Technology vs Range Balls

As an assistant one of my positions was working for one of the first Master Professionals that had been an assistant at Augusta National.  He told me an interesting story about Ben Hogan.

Starting in 1942 rubber was rationed so it became difficult to find quality golf balls.  Hogan handed him his practice bag and asked him to watch over it.  He said that in some cases his practice balls were better than what he played with.  He added that practicing with anything other than quality golf balls was a waste of time.  At his level that statement is true, for a beginner not so much.

Technology

That started me thinking about range balls which are very inconsistent and therefore the accuracy of any data obtained while hitting them is questionable.  I understand that with a launch monitor the club data such as AOA, path, club face, etc. would still be accurate but not the ball data.

When launch monitors are used for club fitting are quality balls also being used?

I understand that in a closed environment, like a hitting bay, the quality of the ball can be easily controlled but a green grass driving range is a different story.

All major brands of golf balls have different models and each model has different spin rates, trajectory, and ball speed.  The variance in range balls is much greater than that, even with new range balls.  It gets even worse as they get some age on them.

For the full report from Golf Digest CLICK HERE.

I know that some launch monitors have an algorithm that is supposed to compensate for range balls but that would only work if range balls were consistent which they aren’t.

Conclusion

The bottom line is that you can get a rough idea of solid contact, curvature and trajectory with range balls but that is about it.  If you are using a launch monitor to obtain accurate ball information or club fitting it would seem that it needs to be in conjunction with quality golf balls.

For the average golfer trying to obtain accurate yardage information on how far each club goes range balls are not going to get the job done.

The easiest way to accurately check your yardages is with a GPS device or a range finder on a relatively flat area of the golf course using the balls you normally play with.

One Professionals View On Teaching And Learning

One of my pet peeves is that older instructors that do not spend many thousands of dollars on technology because in their situation they don’t feel they have a need for it are considered by younger instructors that have invested small fortunes in the latest technology, seminars, and certifications to be dinosaurs and in some way less competent.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.

I am not anti-technology and have invested in it throughout my career WHEN I considered it useful to me.  I think that in certain circumstances technology can be a very useful tool.  For some reason it seems that if you are not a big advocate of the latest technology you are automatically labeled anti-technology which is not true for many teachers.

Medical Analogy

The one analogy that pops up over and over is the use of the medical profession which is generally ridiculous.  Just because I don’t own a Trackman or attend seminars on bio-kinetics it is often implied or stated that I can’t see the usefulness of an MRI scanner which is absurd and borders on stupid.

An MRI is an extremely useful piece of technology WHEN it is needed.  I think a launch monitor is an extremely useful piece of technology WHEN it is needed.  I do know that I do not want my local physician that I go to raising his rates so he can own an MRI machine.  I simply do not need an MRI scan when I go in for a checkup or a sore throat.  Nor do I need to own a very expensive piece of technology to help the vast majority of the students I work with.

If my doctor recommends an MRI for some reason I will be going to a facility that has one and I will be paying a premium for the visit.  I think something similar could work for golf instruction.

The Objective

The objective is to be able to help golfers improve as simply and quickly as possible.  If this can be done with little or no technology the teacher is very good at what he does.  If another chooses to depend heavily on technology and is able to help his students quickly then he is also very good at what he does.

The idea that traditional knowledge and teaching is out dated is sadly misguided.  It is like the “old” and “new” ball flight laws.  Saying the old ball flight rules are wrong and the new ball flight rules are right is ridiculous.  The laws of physics haven’t changed.  Actually neither is really accurate because there are too many variables that neither takes into account.

The fact is the old ones are very effective at explaining ball flight to the average golfer.  They are simple and easy to understand.  The new laws are much less simple.

In my forty years of teaching golf I have seen a lot of revolutionary ideas and technology come and go only to be replaced by something newer and “better.”

With that being said, from my perspective, time and resources are much better spent on studying and understanding how people learn and develop complex motor skills and learning how to communicate the acquired knowledge to the student in the best and most efficient way possible.

Human Nature

I do understand human nature well enough to know that if someone has invested a great deal of time in money in technology or anything else they simply have to justify that to themselves and are unable to consider any other possibility.

