Opinion & Analysis
The media’s war on golf instructors
If you watch golf on television these days, you might think that golf instructors are ruining the game. Certainly the travails of Tiger Woods have offered up plenty of ammunition for the anti-instruction movement so obviously embraced by just about every commentator on the Golf Channel and PGA Tour broadcasts. Their argument is a simple one: too much information ruins the “natural” ability of the players who seek help from instructors.
Just this week, Sean O’Hair gave an interview that was hailed by every media person who commented on it as an honest assessment of how too much instruction ruined his game, and only now that he was “finding his own game” was he finding success again.
Tiger’s problems have been laid directly on Sean Foley, who, as the pundits would have you believe, had Tiger working on a swing technique guaranteed to hurt his back and give him the short game yips. Brandel Chamblee has gone as far as stating that “Tiger has had the greatness coached out of him,” and “modern golf instruction is a cancer on the game.” According to Johnny Miller, anyone who qualifies to play on the PGA Tour is already good enough and should never change anything.
Of course, Miller forgets that every year a bunch of players lose their card due to substandard play, while every player not yet on the big tour tries to improve enough to get there. The desire to improve is a constant characteristic of successful athletes.
In a game as complex as golf, the player can’t be expected to understand the nuances of all the technique he or she uses to navigate around the course, and the truth is most players don’t want to think about what they are doing. But the game is so difficult that there will always be periods of poor play, and the player will naturally begin to worry about retaining his position in the game.
Golf instructors usually have some sort of playing background, and if they have been tabbed by a Tour player to be a coach it is for a good reason. It is vital to remember that no instructor can be on the range at a Tour event unless they are invited to be there. The player has to request credentials for the teacher, and the teacher cannot be on the range without the player. In other words, instruction is entirely voluntary.
I was hired by Kevin Streelman last June when he was unhappy with his game and the look of his swing. He had missed four straight cuts and was frustrated enough to seek different advice.
No teacher or player has all the answers to the game of golf. Golf instructors have preferences, and players who like to look at or measure their swings develop their own preferences as well. My vision of the swing is readily available on my website, and Kevin liked what he saw, so he contacted me. He wanted to change a swing pattern that had bothered him for years and that he felt he was not making progress on.
Players know their deficiencies. They also know that if they are not among the top players, a small retreat in performance will mean a loss of playing status. You can imagine the angst that exists after an extended slump. My point here is that while the players on the Tour are certainly good enough to get there, they may not be good enough to stay there, and they may not be able to improve enough to move up into the top echelon of players.
If they are not technically oriented and already have a great work ethic, then what is left for them to do? Who is going to offer them better direction or an answer to the problems they encounter when simply practicing all day doesn’t help? Every great tennis professional has a coach. All the major team sports have instructors for every aspect of their game. They all use video obsessively, and every movement is analyzed in super slow motion as the coaches look to correct technique flaws. Hitting, pitching, fielding, blocking, tackling, covering, every play is recorded, every practice is recorded, and the whole team spends huge amounts of time watching and going over technique.
Why has it been decided that to do that in golf is such a horrible thing?
I compare my job to that of a NASCAR mechanic. I don’t drive the car and I’m not going to tell the driver how to drive. I just get the car running as well as I can so that the player doesn’t have to worry about it. How to organize the information and simplify the thought process is ultimately the job of the player, because he is the car and the driver.
It is ironic that just about every golf commentator is a former player who is not playing anymore. They have all lost their status for one reason or another, and now it seems that all of them have forgotten where they came from. No one wants to stop playing the Tour. There is no top-100 player who would trade his status for a spot in front of the Golf Channel cameras. You would have to think that every commentator who lost their card sought some sort of instruction in order to avoid their eventual demise, instruction that obviously failed. Such an experience would definitely color how they view instruction now.
Again, it is important to remember that the players control who instructs them, or whether they get instruction at all. This is true from the club level all the way to the Tour. No one is being forced to take a lesson.
My lesson book is open to whoever wants to sign up. If no one signs up, I don’t teach. If Kevin hadn’t sought out my advice, you wouldn’t see me on the range at Tour events, just like you wouldn’t see Butch Harmon, Todd Anderson, Sean Foley, Pete Cowan, or any other teacher of Tour players you can name.
No teacher is seeking to fill up a student’s mind with information that the player doesn’t ask for. Teachers use different methods to be sure, and some use more technology than others. But in the final analysis, if the results aren’t there the coach gets fired.
Teachers are hired to help. Almost every player has someone they look to for help and advice. What prompted this article is the television media’s decision to focus on the players who have suffered a loss of performance under the tutelage of an instructor, while ignoring the success stories. Meanwhile, Michael Breed is ever present on the Golf Channel, with, you guessed it, golf instruction.
Go figure.
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Another Open Championship has come and gone and links golf was once again in the spotlight at Royal Troon! For those who have never played a links course (like myself), it sparks a desire to fly across the pond to experience it for ourselves. While a golf trip to the UK or Ireland is a bucket-list item, most people look to play the big-name courses (Old Course, Carnoustie, Lahinch, Royal Portrush,etc.), but don’t realize they can get a similar experience by traveling to some of the lesser known destinations where you will find some of the purest links courses in the world. With this in mind, here are our picks for the best hidden gem links courses you should play when you book a UK or Ireland trip:
IRELAND
We start our list off with a 36-hole club in the Northwest of Ireland, a remote area of the Emerald Isle that is known for its rugged terrain and spectacular scenery. Bordering the Wild Atlantic Way, Ballyliffin is relatively newer (est. 1947) but offers golfers one of the purest links golf experiences anywhere in the country. While not easy to get to, the two courses onsite (Old and Glashedy) are well worth the travel with large dunes shaping the fairways that overlook the North Atlantic Ocean and a myriad of pot bunkers everywhere you look. Even Rory McIlroy believes that “Ballyliffin’s two courses are a must play on any golf trip to Ireland.” and we tend to agree.
How to incorporate Ballyliffin in a golf trip:
Stay:Ballyliffin Lodge, Hotel & Spa
Play: Old Links & Glashedy Links at Ballyliffin, and Old Tom Morris Links or Sandy Hills Course at Rosapenna
The next course on the list is in the Sligo area of the Northwest where we find Enniscrone, roughly 3 hours (by car) south of Ballyliffin. Like many links courses, Enniscrone was originally a 9-hole course when it was opened in 1918 before an additional 9 holes were added 12 years later. In 1970, Eddie Hackett was tasked with redesigning the course to help the two 9-hole courses flow effortlessly into one 18 hole layout. A big feature that can be seen throughout your round here are the towering dunes that shape the course and protect some holes from the ocean winds. Built right out of the landscape of the dunes bordering the sea, the course has a lot of undulation in the fairways and greens with some elevated tee boxes providing unreal views of the natural land.
