doing is an invaluable tool that is probably vastly underutilized by most teaching professionals. Take the techniques mentioned here and give them a try when a student is having difficulties in making a change. You should find some forward progress with one or more of them.

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29 Mar 2019 admin

To Edinburgh and Back

By Mike Stevens, USGTF Teaching ProfessionalTampa, Florida

Edinburgh, Scotland, is old. Evidence of people in the area date to 8500 BC. The city has been home to royalty, novelists, poets, engineers, scientists and golfers. It is the home of the oldest golfing society – the Royal Burgess Golfers of 1735. They played at Bruntsfield Links, which is steps from the heart of the city. It is still in operation today as a 36-hole short course which is free to everyone. A few blocks away is Leith Links, where the first rules of golf were established by John Rattray in 1744. The course no longer exists and now serves as an open park, but once a year the course is laid out for play as it was back those many years ago. Leith was also the site of the first international match between Scotland and England in 1681, featuring the Duke of York, who would become King James VII.

On this occasion of my travel to the golfer’s land, the lovely Mrs. Stevens and I let an apartment adjoining Holyrood Park across from Arthur’s Peak, the top of which I reached one day, giving me a magnificent view of the city and Edinburgh Castle. We were there for the annual World Hickory Open and Archie Baird International matches. There’s nothing more satisfying than golf on century-old courses with the clubs of the original game. Just east of the city are the courses of East Lothian, where this year the venues were Gullane #3, Luffness New and Kilspindie. Those familiar with the area know these well. A record number of participants from around the globe gathered at the sites, including four from the Florida Hickory Golfers clan.

The weather was spectacular for the entire week. Think of fall in New England. Not a drop of rain, either. Our first round was played at Gullane #3, and I managed to turn a good round into a mediocre 79 and a five-shot deficit. On day two at Luffness New, my game was just not there. Numerous mental mistakes and a couple of bad breaks resulted in a disastrous 85, well back of winner Johan Moberg of Sweden. Such is golf, and age has caught up to me. For our third and fourth rounds, we ventured over to 150-year-old Kilspindie GC, where the Florida Hickory Golfer team of myself, Winter Park’s Bill Geisler, Lakelander Mike Tracy and Tampan Steve Haigler managed to take third place in the Archie Baird International Championship. It was a great way to close out the week.

The remainder of the trip was a respite from golf, as the frau and I spent time wandering Edinburgh’s many historic sites, from the Queen’s Palace, the National Museum, and another trek up Arthurs Peak to the café where J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter , “for sure, maybe, possibly,” as it said on the marquee. We especially liked the writer’s museum chronicling the lives of Robert Lewis Stevenson, Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott. I have to say, it is one of the most fascinating cities I have had occasion to visit.

I said Edinburgh is old. Everywhere you go there are dates on buildings going back centuries, and then you arrive at Castle Rock, which dominates and overlooks the city. The “Maidens Castle” goes back to 989 BC. In America, Scotland is known for golf, but her contributions to the world are so much more.

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22 Mar 2019 admin

Making Sense of Modern Wedge Design

Years ago, picking a wedge was simple. In addition to your normal iron set, usually 3-PW, you would buy a sand wedge to complement the set. Companies usually had only one choice of sand wedge, usually 56° in loft, and one bounce and grind option that wasn’t even stamped onto the clubhead. Professional golfers who desired a different grind would manually grind down the sole themselves, or have a clubmaker do it for them.

That has all gone out the window today. Walk into any golf store that has a decent selection of products, and you will find wedges anywhere from 46° to 64°, with all sorts of bounce angles and sole grinds. S-grind, M-grind, W-grind…it’s enough to make anyone’s head spin. Let’s dig in and try to make some sense of all of this so you can help your students select the wedges suited for their games.

Be aware that many of your students will not even have a sand wedge in their set. A sand wedge is important because the proper bounce angle on the flange helps to get the ball out of sand. In addition, it’s a versatile club that can be used around the greens and even for full shots.

