USGTF members can have their say and communicate with their fellow members at www.USGTFMembers.com. Registration is free and is open to all members in good standing. Topics include instruction, equipment, USGTF events and general discussions. Employees of the National Office will also offer their input on a regular basis so you can see what is happening with your organization in real time.
If you haven’t registered, please do so today and get in on the conversation!
Hotel and practice round information has been released for the 2018 CGTF and United States Golf Teachers Cups, to be played October 2-3 at Ussher’s Creek Golf Course in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Marriott on the Falls has rooms for $279 per night and the Marriott Fallsview Hotel & Spa has rates beginning at $219 per night (all rates are Canadian currency). The Clifton Victoria Inn has rates of $159 and $209 for Friday and Saturday, respectively, and $92 per night starting on Sunday night. The Skyline Hotel has a rate of $119 for Friday and Saturday night and $79 starting on Sunday night.
Practice rounds are $80 prior to 3:00 p.m. and $59 after, and may be booked online.
Nominations for the latest edition of the WGTF Top 100 Teachers are due by May 4. Members may nominate one another or may nominate themselves. All who are currently on the list will automatically be considered, and members must be either a Certified Golf Teaching Professional® or a Master Golf Teaching Professional®.
Criteria for consideration for the Top 100 list include number of years in the teaching industry, accomplishments, student success, and activity in USGTF national or regional events. Support materials, such as media stories of teacher and/or students, and letters of recommendation are encouraged. Support materials may be sent to info@usgtf.com or by mail to the USGTF National Office, 1295 SE Port St. Lucie Blvd., Port St. Lucie, FL 34952.
Excuse the title dyslexia, but we need to power our motor skills…don’t we? Have you ever asked yourself if you are right- or left-brain dominant, and how that might affect your putting?
I know what you are thinking: who cares! Well, consider the following: A left-brain dominant student sees lines in a linear fashion. On the other hand, the right-brain dominant player sees the shape of the putt and focuses on the curve.
Good news, bad news – you are born that way and you can’t choose. You must adapt as needed, and the teaching professional must be able to recognize what kind of student they have! Now, lets apply this to green reading. Approx-imately 65% of golfers are left-brain dominant. Every putt is straight and breaks at the inflection point due to gravity. These players like to use lines on their ball to help them with alignment.
In addition, they prefer putting equipment that assists with visualization. The right-brain dominant player is just the converse to the left-brain dominant player. These students don’t like structure and don’t want to focus on mechanics.
As a teaching professional, you are now faced with some new information that can assist you with green reading and putter fitting. One last thing: The brain is approximately three pounds and is comprised of 73% water. So drink up, or dehydration will cause a loss of focus. Gulp!
By Bert Jones, USGTF contributing writer
Southwest – The USGTF Southwest Region Championship will be held Friday-Sunday, May 18-20, at Ridgeview Ranch Golf Club in Plano, Texas, with region director Bruce Sims serving as the host. A dinner will be held Friday night with the first round of play Saturday afternoon. There will likely be a guest speaker with a topic relevant to all golf teaching professionals. The entry fee is $225 and includes the dinner, all tournament fees and prize money. An optional $20 skins pot that includes both days of play will be available. To enter, contact Sims prior to Sunday, May 13 at (214) 475-5168 and you can provide credit card information at that time. Play will be in multiple divisions with different tee assignments.
Northwest – The USGTF Northwest Region Championship will be held Thursday and Friday, July 26-27, at Haggin Oaks golf complex’s MacKenzie Course in Sacramento, California, with region director Bert Jones serving as the host. The entry fee of $199 includes golf and prize money, and division play will be based on the number of entrants. To enter, send your name, age, gender, telephone number, email address and a check for $199 to Bert Jones, USGTF NW Region Director, 9722 Rim Rock Circle, Loomis CA, 95650. The entry deadline is July 1.
Southeast – The USGTF Southeast Region Championship will be held Saturday and Sunday, July 28-29, at Shingle Creek Golf Club in Orlando, Florida, with region director Mike Stevens serving as the host. Shingle Creek Golf Club was designed by the Arnold Palmer Design Company. Senior golf course architect Thad Layton says, “We set out to do something resolutely different at Shingle Creek. Orlando is a golf town and our backyard. As such, we sought to build a golf course that would inspire and challenge every type of golfer. Through a hands-on approach and countless hours on site, we handcrafted a golf course with design features reminiscent of some of the finest classic golf courses in the world.”
