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The Wedge Guy: Building your “team” – Part 1

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Golf is a funny game, especially when it comes to the way most golfers buy equipment and put their sets together. It’s fun to review and explore the constant stream of new technologies offered by the club companies, as we are all constantly searching for that new ‘secret weapon’ that will make the difference in our scoring. Somewhere behind each purchase you make – whether it be a new driver, fairway, hybrid, irons, wedges, putter, balls, etc. – you have hope that this is another piece of the puzzle that will help lower your handicap.

But as you evaluate any new individual bits of technology, it is a great idea to pause and look at the entire arsenal of clubs you carry to assess them as your “team”. Each club in your bag is used one-at-a-time for the shot at hand, but collectively our clubs represent the “players” we’ve assembled to go into battle with the golf course, right?

As we approach the finale of the NCAA football championship game, think of your set make-up like a football team. Great coaches look for chemistry and compatibility, for sure, but they also must make sure they have balance. To have a bunch of big men and no speed doesn’t work. Nor can you have a bunch of defensive specialists and no offensive firepower. Almost every year, the team that wins the Championship has balance. Certainly, there are always areas that are stronger than others, but championship teams typically have no real weaknesses.

I’ve come to believe your “team” in your golf bag should follow the same strategy of balance . . . but in my observation, very few golfers approach it this way.

The most common set make-up I see includes a driver, a couple of fairways, 2-3 hybrids, and irons from 4 or 5 through P. Some golfers still carry a 3-iron, and some extend hybrids all the way to the 5 or 6; that’s a personal thing for your ‘team’. I think it fair to say that nearly all golfers have gained distance with the new club technologies, but in my observation, this too often results in a team that is unbalanced. Let me explain.

Let’s take a “typical” male golfer who hits his 5-iron 165-170 yards and shoots 85. Some of you are longer, some of you shorter, and some of you score better or worse than that, but please follow along with me here. That golfer probably hits a driver somewhere around 235-250, and 9-iron 120-125 or so. Let’s say he carries a 3- and 5-wood, a couple of hybrids, 5-PW and two more wedges. Adding the driver and putter, that gives him 14. With this set make-up, therefore, he has five clubs for all his shots that are 165-170 or longer (not counting the driver), and another 4-5 clubs for all his shots from 120-125 and in (not counting the putter).

If this golfer is a typical 85-shooter, he’s hitting driver 12-14 times and averaging +/- 32 putts; that means he has 12 clubs for the other 40 or so shots. If he’s playing the right tees for his skill level, he shouldn’t have more than 8-10 of those that are outside 5-iron range, so nearly half of his “team” is allocated for what likely amounts to about 25% of these non-drive/non-putt shots.

That same golfer will have as many as 15-20 shots from inside 9-iron range, including short-range approaches and recovery shots. That means he has five clubs for what amounts to as much as 50% of his non-drive/non-putt shots.

Please think about this line of logic, because I’m going to continue this discussion on Tuesday. If you would like to offer your thoughts and suggestions for that follow-up, please add your comments below and I’ll build them in to “Building Your Team – Part 2” next week.

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Terry Koehler is a fourth generation Texan and a graduate of Texas A&M University. Over his 40-year career in the golf industry, he has created over 100 putter designs, sets of irons and drivers, and in 2014, he put together the team that reintroduced the Ben Hogan brand to the golf equipment industry. Since the early 2000s, Terry has been a prolific writer, sharing his knowledge as “The Wedge Guy”.   But his most compelling work is in the wedge category. Since he first patented his “Koehler Sole” in the early 1990s, he has been challenging “conventional wisdom” reflected in ‘tour design’ wedges. The performance of his wedge designs have stimulated other companies to move slightly more mass toward the top of the blade in their wedges, but none approach the dramatic design of his Edison Forged wedges, which have been robotically proven to significantly raise the bar for wedge performance. Terry serves as Chairman and Director of Innovation for Edison Golf – check it out at www.EdisonWedges.com.

