Chapter 2

COMMUNICATING YOUR APPROACH

When I played golf in school, if six golfers showed up we were ecstatic. Sometimes we had to talk other golfers into coming out to play. Today, we know from NAGCE statistics that sometimes 30 to 40 boys and girls show up to try out for the golf team. Recruiting members for your team is easier now than it’s ever been.

Your immediate goal should be to keep everyone who tries out for the team. Only a few can make the traveling squad, of course, but everyone who shows interest should receive an opportunity to stay in the game. In chapter 4, I discuss the team selection process. In the beginning, however, you should focus on letting the entire school and community know of your team’s existence, its challenges, and the many rewards reaped by those who are a part of your team.

Once you have assembled your team—both the starters and the taxi squad (non-traveling team members)—you need to have regularly scheduled meetings. (If your state restricts the number of boys and girls you can have on the team, you should list any beyond that number as club members rather than team members.) Your team is looking for direction, guidance, and planning. You must keep even your veteran team members from becoming bored: give them new drills or practice techniques to keep their interest high and inspire them to excel. Whenever possible, present written handouts that spell out the schedule and your expectations for the team.

SELLING YOUR PROGRAM

It takes a huge selling job—and continual communication—to acquire better equipment, find a place to play and practice, garner community support, and recruit team members, assistant coaches, faculty support, and administrators. Everyone is busy. Everyone lives in a rather limited world. To draw people out of their little worlds, you must knock on their doors, call them on the phone, and get in front of them on a one-on-one basis. Then, and only then, do you begin to get their attention. Now you can begin selling.

Your enthusiasm will be contagious. Impress upon your team members, their parents, your assistant coaches, and others involved with the team to remain positive about the team at all times.


Promoting Your Program

My golf team has its own distinctive logo, which appears on our letterhead, among other places. We adapted our logo from the school logo, adding a hat, club, and bag to the school falcon.

I have this logo put on football helmet stickers, which I award to players based on their performance in matches. At the beginning of each season, the seniors and I establish the criteria for earning a golf sticker. In 2000 for the varsity team, the criteria for earning a sticker were as follows: two birdies in nine holes, an eagle, 14 or fewer putts for nine holes, a chip in, a score under 40 for nine holes, or a score under the player’s target score—a score I establish before the match. For example, if the team plays a par 37 nine from the championship tees in cold, rainy weather, then breaking 40 may be an unrealistic goal for the fourth or fifth player—so I might set a more reasonable target score of 42. I do the same for the reserve team, but criteria are more manageable. The criteria vary from year to year depending on the ability of the team.

I’ve also had the logo duplicated in color on 24 X 36 inch laminated posters. Each player receives a poster at the beginning of the season with his or her name in three-inch letters at the bottom. The players can hang these posters in their school lockers, at home, or elsewhere. They place the stickers they earn on these posters.

At the end of each season the team holds a fund-raiser, running the moneys through our golf booster club, the Fairless Hacker Backers. Our fund-raiser is a father-daughter formal dance for young ladies in grades K through 8. The Cinderella Ball, as we call it, takes place on a Saturday evening in the high school gymnasium. We have valet parking (provided by parents of golf team members), refreshments, and a raffle of donated items. During the two-hour dance, attendees can purchase digital pictures of Dad placing a glass slipper on the foot of Cinderella (his daughter). The photos, which can be e-mailed and reproduced, are very popular. We make enough profit to cover the following expenses:

                Ping golf bags labeled with the players’ names

                Meals after away matches

                Practice rounds for tournaments

                Bottled water at away golf courses that don’t have many fountains

                Extra shirts

                The stickers previously mentioned

                The posters previously mentioned

                Awards for winning the conference title

When the team wins a conference championship, I have a local engraving company inscribe 4 X 6 inch bag tags with the players’ names, the team logo, and the conference logo. The tags have been very popular, and many other area coaches now give their players similar tags in place of the traditional T-shirts, which wear out in a few months.

Each team member has three shirts for competition: one is plain white, one is plain navy blue, and one is white and gray striped (adhering to our school colors of navy blue, white, and silver). The team logo is embroidered on the left sleeve. The players have long-sleeved navy blue shirts for colder weather. For rainy weather, they have Sun Mountain wind shirts and Jones umbrellas. All items feature the team logo and school name. Each player also has a white golf towel with the school logo and team logo embroidered on it.

At the beginning of the season, I give each varsity player a dozen Titleist golf balls with the year and the words “FHS Golf” lettered on each ball. I feel that a dozen balls are enough for the 18 dates the Ohio High School Athletic Association permits. I keep extra balls for postseason play.

When players earn school letters, I allow them to select the type of Titleist ball they want, then letter the ball with the player’s name, the year, and “FHS Golf.” For example, in 2000 Jamie Salsburg, who was a four-year letter winner for the team, received Titleist Compression–90 Professionals that were lettered, “Jamie Salsburg, 2000 FHS Golf.” The first time players letter, they receive a school block F. Players who letter a second time receive chenille letters—actually, the team logo—for their jackets.