How to incorporate Enniscrone in a golf trip:
Stay: The Glasshouse Hotel, Sligo
Play: Enniscrone, County Sligo, and Donegal
Additional Courses: Strandhill, Carne, and Narin & Portnoo
Another fantastic gem on the Northwest coast of Ireland is the NEW (2020) St. Patricks Links at Rosapenna Hotel & Golf Links. The land was purchased back in 2012 which was already a 36-hole facility and Tom Doak was brought in to reimagine the property to the layout it currently is today. Large sand dunes shape the front 9 holes before heading back through some more subtle dunes back towards the clubhouse. The course offers elevation changes with some tee boxes sitting atop the dunes offering spectacular views of Sheephaven Bay and beyond. With two other courses and a fantastic hotel on property, this destination is all you could ever ask for.
How to incorporate St. Patricks in a golf trip:
Stay: Rosapenna Hotel & Golf Links
Play: St. Patrick’s Links, Sandy Hills Course , and Old Tom Morris Links (all at Rosapenna)
For our last hidden gem in Ireland, we head 30 minutes north of the country’s capital, Dublin, to The Island Club. Built along rugged terrain and the highest sand dunes on the east coast of Ireland, the Island Club is situated on a small peninsula surrounded by water on three sides providing a difficult challenge, especially with the winds. Founded in 1890, the Island Club continues to be ranked in the Top 10 courses in Ireland and has held some Amateur Championships and Open Championship Regional Qualifiers.
How to incorporate The Island Club in a golf trip:
Stay: The Grand Hotel, Malahide
Play: Island Club, Portmarnock Old, County Louth
Additional Courses: Royal Dublin
SCOTLAND
Located along “Scotland’s Golf Coast” of East Lothian is where we find the classic links of Dunbar. Opened in 1856 with only 15 holes, this is one of the many courses in Scotland that Old Tom Morris had a hand in crafting. Laid out along rocky and rocky terrain, the course is only 6500 yards long and while not long by modern standards, the course requires shot making and proper club selection to play well. The course has held many national and international tournaments including a few rounds of The Open Final Qualifying.
How to incorporate Dunbar in a golf trip:
Stay: No. 12 Hotel & Bistro
Play: Dunbar, Gullane (No.1), North Berwick
Additional Courses: Craigielaw, Kilspindie, Gullane (No.2, No. 3)
The next course on our list brings us to the Scottish Highlands, one of the lesser traveled destinations in Scotland, but still home to some amazing links courses including Cruden Bay! Located 25 miles north of Aberdeen on the east coast of the Highlands, Cruden Bay was opened in 1899, although history would indicate golf has been played at the property since 1791. Another Old Tom Morris design, the course is consistently ranked in the Top 25 of courses in Scotland and it is easy to see why. At only 6600 yards, it is relatively short, but the natural lay of the land provides elevation changes, punchbowl greens, and some large, 3-story high dunes that offer spectacular views for a classic links experience.
How to incorporate Cruden Bay in a golf trip:
Stay: Leonardo Hotel Aberdeen
Play: Cruden Bay, Trump International Links, Royal Aberdeen
Additional Courses: Murcar
We head back to the Highlands just north of Dornoch to where we find Brora Golf Club. Similar to a lot of links courses, Brora opened as only 9 holes in 1891, but that only lasted for 9 years before an additional 9 was added in 1900 before a James Braid redesign in 1924. At just over 6200 yards, this is one of those courses that will make you appreciate links golf in Scotland with cattle and sheep roaming freely around the property. The course is a typical links routing with the front 9 going out and the back 9 coming back to the clubhouse. The defense of the course is the wind (naturally), but the greens are relatively small with pot bunkers standing guard to catch errant approach shots.
How to incorporate Brora in a golf trip:
Stay: Royal Golf Hotel, Dornoch
Play: Brora, Royal Dornoch – Struie & Championship
Additional Courses: Golspie, Tain
Staying in the Scottish Highlands, the last Scotland links gem on the list is just outside of Inverness at The Nairn Golf Club. The narrow fairways are fast and firm leading to decent sized, tricky greens that roll true, but are guarded by devious pot bunkers. The first seven holes play right along the water and with not a ton of elevation changes, spectacular views across the Moray Firth can be seen throughout the course. With fantastic course conditions throughout the season, this fantastic links is an absolute must-play when visiting the Highlands.
How to incorporate Nairn in a golf trip:
Stay: Kingsmills Hotel, Inverness
Play: Nairn, Castle Stuart (Cabot Highlands), Fortrose & Rosemarkie
Additional Courses: Nairn Dunbar, Moray
Golfbreaks by PGA TOUR highly recommends you start planning your trip across the pond AT LEAST 12-18 months in advance in order to secure tee times and hotel rooms over the dates you desire. With more and more people taking up the game of golf, these bucket list trips have already become extremely popular and will continue to gain interest so make sure to start planning early!
RELATED: Open Championship courses you can play (and when the best time to book is)
Editor’s note: This article is presented in partnership with Golfbreaks. When you make a purchase through links in this article, GolfWRX may earn an affiliate commission.
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The final major of 2024 is nearly here as the top golfers head to Scotland’s southwestern coast to battle for the claret jug at Royal Troon. Golf’s original major dates all the way back to 1860 and has been played at 14 different courses throughout the United Kingdom (yes, this includes Northern Ireland) providing countless memories including celebrations, heartbreak, and unique moments that will never be forgotten (looking at you Jordan Spieth).
With The Open teeing off less than a week from now, we wanted to highlight some of The Open Championship’s finest links courses that should play when you make the journey to golf’s homeland:
- Old Course at St. Andrews
- Carnoustie
- Muirfield
- Royal Portrush
- Royal Troon
- Royal Birkdale
- Royal St George’s
Old Course at St. Andrews
Do we even need to say anything else? The “Home of Golf”, host of 30 Open Championships, the most coveted tee time in the WORLD, there are a million reasons to have St. Andrews on your links golf bucket list. From the double greens, to the tee shot over the Old Course Hotel, to the walk up 18th fairway with the town buildings framing a picturesque scene (especially at dusk), every golfer should make the voyage to St Andrews at least once in their life.
Carnoustie
Carnoustie – Championship Course
Roughly 25 miles north of St. Andrews lies the devious links of Carnoustie, often recognized by the large white Carnoustie Golf Hotel as the backdrop of the 18th green. While the course has only hosted The Open 8 times, it is considered to be one of the hardest layouts in The Open rota (just ask Jean Van de Velde) although not that long, playing just under 7000 yards from the tips.
Muirfield
Located right next to this week’s host of Scottish Open (The Renaissance Club), this fantastic links layout has hosted the prestigious Championship 16 times since 1892. The narrow fairways and penal rough requires precise shots off the tee while avoiding the devious pot bunkers is a must. The course is set away from the coastline so you won’t get the sweeping ocean views, but a round at Muirfield is one the premier tee times in all of Scotland (so make sure you book early – 12-18 months at least).
