It all began one evening in 1991 with a telephone solicitation call.  Little did I know at the time that this phone call would literally change my life over the next 20 years.  The person on the other end of the line asked if I would donate money to an organization called Special Olympics.  I was familiar with Special Olympics, but I steadfastly refused to donate money on the telephone to anyone.  I explained that although I would not provide funds, I would gladly volunteer to teach/coach Special Olympics golfers.  At the time, I was half-way through my apprenticeship in the PGA of America and was working as a non-member Director of Golf at a public golf course in Phoenix, AZ.  Taken aback, the telephone solicitor said that he was unaware of any Special Olympics Golf Program and referred me to Troy Greisen, the Executive Director of Arizona Special Olympics. I set up an appointment to talk with Troy the following week, and we both came away from the meeting with a plan to start a Special Olympics Golf Program in Arizona. Unknown to me, this same scenario was taking place in four other states throughout the country at the same time.

In September 1991, I hosted a Special Olympics golf clinic at my course and persuaded a few local professionals to help.  I was fortunate to have Wedgy Winchester, world famous trick shot artist and long drive champion, donate his time to conduct a demonstration before the clinic started.  Over a dozen Special Olympics athletes attended this first clinic, and the Arizona Special Olympics Golf Program was officially established.  Within the next month, I contacted golf courses throughout the Phoenix area and asked the professional staffs to donate an hour or two of their time each week to provide instruction for interested Special Olympians.  The Directors of Golf/Head Professionals went above and beyond and not only donated lessons, but opened their driving ranges at no charge during specified hours each week and provided free golf to Special Olympians and their families when there were openings on the tee sheet.

In January 1992, the PGA of America convened the first Special Olympics Golf Committee meeting, and I was fortunate to be selected as a member of that committee.  The initial goals established by the committee were to grow the Special Olympics Golf Program within each state in the U. S. and to have Special Olympics Golf included as part of the 1995 Special Olympics International World Games Competition in New Haven, Connecticut.  The 1995 World Games Golf Tournament was held at Yale Golf Course, where Andrew White won the Male Division I title with rounds of 81,81 and 80.  Michele Mouier captured the Female Division I title with rounds of 99, 107 and 95.  Golf had been established as a Medal Sport in Special Olympics International World Games Competitions.

For me, the last 20 years have been full of heart-warming, emotional and gratifying events revolving around Special Olympics.  I have been the Chairman of the Special Olympics Golf Committee since 1990 and have enjoyed every moment.  My wife and I served as Organizers and Rules Officials at Special Olympics golf tournaments in Arizona, California and South Carolina, and at the 1999 World Games Golf Tournament in Raleigh, NC and the 2003 World Games Golf Tournament in Ireland.  We traveled to South Africa for a week to train Special Olympics Athletes and Coaches.  We have conducted numerous clinics, tournaments and coaches’ training sessions throughout the country. We have luckily built lasting relationships with some of the finest people you could ever hope to meet.

Everyone from the newest entry-level PGA Apprentice to the most experienced PGA Director of Golf can make a difference in a Special Olympian’s life or that of his/her family.   I strongly encourage every PGA member and apprentice to take that first step and get involved with Special Olympics Golf by contacting your local state Special Olympics Executive Director.  If you would like more information about Special Olympics Golf, please feel free to contact me at 843-997-8318 or by email at TGACERIC@aol.com.

In summary, the heart of the Special Olympics program is captured by the Special Olympics oath, which is recited by the athletes before every competition:  “Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.”