Technology has nothing to do with whether someone can teach or not.  You can have the latest equipment and a wall full of certifications and without good communications skills it is all meaningless.  If you don’t understand the science of how people learn you are working under a handicap.  It doesn’t mean that you cannot teach, it simply means it will probably take your students longer to make progress and your failure rate is likely to be higher.  I do have to admit that over the years I have met great instructors that instinctively understood how students learn and were born communicators but it is rare.

Conclusion

In conclusion, for me, it simply boils down to what a person finds useful.  For me what I find useful is knowledge of the rapidly advancing science of learning and the art of communications.   It does not make me superior in any way any more than technology or bio-mechanics makes anyone else superior in any way.

Science and Golf Instruction

I am definitely old school but I have always been fascinated by advances in science and technology that have the possibility to help me as a person or as a golf professional.  That is why I got into computers before they had hard drives and video when they were battling between VHS and Betamax.  It is also why I started studying neuroscience as it applies to how people learn.

I know many will not agree with what I am about to say and I understand that.  It is only my opinion, but I am fairly intelligent and have very accurate logic and BS filters.  Because of that I have come to this conclusion.

My Conclusion

Science and technology seems to have hijacked golf instruction.  Because of things like Doppler radar, 3-D, Biomechanics, etc. we have turned golf instruction into numbers, minute positions and body parts.

As a friend of mine, Mike Rubino, who is an attorney and avid student of the game said, “The scientist and so called experts of today have invented a whole new golf lexicon and proclaim that without a complete understanding of their jargon you can't possibly teach or learn golf correctly.”

Sadly even the scientist and PhD’s don’t agree with each other.  The major benefit of all this seems to be in selling seminars and certifications so golf professionals can learn how to use the new jargon and terms that have been invented.

When I read about this and listen to the comments a term comes to mind that best describes it.  The definition follows:

“Mental Masturbation: Pleasurable but unproductive mental activity; at least in the short-term. Sometimes people use a tool, language, or technique because it has ideas that stimulate or entertain their mind. It might not be "better", but one likes it because of the stimulation or challenge it provides.”

Having been in the business for a long time now I have seen these “going to revolutionize golf instruction” come and go on a regular basis always to be replaced by the next “great breakthrough” that doesn’t materialize.

When I got into the business many years ago it was all about teaching people to PLAY golf.  Somewhere along the way technology transformed it into focusing only on the golf swing.  It is now all about numbers, positions, body parts and terminology.

The end result is that today only one golfer out of seventeen will even consider taking a lesson.

I know this will offend those that have spend a great deal of time and money on technology and getting certified but is this what we should consider progress?  You decide.

That is my view from the Golf Cave

The Golf Industry Has Shot Itself in the Foot

Recently I have been reading a research paper by a major university on the state of the golf industry and it seems that a lot of the challenges golf faces today are self-inflicted.

The Factors Contributing to Golf's Problems:

• The over building of golf courses during the boom years of the 1990’s.

• The building of longer, harder and more expensive golf courses.

• The slow play created by longer, harder, real estate development type golf courses.

• The building golf courses on speculation and not on socioeconomic demand.

• The building of golf courses that never had a viable business plan and are now environmentally, economically, and socially unsustainable.

In other words, even without a recession the golf industry would still be in trouble because of the paradigm change that occurred in the 1990’s.

What we have today is a situation where almost 90 percent of the golf courses are public access and roughly 30 percent are financially healthy, about 30 percent are slightly profitable or close to breaking even, and around 30 percent that are likely go out of business.

What we do know:

• We know there are about 4300 golf courses on the market for sale today. 

• We know there are currently about 1600 golf courses operating under bankruptcy protection.

• We know golf courses need to book about 64% of available tee-times to break even. 

• We know 60% of the golf courses are booking 44% of their available tee-times.

The Good News:

Help is on the way.  A book will be released in the near future that will offer a smorgasbord of proven techniques for operating profitably and turning money losers into money makers.  It will also cover golf instruction from a standpoint the will make it of interest to both teaching professionals and golfer alike.  I have only had glimpses at the data but it is extremely impressive.  I can only imagine the time, effort and money that have been poured into this project.

