I’ve been coaching golf for some time now and the one thing that is most challenging is figuring out the most effective way to coach someone – everyone is different. By far the easiest group I work with is juniors – from the ages of 10 to 17. The reason why is their minds have not been filled with a lot of information. They’re not constantly watching the golf channel or reading golf instruction books and magazine. So when they come to me I’m more or less working with a blank slate. It’s amazing how simple my approach is with juniors. I focus on setup, then getting them to learn how to move the club, while understanding the relationship of the club and ball by reading their ball flight. And amazing things happen with these juniors.

Most adults are completely different. As we evolve intellectually many of us have the tendency to analyze everything we do. I know I’m an analytical thinker. Unfortunately, this type of thinking, when it comes to learning any motor skills, especially golf, is arguably the least effective way to learn the game and to make progress. And I get these types of thinkers all the time – they’re worried about keeping their head down, where is their elbow at the top, starting to move and clear their hips on the downswing – the list goes on and on and on.

Over time what I’ve come to realize is that as much as I want to – I can’t change that. As much as I want to use the same simple approach with juniors, the one that focuses on how we learn all physical activities, it’s just not enough for an analytical thinker. So I need to make a compromise – I give them a little of what they want and A LOT of what they need. What furthers the challenge is that many of their swing thoughts are burned in their belief system. They think if they keep their head down, which is more detrimental than helpful, they will hit a good shot. So I spend a good deal of time, trying to convince them of why their ideas are not really helping, but rather hurting them, or if possible, reshape the idea so that I can get them to use it in a positive way.

The ironic thing is that giving them a lot of what they need is not necessarily a lot of information. In fact, it’s more like pulling the thoughts out of their brains, throwing them in them in the garbage, and then reshaping and inserting the most effective approaches that will help the student. Coaching golf will always be a challenge, because how each student thinks, what the current shape of their swing, their physical limitations and desire to improve, vary greatly from student to student and therefore each approach has to be different.

As I continue to share the hockey learning experience with my son, I’m watching closely on how he learns and how I help him learn to do things.

Along with us skating together, we also play some foot hockey with a ball in the driveway. So my son has been hitting slap shots, but all of them roll, with some speed, along the ground. So last week I started telling him at he needed to start seeing if he can start hitting the ball up into the upper parts of the net (he know what that is as he does it on his NHL 10 PS game). 

So we went out the other night and he was hitting slap shots and I was standing on the side of the net stopping his shots that were rolling on the ground. So I asked him to try and hit the shots higher and see if he could hit the middle of the net – but he struggled and couldn’t do it.

So I took the opportunity to try to help him. I moved his lowered hand so that it was lower on the stick to help him get more power, than I took his stick and tilted the face of the stick slightly toward the ground and asked him if I hit a shot like that what would the ball do, and he responded it would go along the ground. I then turned the face of the stick toward the sky and asked if I hit a shot with the stick like that what where would the ball go, and he responded it would go in the air. So said let’s try and hit some shots with the stick looking like that.  Well within three shots he starting getting the ball up in the air and within 10 shots he was hitting them in the upper part of the net, with one of the shots hitting the crossbar. He was very excited about his progress – as was I.

The moral of the story is the same. When you’re playing a stick and ball game, which is essentially what golf is, once the student learns the relationship with golf club and how it impacts the flight of the ball, he or she can then start experimenting to make the ball do something different then it currently does when the student hits it – it’s what the learning experience is all about.

This works well with kids, but many times this approach is a struggle for adults, because as we mature intellectually many individuals what more information. We want more details, about how the body moves and so on, which more times than not, while the answers make the student feel better as they feel they understand it more, in actually slows down their learning process and the potential progress they can make.

More times than not, making adjustments and changes to your golf swing, after doing it a certain way, can be uncomfortable to say the least. One of the most fundamental changes I try to make with students, and one of the hardest, is a grip adjustment. And generally speaking, no matter how little the change, it seems to be one of the greatest challenges for golfers. But the grip is a very important fundamental as it has the most influence on the clubface at impact, which determines how well you can control the direction of your golf ball. And while the grip is negotiable, it does mean you can hold it anyway you want, the important thing is to find the MOST effective way for you to hold it.

I learned the challenge of making the change recently with my guitar playing. I was holding the pick in a relatively unorthodox way, one that still allowed me to be able to play, but I didn’t feel like I had the maximum amount of control of the pick that I could. It’s similar to golfers who hold their club, with their left hand (right-handed golfer), too much in the palm. Evidence of this usually is the wearing out of the glove, but more importantly while you can hit good shots with the club in your palm, you will have more control of the club if it’s more in your fingers (with both hands) and very possibly better control of your ball flight.

But change is sometimes very challenging. I have been playing guitar for awhile now with a certain grip, and then tried to make the change and while I could play a little with the new grip, my playing took a little step backwards – the improvement was not seen immediately. But I stuck with it and after a couple of weeks I really started to see some speed and control movement in my playing.

The thing is, provided that you know that a change you are making is going to be more effective, you need to have a certain level of stick-to-it-iveness to make a change. But if you do persevere, and it may take some time, you will be rewarded.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit Drive 495 in Soho area of Manhattan. Drive 495 is a very upscale golf / fitness center. If you love golf and this location is convenient, this place is the place to be! I guess you would say it is more of a “boutique’ fitness center, with everything being about golf! Owned and run by two brothers, Joe and Don Saladino, everything in this place is first class from the staff at the front desk to the locker rooms. And these two guys are great guys who love golf. Joe is a top ranked amateur in the Metropolitan area and Don is a high-energy fitness trainer, who is also TPI Golf Certified, along with his other fitness credentials.
This place has everything! Where do I start? Need golf specific personal training – they have it. Need golf lessons? You can get them, along with high tech 3D analysis and video. Just want to hit balls? You can do that in one of the six golf simulators they have (you can also play courses.) There’s a place to putt, a place to hang out and relax, you can get fit for clubs, and you can even get a freshly blended protein/fruit shake (I had one – very good indeed!).
I can’t say enough good things about this place. I was so impressed with the place and the Saladino brothers, that I scheduled a fitness assessment with Don so that he can give me an in-season, golf- specific exercise program. I ‘m excited to go back and if this seems a place for you, you should check it out – their website is www.driveclubs.com. You will be impressed!