Try to talk golf and what you’re really doing is inviting tips on how to play the game.
Keep your head still.
Keep your forward arm locked.
Tee the ball at your front toe. or centered between your feet. or somewhere else.
Talk golf or take a lesson with a teaching instructor, though, and despite their different theories and styles, they’ll all invite you to believe in one thing.
“What works for one student might not work for the next,” said Steve Crane, head pro at Lake View Country Club and a pro since 1976.
“I take each lesson on an individual basis, and go from there,” Crane, 58, said. “Find out what the student wants, how long they’ve played, how much they want to practice. I don’t really have a method that I teach to everyone. It’s based on the student more than anything else.”
The teaching pros agree that every golfer, from hacker to champion, is different but wants results.
“When I was in the dome at Family First (Sports Park) I learned quickly that, when people came in for lessons, one thing may work for one guy but not another,” said Mike Gajewski, now in his third year as head pro at Lake Shore Country Club. “It’s very stressful. You’re under the gun, and they want results. If you don’t see any results to start with, it’s very difficult for that person to trust you. It’s a gratification generation.”
Myths of the game
There are tips that seem to make common sense, but they’re not completely true.
“The biggest myth: keep your head down,” said Dan Steen, a teaching pro for 18 years who instructs at the Lake Erie Driving Range adjacent to Downing Golf Course and also is the Mercyhurst College women’s golf coach.
“Yes, the eyes must stay on the ball through impact, but the chin has to be up,” Steen, 46, said. “Head down? There’s no sport that does that. the other myth is keeping the left arm straight. I don’t think a lot of players can keep the left arm perfectly straight. Tour pros can do it, but when I show video to my amateurs, their arms aren’t straight. If we think it’s collapsing, then there’s a difference. the thing that gets me is when they come in and try to keep both arms straight. It’s a good way to putt, but you can’t hit the ball very far.”
“The proverbial head-down, left arm straight, they’re not correct,” Gajewski said.
“I have to correct higher-handicap golfers to keep their head down, but quite often they keep it too far down,” Crane said. “It prevents their shoulders from turning, or creates a sway. In actuality, you want to keep your chin up.”
So remember, even though you tried to keep your left arm (right arm for a left-hander) straight, keep your chin up, even after taking a 10 on the first hole.
Psychology and technology
Karen Bukowski, who is certified as an instructor by the LPGA and PGA after turning professional five years ago, said keeping the chin up also represents a positive mental attitude.
“In teaching, you have to be familiar with many techniques, but you have to stress the mechanical, mental and emotional aspects and put them all together,” said Bukowski, 55, who instructs at Millcreek Golf and Learning Center.
“I studied the theory of Dr. Debbie Crews, and positive thinking,” Bukowski said. “There is so much mental emphasis. And she wires people with electrodes to see brain activity over a three-foot putt. this is the cutting edge of new technology that I’m trying to apply to my students.”
Technology such as videos that can show the ball compressing off the club face, launch monitors, simulators, and the ever-changing clubs and balls are a teacher’s aid. But the students still have to execute, no matter what level, and manage the basics.
“I use the technology, but I’m also old school,” said Dave Smith, who turned pro the day after he finally won the 1985 EDGA Amateur after four second-place finishes.
“I taught 12 hours that day,” said Smith, 55, who instructs at the Family First Golf Dome and at Sportland on Route 20 in Fairview Township.
The swing is the thing
“My whole career, I’ve been on a quest to find something to simplify the golf swing action,” Smith said. “All of this time, I’ve been refining my skills as far as a golf swing, and then, if it’s improved my golf swing, it can definitely improve an amateur’s swing.”
Smith, 55, said he has five power sources.
“The first is a combination of alignment, grip and posture, and have a more athletic, powerful look in position of address. You would be surprised how many people come in here that actually have no chance to make a proper golf swing,” he said.
“You try to keep the head up and make distance between the chin and the chest to create power source two, which is a combination of stability in the right knee and a shoulder turn coiled into that,” Smith said. “For power source three, the drill is to take a step back with the left foot, and swing, which is all about the weight shift. Number four has to do with balance, and holding the finish through the swing. In any sport, form and balance is important. And number five is rhythm and tempo, and the drill is to swing one-handed to establish that.”
“Once you have a balanced, consistent, functional golf swing, the whole game then revolves around 100 yards and in, and putting,” Smith said. “Once I got Austin Romeo (a McDowell senior and record-setting EDGA Amateur champion in 2009 at age 16) to a swing he liked, his confidence soared after working five years on his short game.”
Gajewski pointed out that people don’t put enough emphasis on the short game.
“Some players believe that they have to hit a wedge high to plop onto the green, but once the ball is airborne, they’re at the mercy of the elements,” Gajewski said. “I believe the lower you keep it to the ground, the more control you have over it.”