7 Comments

7 Comments

  1. ChipNRun

    Jan 2, 2020 at 11:10 pm

    My set-up includes…

    Driver
    4W + 7W (going into 9th season with this mix)
    4H
    4i-9i (4i refitted with hybrid shaft)
    Wedges 48* / 54* / 58* (58* replaces 60*)
    Putter

    Two seasons ago I had 46-50-54-58, but found the 46 and 50 duplicated each other on shorter shots. And, three wedges easier to manage (9i also part of wedge matrix)… only a couple of gaps in 3x matrix

    I can hit 4W longer than 3W (extra loft helps) and the 7W is really versatile: blows ball out of rough with distance, easy hit around 200 yds., and good on longish par 3 holes.

    4H more versatile, 4i more accurate (tight line for fairway on evil short Par 4s)… if I add fourth wedge one of these would stay home.

    May need to reshaft my irons as lighter from KBS Tour 90 to Recoil… something (maybe either Recoil 95 or ES780 in F3 flex). With old irons, dumped PX 5.0 in 2014. Need graphite so my my elbows don’t ache after consecutive golf days.

    May also need to reduce my D and FW shafts to below 60 grams; falloff last year especially in FW wood distance.

    I retired in May, but due to transition activities had a pretty lean golf season. Hope to have bag tweaked and ready by March.

    Also getting my right hip tweaked with rehab sessions to increase strength/flexibility to counter arthritis.

  2. freowho

    Jan 1, 2020 at 4:09 am

    I would add that a lot of par 3’s are 140m to 180m and this is often a poor spot for many club golfers with a big gap between a hybrid and their longest iron. You need clubs that you can hit a good three quarter shot with and this would be with a heavier shaft and a non tapered grip you can grip down on.

  3. William Terry

    Dec 31, 2019 at 9:14 pm

    Ive been thinking a ton about my bag this season… I’m a decently hard swinger, driver goes 290+. I am planning on rebuilding my entire set based on the course I play most frequently.

    Here is my current plan:

    Driver for maximized distance on holes I can chase. That’s about eight holes. Well struck drives put me under 150 from my usual tees.

    4 par fours between 150 and 180

    6 holes left… 260+ three wood works on all but one. Two are par fives where driver can put me into trouble and I can still get home with three wood. One is a long par five with no upside to driver. Two are short par fours I can get inside 150 with a three wood. Last one is 350 uphill, so 250 straight is the smart play.

    Low lofted hybrid for that. Club number three. Have an Adams hybrid in this slot… will hopefully replace with something built for me.

    3 clubs for tee shots, add putter… I’m at 4. So let’s move to the other side.

    I hit my pitching wedge 150. I carry a gap, sand and lob wedge. This is where I should be doing most of my work… I replaced my gap wedge this year with a vokey… I’m thinking about going a different route now. I use my wedges a ton and mostly on 1/2 swing shots. I’m not as good at distance control as I need to be to really score. It might make more sense to go with a glide setup for the last three… my mizuno hot metal pro pitching wedge has been good… I built it to get a feel for the mizunos but then hit a cash hiccup.

    So that’s 8 clubs. Covers the majority of my round when things go right. 6 left to cover 100 yards, I can go 225 and then 200, and leave myself 4 clubs 190, 180, 170 & 160… I could bump that to 13 yards and add a fifth wedge.

    With modern lofting, 46 pitching wedge, 50 gap, 54 sand, 58 lob in forgiveness and then a work horse wedge at 60 with an aggressive grind to use for tricky stuff around the greens.

    I don’t know, I’ve been building and rebuilding this set for years… hopefully I’ll have the cash this year… be nice to replace my 22 year old irons!