Royal Portrush
A view of the new 572 yards par 5, seventh hole designed by Martin Ebert on the Dunluce Course at Royal Portrush Golf Club the host club for the 2019 Open Championship in Portrush, Northern Ireland. © 2018 Rob Durston
Our next stop brings us across the Irish Sea to the northern coast of Northern Ireland and the popular Royal Portrush. Having hosted The Open only twice in its illustrious history, Royal Portrush is a golfer’s dream with 36 holes of pure links golf set against a gorgeous backdrop of the ocean and cliffs. The Open Championship will return to Portrush in 2025 and YOU CAN BE THERE to watch it all in person!
Royal Troon
TROON – JULY 26: General view of the ‘Postage Stamp’ par 3, 8th hole taken during a photoshoot held on July 26, 2003 at the Royal Troon Golf Club, venue for the 2004 Open Championships, in Troon, Scotland. (Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images)
The host of this year’s Open Championship, Royal Troon is home to one of the best par-3 holes in all of golf, “The Postage Stamp.” A downhill 125-yard tee shot to a minuscule green surrounded by bunkers on all sides makes it one of the more challenging holes. Another hole that adds to the challenge is the 601-yard par 5 that used to be the longest golf hole in Open Championship history. This year will be the 10th Open Championship held at Royal Troon, the first since 2016 when Mickelson and Stenson had a battle for the ages in the final round.
Royal Birkdale
For the next course on the list, we have to head down to the northwest coast of England just outside of Liverpool. Consistently ranked in the Top 10 courses in all the UK, this 10-time host of The Open has hosted many other prestigious events such as Ryder Cups, Women’s Opens, and more! The course is laid out with fairways running through flat-bottomed valleys surrounded by high dunes which provide many blind shots throughout the course. The Open returns to Royal Birkdale in 2026 so it won’t be long before it is back in the spotlight.
Royal St. George’s
For the final course on our list, we are staying in England, but heading across to the southeastern side of the country to Kent. Royal St. George’s is 4th on the list of most Open Championships hosted with 15 (1 behind Muirfield) the most recent being Collin Morikawa’s victory in 2021. RSG is the only active course on The Open rota in this part of the UK, but two former hosts (Prince’s and Royal Cinque Ports) are within 3 miles of the property. The expansive course is laid out with holes separated by dunes with heavy rough, undulating fairways, and deep pot bunkers to challenge your game. While it may not be mentioned in the discussions of St. Andrews, Carnoustie, and the like, Royal St. George’s is still a Championship layout that is worth the trip across the pond.
With these big-name courses in such high demand, it is important to note that if you want to play them, you need to start planning your trip early. Golfbreaks by PGA TOUR, the world’s #1 rated golf tour operator, suggests planning and booking your trip at least 12-18 months in advance in order to secure a tee time at the courses you want. The UK & Ireland specialists at Golfbreaks by PGA TOUR have the knowledge to help tailor the perfect golf trip for your group so you can play big-name courses and hidden gems you might not have heard of. If you’re ready to start planning your bucket list trip across the pond, make life easier and go with Golfbreaks by PGA TOUR.
Editor’s note: This article is presented in partnership with Golfbreaks. When you make a purchase through links in this article, GolfWRX may earn an affiliate commission.
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The 2025 Ryder Cup matches will be held over the sprawling, bruising, Long Island acreage known as Bethpage Black State Park Golf Course. The course has hosted multiple national championships, most recently the 2019 PGA Championship. In September 2025, Bethpage Black will welcome teams from the USA and Europe to contest the 45th Ryder Cup matches. Team Europe, the defending champions, will be led again by captain Luke Donald. The U.S. PGA has not yet announced the name of its leader, yet all sources and speculations point to a 15-time major champion and an eight-time participant in the biennial event.
Bethpage Black will join Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester (1995) as the second Empire State course to host the event. The Ryder Cup matches were played in the metropolitan New York area once before, in 1935 at the Ridgewood Club, in Paramus, New Jersey. It’s fair to say that metro NYC is due to host this world-stage, golf event. I can’t wait. The USA’s loss to Europe in 2023 adds to the considerable drama.
What makes Bethpage Black an outlier in the world of championship golf, is its mere existence. It’s a state park golf course, one of five on property, each with a colorful name. The Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow join big brother Black as outstanding tests of golf in Farmingdale. Of the five, only the Green was not originally built as a state course. The Lenox Hills Country Club, designed by Devereux Emmet, opened in 1923. By 1932, the club had closed and the land had become property of the state. Its birth date made the Green the oldest of the five courses. New York State began to build on a series of adjacent parcels, guided by the hands of Alber “A.W.” Tillinghast, Joseph Burbeck, and Alfred Tull. The Yellow course, built entirely by Tull, was the last of the five to open.
State park courses just don’t hold major championships. Private clubs and elite resorts are the typical sites that receive the nod from the world’s golf bodies. It’s a testament to the lovers of Bethpage, the New York state government, and the PGA of America (among others) that Bethpage is as good as it is, and that it continues to improve. It’s a fitting site for the 2025 Ryder Cup matches, but the 2025 Ryder Cup matches need a beginning to their story. I’ll do my best to provide it.
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- Bethpage Yellow Golf Course
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- Bethpage Black Golf Course
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- Bethpage Red Golf Course
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- Bethpage Yellow Golf Course
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- Bethpage Black Golf Course
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- Bethpage Green Golf Course
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- Bethpage Blue Golf Course
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- Bethpage Red and Black Golf Courses
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- Bethpage Green Golf Course
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- Bethpage Red Golf Course
The quintet of courses near Bethpage, New York, is just the beginning of the New York state park golf course system. 19 parks in total offer golf from the tip of Long Island, to the shores of Lake Ontario, through the Catskill mountains, to my home town. I’m a Western New York guy. The Buffalo area has been my home for most of my 58 years on the golf ball known as Earth. I live two miles from the westernmost, state park golf course: Beaver Island. The Beav, as everyone calls it, was designed by William Harries. It opened the year I was born, which means that it is close to 60 years old! Unlike the Bethpage property, where topography is king, the Beav is a flat course, albeit full of enough interest to bring you back for more.
As I considered the magnitude of the state park system, I realized that golfers who frequent those 19 state parks can point to their home course and say, “You know, the Ryder Cup will be at a state park course next year.” I started to count on my fingers, the number of state park courses I had played: Beaver Island, Green Lakes (Syracuse), James Baird (Poughkeepsie), and the five at Bethpage, I realized that I had played eight of the 23 total courses, and had visited a mere four of the 19 parks.
Bethpage is the only, multi-course state park across the Empire State. Other venues range from pitch-and-putt, to nine-hole, to regulation 18-hole courses. The majority occupy nice tracts of land, and feature 18 holes of memorable, enjoyable golf. PGA Tour professionals Joey Sindelar and Mike Hulbert grew up on one of those courses, and Dottie Pepper spent a bit of time on another, near her hometown.
There will be many stories that trace the path to Bethpage and its 2025 Ryder Cup, and I look forward to reading and hearing them. This one is my own, and I’m proud (and a little frightened) to undertake it. I’ll visit each of the remaining parks over the next 16 months, and report in with images and words that tell the story of each park and its golf course.