Here’s a brief description of the names of each loft:
• Pitching wedge: 46°, 48°, 50°
• Gap wedge: 50°, 52°, 54°
• Sand wedge: 54°, 56°, 58°
• Lob wedge: 58°, 60°, 62°
• X-wedge: 64° and higher

You will notice some overlap in lofts between descriptions. That’s because that particular loft can serve multiple purposes, depending upon the set makeup. There is also an angle of bounce of the flange, as we mentioned earlier. Normally with pitching and gap wedges, this angle of bounce is fairly low, perhaps in the 4° to 8° range. Sand wedges are usually in the 10° to 14° range, and lob and x-wedges have bounce angles similar to those in pitching and gap wedges.

As a general rule of thumb regarding bounce angles, the steeper the angle of attack, the greater the bounce angle is needed. If we have a steep angle of attack with a low-bounce wedge, it can dig in to the turf and decelerate quickly before the ball has had a chance to leave the clubface, negatively affecting the shot. As another rule of thumb, the softer the turf and ground, the more bounce angle is needed.

Sole grinds and flange sizes are another aspect of wedge design. The bigger the flange and the more the sole is exposed to the ground, the lesser the versatility it provides. The smaller the flange and the less the sole is exposed to the ground (something shaped like a “half-moon”), the more the versatility is available.

A dilemma in selecting a wedge can occur for someone who has a steep angle of attack who plays on firm turf, and someone with a shallow angle of attack who plays on soft turf. This is where sole grind and flange size come into play. For the steep angle/firm turf player, a higher angle of bounce with a smaller flange and a sole grind that is more of a half-moon might be a good option. A player who has a shallow angle of attack who plays on soft turf might benefit from a lower bounce with a fuller sole grind. However, as with many things in golf, these are preferences and may not necessarily work for a particular golfer. If a player is going to hit mainly full shots with a wedge, the bounce angle and sole grind become less important, as the ball is likely to be off the clubface by the time the clubhead interacts with the turf.

Most golfers, despite their attack angle and turf conditions, would likely benefit from playing wedges with more bounce. Wedges used in the sand, in particular, should have bounce angles of at least 10°, and bounce angles of 12° to 14° should be strongly considered.

Wedge design today is a highly involved science and art that has resulted in a dizzying array of choices. Make sure your students have loft gaps of no less than 4° and no greater than 6°, and then help them select their arsenal based on the advice given here. And since many golf retail stores offer 90-day playability guarantees, if the wrong wedge selections are made, they can easily go back and get the right ones for their game.

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14 Mar 2019 admin

The New Fundamentals of Teaching The Driver

Okay, so in full disclosure, these fundamentals may not exactly be new, but hey, this catchy headline grabbed your attention, didn’t it? And we are going to introduce a thought that may be somewhat controversial. In any event, there are distinct differences between what was taught a number of years ago with what is necessary today to get maximum effectiveness out of the driver.

Back in the persimmon wood and balata ball era, the desired ball flight started low and then all of a sudden climbed up into the sky. This was due to the dimple pattern on the golf ball, the construction of the ball itself, and the downward strike that most good players employed, which resulted in much higher backspin rates than we see today.

We know now that to get maximum distance, the ball flight must be fairly high and the backspin rate fairly low. It wasn’t too long ago that a launch angle of 10° to 12° with backspin under 3,300 rpm was considered ideal. Launch monitors tell us that launch angles of 15°, 16°, and even 17° and 18° are required for golfers of average swing speeds to carry the ball its maximum distance, and spin rates should be under 2,500 rpm. TaylorMade Golf, a USGTF industry partner, tells us that the holy grail of driver ball flight is 17° of launch angle with 1,700 rpm of backspin. Today’s driver and shaft combinations make that possible, although it can be difficult for many golfers to achieve.