  4. Tom Watson

    Dec 31, 2019 at 6:16 pm

    I’m a low single digit hdcp but I play with quite a few 10-20hdcps. The club I usually see as a waste in their bags is the 3 wood. Short of some odd match scenario, it pretty much never makes sense for these players to try to reach par 5s in two. They simply bring too many disasters into it with their poor ballstriking.

    I would say most avg male 15 hdcps should go driver (likely a 12deg) then 3/4 hybrid with hybrids down to 5 or 6 depending on swing speed.

    D
    3h
    4h
    5H
    6H
    7i
    8i
    9i
    Pw 44
    48
    52
    56
    60

    That is a full set with no useless clubs in theory. The 3h might actually be useless to be honest.

    I’m not a fan of going to wedges more lofted than a 60. This tightly spaced set of wedges might also be tough to gap on full swings for these mid cappers.

    • Deacon Blues

      Dec 31, 2019 at 9:34 pm

      I agree completely that going for par-5 greens in two with a fairway wood is unwise for hackers like me. Over the years, it’s resulted in far more triples and quads than birdies and eagles. It’s been years since I regularly bagged a fairway wood, and I don’t miss them at all.

      About a year ago I downsized my bag to 11 clubs: driver, 18 and 24 degree hybrids, 6i-PW, 52 and 58 degree wedges, putter. All clubs are reliable and forgiving, yardage gaps are manageable, and decision-making is much easier.

  5. Chelsea’s Dad

    Dec 31, 2019 at 10:30 am

    Good points. I’m a single digit myself (bounces from 5 to 9) that hits ball decent length (driver 250 -260 carry, 7 iron 160-165) and I’ve realized changing the gaps at the top of my bag has helped. Go driver, 3 wood, 18 degree hybrid, 4 iron or 20 degree hybrid depending on course needs, then 5-Pw, 50, to, and 60. I found that by leaving 15 yard gaps from 3 wood-hybrid-4 iron that I can make any shot and just need to determine if I need to miss short or long. Having the extra wedge available gives me many more options on full shots and green side shots. Sometimes I can even remove a hybrid or 4/driving iron and add a 62 wedge if the course will provide opportunities.

    • Joel

      Dec 31, 2019 at 1:39 pm

      I’m similar to you, albeit not quite as good. I typically shoot about 80 on my two courses, par 68 and 70. They aren’t long either so I don’t really need too much just below the driver. Coupled with the fact that hitting the green from over 200y away is somewhat hit and miss, I much prefer having more options at the bottom end. I hit my 7I about 160y, driver 250y total unless it’s really dry.

      So my set-up is usually:

      Driver
      3 or 5 Wood
      4I
      4H or 5I
      6I-UW
      54
      58
      64
      Putter

      Wedges are of far more use than another club at the top, a 64* is a godsend.

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Instruction

The Wedge Guy: The easiest-to-learn golf basic

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My golf learning began with this simple fact – if you don’t have a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, it is practically impossible for your body to execute a fundamentally sound golf swing. I’m still a big believer that the golf swing is much easier to execute if you begin with the proper hold on the club.

As you might imagine, I come into contact with hundreds of golfers of all skill levels. And it is very rare to see a good player with a bad hold on the golf club. There are some exceptions, for sure, but they are very few and very far between, and they typically have beat so many balls with their poor grip that they’ve found a way to work around it.

The reality of biophysics is that the body moves only in certain ways – and the particulars of the way you hold the golf club can totally prevent a sound swing motion that allows the club to release properly through the impact zone. The wonderful thing is that anyone can learn how to put a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, and you can practice it anywhere your hands are not otherwise engaged, like watching TV or just sitting and relaxing.

Whether you prefer an overlap, interlock or full-finger (not baseball!) grip on the club, the same fundamentals apply.  Here are the major grip faults I see most often, in the order of the frequency:

Mis-aligned hands

By this I mean that the palms of the two hands are not parallel to each other. Too many golfers have a weak left hand and strong right, or vice versa. The easiest way to learn how to hold the club with your palms aligned properly is to grip a plain wooden ruler or yardstick. It forces the hands to align properly and shows you how that feels. If you grip and re-grip a yardstick several times, then grip a club, you’ll see that the learning curve is almost immediate.

