College Golf Camps two day experience instructs on junior golf topics :
full swing, short game, putting, course management, sports psychology, nutrition, physical fitness, NCAA workshop, academic standards and a tour of Princeton University.
Junior Golf Rounds – 36 holes of competition including Ivy League College Coaches interactions.
Camp Director is Princeton Director of Golf, Will Green.
Written Evaluations criteria: Comparison to Average NCAA Division 1 Golfer during competition.
Director of Golf , Will Green enters his 18th season as J. Stuart Francis ’74 Head Coach of Men’s Golf in 2016-17.
He has led the Tigers to 7 Ivy League championships titles and 8 NCAA appearances, including 1 individual NCAA bid, 6 Ivy League individual champions, 27 All-Ivy League honorees and 10 All America Scholars
7
Ivy League championships
8
NCAA Regional appearances
6
Ivy League individual champions
27
All-Ivy League honorees
10
All-America Scholars
San Diego
Three Day National Junior Golf Exposure Camps – San Diego, California 2017
College Golf Camps two day experience instructs on junior golf topics :
full swing, short game, putting, course management, sports psychology, nutrition, physical fitness, NCAA workshop, academic standards and a tour of Princeton University.
Junior Golf Rounds – 36 holes of competition including Ivy League College Coaches interactions.
Camp Director is Princeton Director of Golf, Will Green.
Written Evaluations criteria: Comparison to Average NCAA Division 1 Golfer during competition.
Director of Golf , Will Green enters his 18th season as J. Stuart Francis ’74 Head Coach of Men’s Golf in 2016-17.
He has led the Tigers to 7 Ivy League championships titles and 8 NCAA appearances, including 1 individual NCAA bid, 6 Ivy League individual champions, 27 All-Ivy League honorees and 10 All America Scholars
7
Ivy League championships
8
NCAA Regional appearances
6
Ivy League individual champions
27
All-Ivy League honorees
10
All-America Scholars
San Diego
Three Day National Junior Golf Exposure Camps – San Diego, California 2017
College Golf Camps offer skill assessments and intense training for the student athlete and competitive junior golfer. Player Evaluations include Grad Year, Rank and Comment about the Player as compared to the Average NCAA Division 1 Golfer during Competition.
Junior Golf Exposure Camps are where campers can learn, compete, showcase, interact and gain exposure to College Golf Coaches.
Developed in conjunction with NCAA coaches, College Golf Camps of America is the first privately operated, multiple and world wide program featuring College Junior Golf Exposure Camps.
Junior golfers have goals of improving as a golfer, and student athlete. College Golf Camps Coaches instruct, evaluate, engage and interact with junior golfers and student athletes.
College Golf Camps offer skill assessments and intense training for the student athlete and competitive junior golfer. Player Evaluations include Grad Year, Rank and Comment about the Player as compared to the Average NCAA Division 1 Golfer during Competition.
Junior Golf Exposure Camps are where campers can learn, compete, showcase, interact and gain exposure to College Golf Coaches.
Developed in conjunction with NCAA coaches, College Golf Camps of America is the first privately operated, multiple and world wide program featuring College Junior Golf Exposure Camps.
Junior golfers have goals of improving as a golfer, and student athlete. College Golf Camps Coaches instruct, evaluate, engage and interact with junior golfers and student athletes.
During the week of October 17th, the Golf Channel hosted Junior Golf Week and they conducted an interview with Jon Gordon which really caught my attention. I wanted to share the clip along with a few of my own thoughts in regards to what he is referencing. Here is the LINK to that clip so check it out first.
I am sure each of you got something different from what he talked about. But hopefully, it resonated a little with how you see your son or daughter’s junior golf experience. Here are my two favorite quotes mentioned, these answered questions I get asked a lot and served as great advice for parents of junior golfers involving competitive junior golfing, parenting, and the recruiting process.
“You can’t drive anyone else’s bus, you have to encourage and inspire them to drive their own bus”
I know it’s tough to want the best for your junior golfer and knowing the impact that playing golf can have on their future. But as Jon mentioned, “you can’t drive anyone else’s bus”. Yes, there are going to be times that your son or daughter will not want to be at the golf course. Or even a bad round is going to make them think about quitting, but outside of those occasional moments, the enjoyment of the game and the love for competition ultimately has to come from the player. There is definitely a thin line between pushing a little because you have their best interest in mind and you want to instill a good work ethic in them, and going too far with forcing them to do something they really don’t enjoy doing.
Playing a sport is certainly a great way to enforce important values and character traits. I am 100% behind that little push it may take to encourage and keep them motivated, even when they may want to give up, or they may not be working as hard as they should. Just always try to ask yourself if you are doing if for them or with them? Are you driving the bus or are you a passenger?
“Invest in the root and you will have a great supply of fruit”
This is another quote that really stood out to me about a topic that I absolutely love to read and learn more about – focusing on the process, not the outcome. So much these days is written and studied about the benefit of being internally motivated and not necessarily goal driven, at least in the sense of being outcome goal-driven.
I consult and advise a lot of players who come to me because their goal is to play college golf, many times with a specific goal of Division I golf or a school that is their top choice or a particular level of academics. While that long term goal is important to consider, when I talk to the player and spend time with them I am trying to figure out why that is their goal, what are they willing to do to achieve it and most importantly, how excited are they about the process that it takes to achieve that goal. Being excited about the goal itself means very little to me, what I want to see is their excitement to play tournament golf, to practice harder, to get better, to work out, to eat right, to compete, to learn new skills, etc… These are the “roots” that Jon refers to in his interview and when you focus on the roots the “great supply of fruit” comes at the chance to play college golf.
Brandi Jackson is a College Recruiting Consultant based in Greenville, SC, USA where she advises junior golf families through the college recruiting process. Her website is www.brandijacksongolf.com
During the week of October 17th, the Golf Channel hosted Junior Golf Week and they conducted an interview with Jon Gordon which really caught my attention. I wanted to share the clip along with a few of my own thoughts in regards to what he is referencing. Here is the LINK to that clip so check it out first.
I am sure each of you got something different from what he talked about. But hopefully, it resonated a little with how you see your son or daughter’s junior golf experience. Here are my two favorite quotes mentioned, these answered questions I get asked a lot and served as great advice for parents of junior golfers involving competitive junior golfing, parenting, and the recruiting process.
“You can’t drive anyone else’s bus, you have to encourage and inspire them to drive their own bus”
I know it’s tough to want the best for your junior golfer and knowing the impact that playing golf can have on their future. But as Jon mentioned, “you can’t drive anyone else’s bus”. Yes, there are going to be times that your son or daughter will not want to be at the golf course. Or even a bad round is going to make them think about quitting, but outside of those occasional moments, the enjoyment of the game and the love for competition ultimately has to come from the player. There is definitely a thin line between pushing a little because you have their best interest in mind and you want to instill a good work ethic in them, and going too far with forcing them to do something they really don’t enjoy doing.
Playing a sport is certainly a great way to enforce important values and character traits. I am 100% behind that little push it may take to encourage and keep them motivated, even when they may want to give up, or they may not be working as hard as they should. Just always try to ask yourself if you are doing if for them or with them? Are you driving the bus or are you a passenger?
“Invest in the root and you will have a great supply of fruit”
This is another quote that really stood out to me about a topic that I absolutely love to read and learn more about – focusing on the process, not the outcome. So much these days is written and studied about the benefit of being internally motivated and not necessarily goal driven, at least in the sense of being outcome goal-driven.
I consult and advise a lot of players who come to me because their goal is to play college golf, many times with a specific goal of Division I golf or a school that is their top choice or a particular level of academics. While that long term goal is important to consider, when I talk to the player and spend time with them I am trying to figure out why that is their goal, what are they willing to do to achieve it and most importantly, how excited are they about the process that it takes to achieve that goal. Being excited about the goal itself means very little to me, what I want to see is their excitement to play tournament golf, to practice harder, to get better, to work out, to eat right, to compete, to learn new skills, etc… These are the “roots” that Jon refers to in his interview and when you focus on the roots the “great supply of fruit” comes at the chance to play college golf.
Brandi Jackson is a College Recruiting Consultant based in Greenville, SC, USA where she advises junior golf families through the college recruiting process. Her website is www.brandijacksongolf.com
Congratulations to all of the junior golfers listed below. Remember, when you sign your letter of intent that is when the real work begins.
CGC Staff
Listed below are the 2017 signees as announced by the schools listed and provided to the Junior Golf Scoreboard. We congratulate all of these junior golfers and wish them the best in their college careers. (D-I schools with a * and D-III schools do not offer athletic scholarships. Players shown for those programs are listed here after they have made a deposit and have been admitted to the school)
Congratulations to all of the junior golfers listed below. Remember, when you sign your letter of intent that is when the real work begins.
CGC Staff
Listed below are the 2017 signees as announced by the schools listed and provided to the Junior Golf Scoreboard. We congratulate all of these junior golfers and wish them the best in their college careers. (D-I schools with a * and D-III schools do not offer athletic scholarships. Players shown for those programs are listed here after they have made a deposit and have been admitted to the school)
PGA Instructor, Patrick Gocklin recently wrote a great article for golfwrx.com about the use of K-vest golf instruction wearable technology . Golf WRX is a wonderful source of information for junior golf performance.
Enjoy,
CGC Staff
Creating a top junior golfer with K-VEST golf system & K-PLAYER
In the fall of 2014, Brandon Gillis, a high school sophomore, walked into my facility for a K-VEST golf evaluation session. Brandon was referred by a K-VEST-certified fitness professional, Scott Prunier. Averaging in the low- to mid-70s in tournament competition, Brandon had just won the New Hampshire State Junior title, but he was barely getting any attention from colleges around New England — never mind top Division I programs — because of his history playing in bigger regional and national events on tougher, longer courses. His ambition was to play college golf at the highest possible level, and he was willing to work hard to achieve this goal.
To give you some background, Brandon was averaging 270 yards off the tee, was a slender 5-foot 10-inches tall, 160 pounds, and occasionally fought back pain. A couple of close friends had helped Brandon reach that point in his golfing career by using videos to assist him with his swing and overall golf game, but Brandon was stuck. He no longer knew what to do to improve his swing. To play at a higher level, he knew that he needed to gain more distance off the tee, add consistency with his irons and learn how to eliminate his back pain.
Brandon’s original K-VEST readings.
I suited Brandon up in K-VEST golf wearable technolory system and captured his swing. When I looked at the swing summary reports and the graphs of his kinematic sequence, I identified a few red flags that indicated why he was losing distance, had issues with iron consistency and had some back pain. First, at address, Brandon would set up in C-Posture. Second, at the top of his backswing, his pelvis bend increased too much. Third, he had too much upper body rotation and upper body bend at the top of his backswing, which put him into a reverse spine angle, creating his occasional back pain. As a talented player, Brandon found ways to compensate for these challenges in his swing. However, to achieve the level of golf at which he wanted to play, it was important we address these aspects of his swing right away.
After assessing Brandon’s swing, I developed a program using the biofeedback function that’s a part of both K-VEST and K-PLAYER. As with all players who have more than one issue — and most do — I had to pick a starting point. As a rule, I work from setup through impact unless an area is screaming out for attention. In Brandon’s case, I was concerned about the injury risk from the reverse spine angle, but I decided to work on posture first, as I thought that could also help change the reverse spine angle.
Where a player starts a swing has a lot to do with where the swing goes, in my experience, so I worked on his posture first, getting him more athletic and feeling engaged through his feet and lower body with a neutral spine. To do this, while suited up in the K-VEST, I set him in the exact posture I wanted him to learn and hit the “set live” button on the K-VEST to save it as our model going forward. We then worked for some time setting him up in this position. Our work process was first without a club, then with a club, and then hitting balls.
After Brandon was comfortable in his new athletic posture, I trained Brandon’s pelvis bend by building a program that helped us train his pelvis bend at setup, impact, and the top. I used a number of variations and added difficulty as we went along. We followed the same work path as with the setup: no club, club and then hitting balls.
Watch the video below to learn more about how biofeedback works.
Once Brandon had mastered his new pelvis mechanics, we addressed the upper body side bend with biofeedback, following the same workflow. The greatest value to Brandon was using the biofeedback program I designed. He was quite pleased to know how it enabled him to consistently execute perfect reps to more quickly develop a more efficient and powerful swing. He could see and feel the improvement as we worked, and that increased his motivation.
Our work experience was like that of many of my students with K-VEST golf and K-PLAYER evaluations. After the first lesson, when we captured Brandon’s motion, we saw the efficiency and red flags that we had identified had already improved greatly. In one lesson, Brandon had learned to swing without creating reverse spine angle at the top of his swing (eliminating the risk of back injury), and most importantly to him he was able to swing faster with more control. However, to really make the new move permanent and enable him to perform when under pressure in tournaments, Brandon stayed dedicated to the training throughout the off-season. Session one was the “wow.” Then came the months of hard work. In my experience, the wow is not to be under-appreciated, as it provides inspiration for the hard work to come.
In order to feel prepared to have his best competitive season yet in 2015, Brandon came to see me about once a week through the winter. We worked mostly in the supervised form of coaching. We always used the biofeedback in K-VEST and K-PLAYER to train him and then captured swings at least two times per month to make sure he was progressing. Since he is a very competitive and talented player, I wanted to be sure I was supervising him consistently.
Once Brandon began his competitive season and he was traveling around the country, we would only meet once or twice per month to capture his swing with K-VEST to see if there were any red flags in his technique that we needed to improve quickly. Often, we were continuing to train what we worked on from our initial sessions, making sure he was not reverting to any of his previous poor swing patterns.
Key in training these high-level players in a competitive season is to not have them feeling as if they must change their motion under the pressure of competition, which leads to poor performance. So, during the competitive season, it was most important to help him manage his already-improved swing. In the offseason, we could attack the changes we wanted to make in a more intensive manner. This is a pattern we have stuck to ever since. We make changes in the offseason and maintain and build on that progress during the competitive season.
In the summer of 2015, Brandon finished third in the Southern Junior Amateur Championship at Olde Stone Golf Club in Kansas. After this event, his phone started to ring, calls coming from schools such as Wake Forest, North Carolina, Clemson and Virginia. His game had really improved. He hit a few drives over 300 yards, showing an improvement of more than 30 yards from the year before in this event, and he did so while under the pressure of playing in front of the coaches of these programs who could evaluate his new swing.
In the fall of 2015, Brandon received an early scholarship offer from Wake Forest, currently the No. 12-ranked team in the country, and accepted it. In the summer of 2016, he was a quarterfinalist in the U.S. Junior Amateur and is now the No. 16-ranked junior golfer in the world according to Golfweek. He is currently a senior in high school and will attend Wake Forest in the fall.
As a coach, I can say that using K-VEST golf technology and K-PLAYER with Brandon immensely accelerated our improvement process toward achieving his goals. We were never guessing how to improve; instead, we had designed our program to maximize Brandon’s swing efficiency, and he put in the effort. The ability for him to know he was making perfect practice reps every session and being able to capture swings to validate our program’s success, tracking his progress from start to finish, gave us great confidence that Brandon was continuing to improve as a player.
I have found that the use of K-VEST and K-PLAYER in different ways during the on- and off-seasons has added great value to how Brandon and all my players train and play. We use it to make big changes in the offseason and to maintain those changes during the competitive season. And when anything is starting to slide, we return to the setup first, using a setup we saved by “setting live” in biofeedback on a day when a player was swinging really well and confidently.
I am proud of the progress Brandon has made and look forward to being a part of his journey as he continues to grow as a golfer.
PGA Instructor, Patrick Gocklin recently wrote a great article for golfwrx.com about the use of K-vest golf instruction wearable technology . Golf WRX is a wonderful source of information for junior golf performance.
Enjoy,
CGC Staff
Creating a top junior golfer with K-VEST golf system & K-PLAYER
In the fall of 2014, Brandon Gillis, a high school sophomore, walked into my facility for a K-VEST golf evaluation session. Brandon was referred by a K-VEST-certified fitness professional, Scott Prunier. Averaging in the low- to mid-70s in tournament competition, Brandon had just won the New Hampshire State Junior title, but he was barely getting any attention from colleges around New England — never mind top Division I programs — because of his history playing in bigger regional and national events on tougher, longer courses. His ambition was to play college golf at the highest possible level, and he was willing to work hard to achieve this goal.
To give you some background, Brandon was averaging 270 yards off the tee, was a slender 5-foot 10-inches tall, 160 pounds, and occasionally fought back pain. A couple of close friends had helped Brandon reach that point in his golfing career by using videos to assist him with his swing and overall golf game, but Brandon was stuck. He no longer knew what to do to improve his swing. To play at a higher level, he knew that he needed to gain more distance off the tee, add consistency with his irons and learn how to eliminate his back pain.
Brandon’s original K-VEST readings.
I suited Brandon up in K-VEST golf wearable technolory system and captured his swing. When I looked at the swing summary reports and the graphs of his kinematic sequence, I identified a few red flags that indicated why he was losing distance, had issues with iron consistency and had some back pain. First, at address, Brandon would set up in C-Posture. Second, at the top of his backswing, his pelvis bend increased too much. Third, he had too much upper body rotation and upper body bend at the top of his backswing, which put him into a reverse spine angle, creating his occasional back pain. As a talented player, Brandon found ways to compensate for these challenges in his swing. However, to achieve the level of golf at which he wanted to play, it was important we address these aspects of his swing right away.
After assessing Brandon’s swing, I developed a program using the biofeedback function that’s a part of both K-VEST and K-PLAYER. As with all players who have more than one issue — and most do — I had to pick a starting point. As a rule, I work from setup through impact unless an area is screaming out for attention. In Brandon’s case, I was concerned about the injury risk from the reverse spine angle, but I decided to work on posture first, as I thought that could also help change the reverse spine angle.
Where a player starts a swing has a lot to do with where the swing goes, in my experience, so I worked on his posture first, getting him more athletic and feeling engaged through his feet and lower body with a neutral spine. To do this, while suited up in the K-VEST, I set him in the exact posture I wanted him to learn and hit the “set live” button on the K-VEST to save it as our model going forward. We then worked for some time setting him up in this position. Our work process was first without a club, then with a club, and then hitting balls.
After Brandon was comfortable in his new athletic posture, I trained Brandon’s pelvis bend by building a program that helped us train his pelvis bend at setup, impact, and the top. I used a number of variations and added difficulty as we went along. We followed the same work path as with the setup: no club, club and then hitting balls.
Watch the video below to learn more about how biofeedback works.
Once Brandon had mastered his new pelvis mechanics, we addressed the upper body side bend with biofeedback, following the same workflow. The greatest value to Brandon was using the biofeedback program I designed. He was quite pleased to know how it enabled him to consistently execute perfect reps to more quickly develop a more efficient and powerful swing. He could see and feel the improvement as we worked, and that increased his motivation.
Our work experience was like that of many of my students with K-VEST golf and K-PLAYER evaluations. After the first lesson, when we captured Brandon’s motion, we saw the efficiency and red flags that we had identified had already improved greatly. In one lesson, Brandon had learned to swing without creating reverse spine angle at the top of his swing (eliminating the risk of back injury), and most importantly to him he was able to swing faster with more control. However, to really make the new move permanent and enable him to perform when under pressure in tournaments, Brandon stayed dedicated to the training throughout the off-season. Session one was the “wow.” Then came the months of hard work. In my experience, the wow is not to be under-appreciated, as it provides inspiration for the hard work to come.
In order to feel prepared to have his best competitive season yet in 2015, Brandon came to see me about once a week through the winter. We worked mostly in the supervised form of coaching. We always used the biofeedback in K-VEST and K-PLAYER to train him and then captured swings at least two times per month to make sure he was progressing. Since he is a very competitive and talented player, I wanted to be sure I was supervising him consistently.
Once Brandon began his competitive season and he was traveling around the country, we would only meet once or twice per month to capture his swing with K-VEST to see if there were any red flags in his technique that we needed to improve quickly. Often, we were continuing to train what we worked on from our initial sessions, making sure he was not reverting to any of his previous poor swing patterns.
Key in training these high-level players in a competitive season is to not have them feeling as if they must change their motion under the pressure of competition, which leads to poor performance. So, during the competitive season, it was most important to help him manage his already-improved swing. In the offseason, we could attack the changes we wanted to make in a more intensive manner. This is a pattern we have stuck to ever since. We make changes in the offseason and maintain and build on that progress during the competitive season.
In the summer of 2015, Brandon finished third in the Southern Junior Amateur Championship at Olde Stone Golf Club in Kansas. After this event, his phone started to ring, calls coming from schools such as Wake Forest, North Carolina, Clemson and Virginia. His game had really improved. He hit a few drives over 300 yards, showing an improvement of more than 30 yards from the year before in this event, and he did so while under the pressure of playing in front of the coaches of these programs who could evaluate his new swing.
In the fall of 2015, Brandon received an early scholarship offer from Wake Forest, currently the No. 12-ranked team in the country, and accepted it. In the summer of 2016, he was a quarterfinalist in the U.S. Junior Amateur and is now the No. 16-ranked junior golfer in the world according to Golfweek. He is currently a senior in high school and will attend Wake Forest in the fall.
As a coach, I can say that using K-VEST golf technology and K-PLAYER with Brandon immensely accelerated our improvement process toward achieving his goals. We were never guessing how to improve; instead, we had designed our program to maximize Brandon’s swing efficiency, and he put in the effort. The ability for him to know he was making perfect practice reps every session and being able to capture swings to validate our program’s success, tracking his progress from start to finish, gave us great confidence that Brandon was continuing to improve as a player.
I have found that the use of K-VEST and K-PLAYER in different ways during the on- and off-seasons has added great value to how Brandon and all my players train and play. We use it to make big changes in the offseason and to maintain those changes during the competitive season. And when anything is starting to slide, we return to the setup first, using a setup we saved by “setting live” in biofeedback on a day when a player was swinging really well and confidently.
I am proud of the progress Brandon has made and look forward to being a part of his journey as he continues to grow as a golfer.
Dr. Nick recently wrote a great article for womensgolf.com Dr. Nick is a frequent guest speaker at College Golf Camps of America. We love this article because simply explains how performance is not forced. Enjoy the information from our friend Dr. Nick.
CGC Staff
How to Enter the Flow State in Golf
Sport psychologist, Dr. Nick Molinaro explains how the right pre-competition preparation can help golfers get into the ‘zone’ or ‘flow’ state to achieve their highest levels of performance.
One of the most frequent questions I am asked by golfers of all abilities, coaches and parents is how to enter the zone or flow state in golf. The profession of sports psychology has different opinions about the ability to enter this highest level of performance. Some believe it is random and more serendipity-like while others believe it can be experienced by effective decision making of selective attentional shifting. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a Hungarian Psychologist, noted in his study on Happiness:
“The best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times…The best moments usually occur if a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.” (1990, p. 3).
I believe that an athlete can proactively set the stage for entering “Flow” states by utilizing the model Csikszentmihalyi designed.
Every moment in practice and competition a golfer has the opportunity to choose where to place their attention. I will provide a more in-depth discussion in the future about how this system is employed so, for now, we will make it simple.
The golfer should identify a challenge they want to stretch themselves towards. It is not simply the number of fairway hits, coming through the ball, etc. It is the mental process that demands attention. Some great examples are remaining focused, relaxed and present prior to making contact with the ball. If the player has some basic skills in each of these areas than the challenge is to do it more effectively.
Using a scale of 1-10 for Focused Effort (FE) the player identifies the specific mental skill and assigns a challenge level to it for their FE target. Attaining the target score of FE as frequently as possible for the entire round would be the challenge. The targeted skill is to employ it with the target FE each time they hit a shot. For example, being focused, relaxed and present with an FE of 8. Initially, this may appear easy, but I can assure you, it will take lots of practice to do so.
Here is the model Csikszentmihalyi developed:
Note that:
low skills and low challenge produce APATHY;
high skills and low challenge produce BOREDOM;
low skills and high challenge produce ANXIETY; and
high skills and high challenge produce FLOW.
Setting up a Challenge-Skills Balance for each competition helps in reaching flow states. Refer to Process Goals from my previous article to familiarize yourself with them.
I highly recommend this exercise: identify a process goal for the skills and FE on a scale of 1-10 for the Challenge. Be sure to construct the Challenge-Skills Balance before each of your competitions as well as for your practice sessions.
Flow State in Golf
Channing Hensley’s Pre-tournament and Practice Notes
I asked one of my very talented high school juniors, Channing Hensley, who has committed to UNC Wilmington, how she prepares for her competitions and practice sessions and she kindly provided the following notes.
1Tournament Play Preparation
When possible, always play a practice round to familiarize myself with the course layout and greens.
If not possible, do course research and map out via web and diagram into yardage book.
Go through each hole and visualize strategy based on hole layout, yardage and map strategy into the yardage book. Develop my game plan.
Do a hole-by-hole visualization and see myself playing the hole.
When playing the practice round, drop balls from various locations around each green to practice chipping/pitching. Do the same on the greens for putting.
Work on pre-shot routine (cadence and visualization) techniques.
2Preparation for Practice
Never practice without a plan or goal.
Write down objective for the day before arriving at the course.
All drills will have outcome based results that I can track to help create a similar to tournament fee.
Dedicate a certain amount of time for practice sessions and take breaks every 30 minutes to stay mentally sharp.
Place heavy emphasis on process and pre-shot routine and implement before each shot during practice.
Finally, and certainly not last, make it fun! Realize how much I enjoy the game and be thankful for the opportunity I have to play it.
More recommendations for pre-competition preparation to come in future articles.
I would love to hear from you about your ideas, comments or questions below.
Dr. Nick.
Our contributing writer in Sport Psychology, Dr. Nick Molinaro is a licensed psychologist with specialties in Counseling, Human Development, and Sport Psychology.
Although his clients have ranged from the NASCAR, NBA, NFL, USA Ski and Gymnastic Team members, he is mostly known for his work with golfers. Dr. Nick has worked with players on PGA, LPGA, Symetra, LET tours as well as collegiate players at some of America’s most prestigious colleges including Oregon, Notre Dame, U Arizona, and U Texas,
Dr. Nick is the Mental Coach for the Michael Breed Golf Academy at Trump Golf Links, Fiddler’s Elbow Golf Academy, NJ and is an Advisory Board Member on WorldJuniorGolf.com and the Fellowship for Christian Athletes. He is frequently a guest on The Golf Fix on The Golf Channel and the 19th Hole Weekend Edition on CBS Sport Radio.
Find out more about golf psychology at Dr. Nick’s website, and follow him online on Twitter and Facebook.
Dr. Nick recently wrote a great article for womensgolf.com Dr. Nick is a frequent guest speaker at College Golf Camps of America. We love this article because simply explains how performance is not forced. Enjoy the information from our friend Dr. Nick.
CGC Staff
How to Enter the Flow State in Golf
Sport psychologist, Dr. Nick Molinaro explains how the right pre-competition preparation can help golfers get into the ‘zone’ or ‘flow’ state to achieve their highest levels of performance.
One of the most frequent questions I am asked by golfers of all abilities, coaches and parents is how to enter the zone or flow state in golf. The profession of sports psychology has different opinions about the ability to enter this highest level of performance. Some believe it is random and more serendipity-like while others believe it can be experienced by effective decision making of selective attentional shifting. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a Hungarian Psychologist, noted in his study on Happiness:
“The best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times…The best moments usually occur if a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.” (1990, p. 3).
I believe that an athlete can proactively set the stage for entering “Flow” states by utilizing the model Csikszentmihalyi designed.
Every moment in practice and competition a golfer has the opportunity to choose where to place their attention. I will provide a more in-depth discussion in the future about how this system is employed so, for now, we will make it simple.
The golfer should identify a challenge they want to stretch themselves towards. It is not simply the number of fairway hits, coming through the ball, etc. It is the mental process that demands attention. Some great examples are remaining focused, relaxed and present prior to making contact with the ball. If the player has some basic skills in each of these areas than the challenge is to do it more effectively.
Using a scale of 1-10 for Focused Effort (FE) the player identifies the specific mental skill and assigns a challenge level to it for their FE target. Attaining the target score of FE as frequently as possible for the entire round would be the challenge. The targeted skill is to employ it with the target FE each time they hit a shot. For example, being focused, relaxed and present with an FE of 8. Initially, this may appear easy, but I can assure you, it will take lots of practice to do so.
Here is the model Csikszentmihalyi developed:
Note that:
low skills and low challenge produce APATHY;
high skills and low challenge produce BOREDOM;
low skills and high challenge produce ANXIETY; and
high skills and high challenge produce FLOW.
Setting up a Challenge-Skills Balance for each competition helps in reaching flow states. Refer to Process Goals from my previous article to familiarize yourself with them.
I highly recommend this exercise: identify a process goal for the skills and FE on a scale of 1-10 for the Challenge. Be sure to construct the Challenge-Skills Balance before each of your competitions as well as for your practice sessions.
Flow State in Golf
Channing Hensley’s Pre-tournament and Practice Notes
I asked one of my very talented high school juniors, Channing Hensley, who has committed to UNC Wilmington, how she prepares for her competitions and practice sessions and she kindly provided the following notes.
1Tournament Play Preparation
When possible, always play a practice round to familiarize myself with the course layout and greens.
If not possible, do course research and map out via web and diagram into yardage book.
Go through each hole and visualize strategy based on hole layout, yardage and map strategy into the yardage book. Develop my game plan.
Do a hole-by-hole visualization and see myself playing the hole.
When playing the practice round, drop balls from various locations around each green to practice chipping/pitching. Do the same on the greens for putting.
Work on pre-shot routine (cadence and visualization) techniques.
2Preparation for Practice
Never practice without a plan or goal.
Write down objective for the day before arriving at the course.
All drills will have outcome based results that I can track to help create a similar to tournament fee.
Dedicate a certain amount of time for practice sessions and take breaks every 30 minutes to stay mentally sharp.
Place heavy emphasis on process and pre-shot routine and implement before each shot during practice.
Finally, and certainly not last, make it fun! Realize how much I enjoy the game and be thankful for the opportunity I have to play it.
More recommendations for pre-competition preparation to come in future articles.
I would love to hear from you about your ideas, comments or questions below.
Dr. Nick.
Our contributing writer in Sport Psychology, Dr. Nick Molinaro is a licensed psychologist with specialties in Counseling, Human Development, and Sport Psychology.
Although his clients have ranged from the NASCAR, NBA, NFL, USA Ski and Gymnastic Team members, he is mostly known for his work with golfers. Dr. Nick has worked with players on PGA, LPGA, Symetra, LET tours as well as collegiate players at some of America’s most prestigious colleges including Oregon, Notre Dame, U Arizona, and U Texas,
Dr. Nick is the Mental Coach for the Michael Breed Golf Academy at Trump Golf Links, Fiddler’s Elbow Golf Academy, NJ and is an Advisory Board Member on WorldJuniorGolf.com and the Fellowship for Christian Athletes. He is frequently a guest on The Golf Fix on The Golf Channel and the 19th Hole Weekend Edition on CBS Sport Radio.
Find out more about golf psychology at Dr. Nick’s website, and follow him online on Twitter and Facebook.
The fall portion of the men’s college season for 2016-17 is over. What did we learn from this first part of the season?
The college experts at Golfweek offered their insights on what transpired and what we can expect in the spring (including some early national championship picks for the action to be at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill.):
• • •
We’ll start off with a big ruling near the end of the fall: What are your thoughts on the decision not to adopt the substitution rule? Barring a change, which is still feasible, will no substitutions have a big impact like it did at last year’s NCAAs?
Brentley Romine: I’m a fan of the substitution rule, but only at the NCAA Championship. You’re talking about 30 teams bringing one extra guy. If a player is subbed out in stroke play, it must be prior to a round, and same goes for match play. As for the impact no subs will have on this year’s NCAA Championship, I don’t think it will. After all, last spring was really the first time since match play was introduced that the situation even came up.
Lance Ringler: It could, but unlikely. I don’t recall this being an issue at a championship since the match play format was adopted. My thoughts are quite simple, allow substitutions throughout the season, including the postseason or not at all.
Kevin Casey: I’m also a fan of the substitution rule. Even if it’s only for NCAAs, that’s fine by me. I think there are more pros than cons here, especially considering how much even forfeiting one point can mean in match play (Beau Hossler and Texas proved that last year). Speaking of Hossler and Texas, obviously that’s the big impact we’re talking about last year. No substitutions could certainly make an impact at Rich Harvest Farms, but as large a one as losing the Haskins-Award-winner-to-be for the finals and forfeiting his deciding point? Highly doubtful.
Onto actual tournament play: Which teams were the biggest surprises of the fall?
Brentley Romine: Baylor was 28th in our preseason rankings and Coach Mike McGraw now has his boys at No. 10. Ole Miss has been a pleasant surprise, too, as Braden Thornberry is a legitimate Haskins contender for the 21st-ranked Rebels. I also thought Alabama would have a better fall, but they have battled the injury bug with Jonathan Hardee and Dru Love each missing the fall with injuries.
Lance Ringler: Illinois certainly turned a few heads after being ranked at the top for a few weeks this fall. Many figured the Illini would have some sort of drop off with a few new faces in the lineup after the departure of Charlie Danielson and Thomas Detry. That has not been the case. What was thought to be rebuilding appears to be reloading. But, the biggest surprise that has not been mentioned much is the turnaround in Oxford, Miss. In head coach Chris Malloy’s third season at Ole Miss, his team has vaulted to No. 21 in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings. Led by Braden Thornberry’s three wins and No. 14 ranking the Rebels won three times and places second twice compiling a 65-2 overall head-to-head record.
Kevin Casey: Oh for sure, Illinois. Nobody expected a precipitous drop-off from the Illini – you don’t bet against Mike Small like that – but they lose their top two players in Detry and Danielson and then win four of five fall events? Huh? This is the same Detry mind you who won a Challenge Tour event by 12 shots and earned his European Tour card in the months after turning pro. So yeah, this is pretty incredible. Heck, I think Georgia’s doing a pretty good job dealing with the loss of Lee McCoy and Sepp Straka, and they’ve still dropped from No. 3 to No. 14. Illinois, on the other hand, may actually be better than last year’s group. Crazy. One more surprise on the positive side I would say is Kennesaw State. At No. 19, they are 30 spots higher than where the team finished in 2015-16. Bryant Odom is in his second year there, so that settling in probably helps a good deal, but still 30 spots is a big jump in this range, especially with arguably the team’s best player (Fredrik Nilehn) transferring to Texas Tech in the offseason.
What teams should be on our radar to surprise in the spring?
Brentley Romine: North Carolina is 20th right now in the rankings, but I expect the likes of Ben Griffin, Will Register and others to lead the Tar Heels to a strong spring.
Lance Ringler: It has to be Virginia. In four fall events, Bowen Sargent’s squad won three times and sports a 17-2-1 head-to-head record versus the top 25. Led by the trio of Jimmy Stanger, Derek Bard and Thomas Walsh, Virginia is a team that should continue to be noticed. Keep an eye on Texas A&M as well this spring.
Kevin Casey: I’ll throw San Diego State out there. The Aztecs had a sneaky good fall, winning twice and securing a No. 16 ranking. This isn’t the exact same group that made it to NCAAs last year, but much of its core remains and that core was good enough to help lead the Aztecs to T-3 after the first round in Eugene. I just think this group may be a bit of a wildcard that people will easily overlook.
Who are your favorites for the Haskins Award Presented by Stifel heading into the spring?
Brentley Romine: Right now, I have Sam Burns as my favorite. The LSU sophomore is a former top-ranked junior and Rolex Junior Player of the Year, so he has elite game. That game is really starting to show right now as he’s won twice and not finished outside the top 9 this fall. Also, you can’t rule out Maverick McNealy of Stanford.
Lance Ringler: The experience of Stanford senior Maverick McNealy makes it hard to say any other name than his. McNealy once again is in the top spot in the individual rankings heading into the winter break. However, if I had to pick another name, I would point at LSU’s Sam Burns. Burns played in six events this past fall placing in the top 10 in all six and claiming victory or a share of twice.
Kevin Casey: If you look at Golfweek’s Watch List right now, to me, the safest pick is Maverick McNealy, with Matthias Schwab second. Those two would be my favorites at the moment just because of their prior consistency in college. Wyndham Clark and Sam Burns definitely should be in the running as well, though. Clark has overcome a lot and Brentley already mentioned Burns’ junior credentials. But I think the best odds are of Mav repeating his 2015 feat.
Finally, OK, it’s still early, but if you had to pick a national champion for 2017, who do you got at the moment?
Brentley Romine: If we’re talking best team, I’m going with Vanderbilt, which is led by Matthias Schwab, who I think is one of the best amateurs in the world. But in match play anything can happen, so I’m going to go with LSU. The Tigers are ranked fourth in the country, have two seniors who have already won an NCAA title, and will add freshman Philip Barbaree this spring.
Lance Ringler: My preseason No. 1 team was Southern California and while the Trojans were slow starters they did get better as the fall progressed. USC closed the fall winning the stroke-play and match play segments at the Gifford Collegiate. Head coach Chris Zambri has guided his team into match play the last couple of seasons and we should expect to see this experienced group having a go at it this spring at Rich Harvest Farms.
Kevin Casey: I’ll change this pick approximately 478 times before we finally have to lock in on this, but for now I’ll go with Florida. The Gators are currently No. 3 in our rankings, so I’m not going out on much of a limb. But I just feel they have more of a sense of redemption than most top teams due to a really disappointing showing at Eugene, in which the Gators didn’t sniff match play. I like that extra edge they have there to serve them well come postseason time.
@golfweekmag. “College Men’s Roundtable: Recapping the Fall Season and Predicting the Spring – Golfweek.” Golfweek. N.p., 20 Nov. 2016. Web. 29 Nov. 2016.
The fall portion of the men’s college season for 2016-17 is over. What did we learn from this first part of the season?
The college experts at Golfweek offered their insights on what transpired and what we can expect in the spring (including some early national championship picks for the action to be at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill.):
• • •
We’ll start off with a big ruling near the end of the fall: What are your thoughts on the decision not to adopt the substitution rule? Barring a change, which is still feasible, will no substitutions have a big impact like it did at last year’s NCAAs?
Brentley Romine: I’m a fan of the substitution rule, but only at the NCAA Championship. You’re talking about 30 teams bringing one extra guy. If a player is subbed out in stroke play, it must be prior to a round, and same goes for match play. As for the impact no subs will have on this year’s NCAA Championship, I don’t think it will. After all, last spring was really the first time since match play was introduced that the situation even came up.
Lance Ringler: It could, but unlikely. I don’t recall this being an issue at a championship since the match play format was adopted. My thoughts are quite simple, allow substitutions throughout the season, including the postseason or not at all.
Kevin Casey: I’m also a fan of the substitution rule. Even if it’s only for NCAAs, that’s fine by me. I think there are more pros than cons here, especially considering how much even forfeiting one point can mean in match play (Beau Hossler and Texas proved that last year). Speaking of Hossler and Texas, obviously that’s the big impact we’re talking about last year. No substitutions could certainly make an impact at Rich Harvest Farms, but as large a one as losing the Haskins-Award-winner-to-be for the finals and forfeiting his deciding point? Highly doubtful.
Onto actual tournament play: Which teams were the biggest surprises of the fall?
Brentley Romine: Baylor was 28th in our preseason rankings and Coach Mike McGraw now has his boys at No. 10. Ole Miss has been a pleasant surprise, too, as Braden Thornberry is a legitimate Haskins contender for the 21st-ranked Rebels. I also thought Alabama would have a better fall, but they have battled the injury bug with Jonathan Hardee and Dru Love each missing the fall with injuries.
Lance Ringler: Illinois certainly turned a few heads after being ranked at the top for a few weeks this fall. Many figured the Illini would have some sort of drop off with a few new faces in the lineup after the departure of Charlie Danielson and Thomas Detry. That has not been the case. What was thought to be rebuilding appears to be reloading. But, the biggest surprise that has not been mentioned much is the turnaround in Oxford, Miss. In head coach Chris Malloy’s third season at Ole Miss, his team has vaulted to No. 21 in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings. Led by Braden Thornberry’s three wins and No. 14 ranking the Rebels won three times and places second twice compiling a 65-2 overall head-to-head record.
Kevin Casey: Oh for sure, Illinois. Nobody expected a precipitous drop-off from the Illini – you don’t bet against Mike Small like that – but they lose their top two players in Detry and Danielson and then win four of five fall events? Huh? This is the same Detry mind you who won a Challenge Tour event by 12 shots and earned his European Tour card in the months after turning pro. So yeah, this is pretty incredible. Heck, I think Georgia’s doing a pretty good job dealing with the loss of Lee McCoy and Sepp Straka, and they’ve still dropped from No. 3 to No. 14. Illinois, on the other hand, may actually be better than last year’s group. Crazy. One more surprise on the positive side I would say is Kennesaw State. At No. 19, they are 30 spots higher than where the team finished in 2015-16. Bryant Odom is in his second year there, so that settling in probably helps a good deal, but still 30 spots is a big jump in this range, especially with arguably the team’s best player (Fredrik Nilehn) transferring to Texas Tech in the offseason.
What teams should be on our radar to surprise in the spring?
Brentley Romine: North Carolina is 20th right now in the rankings, but I expect the likes of Ben Griffin, Will Register and others to lead the Tar Heels to a strong spring.
Lance Ringler: It has to be Virginia. In four fall events, Bowen Sargent’s squad won three times and sports a 17-2-1 head-to-head record versus the top 25. Led by the trio of Jimmy Stanger, Derek Bard and Thomas Walsh, Virginia is a team that should continue to be noticed. Keep an eye on Texas A&M as well this spring.
Kevin Casey: I’ll throw San Diego State out there. The Aztecs had a sneaky good fall, winning twice and securing a No. 16 ranking. This isn’t the exact same group that made it to NCAAs last year, but much of its core remains and that core was good enough to help lead the Aztecs to T-3 after the first round in Eugene. I just think this group may be a bit of a wildcard that people will easily overlook.
Who are your favorites for the Haskins Award Presented by Stifel heading into the spring?
Brentley Romine: Right now, I have Sam Burns as my favorite. The LSU sophomore is a former top-ranked junior and Rolex Junior Player of the Year, so he has elite game. That game is really starting to show right now as he’s won twice and not finished outside the top 9 this fall. Also, you can’t rule out Maverick McNealy of Stanford.
Lance Ringler: The experience of Stanford senior Maverick McNealy makes it hard to say any other name than his. McNealy once again is in the top spot in the individual rankings heading into the winter break. However, if I had to pick another name, I would point at LSU’s Sam Burns. Burns played in six events this past fall placing in the top 10 in all six and claiming victory or a share of twice.
Kevin Casey: If you look at Golfweek’s Watch List right now, to me, the safest pick is Maverick McNealy, with Matthias Schwab second. Those two would be my favorites at the moment just because of their prior consistency in college. Wyndham Clark and Sam Burns definitely should be in the running as well, though. Clark has overcome a lot and Brentley already mentioned Burns’ junior credentials. But I think the best odds are of Mav repeating his 2015 feat.
Finally, OK, it’s still early, but if you had to pick a national champion for 2017, who do you got at the moment?
Brentley Romine: If we’re talking best team, I’m going with Vanderbilt, which is led by Matthias Schwab, who I think is one of the best amateurs in the world. But in match play anything can happen, so I’m going to go with LSU. The Tigers are ranked fourth in the country, have two seniors who have already won an NCAA title, and will add freshman Philip Barbaree this spring.
Lance Ringler: My preseason No. 1 team was Southern California and while the Trojans were slow starters they did get better as the fall progressed. USC closed the fall winning the stroke-play and match play segments at the Gifford Collegiate. Head coach Chris Zambri has guided his team into match play the last couple of seasons and we should expect to see this experienced group having a go at it this spring at Rich Harvest Farms.
Kevin Casey: I’ll change this pick approximately 478 times before we finally have to lock in on this, but for now I’ll go with Florida. The Gators are currently No. 3 in our rankings, so I’m not going out on much of a limb. But I just feel they have more of a sense of redemption than most top teams due to a really disappointing showing at Eugene, in which the Gators didn’t sniff match play. I like that extra edge they have there to serve them well come postseason time.
@golfweekmag. “College Men’s Roundtable: Recapping the Fall Season and Predicting the Spring – Golfweek.” Golfweek. N.p., 20 Nov. 2016. Web. 29 Nov. 2016.
All golfers, especially junior golfers, are eager to gain distance with their driver. In today’s article, with the help of Adam Young, we will go over how to create more carry yardage with your driver.
Young states a couple of years ago he managed to pick up 55 yards of carry distance with his driver, simply by changing how the ball launches and spins in the air.
“By launching the ball high with low spin, I was able to create 310 yards of distance with just 107 mph of clubhead speed,” says Young.
We know (from testing) that a ball that launches close to 17 degrees, and with little spin (usually less than what most amateurs create) will give our golf ball big carry distances and still have some roll – as well as a boring trajectory through any wind.
However, we also know that many amateurs launch the golf ball much too low.
A club will typically launch around 60-70% of the dynamic loft of the club (it’s a little more complicated than that, taking into account friction, angle of attack etc.). This means that we regularly see players with 10 degree drivers launching the ball at 6-7 degrees. This is nowhere near enough for huge booming drives.
When a ball is hit with a negative angle of ascent (red arrow) and has a loft at impact (green), the ball will launch around 70% between the two. This can make a 10 degree driver launch lower than 7 degrees – not optimal.
But there is a way to get closer to that 17 degree mark – and it doesn’t involve using a 25 degree driver (which would spin the ball way too much anyway).
How do you do it?
STRIKE POINT
We could strike high on the face, in the middle of the face, or low on the face.
Young states, “The vast majority of amateurs I see on my lesson tee are striking the bottom half of the face. The loft of the club varies along the clubface due to something called ‘roll’ (the club is not uniformly flat); the loft above the sweet spot can be 4 or so degrees more than the loft at below the sweetspot (depending on the amount of roll and the severity of the strike).
If we look at my strikes from a test I conducted (which produced high launching and low spinning drives), we can see that the marks are actually quite high on the face. Most people are quite surprised when I show them.
When we strike slightly above the sweetspot, the club also deflects backwards, further increasing the launch angle of the ball, as well as reducing backspin. This is a terrific combination for distance – helping us achieve the high-launching-low-spinning unicorn.
You will need a higher tee to produce strikes like this – which is why you see the long-drive champions using massive tees during competitions. I myself use a 4inch tee, and I use every last millimeter of it.”
INCREASING DYNAMIC LOFT AND ANGLE OF ATTACK
One way that manufacturers have used to good effect recently is to increase the loft of your driver. Many of the newer clubs have printed lofts on the bottom, but with adjustable hosels which can change/increase the actual loft.
The issue with this is that it increases the difference between the loft at impact and the angle of attack – or spin loft. This helps us to launch the ball higher, but often at the expense of increased spin rates – not good for penetrating drives that roll out.
Manufacturers have increased dynamic loft (green) helping the ball launch higher, but at the expense of a large spin loft (blue area).
Young states, “I have found that by getting a player to hit up on the ball more (increasing angle of attack), it changes both dynamic loft and angle of attack in conjunction with one another – resulting in higher ball launches but maintained or even reduced ball spin.”
Next time you hit the range, take these facts into consideration, and hopefully you will be gaining yardage in no time!
All golfers, especially junior golfers, are eager to gain distance with their driver. In today’s article, with the help of Adam Young, we will go over how to create more carry yardage with your driver.
Young states a couple of years ago he managed to pick up 55 yards of carry distance with his driver, simply by changing how the ball launches and spins in the air.
“By launching the ball high with low spin, I was able to create 310 yards of distance with just 107 mph of clubhead speed,” says Young.
We know (from testing) that a ball that launches close to 17 degrees, and with little spin (usually less than what most amateurs create) will give our golf ball big carry distances and still have some roll – as well as a boring trajectory through any wind.
However, we also know that many amateurs launch the golf ball much too low.
A club will typically launch around 60-70% of the dynamic loft of the club (it’s a little more complicated than that, taking into account friction, angle of attack etc.). This means that we regularly see players with 10 degree drivers launching the ball at 6-7 degrees. This is nowhere near enough for huge booming drives.
When a ball is hit with a negative angle of ascent (red arrow) and has a loft at impact (green), the ball will launch around 70% between the two. This can make a 10 degree driver launch lower than 7 degrees – not optimal.
But there is a way to get closer to that 17 degree mark – and it doesn’t involve using a 25 degree driver (which would spin the ball way too much anyway).
How do you do it?
STRIKE POINT
We could strike high on the face, in the middle of the face, or low on the face.
Young states, “The vast majority of amateurs I see on my lesson tee are striking the bottom half of the face. The loft of the club varies along the clubface due to something called ‘roll’ (the club is not uniformly flat); the loft above the sweet spot can be 4 or so degrees more than the loft at below the sweetspot (depending on the amount of roll and the severity of the strike).
If we look at my strikes from a test I conducted (which produced high launching and low spinning drives), we can see that the marks are actually quite high on the face. Most people are quite surprised when I show them.
When we strike slightly above the sweetspot, the club also deflects backwards, further increasing the launch angle of the ball, as well as reducing backspin. This is a terrific combination for distance – helping us achieve the high-launching-low-spinning unicorn.
You will need a higher tee to produce strikes like this – which is why you see the long-drive champions using massive tees during competitions. I myself use a 4inch tee, and I use every last millimeter of it.”
INCREASING DYNAMIC LOFT AND ANGLE OF ATTACK
One way that manufacturers have used to good effect recently is to increase the loft of your driver. Many of the newer clubs have printed lofts on the bottom, but with adjustable hosels which can change/increase the actual loft.
The issue with this is that it increases the difference between the loft at impact and the angle of attack – or spin loft. This helps us to launch the ball higher, but often at the expense of increased spin rates – not good for penetrating drives that roll out.
Manufacturers have increased dynamic loft (green) helping the ball launch higher, but at the expense of a large spin loft (blue area).
Young states, “I have found that by getting a player to hit up on the ball more (increasing angle of attack), it changes both dynamic loft and angle of attack in conjunction with one another – resulting in higher ball launches but maintained or even reduced ball spin.”
Next time you hit the range, take these facts into consideration, and hopefully you will be gaining yardage in no time!
A pioneer of American golf has died at the age of 95. Peggy Kirk Bell of Southern Pines died at her home Wednesday evening, November 23, surrounded by her family. Her death ends a colorful and distinguished career as one of golf’s best-known and most popular players, teachers and ambassadors. Her many contributions to the game were spread out over more than 70 years.
Mrs. Bell was born in Findlay, Ohio, Oct. 1921 to Grace and Robert Kirk. She took up golf as a teenager and was a protégé of Leonard Schmutte.
As an amateur golfer in the 1940s, she was one of the nation’s top players. She won the Ohio Women’s Amateur championship three times along with the famed North and South Amateur in Pinehurst. Other major titles were the Eastern Amateur and the Augusta Titleholders.
She attended Boston University’s Sargent College of Physical Education from 1939 to 1941, but transferred to Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla., where she graduated in 1943 with a degree in Education. She became a legend at Rollins and the school holds an annual tournament named for her.