One pro says yea, another nay
Teaching pros don’t always agree with the methods of other teaching pros.
“Two of the top instructors in the country talked about putting, and one said follow the ball with the eyes, and the other said it doesn’t matter,” Steen said.
Smith does not see any advantages to the new concept of Stack and Tilt, a concept created by Michael Bennett and Andy Plummer in which the body turns on a center axis but the left (lead) foot points downward and more weight is applied on the left side.
“In the traditional old-school swing, the weight shifts to the right side, and the left knee moves slightly toward the right, and the golfer loads up on the right side,” Smith said. “The new philosophy they are trying to promote is that the knee on the left side doesn’t move. It’s brand new and kind of far out there. Stack and Tilt is good for young tour stars, because they’re covering the ball and de-lofting everything from that position. But for a 20 handicap, that gets a little squirrely. You have to be very good to know what you’re doing. From my eye, that doesn’t sit right for me.”
Dave Wedzik, who heads up Golf Evolution Academy at Whispering Woods Golf Club, which promotes the Stack and Tilt, said the belief that weight is on the left side is not correct.
“That’s the first misnomer about Stack and Tilt,” Wedzik said. “It’s a center pivot, a perfect circle and stable axis. a lot of people don’t understand that. we are using components of what we call Stack and Tilt, but it’s the correct geometric principles to find the most efficient swing. There are many different ways to swing, but only one efficient swing for an individual.”
Magazine tips can clutter minds
There probably is not a golfer who has never tried golf tips gleaned from a magazine or off television.
“Golf tips are written for the masses,” said Wedzik, 42, a pro since 1991 who has competed on various minor tours. “They might work for some, but not for others.”
“Sometimes, tips can mess you up,” Bukowski said.
Gajewski said he remembers golf magazines stacked around the house.
“I looked through hundreds of tips, and some are outlandish, but some people get to make them work,” he said. “But a lot of that stuff is filler. How can you write tips in a magazine every weekend for all these years, and be more improved every week?”
Learning on job
Like their students, the instructors constantly learn on the job.
“Ever year I have taught I’ve learned something different,” said Bukowski, 55, who won the EDWGA Match Play title in 2003. “I found out about things that I wish I had known as an amateur. There’s also a lot of contradictory information out there.”
Wedzik, who has taught at dozens of golf schools in the United States, said he absorbs new ideas all the time.
“Some of the top instructors are out there that have methods that I’ve used. Pros and low-handicap players need instructions, too, though more of fine tuning,” Wedzik said.
Some pros preach different types of body movement, or keep a foundation and a quiet swing, steeper swings, releasing the club with the arms pulling the body through, or rotating the hips to produce power. Students don’t always find success with a single instructor.
“There are a lot of teachers, and nobody is 100 percent right in what they teach,” Bukowski said.
“Some people come to me because they believed they got messed up by some other instructor,” Crane said. “I might have to adjust something, but a lot of times a student may misinterpret something they were told by a very good teacher.”
“There are different ways to do the same thing, so you try to find the way to help a student understand what you’re trying to get them to do,” Crane said.
“Here’s how I look at it,” Steen said. “A perfect-looking golf swing doesn’t mean it’s a good golf swing. Arnold Palmer didn’t have a good-looking swing, but he was the King, and has the (Masters) green jackets to go with it. Jim Furyk has a strange, looping swing, and a U.S. Open championship.”
Smith said Curtis strange, who won back-to-back U.S. Open titles in 1988 and 1989, swayed laterally in his swing.
“That’s not recommended, but I talked with Curtis one time, and he explained how it worked for him, which was quite well,” Smith said.
“A lot of mistakes are attributed to movement,” Gajewski said. “The head moving laterally, however, is not that bad. It’s when the head goes up and down when trouble starts.”
Wedzik, who studied teaching guru David Leadbetter’s philosophies, said the greats are different but have similar results.
“Ben Hogan had a weak grip, Fred Couples and Arnold Palmer a strong grip,” Wedzik said. “Sam Snead was smooth, Arnie herky-jerky. they all had variables, and had few similarities, but they all won major championships because they did them consistently.”
It’s what the teacher wants the student to be, from a 35-handicap to scratch. a student wants the same from the instructor.
“It has to be a team effort,” Bukowski said. “But you have to reinforce them and always be positive.”
The instructor also has to earn his or her fee.
“Students might find it hard to understand the lesson and get frustrated, but you can’t get discouraged,” Crane said. “The whole idea is to keep things uplifting and positive. that applies to everybody.”
BOB JARZOMSKI can be reached at 870-1678 or by e-mail.
<a href="http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110513/GOLF05/305139898/-1/SPORTStag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110513/GOLF05/305139898/-1/SPORTSFri, 13 May 2011 08:25:40 GMT 00:00″>Some common tips aren’t best to cure golf swing
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The aficionados were wearing out the refresh button on their computers and smart phones.