The position of the grip in the upper/left hand

I also observe many golfers who have the butt of the grip too far into the heel pad of the upper hand (the left hand for right-handed players). It’s amazing how much easier it is to release the club through the ball if even 1/4-1/2″ of the butt is beyond the left heel pad. Try this yourself to see what I mean.  Swing the club freely with just your left hand and notice the difference in its release from when you hold it at the end of the grip, versus gripping down even a half inch.

To help you really understand how this works, go to the range and hit shots with your five-iron gripped down a full inch to make the club the same length as your seven-iron. You will probably see an amazing shot shape difference, and likely not see as much distance loss as you would expect.

Too much lower (right) hand on the club

It seems like almost all golfers of 8-10 handicap or higher have the club too far into the palm of the lower hand, because that feels “good” if you are trying to control the path of the clubhead to the ball. But the golf swing is not an effort to hit at the ball – it is a swing of the club. The proper hold on the club has the grip underneath the pad at the base of the fingers. This will likely feel “weak” to you — like you cannot control the club like that. EXACTLY. You should not be trying to control the club with your lower/master hand.

Gripping too tightly

Nearly all golfers hold the club too tightly, which tenses up the forearms and prevents a proper release of the club through impact. In order for the club to move back and through properly, you must feel that the club is controlled by the last three fingers of the upper hand, and the middle two fingers of the lower hand. If you engage your thumbs and forefingers in “holding” the club, the result will almost always be a grip that is too tight. Try this for yourself. Hold the club in your upper hand only, and squeeze firmly with just the last three fingers, with the forefinger and thumb off the club entirely. You have good control, but your forearms are not tense. Then begin to squeeze down with your thumb and forefinger and observe the tensing of the entire forearm. This is the way we are made, so the key to preventing tenseness in the arms is to hold the club very lightly with the “pinchers” — the thumbs and forefingers.

So, those are what I believe are the four fundamentals of a good grip. Anyone can learn them in their home or office very quickly. There is no easier way to improve your ball striking consistency and add distance than giving more attention to the way you hold the golf club.

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19th Hole

Vincenzi’s 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open betting preview

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As the Florida swing comes to an end, the PGA Tour makes its way to Houston to play the Texas Children’s Houston Open at Memorial Park Golf Course.

This will be the fourth year that Memorial Park Golf Course will serve as the tournament host. The event did not take place in 2023, but the course hosted the event in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

Memorial Park is a par-70 layout measuring 7,432 yards and features Bermudagrass greens. Historically, the main defense for the course has been thick rough along the fairways and tightly mown runoff areas around the greens. Memorial Park has a unique setup that features three Par 5’s and five Par 3’s.

The field will consist of 132 players, with the top 65 and ties making the cut. There are some big names making the trip to Houston, including Scottie Scheffler, Wyndham Clark, Tony Finau, Will Zalatoris and Sahith Theegala.

Past Winners at Memorial Park

  • 2022: Tony Finau (-16)
  • 2021: Jason Kokrak (-10)
  • 2020: Carlos Ortiz (-13)

In this article and going forward, I’ll be using the Rabbit Hole by Betsperts Golf data engine to develop my custom model. If you want to build your own model or check out all of the detailed stats, you can sign up using promo code: MATTVIN for 25% off any subscription package (yearly is best value). 

Key Stats For Memorial Park

Let’s take a look at several metrics for Memorial Park to determine which golfers boast top marks in each category over their last 24 rounds:

Strokes Gained: Approach

Memorial Park is a pretty tough golf course. Golfers are penalized for missing greens and face some difficult up and downs to save par. Approach will be key.

