Get to Know Your Pro...

This series of articles will allow you to gain an insight into the Landings Golf Professional Staff’s teaching styles, training preferences and tips.

 

JOHN PHILLIPS, PGA Teaching Professional and Club Repair/Club Fitter at Oakridge

What is your favorite part of the game to practice?

The short game is my favorite to practice. Putting and chipping practice provides the greatest return (saving strokes) for the time spent.

 

What is the part of your game that needs the most attention?

Since I am playing fewer competitive rounds, putting becomes more important for me to practice. Speed control is not as consistent, as number of rounds played is reduced. Speed control is vital to reading putts correctly.

 

What is the one way a student can practice better?

Students should practice chipping and putting three times as much as full swing. These are two areas where the average player can really excel if they commit to practice.

 

List your top 3 teaching specialties or favorite skills to teach:

I enjoy teaching the scoring shots, hybrid and iron swings along with chipping and putting.

 

What are your preferred training tools or technology?

My new favorite teaching tool or technology is "Swing Smart", a small device attached to the golf shaft beneath the grip. It shows an animated 3D figure imitating your last swing. The animation shows swing speed, path of club head on both backswing and downswing, club face position at impact and amount of hand "flip" at impact. It also measures your swing tempo. All of this can be pulled up on your Iphone or Ipad. It's a great teaching tool!

 

What percentage are you teaching a new concept to a student and what percentage are you coaching that student? 

Every student has certain negative tendencies or bad habits which must be identified and corrections made. Once the corrections have been implemented, then the coaching takes over to keep re-enforcing the changes that were made. Every student is "taught" initially and the follow-ups are "coaching".

 

What are your goals as a teacher and coach?

My goal as a teacher is not only to improve the playing ability of my students, but also to give them a better understanding of their swing dynamics and the ability to read ball flight as related to these dynamics.

Get to Know Your Pro…

This series of articles will allow you to gain an insight into the Landings Golf Professional Staff’s teaching styles, training preferences and tips.

RUSSELL ABBOTT, PGA Assistant Professional at Marshwood

What is your favorite part of the game to practice?

I love to working on putting and driving. I have always loved the saying "drive for show and putt for dough". When playing in competition, I love being able to blast the golf ball well past someone to try to "intimidate" them a little for a lack of better wording, however, it makes me  even happier when they see that and then I drain a 20-30 footer on them for a couple of holes. Plus, it sends my confidence through the roof when this happens.

What is the part of your game that needs the most attention?

The part I struggle with the most is my iron game. I am not nearly as consistent as I should be. I do not compress them or hear that sound, like some better iron players get.

 

What is the one way a student can practice better?

I think students should do more situational practice. Instead of hitting 40 7-irons to the blue flag, change angles by hitting to different flags on different sides of the range, change ball flights (high, low, draw, fade). Instead of hitting chip after chip, pick a spot chip to three different pins and then try to make the putt...work on your up and downs....make yourself have some pressure...if you don't get up and down say 40% of the time, you don't get ice cream that week or owe yourself 15 pushups...

List your top 3 teaching specialties or favorite skills to teach:

Putting, short game/bunkers, driving....Driving is such a confidence builder - we only hit 14 (or 18) drives each round but if you are hitting them in play, and well, it infuses your game.  Short game/bunkers and putting are where you can really pick up a few stokes fast with just some simple adjustments. A lot of times we are not even talking about big swing changes or body movements for students to see big differences in results...love to see that light bulb explode in someone's eyes and face.

 

What are your preferred training tools or technology?

I am still very simple here for the most part. I don't think we always need the expensive gadgets to make fixes. I use tees and alignment sticks a lot in my teaching. I have and like to use an Ipad/Iphone for videoing and analysis. It is just so simple to use it for a 3 second swing, turn the device where the student can see it, and then have a 2-5min discussion about the fix. I also like to use a device called the Swingbyte for my more consistent/better students. This device attaches to the club, weighs about an ounce, and provides me with many stats including swing speed, angle of attack, shaft lean, computer generated swing path and more that some people really like to help with their understanding of where they are and where we want to get.

 

What percentage are you teaching a new concept to a student and what percentage are you coaching that student? 

That depends on the student. For me, the higher the handicap, the more I concentrate on concepts/technique. I try to use a lot of encouraging words during this time and try to get the student to see positives.  With the lower handicap player, it is a lot less technique, more fundamentals get out of whack, more coaching and mental toughness are needed here.

 

What are your goals as a teacher and coach?

Keep learning from other teachers/golf players and from personal lessons given to me and then take that knowledge and use in a ways to help my students. I’m always look for better ways to relate to students!

Get to Know Your Pro...

This series of articles will allow you to gain an insight into the Landings Golf Professional Staff’s teaching styles, training preferences and tips.

BRIAN SAMS, PGA Head Professional at Plantation

What is your favorite part of the game to practice:

I most enjoy practicing with the sand wedge shots due to the versatility and creativity required.

What is the part of your game that needs the most attention?

My putting always requires practice to keep the feel and green reading sharpness.

What is the one way a student can practice better?

Students can practice better by establishing a station to assist with consistency in their set up.

List your top 3 teaching specialties or favorite skills to teach:

Chipping, tee shots, and wedge play.

Helping a player improve chipping often helps the entire game based on the proper fundamentals of correct impact. All players enjoy hitting the ball further off the tee.  A player’s score improves with better wedge play.

 

 

What are your preferred training tools or technology?

Establishing the player’s body limitations is the best tool in helping a player improve. The instructor has to be aware of the player’s mobility to know how to help a player improve. The speed whoosh is a great method to increase a player club head speed for greater distance. Using video can be a wonderful aid or a hindrance, depending on the student’s method of learning and how the video is used.

 

What percentage are you teaching a new concept to a student and what percentage are you coaching that student? 

The new player often needs more concept understanding to improve. Be careful not to overwhelm the player with information. The established player will often benefit more from coaching and mental preparation. The instructor must be careful not to overwhelm the player with too much information. A student walking away from a lesson confused is unproductive, no matter if the student is a beginner or advanced.

 

What are your goals as a teacher and coach?

My goal as a teacher and coach is to allow people to enjoy the game more by having a better understanding of concepts to improve their enjoyment. If their golf game improves, all the better. We need to ask the player what they want to accomplish in order to best help them improve. It is a mistake to assume what the student needs. Always ask how you may best assist them.