Friday, July 12, 2013

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!

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