golfrewind.com

Anyone else coach a successful team? Since I coach both Boys and Girls Varsity, I'd love to discuss the different methods of motivation for the sexes. Also, maybe share some practice formulas for getting all of the kids up to speed QUICKLY. We are in full-swing for our Boys golf season so obviously, I do have my own methods and they took a bottom dwelling girls team in the fall to a Fourth Place Finish at the State Championship.

JC, kudo's to you. Around here, only the largest of high schools actually have professionals in some kind of teaching/instructional/coaching capacity. Recently, I was amazed after attending a Division I coaches forum before a big junior tournament (8 Div. I head golf coaches) that they indicated that "there is very little instruction done at the college level.....that they recruit players who are already able to play at that level". I thought this was odd since juniors are still taught 'how to do things' in H.S./college basketball (set picks, run plays), in football (how to tackle/block, etc).....but it doesn't seem that's the norm in golf. Perhaps because its not a mainstream headlining sport?

Right. I give all of the players the standard rules sheet for the season with the practice schedule and the tournament/match schedule but there is a statement on it that says, "It is not my responsibility to assume the instruction responsibilities for any player, however, I will work with their current instructor or will correct any flaws that pop up." Too many parents were attempting to use Varsity sports as a "free" instructional program. I also had to institute a "cut" due to the response, especially for the girls program which is one of the State Championship favorites for Fall 2007.

JC, I don't know if this is the correct approach, but as far as I can devise in my own mind, I've been helping my son with:

a) few months back got his driver checked out with the Golf Galaxy Vector analysis and picked up another one based on that (added 20-30 yrds to his drives),

b) we're currently having his irons redone for lie angle (seems like he's hitting with the toe edge (which makes sense since he's gone into a growth spurt/height since getting them last year),

c) have him doing a weight-training program to gain a little more strength and muscle tone (but not trying to creat a little-Arnold by any means), and I'm working out with him and starting to feel I'm getting in better shape than I've been in a while

d) am getting on his case about continueing with the Titleist Performance Institute online fitness program his instructor registered him with (that he hasn't stuck with too closely....arghh),

e) am considering setting him up with a series of 10 lessons with a local instructor (Leadbettor academy trained) spread out over the year....no more than 1 per month.

f) we've registered with AJGA and starting to look at that series (Medicus tourney for 1st timers, then Srixon qualifiers, AJGA open tournies, etc).

After all that, I feel I've done as much as I can do to help him get to where he may want to go....any more, he'll have to do with his own sweat and effort, imo.

Well....It always helps to have talent...My High School team was always a top 5 team in the state, and in Indiana, we dont have classes...My senior year we avg'd 299, with a low of 287.....Every one of our top 5 played college golf....We all played summer tours, and traveled everywhere during the summer...BUT our coach did do a lot to get us to our full potential during the year... The first thing we did is NEVER EVER cancelled practice, unless the course said no...And sometimes, if they did say no (due to weather) we would drive somewhere else...Another thing that we would do is NEVER EVER just play 9 holes, because they the players get the 9 hole mentality sometimes we would play 10 and 18 after the front nine, or sometimes we would try to squeeze in 15 or 16 or even 18 on a weekday practice....We always wanted to "make the turn" We also had a putting routine we did every single day, and would have to record those putts and turn them in....Our coach was with us playing every single practice...He wouldnt just sit in the club house and drink coffee...Even if it was 20 degrees, he was playing with us..

I am not sure if you have heard of Lee Williamson from Indiana...Played at purdue, and has been top 10 on the Canadian tour, and is a pretty decently big name? Our coach was his brother Ryan Williamson who played golf at Ball State....Soo needless to say...That helped!

Hey, JC! I'm really glad to see you continuing to teach the kids. I hope they realize how valuable having someone like you teach them is. Your suggestions certainly helped me a lot.

No advice here - just some well deserved commendation.