The Ones I’ve Played
The Bethpage Five
As mentioned above, I’ve played eight of the 23 courses, but the majority of that number is owed to a 2011 pilgrimage to Long Island. The Black had just hosted its second US Open championship, and the ink for the 2019 PGA Championship was not yet printed. I spoke with a Bethpage caddy, in anticipation of the trek. I wrote a series of articles on the courses on my own site, BuffaloGolfer. Down the road of this, current series, I’ll discuss the most poignant piece that I connected with Bethpage. That’s a story for another time. After all, Bethpage is a five-course meal.
It’s safe to say the the Bethpage property is unlike any other, municipal, golfing space in the world (at least, those not named the Links Trust of St. Andrews!) The park encompasses nearly 1500 acres of wooded land and offers much beyond golf to its visitors. As pilgrimages go, Bethpage is it. For a New York state resident, on a weekend, it would cost a total of $257 dollars … to play all five courses. Even for those outside the state, the trip to Bethpage is worth consideration. Each course rambles over uneven, heaving land. Holes carry along falloffs and bend unexpectedly around corners. Greens are benched into hillsides and settled into valleys. All five courses remind you of the others, yet none of them says to you “You’ve played this course before.”
James Baird State Park
One of the hats that I wear, is high school golf coach. Each spring, golfers from my team travel to Poughkeepsie to play the James Baird State Park golf course. Pronounced “Bard,” the course was opened in 1948, after a middle-aged, Robert Trent Jones, senior, put pen to paper to lay out the course. Jones was about to become a household name, as he would offer renovation advice to many of the country’s classic clubs. He was most famously associated with the Oakland Hills Country Club near Detroit, the host site of the 1951 US Open. You know, the one where Ben Hogan purportedly gasped “I’m glad I brought this course, this monster, to its knees.”
Trent didn’t leave a monster in Poughkeepsie. What he left was something that locals call Baby Bethpage. The James Baird course is blessed with topography similar to its five-course cousin, but it offered a challenge that Bethpage does not: a huge expanse of marsh across the belly of the property. There was not going over nor through it, so Jones simply went around it. He created something that he never, ever did: a short par three. Jones was a fan of the brutish, 200-yard plus, all-carry, par three hole. For the third hole at Baird, he had all of 120 yards, and it was downhill! Jones placed a green in the marsh, connected to the mainland by an earthen bridge. He then turned north for a time, then returned south, outside the marsh. Trent Jones had another stretch of tricky land to navigate, this time, on the inward half. He brought a trio of holes (pars 4-3-5) through a challenging corner of the property, before returning to the open meadow that hosts the majority of the layout.
James Baird is a tremendous golf course, one that prepares our high school competitors well for the next step: the state federation championship at, you guessed it, Bethpage Black. Six golfers move on to compete against other, high school divisions, at the big brother of them all.
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- James Baird State Park
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- James Baird State Park
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- James Baird State Park
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- James Baird State Park
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- James Baird State Park
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- James Baird State Park
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- James Baird State Park
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- James Baird State Park
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- James Baird State Park
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- James Baird State Park
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- James Baird State Park
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- James Baird State Park
Green Lakes
The Baird course came to life 13 years after Trent Jones opened his first, New York state parks course. Originally from Rochester, New York, Trent ventured 90 minutes east to Manlius, near Syracuse, in 1935, to lay out one of his first ten courses. RTJ was gifted the magnificent land that abuts the two glacial lakes in central New York. The lakes are meromictic, which we all know means that surface and bottom waters do not mix in the fall and spring, as happens with dimictic lakes.
Trent Jones placed his clubhouse and finishing greens (9 and 18) in an interesting portion of the property. The ninth hole is an uphill, par five that plays fifty yards longer than its measured distance. Once home to upper and lower greens, the lower has been expanded and enhanced, and the upper is now abandoned. On the other side of the clubhouse, the sneaky 18th moves out of a corridor of trees, into the open space beneath the clubhouse. It’s a bit reminiscent of the 18th at Bethpage’s Green course. It’s not a long hole, yet when you walk off with five or six on your card, you wonder where you went astray.
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- Green Lakes State Park
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- Green Lakes State Park
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- Green Lakes State Park
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- Green Lakes State Park
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- Green Lakes State Park
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- Green Lakes State Park
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- Green Lakes State Park
The front half of the course plays along a vast meadow, above Green Lake, the larger of the two, nautical bodies. The inward side forages among the tree above Round Lake, before finally emerging at the home hole. The apparent contrariety of the two nines is resolved through expansion of fairway corridors on the treed nine, and the constriction of playing paths with bunkers and doglegs, on the exposed side.
If you’re a walker, Green Lakes will make you a fit one. It will also demand all the clubs and shots that you can fit in your bag.
Beaver Island
“Tame” isn’t the proper term to describe Beaver Island, the state park course near my home. I believe that “calm” is a better term. It may seem ironic, given that the 1965 course occupies a tract of land at the southern tip of Grand Island, where the Niagara River splits east and west, before reuniting at the north end. When we think of the Niagara, we think of the mighty rapids and cascades near the brink and bottom of the falls. At the southern split of the river, however, you can throw a canoe in the water and have a paddle. Beaver Island knows that it is adjacent to the river, but you never get the sense that this golf course borders water. I’ve redesigned the park hundreds of times in my head, moving the golf course to the banks of the river, where the trails, beach, playground, and other amenities are currently found. In the end, not every great golf course can, nor should, be built.
William Harries trained under the famed competitor and architect, Walter Travis. Despite this exposure to the master, Harries went his own way with his golf courses. The most striking difference is in green construction. While Travis was extraordinarily creative and daring, Harries was the polar opposite. His greens are routinely flat and easy to navigate.
He designed a number in the western New York area, including Brookfield Country Club. Originally known as Meadow Brook, the club hosted the 1948 Western Open, won by the aforementioned, Ben Hogan. The majority of Harries’ work was in municipal courses, and he designed Sheridan Park for the town of Tonawanda. That course hosted the 1962 USGA Public Links championship.
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- Beaver Island State Park
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- Beaver Island State Park
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- Beaver Island State Park
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- Beaver Island State Park
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- Beaver Island State Park
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- Beaver Island State Park
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- Beaver Island State Park
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- Beaver Island State Park
On Grand Island, Harries traced his layout around three ponds. The massive, western one, comes into play on the second through fifth holes. The middle one plays games with the approach to the eighth green. The final one, on the inward side, forces golfers to carry their tee shot over water, to the 14th fairway. Beaver Island bears no resemblance to the topography of the other locales mentioned previously. There is no heaving, no tumbling, no turbulence, along its fairways. Beaver Island is more St. Andrews in its flattish presentation, which makes it an honest, what-you-see, sort of golf course. It’s an enjoyable walk in the park, a not-too-demanding one.