A Fresh Look At Why Golf Is Struggling

I recently came across an interesting article from the Wall Street Journal on Golf.  A little different perspective than what I am used to seeing.  I especially like the comments by Joe Beditz of the National Golf Foundation.

By Brandi Shaffer

A report by the National Golf Foundation shows that while the sport is attracting more new players than at any time since the early 2000s, few new golfers are sticking with the game. The NGF found that comfort and competence primarily drive retention, and puts the onus on golf properties to offer the facilities and programs that keep golfers interested in the long haul.

American golf is attracting more new players in the U.S. now than at any time since the early 2000s, but the National Golf Foundation’s annual participation report shows another decline in the number of people who played the game at least once in the last year, the Wall Street Journal reported.

These two contradictory trends may be the most telling indication of the state of the industry: Plenty of people are taking up the game for the first time, but very few of them are sticking with it. And according to the NGF, a leading research and consulting group, that is less an indictment of the game itself than of the operators of the country’s more than 15,000 courses, WSJ reported.

“Golf needs to be more beginner-friendly,” said NGF chief executive Joe Beditz. “It’s like we’re running a gas station. ‘Come or don’t come. Here’s the price.’”

Roughly 2.2 million Americans aged 6 and older played golf for the first time in 2015, according to the NGF, the most since 2002. That is up from a post-recession low of 1.5 million beginners in 2011. Yet the overall number of participants still fell to 24.1 million, a marginal drop from 24.7 million in 2014 and down from a peak of 30 million in 2005, WSJ reported.

The leak isn’t coming from the core of the industry: a group of nearly 20 million people who play golf regularly say in surveys they are likely to continue doing so. It’s coming from the people who never make it into that group, WSJ reported.

Nearly 90% of the people who left the game in 2015 never became regular golfers, which the NGF defines as playing at least eight times per year. Taken together, the numbers portray a business that is being handed new customers, through the sheer allure of the game, and which lacks either the ability or the interest to turn them into devoted regulars, WSJ reported.

In an interview last week, Tiger Woods echoed the NGF’s call for courses to be more welcoming to beginners. “How do you keep them still interested in it?” Tiger Woods said. “How do you keep it fun? That’s one of the things we’re running into right now with the game of golf. It’s just stagnant. We have people come into the game but they exit the game. There’s no sustainability.”

In what seems like annual obituaries written about golf, two factors often cited are time and money. But in its surveys of people who quit the game, the NGF found that what really drives retention are two factors less often discussed, WSJ reported.

One is comfort—how comfortable a beginner is both on the course and around other golfers—which is mostly a function of atmosphere. The assumption at most courses is that a person walking in is familiar with everything from the pre-round routine to the countless unspoken rules of etiquette. In fact, beginners understand little of it. People who quit often never get past feeling like an outsider in a club for insiders, WSJ reported.

The other factor is competence. Most beginners who don’t get hooked say they never felt “shot euphoria”—the thrill of the one great shot, however rare, that keeps even the most casual players coming back. By contrast, they almost surely felt the humiliation of hitting their first tee shot 10 feet while the starter watches on, WSJ reported.

Part of the problem is the way people are introduced to the game, typically through a relative or friend. New golfers are far more likely to keep playing if they start with a structured program such as Get Golf Ready, which offers five group lessons for as little as $99. The program covers everything from swing basics to etiquette, guides people onto the course and helps them find other beginners to play with. But Beditz said such programs aren’t marketed well enough, WSJ reported.

Another problem is that the typical golf course is not set up for beginners to ease their way in. It’s akin to a ski resort without a bunny hill or a swimming pool without a shallow end. There is the course: 18 holes, often designed with the avid player in mind. And there is the driving range and practice green: easy enough to futz around on but also boring. There is nothing in between, WSJ reported.

The incentives to make golf more fun should be strong enough. Aside from the rise in beginners, the NGF will report Tuesday that 37.4 million non-golfers are at least somewhat interested in playing golf now, based on broader sports participation surveys conducted by the Physical Activity Council. The question is how many of them will ever play golf regularly, WSJ reported.