Golfers tend to make the same mistakes when it comes to the driver. They don’t tee the ball high enough and they don’t set up properly. They then tend to swing outside-in in relation to the intended target line with a downward strike and an open clubface, further robbing them of distance.

To correct these problems, the first thing is to make sure at least half the ball is teed above the top of the clubface. As traditionally taught, ball position should be opposite the forward heel. Many golfers suffer from a stance that is too narrow, and it’s recommended that the stance be wide enough so the insides of the heels are at least shoulder-width.

Here is where things get interesting. The USGTF Technical Committee sees golfers who, time after time, set up with open shoulders in relation to the feet and a back shoulder that is far too high. This results in not only improper alignment, but a center of mass and a body tilt that is too far forward. It is imperative that these golfers set up with square shoulders and a lower back shoulder, with the center of mass centered between the feet or even slightly back. Most golfers who are put in this position will tell you that they feel really closed to the target line with their shoulders and that they are leaning too far back, but a simple picture or quick video should convince them otherwise.

We’ve long been taught that a backswing that is too far to the inside will result in an over-the- top swing, but the Technical Committee has been seeing more and more golfers who incorrectly take the club back too far to the outside. Members of the Technical Committee have found success in encouraging players to take the club back more to the inside and returning the club from the inside with an upwards strike. This might go against what you’ve been taught or even your personal experience with some students, but we’ve found this is a necessity with many.

In order to return the club from the inside, students should be encouraged to keep their back to the target on the downswing much longer than they are used to. Many of these students spin their shoulders out prematurely, which throws the club to the outside and results in the dreaded outside-in swing path through impact. Another image that has worked well is to get the student to drive the butt end of the club into an imaginary target that is to the right of the target line. While technically the direction of the downswing path is determined by the quality of the transition move from backswing to downswing, getting a student to move the hands and arms in a certain direction can be a path to success. Please be aware, and we are not ignorant of the fact, that these tidbits of teaching instruction will not work on everyone. But when it comes to getting a student to deliver the clubhead to the ball in a certain way, we must be open to ideas that we may not have thought of or are different than what we may believe.

Equipment-wise, some students don’t want to go out and buy a new $500 driver every year, but the fact is that there are incremental improvements with each iteration of driver introductions by the major manufacturers. So while it’s not necessary to buy a new driver annually, a driver should be updated at least every 2-3 years. Manufacturers keep making the effective sweet spots on drivers bigger so that mis-hits will lose very little distance compared to sweet-spot strikes. Spin rates are being optimized and equipment makers are also finding ways to, in effect, get around the USGA limits on spring-face technology and have produced drivers with more ball speed the last couple of years.

The bottom line with teaching the driver is the ball flight must be fairly high with low spin rates. Through equipment and innovative teaching, we can get our students to take part in the driver distance revolution that has consumed the golf world the past several years.

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1 Mar 2019 admin

Clubface Contact, The “Forgotten” Aspect of the Ball Flight Laws

We’ve long been taught that the two main aspects of the ball flight laws are clubhead path through impact and clubface angle at impact. These are the two main focal points of most teaching, because a clubface angle that is square to the clubhead path at impact will produce a dead straight shot…or so we’ve been taught.

Before we go any further, let’s look at the five aspects of the ball flight laws:
• Clubhead path through impact
• Clubface angle at impact
• Centeredness of clubface contact
• Angle of approach
• Clubhead speed

Assuming a square clubface angle to the clubhead path at impact, what could possibly happen, besides an outside force such as the wind, to make the ball not go straight? The answer to that would be failing to contact the ball on the club’s “sweet spot,” or center of percussion. Technically, the sweet spot is only a small point on the clubface, so if a ball is not perfectly or close to perfectly struck on this spot, a reaction known as “gear effect” takes place. Basically, the ball rolls or attempts to roll toward the center of percussion if it is not perfectly struck. Here is what happens when the four general areas around the sweet spot – above, below, on the toe and on the heel – strike the ball:

Above: Virtually every shot with any sort of decent contact will have backspin, so a ball struck here will not produce topspin. But it will reduce the amount of backspin, unless the club is descending at such an angle at impact that the golfer only contacts the lower part of the ball, in which case a pop-up with lots of backspin results (usually with a driver, fairway wood or hybrid; doing this with irons is rare). Hitting the ball above the sweet spot is important to produce long drives, so drivers are manufactured with a very low sweet spot in most cases. Irons hit appreciably above the sweet spot will produce shots with greatly reduced distance.