Part Two: south-central New York-Soaring Eagles, Chenango Valley, Indian Hills, and Bonavista
Ryder Cup Trophy @ Bethpage – Photo courtesy of PGA of America
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Jay K.
Aug 23, 2016 at 2:38 am
Maybe, If Brandel Chamblee had worked regularly with a golf instructor, He’d have won more than 1 time while on tour. But, I doubt it.
Jeff
Apr 2, 2015 at 12:45 am
War. Good metaphor. How many golf instructors have been killed or maimed so far and why hasn’t it been on Fox News yet?
Provisional
Mar 30, 2015 at 8:22 pm
Yeah, Foley really messed Tiger up:
2013- 5 wins out of 16 starts, 1st on money list with 8.5 million, 2nd in scoring average.
Have any of the critics (particularly Brandel Chamblee) bothered to spend time with the instructors whose livelyhood they bash?
BTW the V1 software is a great tool to see what you are actually doing in your swing versus what you think you are doing. $5 on the App Store. Went from 9hdcp to 4 in one season with 5 lessons from local MAPGA Professional using V1.
Keep on keepin em honest Wayne.
Manga
Apr 17, 2015 at 12:02 pm
I honestly don’t think that Brandel Chamblee believes 90% of what he says. It’s true that golfers on the PGA Tour are ridiculously good, but everyone needs instruction. It’s likely the case that they are getting the wrong instruction or become to mechanical with some of their changes. Golf is hard, so is learning a new swing action. Foley may be trying to teach something that Tiger just can’t learn at this stage or with his body. That’s not to say instruction is worthless.
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golferjack
Mar 27, 2015 at 3:17 am
Interesting article, can’t really comment on the commentators as I don’t see enough of them being in Europe and not USA. Regarding Tiger and Sean Foley however I have to say there is only one Person who is responsible for Tiger’s Situation and that is Tiger himself. Why would anyone who had won the Masters, British Open and US Open by record margins want to Change their swing? At the time he was with Butch Harmon Tiger could win with his “C” Game, with his “A”game he was unstopable. Maybe his “friend” Mark O Meara didn’t do him any favors taking him to Hank, maybe he needed that, who are we to judge, but Foley is not to blame for his Problems. As far as coaches go, I wouldn’t presume to know what a tour pro Needs but in this modern era we have many more Players who shoot really low and that is not just Equipment and better agronomy or balls it also has to do with the Level of Coaching available today.
Roger
Mar 25, 2015 at 2:41 pm
A simple flowing swing built on not too much thought is a winner.
Announcers need controversy so you keep listening.
In 20 years i have had 3 coaches, all like Wayne D
Low tech, great communicators
Mitch
Mar 25, 2015 at 11:55 am
Wayne D – you are my favorite coach – thus the reason I subscribe to your website. I like your style because you show what great golfers do and why they are great, the evidence is all encompassing. I don’t know why there is this negative sentiment to modern methods of teaching. if a player can use track man to get instant feed back on their swing and ball flight, why wouldn’t they use it? Data supports that over time, proximity to the hole equates to better scores which = more winnings on tour. Can’t blame tour players on their obsession with swing mechanics when its a sure fire way to make more money.
wayne defrancesco
Mar 24, 2015 at 8:33 pm
If any of the comments here were made by people who were out on Tour watching the best players from close up they would absolutely understand just how good you have to be to be to keep your Tour card, how much better you have to be to be in the top 50, how much better than that you have to be to make the Tour Championship, how much better than that you have to be to be in the top 10, and how much better than that you have to be to be in the conversation around being #1. Every player is looking for every possible way to improve. If they decide to overhaul their swing they find someone they think can do it and make them better. Most times they get tired of patterns that they believe are holding them back. Thinking about nothing changes nothing. I don’t think you’ll find a guy out there who thinks he’s “got it” and no longer has to worry about improving. Instructors are using technology because they think it can help them help the players. I happen to not use Trackman, force plates, 3D, or any other of the newer technological innovations that have come along to analyze swings and ball flight. I use a video camera and V1 software, and I have a large library of the swings of the greatest players to play the game. I was a good player in my day, and I know what a good swing should feel like. I’m very hands on when I teach, because I believe that is the best way to get someone to feel what I would like them to do. I have a certain vision of the swing and how it works best, and that is what people sign up for when they come to me for help. I would never, and I believe that goes for any good instructor, take apart a swing and overhaul it unless there was nothing there to work with. There aren’t any Tour players who fit that description. Players long for simplicity, not complication, but many of them like to understand the details of what they are doing. It is entirely up to the player to decide how to use the information they are getting on the golf course.
Gorden
Mar 24, 2015 at 6:39 pm
Most all the big name golf instructors have books out on how to play the game…I got caught up with what each one was saying and have a stack of books as tall as me now, I became crazed trying to find two of them that had the same swing ideas (zero). After about 20 years and dozens of DVD’s to go along with my golf book insanity I just settled on the Todd Graves, Moe Norman type swing and have never played better or understood what I was doing. Scores are way better and lost balls almost a forgotten event and a simple swing that you can figure out what your doing wrong as you walk between shots.
Patricknorm
Mar 24, 2015 at 5:50 pm
Very good article regarding golf coaches. What’s changed golf really since Tiger Woods won his first PGA event is money. Because Woods was the benchmark for pro golf, his success meant a huge increase in the purses for golf. Top players now have “stables” of instructors, fitness gurus, nutritionists, psychologists, trackman, agents, etc. Today a player like Rory McIlroy plans his year based on the majors. But really what he’s doing is maximizing his earning potential.
All great athletes need mentors, advisors, a guardian angel to compete professionally. With the advent of the Internet over the last 20 years golf instruction can now be quantified and studied to death. And blame the Golf Channel for the endless stream of talking heads, who frankly need something to talk about. Generally golf is a boring, plodding , tactical sport. So the commentators have to fill space with their inanities. It’s always about money.
Wendell
Mar 24, 2015 at 3:00 pm
I love watching golf and my time to watch is limited due to work… it frustrates me to no end hearing golf announcers waste my valuable time ranting about teaching in the game. Teaching will not go away… that is a certainty. So why all the focus on this issue? I almost walked away from the game a few years ago due to uncontrolled hooking… I went looking for help… 2 lessons later it was simplified for me in what I need to do. I spent the entire winter working on my swing with a shifted focus towards where the club head was and ensuring I didn’t get it too inside that caused the extreme in to out path with a closed face. I have respect for teaching and what it can accomplish. Sure it may seem to be over the top in regards to the amount of analysis that we get from the high tech era however all things evolve in time.
Jer
Mar 24, 2015 at 1:32 pm
This may be the longest article I’ve ever seen on this site;) but anyhow, in my own personal opinion, it brings up a question of all of the technology in the game now versus the past. Meaning before every player had a trackman next to them on the range, and a camera from three different angles showing every intricacy or flaw in a tour players swing, does this have an affect on the players mind? Always trying to remain consistent per the numbers popping up on the screen, or vice versa trying to change what’s showing on trackman has got to mess with your head as well. I can’t put blame on the instructors, I just think there is too much going on… and this brings back Sean O’hair and his logics of just having fun and playing “his” game, not what the shot analyzer or the teacher that is trying to mold hardened clay. I guess I would be contradicting myself by saying some limited observation couldn’t hurt, but feel everything else packaged together probably gets a bit overwhelming and I would personally lose my mind trying to match data and video.
