Figure 4.1 Sample qualifying handout.
BUILDING A SUCCESSFUL GOLF PROGRAM
How many times have you heard from other coaches that you really “have it made” because you are a golf coach? All you have to do is go out and play golf, right? And, if you happen to know anything about the game, so much the better for the kids. Happily this line of thought, while not gone, is fast disappearing as more and more school administrators are making efforts to upgrade their coaches’ skills. As a result, the competence level of golf coaches is definitely on the rise.
In the boys’ teams of the early years, a football or basketball coach was assigned the responsibility of coaching the golf team in his off season. In essence he was a glorified manager and chaperone. Girls’ teams were much the same, with no real organization and with a department member as coach and chaperone. For the most part, this type of arrangement is passing from the school scene and is being replaced by one in which knowledgeable people, whose primary interest is golf, are the coaches.
The golf coach’s position is changing, and to be an outstanding coach now you must be aware of techniques in both the skills and the mental areas of the game. In golf, as in all other areas of coaching, the more knowledge you acquire, the better coach you will be.
The ideal golf coach knows the golf swing well, understands the mental side of the game, communicates with the players, and therefore succeeds in helping players reach their greatest potential. You can progress toward this ideal by improving in your weak areas.
At both the high school and the college levels, it is important to encourage young players who have an interest in golf. The best way to support them is to keep them on the team and create competitive situations that constantly challenge them.
The most simple and fair way to conduct tryouts is by holding a 72-hole qualifying tournament. If you are limited by time, course conditions, or some other factor, you can reduce the number of holes to 54. A tournament with fewer than 54 holes is not a true test. The results of this tournament determine the players’ positions on the team, but these positions may be changed based on other criteria:
1. Running strokes total. Keep a total of all qualifying and competitive rounds. Have the players change positions according to this total.
2. Ladder-challenge system. Allow players to challenge up one position. Players who are defeated must accept a challenge from below before challenging up again. You should approve and set up all challenge matches.
3. Coach’s judgment. Reserve the right to change players’ positions and to insert or remove a player from the line-up at any time.
The sample qualifying handout shown in figure 4.1 describes the criteria that one school—Lakewood Ranch High School in Bradenton, Florida—uses to field its team.
You want to be completely objective when you select players. You must also accept the duties and obligations of the coach’s position, however, which include using your knowledge to put in the best line-up on any given day.
The general philosophy is to keep as many players on the team as possible, giving them competition through varsity, junior varsity, and freshman teams. The more players you have interested and playing, the greater the potential for development. That experience makes for good teams now and in the future. The NAGCE staff instructor program, which consists of hundreds of PGA and LPGA golf professionals, provides the necessary manpower to keep as many juniors as possible playing golf.
Team of Beginners
One season I started three sophomores, and they had a winning season. These are some of the coaching techniques I used with them.
The students and I recorded the fairways and greens hit during each match. We set achievable standards along with target putting totals. These standards changed from course to course, so the players could see constant improvement. The par we set varied for each player according to ability and the course we were playing. We also played a solid ball to achieve greater distance, something every high school player strives for.
Ken Youngman, Fairless High School, Navarre, Ohio
PHYSICAL CONDITIONING PROGRAM
In golf, as in any sport, good physical condition is imperative. The stronger players are, the better they are able to be firm throughout the swing and develop clubhead speed.
Don’t keep the physical part out of golf coaching. Develop a conditioning program to strengthen golf-specific muscles. These parts of the body are the keys to being a strong player. Start the program several months before the season and maintain it at a less strenuous degree throughout the playing season.
The best exercises simulate the golf swing. Create resistance for the muscles that are used in the golf swing. As you increase the amount of resistance and the number of repetitions, the muscles become stronger.
Players who strengthen their target sides have more speed, better control, and greater strength throughout the swing. Have your players perform the following three drills daily during the off season, preseason, and competitive season.
1. Squeeze a rubber ball or grip strengthener with the last three fingers of the target hand.
2. Stand in the hitting position and apply pressure with the target hand against a door frame.
3. Attach a dowel pin or an actual club grip to a rubber cord and attach the cord to a wall. Stand in the hitting position and go through the swing several times. The flexible cord creates the resistance. (You can also use a specially-designed machine, like the one shown in figure 4.2.)
Figure 4.2 A machine such as this one helps develop strength to the target side.
Leg Strengthening
Stronger legs mean stronger swings. Have your team members practice the following three drills daily during the off season, preseason, and competitive season.
1. Run with or without resistance by attaching weighted spats to the feet.
2. Perform knee bends, preferably one-quarter or one-half bends. As strength improves, add weight by using a barbell on the shoulders.
3. With a barbell on the shoulders, execute the golf pivot. Start with light weight and a few repetitions, increasing weight and repetitions as strength improves.
MENTAL CONDITIONING
Mental conditioning is the area where coaches can most help players. There are two elements to the mental side of the game: strategy, or thinking around the course, and management, preparing to compete and performing during competition.
