Tip of the Month

December 2005

By John Pallot
Director of Instruction

The PGA dropped the big dimpled ball in December ’06 and golf world’s spotlight focused on the 10th PGA Teaching and Coaching Summit at the PGA’s Learning Center, a state-of-the-art practice facility in Port St. Lucie, Florida. Attending were over 700 top PGA teaching pros from all over the U.S. plus other teachers and coaches from around the world.

PGA President Brian Whitcomb, in welcoming remarks, said, “ The Summit follows the mission of our association founders ninety years ago by elevating the standards of the golf professional’s vocation.” This is my 5th Summit attended and I can truly say the result is I’ve learned and improved my teaching and coaching skills. This year we teed off on “The Four Cornerstones of Instruction”, defined by Summit presenters as; 1) Physical Motion;2)Equipment; 3)Skill-Based Instruction(Lessons); 4) Transferring Skills to the Course.

During the three day seminar eighteen experts presented everything from the Cleveland Clinic discussion of golf related injuries to more esoteric matters. The focus of this month’s tip is on three Summit presentations:

1) Putting - Evidence from Dr. Christian Marquardt’s PuttLab based on analyses of more than 100 PGA Tour Players indicates that face angle of the putter at impact is more important than club path. That is to say more short putts are missed because of face errors. To develop a square club-face at impact practice short putting(within 6 ft) and practice with a small piece of pvc pipe. If you can hit the pipe straight the club-face is square.

2) Wedges - Todd Anderson and Gail Peterson recommend when working on swing changes start with small swings. This is a great way to feel a square club-face , hands forward at impact, and swing plane. Insert a reflector stick(buy at Home Depot) in the butt end of the grip. This forces you to feel the hands leading the club-head when swinging. A flat left wrist and a bent right wrist at impact(opposite for lefties) is essential for solid club-ball contact. Remember this when practicing or playing. For improving your swing plane try this. Place two reflector sticks on the ground representing your target line. Make a ½ swing back and through. The butt of the club should point at the sticks on each side of the ball.

3) Transfer Skills to the Golf Course - Dr. Rick Jensen says “to increase the transfer of a skill from the practice area to the golf course golfers must know how to practice under conditions that push the transfer of a skill.” Conditions that exist on the golf course must be simulated during practice. Include 1)Pressure situations such as beating your personal best score or playing in the club championship 2)Varying conditions( e.g. during practice golfers spend too much time hitting one club at one target). So hit different shots to different targets. High, low, right to left and left to right.

4) Distractions - On the driving range-Individuals who have difficulty with distractions often head to the end of the range there to practice alone. On the golf course, particularly in tournament play, thoughts creep into our minds while others are watching. Coping with distractions is a learned skill. In practice distractions are not necessarily a bad thing.Learning to perform in the presence of others and adjusting to other distractions is a necessary, critical skill in golf.

5) Decision Making - While practicing, golfers often get feedback from a prior shot that artificially increases performance on subsequent shots(e.g. hitting three consecutive putts to the same hole). However on the golf course we must calculate the demands of a shot prior to hitting it.There are no second chances. Create your own drills that require the integration of decision making and skill execution. Putt with a friend. The first one to sink one is the winner. You can also have a 125 yard closest to the pin contest or straightest drive. Use your ingenuity to simulate the pressures that make golf the game it is.

Thanks PGA for making our game of golf better and making golf a better game.