I probably am way off, and have no clue what I’m talking about….but my theory and thoughts on being taught, is I’d rather have someone spend 15 minutes with me, give their thoughts, rather than hours trying to mold me into something that in turn will probably hurt my game. And meaning hurt it by trying to meet to much mental criteria, and in turn me losing my natural swing thoughts.
LI Golfer
Mar 24, 2015 at 12:16 pm
Perhaps this article would have been better served if it wasnt written by a golf instructor, a “victim” of the “media war on Golf Instructors”…………..A little overwrought and whiny, no?
On the other hand, Miller (who I can give the benefit of being a tour winner) and Chamblee (who I totally understand is a pot stirrer, because thats his job) need to put the focus of this discussion on the PLAYERS WHO HIRE THESE SPECIFIC INSTRUCTORS!!!!!! Tiger hired Foley and Haney b/c he wanted what they were selling. Same with all the other golfers. They are in control of the process and certainly can say “Enough” when it comes to Trackman Numbers. The players are pushing the agenda.
Besides, if Tiger Woods continued to win on Tour, would we even be having this conversation???? Woods was unstoppable under Harmon and still winning under Haney. Isnt it his fault and not Sean Foley’s. Mahan is winning/contending. Rose won a Major. Foley works for them.
Lets face, the media outlets covering Golf are trying to blame someone for losing their meal ticket and are trying to wring out what they can out of Tiger’s waning career, as is Tiger. Tiger is where he is b/c he tried to turn Golf into a sport, one of muscle and power. His physical issues are self inflicted, and not Foley’s fault
Milton
Mar 24, 2015 at 11:27 am
Instructors that teach fundamentals are good, the average PGA pro will only help you. Michael Breed type is good…
But guys that try to reinvent the wheel and make a name for themselves are bad.
Sean Foley tries his absolute hardest to sound smart by overcomplicating things so the average person can’t understand. I can’t stand that man.
Chris C
Mar 24, 2015 at 9:25 am
The perceived media war on instructors is essentially an exercise in preaching to the choir. Technological advances have given birth to an industry filled with instructors whose eyes never leave their computer screens. The best lessons I have ever received involved an instructor simply grabbing my club and dragging it into position. The worst lessons always involve a review of my swing on the bloody computer. I know I cross the line at the top; I know I come over the top with a swing that comes from right field and exists somewhere over the third base bullpen, but it all feels so good and so right. I do not need someone telling me that my swing needs improvement. I need an old school instructor who is willing to grab the club in the back swing and say “stop” , this is perfect, now start your damn down swing. I do not need nor do i wish to pay someone to film a succession of bad swings. I am the choir to whom the talking preach.
Kevin Taglione
Mar 24, 2015 at 8:39 am
I hate it when the media bags on Tiger for changing instructors; did you have teachers in school and different coaches in sports. To the first different teachers in school, Tiger is and always has been a student of the game. He has always had the drive to learn alot about the game. So for him, I think just moving along in school and learning more about the game. To the second different coaches in sports. Tiger is athlete just like Lebron James or Richard Sherman. When Lebron moved to Miami didn’t it take sometime for him to become a champion; there is learning curve. I think the same can be applied for Tiger.
My next point, I don’t think the current golf media has clue how modern teaching is done. Yes some guys have swing changes and completely rebuild their swings. Though I believe most of modern teaching is more coaching. I think players are now seeing teachers to tune there game; for the mental, physical, how they practice, and how they play.
Finally the golf media is most hypocritical people in journalism. One moment they will bash Tiger for seeing Sean Foley and talking technical trackman numbers and then the next praise Paul Casey for putting up a multiple scores in the 90s on a Trackman Combine (the highest score ever is 93).
christian
Mar 24, 2015 at 3:17 am
A NASCAR mechanic would fix the broken engine part and that’s it. Ten different NASCAR mechanics would NOT fix a broken part in ten different ways like ten 10 diffeent golf instructors probably would teach you 10 different swings. Terrible analogy. Since there is no such thing as a standard golf swing to teach all these different coaches put forward their own preferences and that of course opens them up to exactly this type of criticism.
marcel
Mar 24, 2015 at 12:31 am
coaching is very important in golf and if not the most important; 2nd is conditioning and fitness… id quit golf if i was forced to listen to Chamblebee! i had great coaching in my lifetime and the only thing not being able to play good week-in week-out… its the strength and conditioning – strong lower back etc. to be a golfer you have to treat it as an athlete. Tiger is getting old and therefore his body does not recover.
Midwestern Golfer
Mar 24, 2015 at 12:13 am
The Golf Channel is ruining the enjoyment of watching golf on TV. Brandel is a great example of someone who finds satisfaction in taking someone down. I’m tired of of it and I vote with the mute button when he appears.
Ernie Happala
Mar 23, 2015 at 11:03 pm
Former PGA Professional and I can say without a doubt in my opinion, the two worst people I have ever heard talk about the golf swing are Johnny Miller and Brandel Chamblee. Great and good player, but horrible eyes that don’t translate the golf swing to the English language well. The best part of the Golf Channel they have gotten away from, when they use to have all the different instructors on Golf Lesson Live.
farmer
Mar 23, 2015 at 10:54 pm
Instruction, as such, is not the problem with either Tiger or O’Hair.
SBoss
Mar 23, 2015 at 10:33 pm
I’ve got no issue with instructors at the PGA Tour type level. These guys got there because they are the best of their field. It’s like any other profession. There are great one’s, average, and below average people working in the field.
My issue is that this ask “your PGA professional” is nonsense. They aren’t all nearly equal and most amateur instruction isn’t very good. Golf is hard. But, every instructor does it completely different. In general, the golf industry STINKS. The manufacturers are corrupt, their are no industry standards on club length, shaft, lofts, etc. They crank out 46″ driver shafts knowing full well that the average amateur has no business hitting a club that long. The shaft stiffness issues are beyond brutal. One stiff is another’s company’s senior flex. When you look at the lack of process in the golf industry, its no wonder the sport is shrinking.
