“Thank you very much, Mr. Campbell. See you next weekend, right?”
I was introduced to golf as a caddie at the Dykeman Park Municipal Golf Course in Logansport, Indiana. Mr. Campbell was a regular carry for me. When I could get a loop with him, it was a guaranteed five-dollar bill and three nearly new golf balls. Even though at that time in my life I couldn’t wait to get to the golf course on the weekends, I never expected to become a PGA golf professional.
I certainly enjoyed playing and caddying, but famed Chicago White Sox stars Louis Aparicio and Nellie Fox were my idols. Since my Little League days and into college, baseball was my dream. After I received a baseball scholarship to Indiana State University in Terre Haute, I didn’t take very long (two years—I wasn’t a quitter) to realize that professional baseball was beyond my grasp. I was too slow and didn’t have a Big League bat. After I left the team, I had every afternoon free of classes. The golf course became my second home.
After I decided to become a member of the Professional Golf Association (PGA) of America, I soon found out that coaching and teaching golf were much more enjoyable to me than golf operations and golf course management. During my early years as a PGA golf professional, I was fortunate to become a consultant for the National Golf Foundation. My duties included leading or helping present workshops for various golf associations and other groups of golfers.
In late 1989 I had the pleasure to take part in a week-long high school golf coaches’ seminar at the Blue Water Bay Resort Golf Club near Pensacola, Florida. More than 100 high school golf coaches and physical education teachers assembled to gain assistance for their golf programs. Conrad Rehling, who coaches golf at the University of Alabama; Bill Strausbaugh, a PGA professional from Columbia Country Club in Chevy Chase, Maryland; and I had an eye-opening experience. Cafeteria workers, school maintenance personnel, school bus drivers, math teachers, wrestling coaches, driver education teachers, and other assorted faculty made up this motley group. Many of those attending had never even played golf. Each of them had merely raised a hand at a faculty meeting and said, “I have a van. Will that help?” In many cases, that fact alone earned those volunteers the position of golf coach.
All of these coaches were conscientious, dedicated leaders of youth, but they simply did not have the resources or background to execute an effective golf program. Statistically, 20 percent had golfing backgrounds and skills that enabled them to be effective golf coaches. That left 80 percent who desperately needed help.
During the next five days, I really bonded with these coaches. What I thought would be a long week became one of the best experiences of my career. In fact, it had a career-changing affect that has led me to write this book.
A few months after this workshop, I began researching the challenges of the high school golf coach. Within a year, I recognized the need for a forum or clearinghouse where these people could come for information and assistance in their golf programs. Today that forum is called the National Association of Golf Coaches and Educators (NAGCE), a nonprofit foundation with a mission to train those who influence the future of the game.
As founder and director of instruction for NAGCE, I have had enormous support from university and college coaches, athletic directors, and high school coaches. NAGCE has developed a curriculum for teaching golf in middle schools and a training manual for coaching high school and college golf teams. Although a limited amount of the material covers how to assist team members with their golf swings and how to play the game, the material places a major emphasis on introducing young people to the intrinsic values of the game.
Coaching Golf Successfully includes an accumulation of experience, trial-and-error situations, and, most importantly, proven methods and techniques for coaching the game of golf. The book gives much attention to the areas of motivation, interpersonal relationships, goal setting, and the personal development of young men and women.
Coaching golf is not the same as teaching golf. In this book, I introduce the skills and techniques that will help you better coach your golf team, with advice on choosing the team, creating practice schedules, preparing for tournaments, etc. I also include some rather advanced information on understanding the golf swing. Be advised—the purpose of this book is not to make you a professional golf instructor. I recommend you seek the services of either your local PGA or LPGA golf professional or a NAGCE PGA/LPGA staff instructor to assist in your team’s instructional needs.
After 30 years of teaching and coaching golf, I have learned that coaching offers unique rewards. There is a true sense of accomplishment in helping students in their life skills and developing relationships with others.