Total Strokes Gained: Approach per round in past 24 rounds:

  1. Tom Hoge (+1.30)
  2. Scottie Scheffler (+1.26)
  3. Keith Mitchell (+0.97) 
  4. Tony Finau (+0.92)
  5. Jake Knapp (+0.84)

Strokes Gained: Off the Tee

Memorial Park is a long golf course with rough that can be penal. Therefore, a combination of distance and accuracy is the best metric.

Total Strokes Gained: Off the Tee per round in past 24 rounds:

  1. Scottie Scheffler (+0.94)
  2. Kevin Dougherty (+0.93)
  3. Cameron Champ (+0.86)
  4. Rafael Campos (+0.84)
  5. Si Woo Kim (+0.70)

Strokes Gained Putting: Bermudagrass + Fast

The Bermudagrass greens played fairly fast the past few years in Houston. Jason Kokrak gained 8.7 strokes putting on his way to victory in 2021 and Tony Finau gained in 7.8 in 2022.

Total Strokes Gained Putting (Bermudagrass) per round past 24 rounds (min. 8 rounds):

  1. Adam Svensson (+1.27)
  2. Harry Hall (+1.01)
  3. Martin Trainer (+0.94)
  4. Taylor Montgomery (+0.88)
  5. S.H. Kim (+0.86)

Strokes Gained: Around the Green

With firm and undulating putting surfaces, holding the green on approach shots may prove to be a challenge. Memorial Park has many tightly mowed runoff areas, so golfers will have challenging up-and-down’s around the greens. Carlos Ortiz gained 5.7 strokes around the green on the way to victory in 2020.

Total Strokes Gained: Around the Green per round in past 24 rounds:

  1. Mackenzie Hughes (+0.76)
  2. S.H. Kim (+0.68)
  3. Scottie Scheffler (+0.64)
  4. Jorge Campillo (+0.62)
  5. Jason Day (+0.60)

Strokes Gained: Long and Difficult

Memorial Park is a long and difficult golf course. This statistic will incorporate players who’ve had success on these types of tracks in the past. 

Total Strokes Gained: Long and Difficult in past 24 rounds:

  1. Scottie Scheffler (+2.45)
  2. Ben Griffin (+1.75)
  3. Will Zalatoris (+1.73)
  4. Ben Taylor (+1.53)
  5. Tony Finau (+1.42)

Course History

Here are the players who have performed the most consistently at Memorial Park. 

Strokes Gained Total at Memorial Park past 12 rounds:

  1. Tyson Alexander (+3.65)
  2. Ben Taylor (+3.40)
  3. Tony Finau (+2.37)
  4. Joel Dahmen (+2.25)
  5. Patton Kizzire (+2.16)

Statistical Model

Below, I’ve reported overall model rankings using a combination of the five key statistical categories previously discussed.

These rankings are comprised of SG: App (24%) SG: OTT (24%); SG: Putting Bermudagrass/Fast (13%); SG: Long and Difficult (13%); SG: ARG (13%) and Course History (13%)

  1. Scottie Scheffler
  2. Wyndham Clark
  3. Tony Finau
  4. Joel Dahmen
  5. Stephan Jaeger 
  6. Aaron Rai
  7. Sahith Theegala
  8. Keith Mitchell 
  9. Jhonnatan Vegas
  10. Jason Day
  11. Kurt Kitayama
  12. Alex Noren
  13. Will Zalatoris
  14. Si Woo Kim
  15. Adam Long

2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open Picks

Will Zalatoris +2000 (Caesars)

Scottie Scheffler will undoubtedly be difficult to beat this week, so I’m starting my card with someone who I believe has the talent to beat him if he doesn’t have his best stuff.

Will Zalatoris missed the cut at the PLAYERS, but still managed to gain strokes on approach while doing so. In an unpredictable event with extreme variance, I don’t believe it would be wise to discount Zalatoris based on that performance. Prior to The PLAYERS, the 27-year-old finished T13, T2 and T4 in his previous three starts.