Eric C. Wilson, Ph.D., PGA Master Professional

Chairman, Special Olympics Golf Committee

Executive Director Golf Operations

Keiser University College of Golf

Port St. Lucie, FL 34986

While attending the PGA Merchandise Show last week in Orlando, Florida, I ran into a good friend and fellow Master Professional, Ed Ibarguen, General Manager and Director of Golf at the Duke University Golf Club. Ed was kind enough to introduce me to a book titled Annual Review of Golf Coaching 2010, published by the Multi-Science Publishing Company, Ltd. and edited by Dr. Simon Jenkins. The book description on the back cover reads: “Most Tour Players now have a number of different coaches to help them with the mental, physical and technical sides of the game. Today, therefore, it is more relevant to talk of ‘Golf Coaching’ rather than simply ‘Golf Instruction’ or ‘Golf Teaching.’ The mission of this technical and peer-reviewed publication is to bridge the gap between scientific and practical knowledge in golf. The articles in the Annual Review can be placed into five categories: Swing Technique and Biomechanics; Technology & Feedback; Psychology of Performance and Practice; Golf Development and Coach Education; and Strength and Conditioning. The best of recent research is brought to the lay reader along with expert contributions from leading figures in the coaching world. “While I have not yet received copies of the 2007-2009 publications, I was very intrigued with the leading article in the 2010 edition: “Digging It Out of the Dirt: Ben Hogan, Deliberate Practice and The Secret” by Dr. Simon Jenkins. Follow up commentaries were provided by Anders Ericsson/Len Hill, Stephen Cobley/Joseph Baker, Kyle Paquette/Jon Roy, Christopher Bertram, Ed Ibarguen, Fran Pirozzolo, Dr. Gary Wiren, Dr. T. J. Tomasi, Lee Crust, and Tom Ferraro. The information in this publication is most interesting and the Editorial Board reads like a “Who’s Who” in the golf coaching/instruction community. If you are interested, you can purchase this book at www.multi-science.co.uk/golf-coaching.htm.

In Sam Froggatte’s (CEO Eyeline Golf) January 21^st email, he references Deliberate Practice and Anders Ericsson’s article on “Deliberate Practice and Acquisition of Expert Performance: A General Overview.” Eyeline Golf (www.eyelinegolf.com) has an incredible array of training aids and information to aid every level of golfer in his/her quest for improved performance and lower scores. In reviewing Ericsson’s article, he states “Significant improvements in performance were realized when individuals were 1) given a task with a well-defined goal, 2) motivated to improve,       3) provided with feedback, and 4) provided with ample opportunities for repetition and gradual refinements of their performance.” Before jumping right into a training scenario, every golfer should go through a skill level assessment to provide a “blueprint” of what specific areas of the game require/desire improvement. These areas include: Pre-Swing Fundamentals (Grip, Aim, Setup), In-Swing Fundamentals (Technique, Consistency, Accuracy, Distance, Balance), Short Game (Partial Wedges, Pitching, Chipping, Bunker Play, Putting), Course Management, Mental Game, Rules/ Etiquette, and Equipment Evaluation. Once the golfer has a clear picture of his/her abilities and has decided which skills require improvement, then effective training can begin and Deliberate Practice can be introduced. Otherwise, beginning a training session without an assessment would be like beginning a trip without a map; whichever road you choose will get you there, but it may not be where you want to go.

With the advent of YouTube and the vast amount of golf-related information available in books, magazines, and the Internet, golfers are overwhelmed with instructional information and tips to improve their golf games. The best approach, of course, is to seek professional instruction from your local PGA Professional. Even then, taking lessons does not necessarily guarantee improvement as quickly as most golfers wish. If you do take lessons, Dr. Gary Wiren, PGA Master Professional, offers seven tips in Chapter 12 of his PGA Teaching Manual, The Art and Science of Golf Instruction:

1. Agree on instructional objectives with your professional – Set a goal, put a time frame on it, consider your ability and how much time and effort you will devote to the undertaking.
2. Be an active learner – Ask questions. Learning is the learner’s responsibility.
3. Find a comfortable matchup of teaching style and your learning    style – To do this, ask yourself the following: How do you best learn? Do you like detail or the big picture? Are you a better learner with words, pictures, or feel? Can you handle criticism or do you need praise? Find a teacher who either fits your style or communicate your preferred style to the teacher you have.
4. Avoid false modesty, but beware of pride and ego – Be objective and honest when the professional asks you questions about your game. Don’t hide weaknesses, including health or physical problems, or exaggerate strengths. Don’t be afraid to ask questions if you don’t understand.
5. Avoid noncompliance – When you get a prescription, take it, give it a chance.
6. Practice, Practice, Practice – Failure to practice or letting your practice become aimless and disorganized not only wastes the practice time, but the lesson time as well.
7. Patience, Patience, Patience – Don’t expect miracle cures. Improvement takes time. Swing patterns are habits, and habits don’t change quickly.