A prize fund of $1,000 and the Southeast Trophy is assured with a field of 12 players, and divisions by age will be offered. It is also a good opportunity to catch up with fellow members and plan future events for the section. The entry deadline is July 15. If you have any questions, contact Mike Stevens at ams1127@msn.com. The entry fee is $185 and entries should be sent to the USGTF National Office at USGTF, 1295 SE Port St. Lucie Blvd., Port St. Lucie FL, 34952, or you may call the office at (888) 346-3290.
Central – The 2018 USGTF Central Region Championship will be held at Pine Knob Golf Club in Clarkston, Michigan, on Saturday and Sunday, August 4-5, with region director Brent Davies serving as the host. The first tee time Saturday will be at 12:00 noon and 10:00 a.m. on Sunday. The entry fee of $199 is for two days of golf, cart, range, prize money, and lunch after the Sunday round, with monies paid out on the gross and net two-day totals. Practice rounds will be available after 1:00 p.m. on Friday, August 3, for $40. To enter, please send your $199 entry fee to: Brent Davies, 5223 Parview Dr., Clarkston, MI 48346.
Pine Knob is an upscale public course with 27 holes, tree-lined fairways, water, bunkers, great greens, and is an outstanding place to play. Hotel deals will be available at the Olde Mill Inn of Clarkston (some may remember this location from the 2015 Kelly Cup), a rustic lakefront look with an up-north feel. These rooms will go very, very fast! Participants will need to call (248) 623-0300 or go online at www.oldemillinnofclarkston.com to book. One-person rooms start at $65, two-person rooms at $85, and it is not too early to book. Clarkston is located 45 miles northwest of Detroit right off I-75; a 75-minute drive from the Blue Water Bridge; 60 minutes from Windsor, and 90 minutes from Toledo.
He’s long been forgotten by the modern era of golf, but there was a time when Robert Landers was the toast of the golf world. A former department store manager and a farmer, he improbably qualified for what is now known as PGA Tour Champions back in 1994. Using a bag of clubs that were little more than homemade items and wearing muddy Reebok sneakers, Landers surprised virtually everyone when he landed one of the fully-exempt spots for the 1995 season.
He came to the game late at the age of 22, but he quickly showed an acumen for it, qualifying for the 1980 U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur. He competed in local events and practiced on his farm among the cows. When it came time to ante up the qualifying fee, he cashed in a retirement account and was on his way.
He played for two years on the senior circuit with a best finish of 14th place at an event in 1996. Today he lives in Azle, Texas, on his farm with his wife Freddie.
Since its inception, golf has always had an air of exclus-iveness. Fortunately, in modern America, municipal courses are in abundance and offer reasonably-priced fees and memberships that are affordable for most people who want to play golf. Equipment – good equipment – can be found at a low cost if one is willing to put in a little research and legwork.
Yet, it seems there are always those who want to push the envelope when it comes to price, attempting to convince people that if they aren’t spending a month’s wages on the latest and greatest in new clubs, they are behind the curve and hopelessly at a disadvantage to those who are willing to pony up.
PXG founder Bob Parsons (of GoDaddy.com fame) is pushing his line of equipment that costs several thousand dollars for a complete set. And now we have some outfit called Seven Dreamers who think that a $1,200 driver shaft is just fine and dandy. The company makes no bones about catering only to the well-to-do. In a golfwrx.com interview, they said, “What really sets us apart is the process. Every shaft is made on a mandrel, and our mandrels are absolutely pristine. The material is placed by hand on the mandrel. It’s then inserted into a mold. Then we autoclave cure it. The beauty of autoclave curing is it’s done under pressure…which gives us outstanding compaction. It squeezes out all the unnecessary resin, so we get an optimal ratio of carbon fiber to resin, which improves both feel and energy transfer in the shaft. But the best part of the process is, once we remove the shaft from the mold, we literally trim it to length and wipe it down. The surface condition is perfect. So, we have no unbroken fibers. We have no fiber tears. We have no fiber bullets. All that contributes to incongruities and inconsistencies in the shaft.”
Now, I’m not one to doubt that all of this is true, but is it necessary? Personally, I find my far-cheaper equipment does just fine, thank you, and I think the extra money spent on a $1,200 shaft could be better spent on other things or given to a charitable cause. But that’s the great thing about capitalism – the market will decide if this is a good idea or not.
By Mark Harman, USGTF Contributing Writer