“There has to be an embrace of these people, and it has to happen at the golf course. That’s our front door,” Beditz said. “All of the preaching by guys like me will do absolutely no good if 15,000 golf courses are not managed better.”

Maybe growing the game wouldn’t be so difficult if we focused on how to retain the people that are coming into the game already.

The Key to Golf Instruction is Effective Communication

The Key to Golf Instruction is Effective Communication

By Sam Adams

I have been studying golf instructors and instruction for many years and along the way I have learned a few things.  I have found that all successful golf instructors have one critical skill in common. For the purposes of this discussion we will define successful as the ability to help students achieve their goals and improve.

The critical skill that all effective teachers have is the ability to communicate with their students. Having had the opportunity to spend time with great instructors, such as the legendary Harvey Penick, it is obvious that they were all gifted communicators.  They understand that communicating with their students involves more than just words.  People also communicate through body language and with their eyes.  When I am working with a student he or she may say they understand something, but I can tell with  their body language or from a look in their eyes that they don’t really understand what I am trying to teach them.

Teachers in other professions understand that learning is dependent on communications.  A math teacher can have a PhD, but be unable to effectively communicate their knowledge to a student.  Likewise, a golf an instructor can have a long list of certifications, but not be able to communicate that knowledge well enough to help  their students improve.  No matter how much technical expertise an individual has he or she will not be an effective teacher until they are able to communicate it in a manner that is simple and easy for the student to understand.

Communications is a two-way street and a good instructor wants and needs feedback from the student to be able to provide them with the maximum benefit from the lesson.  A student should never be embarrassed if they do not understand what the instructor is trying to teach.  The instructor is being paid to make sure that you understand what to do and why.  Students should not hesitate to ask why if you don’t understand the reason they are being asked to do something because they will never fully learn something until they understand the what and the why.

My fellow instructors and I have talked about our journey on the road to learning how to teach and how we probably should be glad we couldn’t be sued for malpractice early in our careers.  The turning point for an instructor comes when they learn to shut up and actively listen.  Our lessons today are mostly asking questions, listening to the answers, and helping the student with figuring things out for themselves.  The best way for someone to actually learn and retain something is letting the student figure things out with the assistance of a good instructor who can guide them.

Hitting a Golf Ball Is Like a Bullseye.

Golf Instruction: Golf Is Like a Bullseye

So much of golf instruction today is focused on the “good player” or low handicap golfer which is fine but these players are in or near the center circle of the bullseye.  The vast majority of what you are told that is essential or critical only applies to these players - not the vast majority in the outer circles.

If you just want to break 100 you don’t have to have the perfect address position, perfect alignment,or the perfect grip.  Your margin of error on those things is huge.  You are just trying to avoid double bogeys and higher.  You accomplish that by learning to play smarter and focusing on scoring instead of ball striking.  Learn to miss it the same way every time.

Par for the person just trying to shoot in the 90’s is bogey on every hole.  Stop trying to carry bunkers and water in order to reach the green in regulation.  Add one more stroke to par on every hole and start feeling more positive about your game.  Spend most of your time playing and working on putting, chipping and pitching.

If you want to move into the next ring things change a little.  If you want to be consistently in the 80’s you have to have the ability to reach some of the greens in regulation.  This means you can’t spray the ball as much and you may have to add a little distance.  Experiment with slowing the swing down until you can get solid contact on more shots.  Solid shots go much farther.  You can hit add distance while you improve accuracy.  It’s not about how far you can hit the ball, but how far you can hit it and have some idea where it’s going to end up.

You are going to have to develop a short game so you can start getting the ball up and down in two when you miss the green.

There is no need to spend hours on the range working on tips and buying DVD’s with non-existent secrets.  Just work on your consistency.  If you tend to slice the ball that is fine, just work on slicing it the same amount every time so you can figure out where to aim your shot.

You will also find that you can get more benefit from playing nine holes and working on you consistency is much better than spending an hour or so on the range.

Learn to enjoy golf more by not constantly trying to perfect your swing or technique and working instead one improving your score.  I use to love getting pro-am partners with 18+ handicaps.  I could coach them around the course and finish in the money.