Below: A large increase in backspin will result, unless the ball is skulled or topped.

On the toe: This is where gear effect becomes extremely noticeable. High-speed video shows that balls hit on the toe of the club result in a clubface that twists open, sometimes severely, upon contact. Since the ball will want to roll towards the center of percussion, hook spin results. Launch monitor data show that toe strikes with a square clubface and path result in a hook the majority of times, and can even overcome an open clubface to the point of still producing a hook! On other occasions, if the toe strike is especially severe or the player has weaker hands, the clubface can open to an extent that it results not in a hook but a more severe fade or slice. This is not as common as a draw or hook with a toe strike, but it has been shown through the GC Quad launch monitor, which has the capability of “seeing” where on the clubface the ball was struck.

On the heel: As with toe strikes, heel strikes have noticeable gear effect, with fades and slices resulting. Here as well, heel strikes can produce fades and slices even when the clubface is closed to the clubhead path at impact. Although heel strikes often close the clubface at impact, they do not normally make a hook worse, according to GC Quad data. This is due to the heel being closer to the shaft than the toe, which means lack of hand strength isn’t as much of a factor as it can be with toe hits.

So, how can we use all of this in our teaching? It’s important to see where the student is striking the ball on the clubface so we can determine if something else is causing an errant ball flight besides clubhead path and clubface angle. With a driver, impact stickers or foot powder spray do the trick nicely. Impact stickers tend to also work on irons when hitting off of grass, and will always work on artificial turf mats. Foot powder spray may not work very well with irons hit off the grass.

If clubhead path and clubface angle are the two main aspects of the ball flight laws, then centeredness of contact is a close, and in fact a very close, third. Some teachers even argue that it’s the most important, because without striking the clubface squarely nothing else matters. Whatever your position, pay attention to this most important aspect of the ball flight laws.

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26 Feb 2019 admin

Who Is In Your Shadow?

By Norm Crerar, USGTF Contributing Writer, Vernon, British Columbia

I am going to receive a medal. Word came via a phone call from the Governor General’s office about mid-July. For readers not familiar with Canadian history and culture, Queen Elizabeth is Queen of Canada, and as she does not reside in Canada, a Governor General is appointed to fill in for her. The post is somewhat symbolic, but it is a functioning part of our government.

The kind lady from the Governor General’s office informed me that my name had been put forward for the Meritorious Service Medal, and the Governor General had agreed. I was to keep the news to myself until I received formal notice in writing via mail within a few weeks. To say that I was overwhelmed would be to put it mildly. I had to do a search to see what the medal really meant and found that the Meritorious Service Medal, civilian division, was an award the Governor General, in right of the Queen, could confer on a person who had done something extraordinary to affect the lives of those around him or her in a positive way. I had been recommended for the medal for starting the Okanagan Military Tattoo. The short story is that I took an idea I had for a Military Tattoo to some like-minded friends, and they found some friends, and we got started talking in 2012. By2014 we had enough support and funding to put on our first event, and we are now into the planning of our sixth annual event.

The more I thought about the upcoming award, the more I started to feel bad. I was getting the medal, and all the people working with me to make the event the success that it has become were not getting anything! The more I thought about it, the worse I felt. I sought out the advice of a friend of mine who happens to be the commanding officer of our local primary reserve militia. He is a veteran of Afghanistan and spent his time there flying a British Army Air Corps attack helicopter. He did a lot of other stuff, as well, in a very busy military career. When I told him about my medal and my quandary, he went and brought out his medal board. “This one here, “he said, “you get for just showing up. This one you get for doing something out of the ordinary.” He then quoted Winston Churchill: “Every medal presented casts a shadow!” We talked about that for a long while, and I felt a lot better for our time together.