Strategy
The best way to teach strategy is to go with players in practice rounds and help them think through each shot before playing it. You may be able to help young players save four to five shots per round simply by helping them choose the right shot and the right club, and by convincing them that they can bring off the shot. Players also grasp the importance of strategy when they see how their scores improve when they plan each shot well.
The time you spend working on strategy also provides an excellent opportunity to get to know each player personally, to teach the rules and etiquette of golf, and to show how a solid knowledge of the rules can benefit the player when a rule situation arises.
Management
The other element of the mental game—the ability to perform or manage one’s self—is not so easily described nor, most certainly, so easily taught. It is without doubt of greatest importance, however, in competing successfully.
Confidence
The prime requisite to winning is confidence. There has never been a great athlete in any sport who did not believe that he or she was the best. This attitude is best tempered with humility, but nevertheless it must be present for success. A negative thinker cannot play winning golf. Your team members must set their goals high and strive diligently to reach them. By believing in themselves, they’ll stimulate the inner power to reach those heights.
It’s your job as coach to instill confidence in those who do not have it. You can help them establish a confident frame of mind through constant encouragement coupled with successful practice and play. Direct every practice method toward this end. During pretournament practice especially, strive to build your players’ confidence (for example, by emphasizing each player’s strong points). You want to create an attitude of patience and relaxed confidence during the round, remembering that rhythm and power are generated from confidence. Stiff, jerky movements are the result of insecurity and lack of confidence.
Attitude
Another attribute of successful players is a constant, level attitude. Players should not become too elated when playing well nor too depressed when playing poorly. They must learn to accept what happens, good or bad, with little or no emotion, and they must keep on doing their best under any circumstances. Successful players do not alibi. They accept the responsibility for poor play and the credit for good play equally and without undue visible emotion. This mental attitude is essential for winning golf. All truly great players think this way.
Tiger Woods wins the 1999 PGA Championship. Trophies are one sign of success. A confident player is another.
As a coach you must take a serious interest in swing mechanics and error correction. Tables 4.1 and 4.2 will help you evaluate your players. You, as coach, must recognize and understand swing errors. In keeping with the positive approach advocated throughout this book, you should correct errors in a positive manner by emphasizing sound swing fundamentals.
Make your players conscious of the target, and then relate the grip, stance, take-away, through-swing, and follow-through to the target. By doing so, you emphasize what is right rather than what is wrong. Low handicap players have more trouble with the setup position and target alignment than with any other fundamentals. If you can help your players get properly aligned and understand what it means to be aligned with the target, you will have accomplished a great deal.
By attending golf clinics or reading golf publications, you can become more accomplished in error recognition and correction. If you emphasize what players do well instead of concentrating on what they do wrong, they’ll want to improve their weak areas, and consequently they’ll become better golfers. If you are unable to help players with swing fundamentals, you should direct them to a PGA or LPGA golf professional, preferably the one at the club where you play your matches.
PRACTICE SESSIONS
Practice sessions depend on practice facilities and available time. The following is an example of a typical midseason session assuming normal practice facilities (range and golf course). Set your team’s practice schedule according to the team’s needs, the resources at your disposal, and your school district’s guidelines. See chapter 7 for more information on planning practices and for sample analysis sheets.
3:30 |
Hold a team meeting to analyze rounds. If the round analysis sheets show inconsistent short-iron play, spend practice time in this area. Emphasize and demonstrate short-iron fundamentals. |
3:45 |
Head to the practice range. Have each player hit 60 to 70 short-iron shots to a target. Circulate among the group throughout the session, helping each player. Emphasize accuracy, not distance. |
4:15 |
Send players out in twosomes to play nine holes. Emphasize short-iron improvement. Use a cart to move among all players, watching technique. |
5:45 |
Send all players to the putting green. (Include putting practice in every practice session.) |
Table 4.1 Contact Errors
Figure 4.3 describes the guidelines for practice at Lakewood Ranch High School.
Teach and review the following practice techniques:
• Remind players that they should always swing toward a target.
• Have players hit 10 balls with each club, starting with the wedge or #9 iron, and step off the yardage to discover how far they hit with each club.
• When practicing high and low trajectory shots, have players actually hit over and under objects (trees, bushes, etc.).
• In pitch and run practice and in putting practice, emphasize correct distance by having players pitch and putt to a circle (greater in diameter per distance of shot).
• In short-putt practice, have players putt to a tee stuck in the green. This emphasizes extreme accuracy and makes the hole appear very large by comparison.
Golf coaching is becoming an increasingly more prominent aspect of the physical education and athletics profession. Competition is keen and coaches want to become better. To stay on top, you must attend clinics and seminars. You must read, watch, and talk with golf professionals and use any golf materials made available to you. If you show interest in your players, encourage them, teach them, show them ways to acquire good physical conditioning, and emphasize a sound mental approach to the game, your players will do the rest and a successful team will be the result.