Mike
Mar 23, 2015 at 10:23 pm
Sean Foley had Tiger hanging on his left side on the backswing. From that position you’d come down too steep so to avoid that Tiger would have to slide his hips to the left, we’ll outside of neutral joint alignment. That puts a lot of stress on his hip. But then the killer move was that Foley wanted Tiger’s spine rotated left way more than he ever has in his career. Plus Foley was big on using the ground for leverage. Haney tried to minimize how much down Tiger went on the downswing. Foley encouraged it. But in Tigers old swing he’d come into the ball with his shoulders more closed and release his hands and arms. But under Foley he was way more rotated to the left with a ton of hip slide to avoid being too steep and a lot of downward spine compression. If there is two things your back hates, it’s rotation and compression. Sean Foley is a claims to be a biomechanics expert, but he’s really not. He may have ended the career of the greatest player to ever live.
sgniwder99
Mar 23, 2015 at 7:21 pm
“The media” = 2 guys
Mnmlist Golfr
Mar 23, 2015 at 9:03 pm
Exactly. It’s a real stretch to call former touring pros “media.” As analysts and commentators, it’s their job to have opinions. Actual members of the media, i.e. reporters such as Rosaforte, have no opinion on instructors.
Dennis Clark
Mar 23, 2015 at 6:33 pm
When you’re getting paid big bucks to talk into a microphone, ya gotta say something…Henry Longhurst is turning in his grave.
cody
Mar 23, 2015 at 6:20 pm
Wayne anyone who has watched your youtube channel knows that you dislike the announcers. So it is no surprise that you disagree with them. You should just come out and say it though. On another note, I Like your videos, they are great.
TT X
Mar 23, 2015 at 6:19 pm
Well written.
I do find it amazing that Hank Haney has the Blue Print that can change your game within minutes for a minimum fee. Crazy for him to spend all that time with a number of players Romano, Barkley, Phelps and a few others and not give them the info….
I really do like and agree with your article Wayne.
The irony on the Haney project not helping over a long period of time and the Haney Blue Print helping instantly is hilarious.
cody
Mar 23, 2015 at 6:18 pm
i think coaching is needed but not overhauling.
RJ
Mar 23, 2015 at 6:04 pm
Phenomenally written piece…. To those that blame too much technology on the non improvement of players at all levels. I hope your not reading this on a computer, cell phone or tablet.
I am sick of the bashing of improvement attempts to climb higher in tour status, winning a club championship or just breaking 100. Talking head have to talk about something just like sitting in the “ole barber shop”. Without their input the would be jobless much to the chagrin of their wallets.
As an instructor I have embraced technology but my students only get what I give them. My over thinkers/ engineers/ need to know all students get minimal information. If i dont bring it up…. I tell them not to think about! But if they come to me then they get instruction.
juststeve
Mar 23, 2015 at 5:46 pm
Wayne characterizes golf as a complex game, even unusually complex. I would way it is no more complex now than it was when Vardon and Jones and Hogan and Nicklaus learned to play it superbly. It has only been made to seem more complex by modern teachers. Much the shame.
Steve
RJ
Mar 23, 2015 at 6:09 pm
But what about those that were shooting 90’s and higher in the Jones, Hogan, Sneed, Palmer, Nicklaus, Watson, Stewart, Woods era. If you ask them if it was complex, what would their answer be? My guess would be yes!
juststeve
Mar 24, 2015 at 11:06 am
People who shoot in the 90’s or higher are bound to think golf is complex, just like you though arithmetic was complex before you learned to do it. What the 90 shooter needs to learn is how to apply the club head squarely to the ball more often, not D-Plane.
Steve
Chuck
Mar 24, 2015 at 12:09 am
juststeve; You said it!
I don’t think that Brandel Chamblee, Johnny Miller or any of the other critical observers of tour golf are criticizing golf instruction, per se. They are criticizing something that is rather new in golf — the omnipresent all-purpose swing guru. And you’re darned right that Nicklaus, Hogan, Trevino, Watson, Palmer, Casper, Player and Ballesteros never seemed to need a full-time swing guru.
Jack Nicklaus got together with Jack Grout a couple times a year. Tom Watson worked with Byron Nelson very closely as a young player and then moved on.
But this modern invention of a practically full-time Swing Coach (capital “S”, capital “C”) is weird, it has become so pervasive. Players are now seen as being somehow lazy or inattentive if they don’t have an entire staff of trainers, coaches and psychoanalysts putting them through their paces. Golf swing coaches are becoming like baseball managers, moving from team to team. Every team has to have one, and the championship winners are in demand.
John
Mar 23, 2015 at 5:42 pm
Once a guy can play, it really comes down to who has the better short game from 100 yds in. The question is how much instruction is too much for that guy to just play. Butch Harmon said there are roofers and house builders. Butch said he is a roofer who makes very slight changes (repairs the roof) while the builders tear down the whole house – that is where the probelm lies. I think there has to be a balance between the technical and just playing the shots. The computerization of the game both in lessons and equipment is interesting but maybe gone too far. I liked it better when my driver was simply 10.5, stiff, 44.5 inches – now I am bombarded with flex point, torque, ball speed, swing speed and adjustable wights and lie angle – too much to think about and I don’t hit it any better with an adjustable driver.
Lazy
Mar 23, 2015 at 3:45 pm
I think most of the golf talking heads are just lazy or too unintelligent to make the effort to learn new things. They are comfortable just repeating the same old stuff, even things that have been proven to be incorrect. Really, it’s their job to explore and learn all that is available in golf, and to golf, and relay that to the viewing public. The fact that they don’t just shows they are lazy and comfortable with the status quo. Lets petition for some new personalities that aren’t afraid to learn new things and disseminate that information.
Mlecuni
Mar 23, 2015 at 3:15 pm
There is a big difference between how the subject of golf is treated on tv around the globe. In my country it’s more about golf itself and the history of golf rather than every aspects of the modern off the course life blabla thing that some commentators like to talk about. It’s quite frustating to see two swings ( without routine !) then have 10 minutes of nosense talking and then a commercial break.
I would love, and i’m sure it will be available one day have the possibility to cut the tv comments and listen to the on course dialogues between players and caddies…. For 5 hours ! And to follow any team i want !
Mike
Mar 23, 2015 at 3:08 pm
In every other sport players have a coach, not a mechanics guru. Coaches know how to get your best out of you. They don’t try to completely change you mechanics. A friend of mine was talking to a Hall of Fame pitcher about Tiger Woods and his swing changes and asked him if he’d ever tried to change his delivery. What do you think his answer was? He thought that was crazy. When Butch Harmon is with a player, I guarantee you it’s 95% coaching. That’s why Tiger left him. Tiger wanted more swing mechanics than Butch was willing to give him. Sean Foley absolutely ruined Tigers back and his game. No doubt about it.
Carlos Danger
Mar 23, 2015 at 3:31 pm
Did your “friend” who talked to a HOF pitcher (always a great way to start a sentence) ask that said pitcher if he plays golf and if so if he has an instructor work on his mechanics?
Im assuming you spoke to Tiger and he gave you that 95% statistic and also confirmed that was his leaving for leaving Butch? I assume this because you “guaranteed” us.
I will also assume you are an Orthopedic Dr. and you ran extensive tests on Tigers back since you know that Foley “absolutely” ruined Tigers back?
Reality
Mar 23, 2015 at 5:05 pm
Explain how Tiger could have so many injuries with his legs and yet you say it was Foley who ruined his back.