This sounds a lot like what we did in HS...of course that was a long time ago and we had no pro...in fact several of us could beat the coach regularly. He was really the bball coach, but coached football and golf as well (tiny W Tx school). We had a pretty good team and the reason was the work ethic he instilled in us. As soon as we got out of school we headed to the course and the first thing we did was hit a shag bag of balls and then go pick 'em up...after that we walked and played till dark. Coach Spieker played along with us, observing and pointing out basic flaws like power leaks and course management but for more detailed instruction we'd have to seek out one of the veteran golfers at the course (we had lots of 'em for such a small town). He also had us lift weights on a universal gym but just to tone up and build stamina, not trying to bulk up or anything. The main thing that help us was learning not to be lazy, learning to focus and concentrate (even harder for today's youth, imo), and like NikeRep07 said, learning how to make the turn without losing momentum and concentration...I carry that with me to this day - if I spend more than a minute or two in the clubhouse at the turn I lose any momentum that I had going so I prefer to keep going, which is where stamina comes into play. I guess the only other thing I can think of that helped us, which I have used to teach kids, is to create short game competitions (one ball) with some kind of cheap prize for the winner...gets 'em in the competitive mode and teaches them to trust one shot instead of hitting multiples.

Shade

I do not ever cancel practice (there are always rules to go over if weather doesn't permit).

My high school coach was worthless. He played golf behind us each day (not WITH us) and never challenged us to anything. Despite that, we were always a top contender in GA 5A. I guess you are right, it helps to have self-motivated talent.

My players play 9 holes on Mondays and Thursdays with some sort of twist thrown in. They all play 18 holes on Saturday or Sunday on their own. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are devoted to short game practice with a list of drills they have to perform (as they get better, the drills get harder).

Bulls - you are doing all the right things.

I guess I was wondering more about the "non-motivated" players. How do you get them to work at it? I am lucky enough to only have about 2 of them but it is difficult. Unlike other sports, I don't feel I can attach a "penalty" to poor performances like 3-putts because the player will then be thinking, "if I 3-putt this, I'm going to have to make 20 in a row" or something like that. How about some "penalties" that players wouldn't dwell on when it is time to perform?

My = pit them against one another in practice with a reward for the winner like a sleeve of balls, starting position, soda pop, playstation game, carrot for the donkey (j/k)...

Shade

I guess I dont understand what you mean by "non-motivated" I mean if someone three putts that doesnt mean they aren't motivated...If that were the case, I would get punished every round

But if the three putts were because he didnt care...that is a different issue. I would just pull him aside and see what his deal was. I would ask what his goals for the season are, and have short term and long term goals for that kid. I would then say "I want to help you achieve those goals, and this is how we can do it together" Then every practice, if he is ******** around, I would ask if what he was doing was helping to achieve that goal or not?

Also...You said that you devote tuesday and wednesday to "short game" practice. I think that is a good idea, but I would definately not substitute that for playing holes...I would play 9 and THEN do the short game practice...It seemed like if we ever had a "short game" day, it was more dinking around for an hour hitting flop shots from stupid lies being dumb, and then leaving......We would literally play holes 6 days a week.....

Where do you coach? I played at Sumter High School between 01-02. I was actually born in Sumter!

Ryan

That's kinda what my son's h.s. golf coach does. He keeps scores of all the weekday 9-hole practices. Low 5 are the starting varsity team. If they play a tourney and score in the 70's, their position is safe. If they score out of the 80's, they have to 'qualify' to stay in Varsity. They Qualify during the following week....depending on how many days before the next h.s. tourney....may be 2, may be 4....they qualify against the highest ranking fellow on the JV (or the "6th man")....if they fail to beat that kid, then they get 'bumped' from varsity. That's how my son got on midway through freshman year and I've seen some kids get bumped, then bump someone else to get back in, then get bumped back out. I think it keeps them on their toes. So, in order to get bumped, they have to both play badly during a tourney AND play worse then their contendors during the subsequent qualifying. If the tourney score was a fluke, then they should beat their contendor to stay on Varsity. Sounds fair to me as a parent.

Where does your son play? I played at Edmond Santa Fe for two years!

Ryan

Shade,
Where did you play? I grew up in Clovis, NM and played on the golf team there and was fortunate to make varsity squad from 9-12th. Class of '86.

On non-qualifying days, our coach (1 handicap) would play a game called "carry the bag" with the top 3-4 players. Similar to Match Play, if we beat him on a hole he carried our bag(s) on the next hole. If he beat us on a hole, we carried his bag on the next hole. Needless to say, I carried his bag a lot. But, it was nice to see him tote 5 bags down a fairway after a the rare occasion that he'd jack one OB.

We also had access to a 3-par course and once a week, coach would pick an iron from the bag and we had to play the whole course, except putting, with that club. Teaches you to become a shotmaker.

Another drill, if you have a decent sized practice green, was chipping 10 balls, 10 times, from 10 different spots and putting each ball out, to work on increasing your up/down %. So after 100 chips you noted how many chip-ins and 1-putts you had.