My PGA Golf Coach

So often when I am introduced to someone as a PGA Teaching Professional, the introduction of the other person will be followed with a “…but he’s/she’s a good player.  He/she doesn’t need golf lessons!”  Of course, I always smile and say nothing about it.  However, I want you to remember that even the top PGA Tour players in the world have their own golf coaches.  One of the keys to a good golf coach or golf instructor is to know their student’s swings, when they are swinging well.  That way,  when the inevitable happens and the student’s swing gets off track, it is much easier to get them playing well again.  It doesn’t take a daily lesson to become a better golfer.  But a well informed PGA Golf Coach or Teaching Professional can make all the difference in your golf game.

As he did so many things, Harvey Penick said it best, “Lessons are not to take the place of practice but to make practice worthwhile.”

Recently I gave a lesson to the most charming lady who was very serious about learning the game of golf.  Before our lesson, she informed me that she had taken about ten lessons from another professional in Florida. As I do with most of my clients, we began on the lesson tee. I told her to hit a few golf balls to warm up, also allowing  me take a look at where she was in her game. To my astonishment, she had no balance, her hands were behind the ball at address, a very weak left hand and she couldn’t get the ball airborne – low right grounders every time!  At that point I stopped her and began to question her “experience” and the “pro” who taught her whatever it was she was trying to do. Read more…

As many of you know, I live, work and play in Northern Michigan. And where we play golf in the summer, we ski in the winter! You know what that means… hills! So, do you know how to hit a golf ball from a downhill lie – with one foot above the golf ball and one foot below the golf ball? This is a different shot from the downhill lie where both feet are above the ball. And even if you aren’t in an area with ski slopes for fairways, this is still vital information for all golfers to know.

It seems so simple, so basic, but when you are taking a golf shot, aligning your body at set-up is so important! I find visualization is the best way to make sure you have done this properly. The easiest way to visualize how you should be lined-up is to imagine you are standing on a set of railroad tracks – your feet and shoulders lined up on on of the rails and the golf ball on the other. At the end of the track is your target. The most common mistake I see is golfers’ feet and shoulders lined-up way left of the target and the club face still aiming at the target, which causes the ball to go right. So if you are one of those people who hit the ball right, make sure your feet and shoulders are lined-up in the direction of your visualized tracks and thus your target.

One of my all time favorite movie scenes – played out by one of golf’s greatest players! Tiger and the gopher… too funny!