My students ask this question repeatedly, regardless of their skill level. Dr. Gary Wiren’s PGA Teaching Manual: The Art and Science of Golf Instruction contains an article by noted PGA Instructor Chuck Cook titled “Strategies for Getting Your Game Under Control.” Mr. Cook offers two basic rules for golfers to follow: Rule 1 – DO NOT TRY TO DO WHAT YOU CANNOT DO, and Rule 2 – DO NOT AIM WHERE A STRAIGHT SHOT WILL HURT YOU.

Under Rule 1, Mr. Cook states that “You see beginning players trying to use clubs they can’t use, intermediate players trying to play shots they can’t hit, and advanced players playing to targets that are totally unreasonable.” If you are a beginner golfer (handicap 24 and above), Mr. Cook suggests learning to use a driving club (preferably a 5-wood) and a playing club (normally a 5-iron), and developing a short game system involving a 7-iron, sand wedge, and a putter. If you are an intermediate player (handicap 12-24), he recommends learning one basic, repeatable shot (your normal shot tendency) and playing it all the way around the golf course. Don’t be tempted to try different shots to fit different situations. If you are an advanced player (handicap 12 and under), Mr. Cook feels you must learn the fundamentals of shotmaking,  mastering the different curvatures and trajectories, so you can play them when the situation dictates. Your goal should be to “practice the shots you don’t like and play the shots you do like.”

For Rule 2, Mr. Cook relates that his research shows that most penalty shots come from poor starting direction rather than from the amount of curve of the shot, by a ratio of almost 12 to 1. If you are a beginner golfer, attempt to play to a spot where you can putt the ball onto the green, rather than leave yourself in a position where you have to loft the ball onto the green. For intermediate golfers, pick the biggest target for each shot and favor the side of the target that is farthest from trouble. Advanced players should aim away from trouble and curve the ball toward trouble.

Following Chuck Cook’s Rules 1 and 2 may seem simplistic and possibly even boring, but it will lead to lower, more consistent scores in both your casual rounds and in tournament competition.

Dave Stockton and sons have received lots of recognition recently with their students’ improved putting statistics. This was also true of Stan Utley and Dave Pelz within the last couple of decades. What is the best way to putt? Should you stroke “straight back and straight through” (Pelz), “let the putter move in an arc” (Utley), or “move the putter inside to down the line” (Stockton)? While each of these methods is technically correct and works for those who commit to using them, how do we explain the wide variance in successful putting techniques on the tours? Billy Mayfair made millions with a “slice” putting stroke, while Bobby Locke came from South Africa and conquered the PGA Tour in the 1950’s with a “hook stroke.” Gary Player won the career Grand Slam putting with a pronounced  closed stance, yet Jack Nicklaus won 18 professional majors and the career Grand Slam putting from an open stance. There are certain “imperatives” in putting on which almost all great teachers agree. Number one, you must learn to hit the ball in the center of the putter face; that is the only way to produce consistent speed control, which equals accurate distance. If you can’t roll the ball a consistent distance, then you can’t predict an accurate break/borrow. Number two, you must learn to control the face of the putter so that it is square to your intended line at impact on every stroke. If you can’t hit the ball where you are aiming, only luck will allow you to make putts. Finally, you must be able to “read” the green/putting surface accurately to predict how much the putt will break at the appropriate speed. Numbers one and two can be practiced anywhere – spend ten minutes a day putting at a table leg in your home/office from three feet. Use face tape (available at retail outlets or on the internet under golf training aids) to monitor center contact. Keep a log of how many putts hit the table leg to monitor squareness of your putter face at impact. The only way to really practice reading greens/putting surfaces is to spend time on the greens/putting surfaces. This means that you should find a practice putting green that you can use as often as possible, and daily if feasible. Focus on these three imperatives, practice them diligently, and you will see your putting statistics improve.