Those leg injuries absolutely contributed to his back problems. In fact, his back probably started at Day 1, when he first realized he had a deficiency in his kinetic chain, and his body had to adjust.
As someone who has been through leg and now the corresponding back pain because of the lack of strength and mobility those leg injuries cause, I have a pretty good understanding that you’re completely off base.
But I guess when it comes to Tiger…reality really doesn’t need apply. Just as bad as the talking heads on TV.
David
Mar 23, 2015 at 3:02 pm
The #2 player in the world doesn’t receive instruction and never has (though he is obviously a rare case). I 100% agree with the idea that today’s instruction is sacrificing “feel” and natural swing tendencies for statists and technology driven instruction. I don’t blame Foley for Tiger’s downfall, I blame Tiger for buying into “over-thinking” his swing and not just getting out and putting in the practice time to get HIS game back. Golf instructors are valuable tools, it’s incumbent upon the golfer to pick the right instructor to help them achieve their goals.
Carlos Danger
Mar 23, 2015 at 4:02 pm
It goes both ways. I use Baseball and Hockey as an example because those are the two sports I know.
Ovechkin and Kershaw probably receive very little “mechanics” instruction because they are freaks of nature. Kershaw can make a baseball move like a whiffle ball without even thinking about it. Ovechkin can ice skate at full speed backers and then lean forward and hit a moving puck 95 mph into a 2 sq. inch target. Bubba can hit a 330 yd drive that draw 75 yards over tress and lands with back spin.
These are things that an instructor CANNOT teach you. They are just freakish natural coordination abilities that very few human beings possess.
Then there are the MLB pitchers that have never been able to throw the ball over 90mph, the hockey players that are slow and/or can not shoot hard, and golfers who can barely hit their driver 290 yds. These guys rely on mechanics and instruction. If they relied on “feel” they would never make it (whatever IT is).
So to compare Bubba (I know thats not what your doing) to some of these guys who have instructors and are not performing and say its because of the instructor I think is not a fair assessment. However…have any of you watched Bubba on the course and not thought to yourself that guy could sure use a coach?
patricknorm
Mar 23, 2015 at 6:46 pm
I won’t question your baseball knowledge but I will challenge your poor understanding of hockey. My son played against Ovechkin from about 16 until about 25 years of age. Alex grew up with Dynamo Moscow which is a very intensive hockey and soccer program in Russia. I can assure you that all Russians received extensive technical training for hockey. I’ve met Alex a few times and he is a very strong man who practices his shot all the time. He is not the greatest skater but his style is very effective. Its wrong to suggest that elite athletes don’t receive technical training.
Carlos Danger
Mar 25, 2015 at 1:39 pm
Actually played college hockey…but I attempted to dumb it down because few people care or know much about hockey. And thank you for letting me know what country Alex grew up in, how strong he is, and that you met him one time. That cleared everything up for me.
Ofcourse there is tons of instruction and mechanics taught to hockey players. Bigger point was that some players have freakish abilities and instincts that simply cant be taught. Lidstrom and Gretzky got plenty of instruction throughout their careers but no coach/instructor taught them to see the ice the way they did…that was just a natural ability they had which is what made the better than everyone else. You go on to say Ovechkin practices his shot all the time…duh. All athletes “practice.” The question here is about the level of instruction on the mechanics within the practice. My point was that a guy like Bubba and/or Ovechkin have natural abilities and are able to do things in their sport without having to be instructed to do so…while some other players/golfers do rely on that technical instruction.
Truth
Mar 24, 2015 at 4:57 am
apparently you havent heard many bubba at georgia stories…lets just say he had a little patrick reed in him then, eg. hes the best and no one could tell him what to do, from what i understand he was a bit of a handful
Captain Oblivious
Mar 24, 2015 at 8:35 am
Apparently, he didn’t need to be told what to do. I would bet that Bubba feels that he made the right choice by not listening to anyone else, especially when he looks in his closet at those two green jackets.
TR1PTIK
Mar 23, 2015 at 2:52 pm
I’d agree with the others who have mentioned the over-use of technology in golf instruction. However, it doesn’t seem like the guys on TV are making that distinction.
There is a lot to be gained from golf instruction at any level and it doesn’t matter how long you’ve played or what your handicap is. ALMOST everyone can benefit from golf instruction with a certified pro – the rare cases being guys like Bubba Watson. Truthfully though, the right instruction could probably help Bubba with certain aspects of his game, but we’re just going to assume that his swing is far too unique for any instructor to be able to assist him. If nothing else, instructors are great source of information when trying to develop a better understanding of ball flight laws, swing mechanics, and so forth. I’ve had many discussions with my instructor that never involved a ball or club, but were just as useful if not more so.
it's all about the ad dollars
Mar 23, 2015 at 2:39 pm
The golf media knows who feeds them and they cherry pick examples in the professional ranks to push their agenda (like stated above). Taken further; If you are taught to hit the ball better then you realize there is no need for new equipment unless it’s worn out or broken. My point for those who don’t get it and need it simplified; golf media doesn’t exist without advertising dollars. A large portion of that comes from equipment manufacturers. The more they can convince you that your problems are equipment based and not the way you move your body the better chance they have of making more sales. Golf media has a HUGE incentive for people to NOT improve because then they would loose advertising dollars.
GGPRO
Mar 23, 2015 at 2:28 pm
The media in not harping on all instructors, just those that have re-invented the wheel via an over emphasis on technology. People make fun of Butch Harmon, he is a “dinosaur” and outdated because he uses his eyes and experience, not a Track Man to teach his players. His players produce under the most pressure packed circumstances because his information is sound, not some new flavor of the month. Butch uses video and Track Man at his facilities, but doesn’t rely on them to make an accurate diagnosis.
I would hardly cl;assify Johnny Miller and Lanny Wadkins as players that have lost their status, they are Hall of Famer’s and even a player like Brandel had a good career playing. In addition, they have first hand knowledge of the pressures of tour golf and are highly qualified to make such judgments.
Robert
Mar 23, 2015 at 2:16 pm
There is a huge difference between complaining about every coach and complaining about the coaches who use too much technology. I agree with the latter part. It seems like the last few years the technology has gotten amazing with golf and has taught us a lot of things about the why’s certain things happen with the golf club and, in turn, the golf ball.
The problem is that a lot of coaches seem to be coming up with theories of how the golf swing should be in order to make all of the math numbers perfect when looking at the new technology. This is a problem. It’s a problem because the human body isn’t perfect and in order to get some of these perfect math swings, players are having to do things that they normally do not do or can’t do and it can cause a whole lot of problems.
I think this is where a lot of the commentators are coming from. I totally understand that. There has to be a combination of the two. You can’t just try and build the perfect tech swing because humans are imperfect in their swings.
Rob
Mar 29, 2015 at 12:40 am
I agree, the technology creates a micro focus on how, not the result! It is the ultimate extension of don’t just show the answer, you must show how your work. Great for a math class, meaningless in sports. It allows doubt into a golfers mind, and that reduces the chance of success to luck.