Zalatoris plays his best golf on long and difficult golf courses. In his past 24 rounds, he ranks 3rd in the category, but the eye test also tells a similar story. He’s contended at major championships and elevated events in the best of fields with tough scoring conditions.  The Texas resident should be a perfect fit at Memorial Park Golf Club.

Alex Noren +4500 (FanDuel)

Alex Noren has been quietly playing some of his best golf of the last half decade this season. The 41-year-old is coming off back-to-back top-20 finishes in Florida including a T9 at The PLAYERS in his most recent start.

In his past 24 rounds, Noren ranks 21st in the field in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee, 30th in Strokes Gained: Around the Green, 25th in Strokes Gained: Total on long and difficult courses and 21st in Strokes Gained: Putting on fast Bermudagrass greens.

In addition to his strong recent play, the Swede also has played well at Memorial Park. In 2022, Noren finished T4 at the event, gaining 2.2 strokes off the tee and 7.0 strokes on approach for the week. In his two starts at the course, he’s gained an average of .6 strokes per round on the field, indicating he is comfortable on these greens.

Noren has been due for a win for what feels like an eternity, but Memorial Park may be the course that suits him well enough for him to finally get his elusive first PGA Tour victory.

Mackenzie Hughes +8000 (FanDuel)

Mackenzie Hughes found himself deep into contention at last week’s Valspar Championship before faltering late and finishing in a tie for 3rd place. While he would have loved to win the event, it’s hard to see the performance as anything other than an overwhelming positive sign for the Canadian.

Hughes has played great golf at Memorial Park in the past. He finished T7 in 2020, T29 in 2021 and T16 in 2022. The course fit seems to be quite strong for Hughes. He’s added distance off the tee in the past year or and ranks 8th in the field for apex height, which will be a key factor when hitting into Memorial Park’s elevated greens with steep run-off areas.

In his past 24 rounds, Hughes is the best player in the field in Strokes Gained: Around the Greens. The ability to scramble at this course will be extremely important. I believe Hughes can build off of his strong finish last week and contend once again to cement himself as a President’s Cup consideration.

Akshay Bhatia +8000 (FanDuel)

Akshay Bhatia played well last week at the Valspar and seemed to be in total control of his golf ball. He finished in a tie for 17th and shot an impressive -3 on a difficult Sunday. After struggling Thursday, Akshay shot 68-70-68 in his next three rounds.

Thus far, Bhatia has played better at easier courses, but his success at Copperhead may be due to his game maturing. The 22-year-old has enormous potential and the raw talent to be one of the best players in the world when he figures it all out.

Bhatia is a high upside play with superstar qualities and may just take the leap forward to the next stage of his career in the coming months.

Cameron Champ +12000 (FanDuel)

Cameron Champ is a player I often target in the outright betting market due to his “boom-or-bust” nature. It’s hard to think of a player in recent history with three PGA Tour wins who’s been as inconsistent as Champ has over the course of his career.

Despite the erratic play, Cam Champ simply knows how to win. He’s won in 2018, 2019 and 2021, so I feel he’s due for a win at some point this season. The former Texas A&M product should be comfortable in Texas and last week he showed us that his game is in a pretty decent spot.

Over his past 24 rounds, Champ ranks 3rd in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee and 30th in Strokes Gained: Total on long and difficult courses. Given his ability to spike at any given time, Memorial Park is a good golf course to target Champ on at triple digit odds.

Robert MacIntyre +12000 (FanDuel)

The challenge this week is finding players who can possibly beat Scottie Scheffler while also not dumping an enormous amount of money into an event that has a player at the top that looks extremely dangerous. Enter McIntyre, who’s another boom-or-bust type player who has the ceiling to compete with anyone when his game is clicking on all cylinders.

In his past 24 rounds, MacIntyre ranks 16th in the field in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee, 17th in Strokes Gained: Around the Green and 10th in Strokes Gained: Total on long and difficult courses.