Ever heard of the Single Plane Golf Swing? See Ken Martin’s article below. Ken is a proponent of the Single Plane Golf Swing and qualified to play in the Senior PGA Championship held at Valhalla Golf Course in May of 2011 using this method.

By Ken Martin, PGA, Director of Golf Instruction, Natural Golf

There  is currently much writing and discussion going on in the world of golf instruction focused on Swing Plane.  We have also received many questions from Natural Golf devotees regarding Jim Hardy’s theory pertaining to his book “The Plane Truth” and if his recommended swing mechanics for the “one plane swing” apply to Natural Golfers.  This will clarify Natural Golf’s definition of Single Plane so you can continue down a simple path to better golf.

First and foremost, Natural Golf uses the shaft of the golf club to define the plane of the swing. We say a swing is single plane when the shaft angle at address matches the shaft angle at impact.

Ideally, the shaft would stay on this inclined plane throughout the entire swing; much like the shaft movement created by the golf club testing machine, Iron Byron, used by the USGA.  And, much like the shaft movement of a club as swung by Moe Norman (pictured above).

By starting at address with your arms aligned with the club shaft, you can swing back and forward on virtually the same swing path or on a single plane, we believe there is no simpler move in golf. It mimics the direct strike of driving a nail with a hammer, the way you hold the tool aligns your arm with the handle and a single plane motion is the most natural and most direct motion to use.

Jim Hardy defines a swing as “one plane” when the shoulders and lead arm are on the same plane at the top of the backswing. While he references a difference in setup between one and two plane swings, he does not use shaft angle as the criteria. Because the two methods use different criteria to define One or Single Plane, the swing mechanics of each method are not completely interchangeable.

Using our Natural Hold on the club automatically aligns your arms with the clubshaft at address. Swinging the club on an arc around your body with your arms will deliver the club through impact with a square clubface sending the ball to your target. By paying close attention to our Single Plane Setup, you will simply have to focus your attention on the direction of the forward swing path to create a Single Plane Swing.

Hammer

Naturalness dictates that club path control is directed by the arms and hands.  Because of our Single Plane Setup, your body will move to accommodate the direction you choose to move your arms.  There will be some shoulder turn in the backswing as your arms move the club on a Single Plane and some shoulder turn in the forward swing to accommodate this same plane (swing) direction.  Your weight will transfer from trail foot to lead foot also; this inherent body motion will amplify the speed of your arm swing to increase power.  The faster you move the club with your arms the more your body will move in accommodation.  Trying to add body motion to create arm speed will almost always throw the club shaft off the Single Plane direction.  Think of it this way…if you want to drive a nail harder, do you try to turn your shoulders more, or drive your hips?  Probably not, at least not consciously…you simply move the hammer faster with your arm, any extra body motion occurs in accommodation of your intended arm speed.

It’s a lot like throwing a ball.  When you intend to throw farther, you move your arm faster and in accommodation, your body moves in anticipation and support of your intent to increase arm speed. For example, when you throw really far you will most likely take a step in the direction of the throw just prior to accelerating your arm in that direction. The step toward the target and the body motion it entails occur because of your intent to throw far using your arm.

Moe Norman showed us a simple setup that produced a simple and remarkably repeatable swing.  Natural Golf follows his lead with our Natural Hold that leads to a Single Plane Setup so we can use the most direct strike in golf…a Single Plane Swing.

Keep it simple folks!

Ken

It seems like every time you watch a golf tournament on TV, you hear about the latest and greatest golf instruction guru, who guides his/her new student to victory or instant improvement. When you attend a PGA or LPGA Tour event and watch the practice area, you see these gurus with video equipment and the latest training aids working with their players. Seems like technology has burst upon the golf scene in the last few years as a way to get better or learn the game quicker. Search “golf instruction” on the internet, and you will get 14,900,000 sites to visit. YouTube is full of golf instruction videos. Is video technology new to the game of golf? Not really, as Bobby Jones shot a classic series of video instruction in the 1930s, and they are still applicable today. Still pictures of golf swings were taken in the early 1900s, and books like Practical Golf by Walter Travis (1901) and Great Golfers, Their Methods at a Glance by George Beldam (1904) used pictures to demonstrate proper positions in the golf swing. Is there a benefit to using technology to improve your game? Absolutely! However, you must be cautious when attempting to duplicate golf swing positions recommended by golf instruction articles/videos/commercials. To get the most from technology, I strongly recommend you visit a PGA Professional who has experience in the use of video/technology and has spent years studying the golf swing. Establish a partnership with the Professional, jointly set goals that you can work towards, and follow the Professional’s advice for practice, and you will see improvement. Technology may not be the “magic bullet” that changes your golf game overnight, but in the right setting and with the right Professional, it can certainly shorten the learning curve and lead to lower scores and more enjoyment on the golf course.