But, I am still thinking, all those people in my shadow really deserve my thanks. At the time of this writing, I am just six days away from standing in front of Her Excellency, the Right Honourable Julie Payette, Governor General and Commander in Chief, Canada, and having her pinning a medal on me. I will wonder if she thinks of the people that were behind her, such as the first Canadian female astronaut. I know I will be thinking about all those who have been part of me being able to receive this distinguished award.

And how does this all fit in with the USGTF and teaching golf? Everything is connected! On one of my phone calls in 2013 to your president, the Old Funseeker himself, Geoff Bryant, he asked me what I was up to. I explained about the Okanagan Military Tattoo and that we were having great success inputting the program together, but were having troublefinding funding. He promptly sent me a cheque, and with that first bit of money in the bank, we started making the rounds of other sponsors and partners. No one wanted to be first! So, Geoff and the USGT Fare in my shadow and I will always be grateful. The event now has 600 performers, and our annual turnover is in the $200,000 range. The USGTF is still on our sponsor/partner/supporter page.

Are you known as the best golf instructor of your area? Of your state/province? Top 100 in the country? Who helped you get to where you are?

Who is in your shadow?

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20 Feb 2019 admin

To Be Truly Successful, You Need Grit

By Dr. Michelle Cleere USGTF Contributing Writer Oakland, California

The definition of grit is as follows: “courage and resolve; strength of character.” I am reading Angela Duckworth’s book, Grit – The Power of Passion and Perseverance. While I always understood this basic concept, Angela’s research in this area explains grit in much more depth.

Her research gives grit life by explaining the secret to success. There’s so much important information in Angela’s book, far too much for this conversation. However, let’s discuss it in relation to mental training.

State of sports today
Over the past ten years, youth sports have changed. We continue to see a rise of youth sports programs in the U.S. We have pay-to-play sports outside of the public-school system, and now in the schools. And the status of sports is all encompassing. Many kids start playing sports around 4, 5, or 6 years of age and continue to try to play through college or as a professional (which is typically why they were put into the sport at such an early age).

As a result, the youth’s identity hinges on their sport and the message received from coaches and parents. Kids are influenced by the messages they get about being good, being intelligent and being perfect, versus what they did that was good, how they improved, a new skill they learned, and/or their passion and intent.

Some of the problems associated with it is that youth sports can take over the lives of youths. And this can result in it not being fun for them. Why? Stress. Pressure. These youths do not have the skills to deal with the pressures. Not to mention, youths are burnt out by the time they are in middle school and high school because they are playing one sport, year around.

How we currently think about success
Angela’s first statements in her TED Talk piqued my interest: “What struck me was that IQ was not the only difference between my best and my worst students. Some of my strongest performers did not have stratospheric IQ scores. Some of my smartest kids weren’t doing so well.”

Why? Because the smartest, most athletic kids attribute their smarts and athleticism to talent and aren’t always willing to persevere and be resilient. Their goal is making sure the outcome is perfect and they are unable to enjoy the process, to be in it. This also means they are unable to deal with challenges and adversity. They may be okay dealing with challenges and adversity the first time, but certainly struggle and want to give up if it lasts longer than that. So many times, I’ve heard from kids, “I am okay with the first mistake, but if I keep making the same mistake, I get frustrated and angry and can’t let go of it.”

We’ve taught kids to be afraid of making mistakes. Kids who are afraid to fail don’t succeed.

What is actually true about success
“Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals. Grit is having stamina. Grit is sticking with your future, day in, day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years, and working really hard to make that future a reality. Grit is living life like it’s a marathon, not a sprint.” Perfectly said. (Source: Grit by Dr. Angela Duckworth.)

Grit shows up in different ways but has one theme – drive: