Opinion & Analysis

Growing Up Golf Part 1: Introduction

Published

12 years ago

Oct 8, 2012

Click here to read more stories from Kadin’s series, “Growing Up Golf.”

Like every parent who plays golf, I too want my children to love the game as much as I do. Besides the obvious benefits of playing golf, what I wanted more was something that my wife and I can share with our children for the rest of our lives.

I am about to lead you down the path of how our 21 month old son and 3 1/2 year old daughter were introduced to golf . When and how we caught their interest, from equipment to building skills. I will share with you what has and hasn’t worked. Let me make it clear this is not an article on mechanics or instruction, I am not a certified instructor. I do however have a collegiate coaching back ground and owned and operated a baseball & softball academy. Working with children participating in sports is not an unfamiliar territory for me. I have learned from life experiences on what works and what doesn’t work when it comes to holding the interest of young minds.

My wife and I were both collegiate athletes. She played softball and I played baseball. We didn’t take up the game of golf until our late 20’s. With the exception of playing in a league, we don’t play competitively either. We play rather frequently and keep an unofficial handicap via a free internet service. She is more of the recreational player who enjoys the experience more so than the pursuit of greatness. Don’t get me wrong she does play to a 15 handicap and does strive to shoot low. Now I on the other hand take my game very serious. I am forever trying to shave strokes off my handicap, which at the time of this article is an 8.4 index.

Our journey began on April 27, 2011 the day of our daughters second birthday. Amongst the numerous presents sit’s the first official step towards becoming a golfer. Her fist set of plastic golf clubs. You know the kind I’m talking about, the over sized heads with the plastic carry bag and putting cup. Much to our surprise upon opening this “life time” gift she pulled a club out of the bag and swung it like I have been working with her for months. The catch is, I never showed her how to swing a golf club or even explained to her what a golf club was for that matter. How the heck does a two year old pull that off? It’s not like I was grooming her from the time of birth leading up to the day that she would receive a set of plastic golf clubs. The truth is, that’s exactly what I did without even making an effort.

When our children are taking their first steps towards learning how to use a fork or a spoon we as parents don’t sit there and give them a complex definition or instructions on what a fork/spoon is or how to use it. If your child was anything like ours chances are they just picked one up and tried to put it in their mouth. Why? Because they have been watching the act of eating from the time they are introduced to solid foods. Well that’s exactly how my daughter knew what to do with her new clubs. As I mentioned earlier I take my game very serious and like many other players I have a clubs all around the house. There’s a putter in our office, a wedge in the family room several balls in both. I’m always putting or chipping. I have a practice matt and net outside and when my wife would take her outside to play in the swing, I was just a few feet away taking swings. So our little girl was observing the golf swing from day one and when she finally had a chance to emulate me just as she did with the spoon and fork. That first swing was as natural as eating.

Click here for more discussion in the “Juniors and College Golf” forum.

My wife and I believed that the age of two was a good starting point to introduce our daughter to golf. We had many conversations about it. We couldn’t have been more wrong. Let’s take a look back at that 2^nd birthday party, our son was 4 months old at the time. From that day until spring our daughter was playing with her new clubs. She was making putting strokes, full swings, playing little games with the ball and cup. While she was playing there’s our son watching his big sister. During February of the following year we had very unseasonable weather. When the days were sunny we would take our kids outside to play like most parents do. Of course our daughter wanted to take her clubs outside and hit balls back and forth with me. Our son was 13 months old during this time. The second our daughter put down her club he walked over picked it up and took his first swing. Same as our daughter, we never told him what a club was or what you do with it. He learned the same way she did. By watching his big sister and I. So my wife and I look at each other and laughed, followed with a quick “Well I guess the theory we had about 2 being a good age to introduce golf is completely blown out of the water.”

Every time I hear or read about some pro athlete playing from the age of one it always sounded like they were some kind of prodigy. I know that our son and daughter are not prodigies or gifted athletes from birth. They are simply doing what all infants and toddlers do. They learn from watching and emulate what they see. My guess is if we would have placed a club in our son’s hand from the time he started walking (which was 8 months for him) he would’ve been hitting balls with it.

Let’s take a closer look at all this. You simply can not hand an infant who is capable of walking a plastic golf club and assume they will hit balls with it. There has to be certain factors to this equation. Lets start with our daughter. She had 24 months of exposure to a golf swing (remember it was her 2^nd birthday when she received the clubs as a gift). How much exposure am I talking about? Well that’s a good question and one that probably needs to be understood. I can’t put an exact number on it, so lets speak hypothetically. I would putt, chip, pitch or swing a club on average 50 times a day at least 5 days a week and I am being very conservative on these numbers. Like most golf fans, I watch a lot of it on television, PGA, LPGA, and instructional shows. You name it I watch it. Lets say that golf is on our television on average 30 minutes a day 5 times a week. Now lets do the math and take a look at what we have.

50 Swings x 5 days = 250 Swings a week

250 Swings x 52 weeks a year = 13,000 Swings a year

13,000 Swings x 2 years = 26,000 Swings

30 minutes televised golf a day x 5 days = 2.5 hours a week

2.5 hours a week x 52 weeks = 130 hours of televised golf

130 hours televised golf x 2 years = 260 hours of televised golf

Therefore our daughter was exposed to 26,000 swings and 260 hours of golf leading up to her birthday. Our son was exposed to 13,000 swings and 130 hours of televised golf (based on 12 months) leading up to his first swing. Keep in mind I was very conservative on the number of swings I take in a day and the amount of golf I watch. Now before you say “Yeah, but your children are not sitting in front of the television watching golf”. The truth is yes, at times the television was tuned to golf while we were playing with various toys. Other times they would sit on my lap or next to me and actually watch it as if it was one of their cartoons. The point I am trying to make is that there is an exposure to golf even if it’s a passive one.

Even though there was no intention of teaching our children how take a golf swing it was engrained into their mind well before we even considered purchasing that first set of plastic golf clubs. Our children were well prepared to take that first swing probably more so than using an eating utensil for the first time.

In Growing Up Golf part 2 I will share my struggles of equipment fitting for very young children. I will include practice ideas and games to keep your child’s interest. Lastly, I will give you tips on what to expect on your trips to the practice green, short game area, and how to handle that first trip to the course.

Click here for more discussion in the “Juniors and College Golf” forum.

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19th Hole

Vincenzi’s LIV Golf Singapore betting preview: Course specialist ready to thrive once again

Published

6 days ago

Apr 30, 2024

Matt Vincenzi

After another strong showing in Australia, LIV Golf will head to Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore looking to build off of what was undoubtedly their best event to date.

Sentosa Golf Club sits on the southern tip of Singapore and is one of the most beautiful courses in the world. The course is more than just incredible scenically; it was also rated 55th in Golf Digest’s top-100 courses in 2022-2023 and has been consistently regarded as one of the best courses in Asia. Prior to being part of the LIV rotation, the course hosted the Singapore Open every year since 2005.

Sentosa Golf Club is a par 71 measuring 7,406 yards. The course will require precise ball striking and some length off the tee. It’s possible to go low due to the pristine conditions, but there are also plenty of hazards and difficult spots on the course that can bring double bogey into play in a hurry. The Bermudagrass greens are perfectly manicured, and the course has spent millions on the sub-air system to keep the greens rolling fast. I spoke to Asian Tour player, Travis Smyth, who described the greens as “the best [he’s] ever played.”

Davis Love III, who competed in a Singapore Open in 2019, also gushed over the condition of the golf course.

“I love the greens. They are fabulous,” the 21-time PGA Tour winner said.

Love III also spoke about other aspects of the golf course.

“The greens are great; the fairways are perfect. It is a wonderful course, and it’s tricky off the tee.”

“It’s a long golf course, and you get some long iron shots. It takes somebody hitting it great to hit every green even though they are big.”

As Love III said, the course can be difficult off the tee due to the length of the course and the trouble looming around every corner. It will take a terrific ball striking week to win at Sentosa Golf Club.

In his pre-tournament press conference last season, Phil Mickelson echoed many of the same sentiments.

“To play Sentosa effectively, you’re going to have a lot of shots from 160 to 210, a lot of full 6-, 7-, 8-iron shots, and you need to hit those really well and you need to drive the ball well.”

Golfers who excel from tee to green and can dial in their longer irons will have a massive advantage this week.

Stat Leaders at LIV Golf Adelaide:

Fairways Hit

1.) Louis Oosthuizen

2.) Anirban Lahiri

3.) Jon Rahm

4.) Brendan Steele

5.) Cameron Tringale

Greens in Regulation

1.) Brooks Koepka

2.) Brendan Steele

3.) Dean Burmester

4.) Cameron Tringale

5.) Anirban Lahiri

Birdies Made

1.) Brendan Steele

2.) Dean Burmester

3.) Thomas Pieters

4.) Patrick Reed

5.) Carlos Ortiz

LIV Golf Individual Standings:

1.) Joaquin Niemann

2.) Jon Rahm

3.) Dean Burmester

4.) Louis Oosthuizen

5.) Abraham Ancer

LIV Golf Team Standings:

1.) Crushers

2.) Legion XIII

3.) Torque

4.) Stinger GC

5.) Ripper GC

LIV Golf Singapore Picks

Sergio Garcia +3000 (DraftKings)

Sergio Garcia is no stranger to Sentosa Golf Club. The Spaniard won the Singapore Open in 2018 by five strokes and lost in a playoff at LIV Singapore last year to scorching hot Talor Gooch. Looking at the course setup, it’s no surprise that a player like Sergio has played incredible golf here. He’s long off the tee and is one of the better long iron players in the world when he’s in form. Garcia is also statistically a much better putter on Bermudagrass than he is on other putting surfaces. He’s putt extremely well on Sentosa’s incredibly pure green complexes.

This season, Garcia has two runner-up finishes, both of them being playoff losses. Both El Camaleon and Doral are courses he’s had success at in his career. The Spaniard is a player who plays well at his tracks, and Sentosa is one of them. I believe Sergio will get himself in the mix this week. Hopefully the third time is a charm in Singapore.

Paul Casey +3300 (FanDuel)

Paul Casey is in the midst of one of his best seasons in the five years or so. The results recently have been up and down, but he’s shown that when he’s on a golf course that suits his game, he’s amongst the contenders.

This season, Casey has finishes of T5 (LIV Las Vegas), T2 (LIV Hong Kong), and a 6th at the Singapore Classic on the DP World Tour. At his best, the Englishman is one of the best long iron players in the world, which makes him a strong fit for Sentosa. Despite being in poor form last season, he was able to fire a Sunday 63, which shows he can low here at the course.

It’s been three years since Casey has won a tournament (Omega Dubai Desert Classic in 2021), but he’s been one of the top players on LIV this season and I think he can get it done at some point this season.

Mito Pereira +5000 (Bet365)

Since Mito Pereira’s unfortunate demise at the 2022 PGA Championship, he’s been extremely inconsistent. However, over the past few months, the Chilean has played well on the International Series as well as his most recent LIV start. Mito finished 8th at LIV Adelaide, which was his best LIV finish this season.

Last year, Pereira finished 5th at LIV Singapore, shooting fantastic rounds of 67-66-66. It makes sense why Mito would like Sentosa, as preeminent ball strikers tend to rise to the challenge of the golf course. He’s a great long iron player who is long and straight off the tee.

Mito has some experience playing in Asia and is one of the most talented players on LIV who’s yet to get in the winner’s circle. I have questions about whether or not he can come through once in contention, but if he gets there, I’m happy to roll the dice.

Andy Ogletree +15000 (DraftKings)

Andy Ogletree is a player I expected to have a strong 2024 but struggled early in his first full season on LIV. After failing to crack the top-25 in any LIV event this year, the former U.S. Amateur champion finally figured things out, finished in a tie for 3rd at LIV Adelaide.

Ogletree should be incredible comfortable playing in Singapore. He won the International Series Qatar last year and finished T3 at the International Series Singapore. The 26-year-old was arguably the best player on the Asian Tour in 2023 and has been fantastic in the continent over the past 18 months.

If Ogletree has indeed found form, he looks to be an amazing value at triple-digit odds.

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Opinion & Analysis

Ryan: Lessons from the worst golf instructor in America

Published

6 days ago

Apr 30, 2024

Brendan Ryan

In Tampa, there is a golf course that boasts carts that do not work, a water range, and a group of players none of which have any chance to break 80. The course is overseen by a staff of crusty men who have succeeded at nothing in life but ending up at the worst-run course in America. However, this place is no failure. With several other local courses going out of business — and boasting outstanding greens — the place is booked full.

While I came for the great greens, I stayed to watch our resident instructor; a poor-tempered, method teacher who caters to the hopeless. At first, it was simply hilarious. However, after months of listening and watching, something clicked. I realized I had a front-row seat to the worst golf instructor in America.

Here are some of my key takeaways.

Method Teacher

It is widely accepted that there are three types of golf instructors: system teachers, non-system teachers, and method teachers. Method teachers prescribe the same antidote for each student based on a preamble which teachers can learn in a couple day certification.

Method teaching allows anyone to be certified. This process caters to the lowest caliber instructor, creating the illusion of competency. This empowers these underqualified instructors with the moniker of “certified” to prey on the innocent and uninformed.

The Cult of Stack and Jilt

The Stack and Tilt website proudly boasts, “A golfer swings his hands inward in the backswing as opposed to straight back to 1) create power, similar to a field goal kicker moving his leg in an arc and 2) to promote a swing that is in-to-out, which produces a draw (and eliminates a slice).”

Now, let me tell you something, there is this law of the universe which says “energy can either be created or destroyed,” so either these guys are defying physics or they have no idea what they are taking about. Further, the idea that the first move of the backswing determines impact is conjecture with a splash of utter fantasy.

These are the pontifications of a method — a set of prescriptions applied to everyone with the hope of some success through the placebo effect. It is one thing for a naive student to believe, for a golf instructor to drink and then dispel this Kool-Aid is malpractice.

Fooled by Randomness

In flipping a coin, or even a March Madness bet, there is a 50-50 chance of success. In golf, especially for new players, results are asymmetric. Simply put: Anything can happen. The problem is that when bad instructors work with high handicappers, each and every shot gets its own diagnosis and prescription. Soon the student is overwhelmed.

Now here’s the sinister thing: The overwhelming information is by design. In this case, the coach is not trying to make you better, they are trying to make you reliant on them for information. A quasi Stockholm syndrome of codependency.

Practice

One of the most important scientists of the 20th century was Ivan Pavlov. As you might recall, he found that animals, including humans, could be conditioned into biological responses. In golf, the idea of practice has made millions of hackers salivate that they are one lesson or practice session from “the secret.”

Sunk Cost

The idea for the worst golf instructor is to create control and dependency so that clients ignore the sunk cost of not getting better. Instead, they are held hostage by the idea that they are one lesson or tip away from unlocking their potential.

Cliches

Cliches have the effect of terminating thoughts. However, they are the weapon of choice for this instructor. Add some hyperbole and students actually get no information. As a result, these players couldn’t play golf. When they did, they had no real scheme. With no idea what they are doing, they would descend into a spiral of no idea what to do, bad results, lower confidence, and running back to the lesson tee from more cliches.