She holds honorary degrees from the University of Findlay, Methodist College and Sandhills Community College. The former Peggy Kirk married Warren (Bullet) Bell of Findlay in 1953. He was a former college and professional basketball player with the Ft. Wayne Pistons. The dashing, athletic couple came south the year of their marriage and purchased and restored the Pine Needles golf course in Southern Pines. After turning the course into a resort, the Bells began one of the country’s first golf schools, with Mrs. Bell as the featured instructor. The popular schools, known as Golfaris, continue today.
Mrs. Bell was a charter member and avid leader of the Ladies Professional Golf Association. An avid pilot, Peggy traveled the early years of the LPGA Tour flying her plane to play in tournaments and promote the LPGA.
As an amateur in 1947, she teamed with Babe Zaharias to win the International Four Ball Championship. She was a member of the USGA’s Curtis Cup team in 1950 and turned professional the same year. She signed a promotional contract with Spalding Sporting Goods Co. and played on the first professional Weathervane Team in 1952.
Throughout her career as a player, teacher and resort owner, Mrs. Bell was a tireless contributor to the game of golf. For her many outstanding contributions, she was a recipient of numerous prestigious honors and awards, including the USGA’s Bobby Jones award, the Golf Writers Association’s William Richardson Award, the LPGA’s Ellen Griffin Rolex Award. The National Golf Foundation’s Joe Graffis Award, and the National Golf Course Owners Order of Merit.
She was a member of seven Halls of Fame, including the Ohio sports, the North Carolina Sports, North Carolina Business, the LPGA teaching division, and the first woman to be inducted to the PGA Golf Instructors Hall of Fame. Three national golf magazines, Golf Digest, Golf and Golf For Women, named her as one of the nation’s best teachers. She was the LPGA Teacher of the Year in 1961, and the PGA’s First Lady of Golf in 2007. She also served on the National Board of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
In addition to Pine Needles Lodge and Country Club, Mrs. Bell and her family became an owner of the Mid Pines Inn and Golf Club in 1994. Both resorts feature classic Donald Ross designed golf courses that date to the mid-1920s. Mrs. Bell was honorary chairperson of three highly successful US Women’s Open Championships that were played at Pine Needles in 1996, 2001 and 2007.
She counted among her friends such illustrious sports stars as Babe Zaharias, Patty Berg, Annika Sorenstam, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Michael Jordan.
Mrs. Bell was preceded in death by her husband Warren “Bullet” Bell in 1984. She is survived by daughters Bonnie McGowan and her husband Pat, a former touring pro; Peggy Ann and her husband Kelly Miller, the president of Pine Needles and Mid Pines; and son Kirk.
She was the proud grandmother of eight: Michael and Scotti McGowan; Blair, and Kellyann Miller, Melody Miller McClelland; and Walker, Charles & Gracie Bell.
A memorial service will be held on Tuesday, November 29th at 2:00pm at Brownson Memorial Presbyterian Church. Visitation will be held at Boles Funeral Home in Southern Pines on Monday, November 28th from 6-8pm. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to The Fellowship of Christian Athletes or the Peggy Kirk Bell Girls Golf Tour (PKBGT) in Greensboro, NC.
A pioneer of American golf has died at the age of 95. Peggy Kirk Bell of Southern Pines died at her home Wednesday evening, November 23, surrounded by her family. Her death ends a colorful and distinguished career as one of golf’s best-known and most popular players, teachers and ambassadors. Her many contributions to the game were spread out over more than 70 years.
Mrs. Bell was born in Findlay, Ohio, Oct. 1921 to Grace and Robert Kirk. She took up golf as a teenager and was a protégé of Leonard Schmutte.
As an amateur golfer in the 1940s, she was one of the nation’s top players. She won the Ohio Women’s Amateur championship three times along with the famed North and South Amateur in Pinehurst. Other major titles were the Eastern Amateur and the Augusta Titleholders.
She attended Boston University’s Sargent College of Physical Education from 1939 to 1941, but transferred to Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla., where she graduated in 1943 with a degree in Education. She became a legend at Rollins and the school holds an annual tournament named for her.
She holds honorary degrees from the University of Findlay, Methodist College and Sandhills Community College. The former Peggy Kirk married Warren (Bullet) Bell of Findlay in 1953. He was a former college and professional basketball player with the Ft. Wayne Pistons. The dashing, athletic couple came south the year of their marriage and purchased and restored the Pine Needles golf course in Southern Pines. After turning the course into a resort, the Bells began one of the country’s first golf schools, with Mrs. Bell as the featured instructor. The popular schools, known as Golfaris, continue today.
Mrs. Bell was a charter member and avid leader of the Ladies Professional Golf Association. An avid pilot, Peggy traveled the early years of the LPGA Tour flying her plane to play in tournaments and promote the LPGA.
As an amateur in 1947, she teamed with Babe Zaharias to win the International Four Ball Championship. She was a member of the USGA’s Curtis Cup team in 1950 and turned professional the same year. She signed a promotional contract with Spalding Sporting Goods Co. and played on the first professional Weathervane Team in 1952.
Throughout her career as a player, teacher and resort owner, Mrs. Bell was a tireless contributor to the game of golf. For her many outstanding contributions, she was a recipient of numerous prestigious honors and awards, including the USGA’s Bobby Jones award, the Golf Writers Association’s William Richardson Award, the LPGA’s Ellen Griffin Rolex Award. The National Golf Foundation’s Joe Graffis Award, and the National Golf Course Owners Order of Merit.
She was a member of seven Halls of Fame, including the Ohio sports, the North Carolina Sports, North Carolina Business, the LPGA teaching division, and the first woman to be inducted to the PGA Golf Instructors Hall of Fame. Three national golf magazines, Golf Digest, Golf and Golf For Women, named her as one of the nation’s best teachers. She was the LPGA Teacher of the Year in 1961, and the PGA’s First Lady of Golf in 2007. She also served on the National Board of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
In addition to Pine Needles Lodge and Country Club, Mrs. Bell and her family became an owner of the Mid Pines Inn and Golf Club in 1994. Both resorts feature classic Donald Ross designed golf courses that date to the mid-1920s. Mrs. Bell was honorary chairperson of three highly successful US Women’s Open Championships that were played at Pine Needles in 1996, 2001 and 2007.
She counted among her friends such illustrious sports stars as Babe Zaharias, Patty Berg, Annika Sorenstam, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Michael Jordan.
Mrs. Bell was preceded in death by her husband Warren “Bullet” Bell in 1984. She is survived by daughters Bonnie McGowan and her husband Pat, a former touring pro; Peggy Ann and her husband Kelly Miller, the president of Pine Needles and Mid Pines; and son Kirk.
She was the proud grandmother of eight: Michael and Scotti McGowan; Blair, and Kellyann Miller, Melody Miller McClelland; and Walker, Charles & Gracie Bell.
A memorial service will be held on Tuesday, November 29th at 2:00pm at Brownson Memorial Presbyterian Church. Visitation will be held at Boles Funeral Home in Southern Pines on Monday, November 28th from 6-8pm. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to The Fellowship of Christian Athletes or the Peggy Kirk Bell Girls Golf Tour (PKBGT) in Greensboro, NC.
Brandi Jackson is a College Recruiting Consultant based in Greenville, SC, USA where she advises junior golf families through the college recruiting process. Her website is www.brandijacksongolf.com
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In the fall of 2015, Brandon received an early scholarship offer from Wake Forest, currently the 
Our contributing writer in Sport Psychology, Dr. Nick Molinaro is a licensed psychologist with specialties in Counseling, Human Development, and Sport Psychology.