MacIntyre’s PGA Tour season has gotten off to a slow start, but he finished T6 in Mexico, which is a course where players will hit driver on the majority of their tee shots, which is what we will see at Memorial Park. Texas can also get quite windy, which should suit MacIntyre. Last July, the Scot went toe to toe with Rory McIlroy at the Scottish Open before a narrow defeat. It would take a similar heroic effort to compete with Scheffler this year in Houston.

Ryan Moore +15000 (FanDuel)

Ryan Moore’s iron play has been absolutely unconscious over his past few starts. At The PLAYERS Championship in a loaded field, he gained 6.1 strokes on approach and last week at Copperhead, he gained 9.0 strokes on approach.

It’s been a rough handful of years on Tour for the 41-year-old, but he is still a five-time winner on the PGA Tour who’s young enough for a career resurgence. Moore has chronic deterioration in a costovertebral joint that connects the rib to the spine, but has been getting more consistent of late, which is hopefully a sign that he is getting healthy.

Veterans have been contending in 2024 and I believe taking a flier on a proven Tour play who’s shown signs of life is a wise move at Memorial Park.

 

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Opinion & Analysis

Ryan: Why the race to get better at golf might be doing more harm than good

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B.F. Skinner was one of the most important psychologists of the 20th century, developing the foundation of the development of reinforcement, and in doing so, creating the concept of behaviorism. In simple terms, this means that we are conditioned by our habits. In practical terms, it explains the divide between the few and far between elite instructors and college coaches.

To understand the application, let’s quickly review one of B.F. Skinner’s most important experiments; superstitions in the formation of behavior by pigeons. In this experiment, food was dispensed to pigeons at random intervals. Soon, according to Skinner, the pigeons began to associate whatever action they were doing at the time of the food being dispensed. According to Skinner, this conditioned that response and soon, they simply haphazardly repeated the action, failing to distinguish between cause and correlation (and in the meantime, looking really funny!).

Now, this is simply the best way to describe the actions of most every women’s college golf coach and too many instructors in America. They see something work, get positive feedback and then become conditioned to give the feedback, more and more, regardless of if it works (this is also why tips from your buddies never work!).

Go to a college event, particularly a women’s one, and you will see coaches running all over the place. Like the pigeons in the experiment, they have been conditioned into a codependent relationship with their players in which they believe their words and actions, can transform a round of golf. It is simply hilarious while being equally perturbing

In junior golf, it’s everywhere. Junior golf academies make a living selling parents that a hysterical coach and over-coaching are essential ingredients in your child’s success.

Let’s be clear, no one of any intellect has any real interest in golf — because it’s not that interesting. The people left, including most coaches and instructors, carve out a small fiefdom, usually on the corner of the range, where they use the illusion of competency to pray on people. In simple terms, they baffle people with the bullshit of pseudo-science that they can make you better, after just one more lesson.

The reality is that life is an impromptu game. The world of golf, business, and school have a message that the goal is being right. This, of course, is bad advice, being right in your own mind is easy, trying to push your ideas on others is hard. As a result, it is not surprising that the divorce rate among golf professionals and their instructors is 100 percent. The transfer rate among college players continues to soar, and too many courses have a guy peddling nefarious science to good people. In fact, we do at my course!

The question is, what impact does all this have on college-age and younger kids? At this point, we honestly don’t know. However, I am going to go out on a limb and say it isn’t good.

Soren Kierkegaard once quipped “I saw it for what it is, and I laughed.” The actions of most coaches and instructors in America are laughable. The problem is that I am not laughing because they are doing damage to kids, as well as driving good people away from this game.

The fact is that golfers don’t need more tips, secrets, or lessons. They need to be presented with a better understanding of the key elements of golf. With this understanding, they can then start to frame which information makes sense and what doesn’t. This will emancipate them and allow them to take charge of their own development.

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