The fact is that poor instruction is about conditioning players to become reliant members of your cult. To take away autonomy. To use practice as a form of control. To sell more golf lessons not by making people better but through the guise that without the teacher, the student can never reach their full potential. All under the umbrella of being “certified” (in a 2-day course!) and a melee of cliches.

This of course is not just happening at my muni but is a systemic problem around the country and around the world, the consequences of which are giving people a great reason to stop playing golf. But hey, at least it’s selling a lot of golf balls…

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19th Hole

Vincenzi’s 2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans betting preview

Published

2 weeks ago

Apr 22, 2024

Matt Vincenzi

The PGA TOUR heads to New Orleans to play the 2023 Zurich Classic of New Orleans. In a welcome change from the usual stroke play, the Zurich Classic is a team event. On Thursday and Saturday, the teams play best ball, and on Friday and Sunday the teams play alternate shot.

TPC Louisiana is a par 72 that measures 7,425 yards. The course features some short par 4s and plenty of water and bunkers, which makes for a lot of exciting risk/reward scenarios for competitors. Pete Dye designed the course in 2004 specifically for the Zurich Classic, although the event didn’t make its debut until 2007 because of Hurricane Katrina.

Coming off of the Masters and a signature event in consecutive weeks, the field this week is a step down, and understandably so. Many of the world’s top players will be using this time to rest after a busy stretch.

However, there are some interesting teams this season with some stars making surprise appearances in the team event. Some notable teams include Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele, Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry, Collin Morikawa and Kurt Kitayama, Will Zalatoris and Sahith Theegala as well as a few Canadian teams, Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin and Taylor Pendrith and Corey Conners.

Past Winners at TPC Louisiana

2023: Riley/Hardy (-30)
2022: Cantlay/Schauffele (-29)
2021: Leishman/Smith (-20)
2019: Palmer/Rahm (-26)
2018: Horschel/Piercy (-22)
2017: Blixt/Smith (-27)

2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans Picks

Tom Hoge/Maverick McNealy +2500 (DraftKings)

Tom Hoge is coming off of a solid T18 finish at the RBC Heritage and finished T13 at last year’s Zurich Classic alongside Harris English.

This season, Hoge is having one of his best years on Tour in terms of Strokes Gained: Approach. In his last 24 rounds, the only player to top him on the category is Scottie Scheffler. Hoge has been solid on Pete Dye designs, ranking 28th in the field over his past 36 rounds.

McNealy is also having a solid season. He’s finished T6 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and T9 at the PLAYERS Championship. He recently started working with world renowned swing coach, Butch Harmon, and its seemingly paid dividends in 2024.

Keith Mitchell/Joel Dahmen +4000 (DraftKings)

Keith Mitchell is having a fantastic season, finishing in the top-20 of five of his past seven starts on Tour. Most recently, Mitchell finished T14 at the Valero Texas Open and gained a whopping 6.0 strokes off the tee. He finished 6th at last year’s Zurich Classic.

Joel Dahmen is having a resurgent year and has been dialed in with his irons. He also has a T11 finish at the PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass which is another Pete Dye track. With Mitchell’s length and Dahmen’s ability to put it close with his short irons, the Mitchell/Dahmen combination will be dangerous this week.

Taylor Moore/Matt NeSmith +6500 (DraftKings)

Taylor Moore has quickly developed into one of the more consistent players on Tour. He’s finished in the top-20 in three of his past four starts, including a very impressive showing at The Masters, finishing T20. He’s also finished T4 at this event in consecutive seasons alongside Matt NeSmith.

NeSmith isn’t having a great 2024, but has seemed to elevate his game in this format. He finished T26 at Pete Dye’s TPC Sawgrass, which gives the 30-year-old something to build off of. NeSmith is also a great putter on Bermudagrass, which could help elevate Moore’s ball striking prowess.

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