The topic of limiting golf ball performance has been addressed recently as a way of reducing the distance professionals hit the ball on the PGA/ Nationwide tours. We have witnessed some incredible performances from Robert Garrigus, Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, and John Daly before them. Talk has been circulating that great golf courses are becoming obsolete due to the tremendous distances players can hit the ball. Also, with a pair of 59’s shot on the PGA Tour this year (Goydos and Appleby) and a 58 by Ryo Ishikawa on the Japan Tour, the mantra has gone out that the golf ball is too hot. Is this really the case? Similar claims were made in the early 1900’s when the “Bounding Billy” golf ball was developed by Coburn Haskell, and Sandy Herd was the only player to use the ball throughout the 1902 British Open, shooting 307 and defeating Harry Vardon and James Braid by a shot. The same hue and cry arose about the added distance provided by the Haskell ball and how golf courses would be overpowered. While scores improved nominally, they didn’t plummet to record numbers as expected. As a matter of fact, Byron Nelson set a scoring record by averaging 68.34 strokes per round in 1945 that lasted over 50 years until Tiger Woods broke it with a 68.17 scoring average in 2000. The PGA Tour leader in driving distance in 2000 was John Daly with an average of 301.4 yards; Robert Garrigus led the Tour in 2010 with an average of 315.4 yards. However, scores have not gotten better with the increase in distance. Tiger’s 68.17 remains the lowest scoring average in history, reflecting the accuracy of the saying “Your drive for show, but you putt for dough.” While distance will always be a factor in the game of golf, it is not the only factor. All of us can improve our games by working on that magic distance inside 100 yards – and almost all of us can hit the ball 100 yards without straining! So spend more time on your short game, and you will be able to challenge the long hitters every time you go to the course.

It is absolutely amazing how emotionally attached golfers become to playing the game of golf and improving their scores. However, most golfers are unaware of what it takes to improve and how long that process may last. As we watch the PGA, Nationwide, and LPGA Tours on TV, it appears that the game is so easy for the professionals who play it for a living. How difficult can it be to swing a club and make a golf ball go where you want?

Anders Ericsson, a Swedish researcher, explored all aspects of skilled performance in a variety of activities and measured practice in relation to those skills. Specifically, he measured the time and characteristics of practice. He determined that every expert in every field of endeavor is the result of around ten thousand hours of committed practice. He defined committed practice as “working on technique, seeking constant critical feedback, and focusing ruthlessly on shoring up weaknesses” (Coyle, 2009).

One must understand the difference between “beating balls” and “committed practice.” Should you decide to embark on the journey of reaching your potential in the game of golf, here is the scenario:

1. Find a coach (preferably a PGA professional who is an expert teacher), and develop a strategy for improvement.
2. Determine how much time and money you can dedicate to practice (if you do “committed practice” 4 hours a day every day starting today, it will take you almost 7 years to reach your potential).
3. If you cannot dedicate this amount of time and money to “committed practice,” enjoy the game as you play it now, and seek to improve in small increments under the direction of your coach.
4. If you really want to improve your scores, practice twice as much around the greens as you do on your full swing. This also saves money, as most facilities don’t charge you for use of their practice greens, while they do charge for practice balls on the range.

If you have questions/comments concerning improvement, practice techniques, or specific aspects of your game, contact Dr. Eric Wilson, Executive Director of Golf Operations at Keiser University College of Golf at ewilson@keiseruniversity.edu.