Zach Johnson – Master’s
Most people are calling Zach Johnson – the everyday man. He seems to be just like you and me. I call Zach Johnson – the rocketman. He may seem like you and me, but he’s not. He has rocketed by most of his colleagues to the highest atmosphere on the PGA tour. He is in the rarified air of a major category. Actually, Zach is quite unique because he has never reached a plateau. Rather he has continued to rocket past most of all his...
Swing Changes
Maybe I’m a little old fashioned, but I find “crash courses” a little mind-boggling. We are a society which demands pills to fix just about everything, and now we are into crash courses that attempt to teach us a great deal in a minimal amount of time. There are crash courses on how to start an exercise program, how to lose weight quickly, how to use your newly purchased computer in two easy lessons, and the list goes on. Have we...
Get Real With Your Students
Many students have unreal expectations about what you can do for them, as well as how good they should play and score after their lessons. When students have unreal expectations and you do not meet these expectations, your students will be dissatisfied, and perhaps not return. However, when students know what to expect from you and the game of golf, retention increases and so does satisfaction with the product. Thus, you want to...
Teaching Research Keeping Up-To-Date
“You can never swing too slowly on your backswing.” “Keep the butt end of the club one fist away from the body for all clubs.” “When putting, the follow-through should be equal to the backswing in length.” How many times have we heard these bits of instruction given as gospel? If you’ve been involved in golf instruction (either giving or receiving) for any length of time, you’ve heard them time and time again. In fact, many of you...
You may not be Tiger Woods, but you are a golfing brand!
It sounds too good to be true, right? But, I can assure you that while you may not be a big brand like Tiger, Ernie, Jack, or Arnie, you still are a brand! You see, if you give one golf lesson to one student, you are a brand. And, your brand is probably the single biggest financial asset that you have! The result of this one lesson can range from as far as “It was a terrible lesson,” to “It was a good lesson,” to “Wow, that was...
Take the Challenge of Refining Feedback
Whatever you do, don’t touch the roof of your mouth with your tongue! Hmm. Chances are you just did touch your tongue to the roof of your mouth and might continue to do so for some time as you read this article. This plays into the theory, as outlined by Horst Abraham in Skiing Right (Johnson Books, 1983), which says if you ask some-one to avoid a behavior, that behavior often becomes magnified. The same logic can be applied to...
A Heart-Warming Moment American Sign Language
We USGTF teaching Professionals know golf is a marvelous, challenging game filled with many experiences. Those experiences can be good, not so good, and every once in a while, heartwarming (fuel for the human soul). A heartwarming experience might be watching a man, paralyzed from the waist down in a wheelchair, tee off on the first hole and send it down the middle of the fairway. (Do you remember that thrill when that was first...
POSTCARDS FROM THE PAST: WHAT RARE GOLF BOOKS CAN TEACH US
As much of golf is played between the ears, it is not surprising that the game should have spawned more books than any other sport. A high proportion of these books are instructional. The quest for the magic swing secret is probably as old as golf itself. But, what is a “rare” golf book? As I always tell my clients, they are not making them anymore. Over time books get lost, damaged or destroyed. Any book printed before the Great War...
Taking A Page From Our Certification Courses
If you are a member of the USGTF or a WGTF member federation, think back to when you attended the certification course. Whether you were an experienced teacher looking for professional credentials or someone who never taught before, you probably wondered what exactly was in store for you. For the first couple of years of its existence, the USGTF was still finding its way in attempting to solve that puzzle. After keeping concepts that...
We Are Pleased To Accept Your Entry We Are Accept Your Entry
I was walking off the 18th green of the Craigielaw Golf Club in Aberlady, Scotland, when the voice called out. “Excuse me, Mr. Stevens, Edinburgh radio would like to interview you and Mr. Gallacher about tomorrow’s tournament.” “Mr. Gallacher, as in Bernard Gallacher,” I said. “Why yes,” came the reply. Then, there I was, standing next to the former Ryder Cup captain and Lionel Freedman, the tournament director, answering questions...
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