The team has a Web site that parents, alumni, and students can visit to check on our season. On the evening of a match, results are called in to four newspapers and one radio station for publication and announcement.

At the end of the season there’s a meeting to select an All-County Golf Team, and I make certain my team attends that meeting.

The team has a trophy case in the main hallway at school where we post match results daily and display team and individual photos. Hundreds of students pass by the trophy case each day. When the team wins a conference championship, I have a gray plate with navy lettering added to the trophy, listing the lettered varsity players who won the championship. This way, their names are on display for many years. The case also contains large pictures and plaques representing those teams and individuals who qualify for the state tournament.

An extensive golf record page is published in the football game program. It includes the players’ season and career averages, birdies, eagles, aces, and putting averages, and it lists the years in which the team has won conference titles, as well as any other information that gives the players publicity.

At the postseason banquet, each player, coach, and administrator receives a banquet program that includes every newspaper article, picture, and postseason award, along with the updated record page and any other pertinent information. The pages are bound to keep them together, and the program has a hard cover that’s designed in the school colors and features the team logo and the person’s name. The programs have become popular keepsakes.

Ken Youngman, Fairless High School, Navarre, Ohio


STAYING IN TOUCH WITH PARENTS

Staying in touch with parents is a critical element of your job. It is a good idea to invite parents to a preseason meeting to go over team rules, participation levels, safety concerns, and other program-related matters. Another good communication method is a preseason letter like the one shown in figure 2.1. (This letter is based on one by David Frantz, head golf coach at Lakewood Ranch High School in Bradenton, Florida.) During the season, you can send a simple newsletter detailing upcoming tournaments, reporting tournament results, spotlighting players, etc.

Most problems with parents result from a lack of communication. When parents understand not only the requirements that their son or daughter must meet but also the hurdles that you face as a coach, they may actually become helpers to your program. Have an administrator from your school (the athletic director or assistant principal, as dictated by school procedures) review your letter, and put it on official school stationery. Never refuse help, but be sure to have a definitive description of the help you need.

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Figure 2.1    Sample preseason letter to parents.

Encourage your players’ parents, siblings, other relatives, and friends to attend your matches. There’s nothing like a gallery to elevate the excitement of play. Many boys and girls have walked thousands of miles with no one but themselves and their opponents to witness the highs and lows of playing golf.

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Karrie Webb winning the 1999 Australian Ladies Masters. Professional golfers aren’t the only players who benefit from having an audience.

Golf is a solitary sport, but it doesn’t need to be a lonely sport. Many of my students have gone on to be successful business people who love to get out on the course late in the evening for a nice, quiet, solitary round of golf. This is the last thing you want for your golf team. Togetherness, unity, backslapping support, and courteous applause make competition a shared experience.

CONTACTING FORMER PLAYERS

If you have former team members who have either gone on to college golf teams or entered the ranks of professional golf, consider inviting them to come back to conduct golf clinics or talk to the team. Former team members who have stayed in your community will love the opportunity to revisit their glory days and share their experiences with your current team. These people could become valuable assets in your communication network in the community.

INVOLVING THE LOCAL PRESS

Be sure to keep the local press and sports writers informed about your program and its progress. It may even pay to have an assistant coach or a parent assist with a public relations effort. Get the telephone and fax numbers of the local sports editors and their writing staffs. Fax or call them with the team’s match results and other information regarding individual players. Invite the sports editor to attend a match with you. Let a reporter walk the course and watch the match as it unfolds. This experience provides a much better flavor for the story about the match, and it may provide human interest tidbits that interest readers. Ask a local golf professional to give the press a complimentary round of golf. Become a friend of the newsperson.

Be sure to talk to your players about how to communicate with the press. You may even want to have your students conduct practice interviews on each other, then critique the interviews as a team.

GAINING COMMUNITY SUPPORT

You can generate support for your team through various contacts in your community. Have your local golf professional introduce your team members to his golf committee. Your team members may be the club’s future members or season ticket holders. If you play on a municipal course, have your team members meet the local commissioners. Express to both of these governing bodies how you will care for the course and how much you appreciate the use of their facilities. Any event of this nature speaks volumes about your management of the team. None of us is out for personal gain or recognition, but the position of coach puts you in the public eye, and a positive perception of you goes a long way in developing community support for your program.

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Meet with other coaches to share experiences, insight, and support.

GENERATING SUPPORT AMONG YOUR PEERS

Be a leader among your peers. Invite area coaches to participate in a social function, however small it might be. Offer your services or help to all other coaches. The stories and experiences you share can provide valuable information to all those in attendance. The function can take the form of a little nine-hole golf event or burgers on the grill.

Every now and then you may be presented with an exceptionally talented team member who seems to have an affinity for the sport. His or her success will elevate your status as a coach. The mark of a true coach, however, is to be a winning coach even during a losing season.