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Golf Psychology Seminar

Esox

Esox

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As many might know since I rarely shut up about it, I have a 13, soon to be 14, year old daughter that it is a golfer. She'll be entering high school next fall and her first high school golf season will start in August. Three local high school golf coaches hosted a voluntary seminar on golf psychology/preparation yesterday at a local high school. The seminar was $15.00 per person and was open to the boys and girls on, or in the case of Grace will be on, the three schools' teams.

The seminar was put on by two well known local golf instructors. There was some pretty interesting stuff. A lot of the material was along the lines of Zen Golf and the theories of Bob Rotella. The kids were told how important it is to remain positive, how to apply course management techniques, how to set goals, how to assess situations that arise on the course, and how to trust themselves. They were also given numerous suggestions on how to practice. Both of the presenters had suggestions regarding being the parent of a junior golfer, so there was info there for the adults, too.

One of the presenters is a Wisconsin native that had a little local, and national I guess, celebrity as he played a couple really good round in the 2004 U.S. Open at Shinnicock. He got lots of local press for a couple days, and there was an article about him in the NY Times after the first round when he was one shot off the lead. He now teaches here locally and coaches a high school girls team. Anyway, back 10-12 years ago when he was knocking around the mini-tours, he became very good friends with PGA Tour pro Mark Wilson. They traveled and roomed together. The local pro's 1.5 hour presentation included a live 30 minute Skype interview/talk/Q & A session with Mark.

What a fantastic guy! Really down to earth, he talked about his junior golf years, his years of college golf as a Tar Heel, and his life on the mini-tours and the PGA Tour. He explained how he practiced as a young man, and told how his practice habits and mental preparation/approach to the game changed as his career progressed to where he became a winner on tour in 2008. He has won twice this year and is the current leading money winner, and is preparing for his first Masters. I can't tell you how cool it was for this guy to stand in his basement a day or two before he leaves for his first Masters and spend a half an hour talking to junior golfers. The kids were really blown away. All but one were too nervous to ask questions, but some of the adults and the coaches sure got a few in.

Here's an article from JSOnline about Mark Wilson from yesterday. It has some of the same info he talked about with the kids yesterday.

Sometimes having a kid that's a junior golfer has its benefits.

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/golf/119128869.html

Kevin
 
Kevin that is really cool, the fact that your daughter is entering a program that seems to be so focused on helping her become a great player is really great. You and your daughter are going to love this journey and I have a feeling that both of your golf games will improve dramatically as she goes through this. I two daughters, 10 and 8, both come out with me on occasion and they both have decent swings for their age, at what point did your daughter really take that step forward that made her realize she had potential to play on the HS team?
 
What an awesome seminar for your Daughter.
BTW Bob Rotella's books are great!!
I can't tell you how many rounds were ruined back in my high school days due to my temper. If only someone back then talked to me about the psychological side of sports.
 
Sounds like a great time with some very good knowledge to be gained. Very cool that a guy who's number 1 in the Fedex cup, would take the time out of his schedual to do this for the kids, before the first major of the year. I will be cheering for him in the masters.
 
Jake she took some lessons in a group program run by the man who is now her swing coach when she was 8. He was also my high school golf coach. To be honest she did not like that much. There were too many boys, and the girls we more the type that would put their clubs down and try and catch butterflies or look in the ponds for frogs while playing the mini-holes the beginners play for this program. The next Summer she really had no interest, and I played very little golf that Summer myself for a variety of reasons. When she was 10 we were approached by another family that knew I was a golfer. They wanted to have their daughters get into a group lesson and wanted Grace involved. This was with a different instructor at a local driving range. That went okay and she made some progress, got out on a small nine hole local muni, and played some with me as we upgrade to a family membership at a course where I had belonged as a single for quite few years previously. I threw her in and she played this full size course, though she rarely finished rounds. That was a great start and when her interest really grew. That instructor was not very good, however, but she did realize she liked playing golf.

At 11, I essentially was her swing coach, and we purchased a family membership at a club where I had belonged as a single for 8 or 9 years. She played that Summer about 15 times on a full size course, though she rarely finished rounds which was fine.

The following year I approached her current swing coach about private lessons, and due to our history he was enthusiastic about getting involved. He is a well known junior golf instructor and supporter here in WI, and there is a large boy's H.S. Invitational named after him. He has seen many of his students play college golf, and a number of went on to varying levels of pro careers. She took maybe six or seven lessons as a 12 year old from him, and played at least twice a week with me and her mother at the course where we had a membership. That Summer she also played a number of par 3 tournaments, winning three, and placing in most of the others. She played too full sized 18 hole events at the end of that Summer and was destroyed.

That's when she really wanted to get serious. She had three lessons from him in the local dome in the winter, he goes to Alabama from Jan. to April, and come Spring she started seeing him on a bi-weekly basis. She participated in his junior program (we joined this club) and practiced a lot last summer, played 12 18 hole tournaments last year, shooting in the low 90's early on, and finishing in the mid to low 80s in the last half. She played really well in the Fall, always shooting less than 85. This Winter she could only putt after having a cyst removed from her wrist, but is hitting the ball beautifully right now. Her handicap is 13 and if that doesn't drop to single digits by June I'll be surprised. She'll be moving up this year to a higher bracket, and will play longer courses against tougher competition and older kids. She's really fearless.

There have been a number of up and downs over the last couple years. As you're surely aware, girls are very emotional, and she was very hard on herself, and had trouble accepting poor shots. Some rounds have been ruined due to this, but her growth in that area has been substantial. Her coach really feels if she was as confident as she should be, she would be shooting scores in the mid to high 70s.

It's going to be a really exciting Summer for us both. Sorry for the long post, but you asked. LOL.

Kevin
 
Nice read, nice story. Both your and the article. I hope she reaches her goals!
 
Kevin, thanks for sharing this. You sound like a rightly proud father. It's awesome that your daughter is taking to the game so well, and it sounds like there are a lot of people willing to help out too. I'm over double the right age, but I'm still envious of the great HS and college systems available in the US.

I'll enjoy reading about her progress this summer.
 
Esox said:
Jake she took some lessons in a group program run by the man who is now her swing coach when she was 8. He was also my high school golf coach. To be honest she did not like that much. There were too many boys, and the girls we more the type that would put their clubs down and try and catch butterflies or look in the ponds for frogs while playing the mini-holes the beginners play for this program. The next Summer she really had no interest, and I played very little golf that Summer myself for a variety of reasons. When she was 10 we were approached by another family that knew I was a golfer. They wanted to have their daughters get into a group lesson and wanted Grace involved. This was with a different instructor at a local driving range. That went okay and she made some progress, got out on a small nine hole local muni, and played some with me as we upgrade to a family membership at a course where I had belonged as a single for quite few years previously. I threw her in and she played this full size course, though she rarely finished rounds. That was a great start and when her interest really grew. That instructor was not very good, however, but she did realize she liked playing golf.

At 11, I essentially was her swing coach, and we purchased a family membership at a club where I had belonged as a single for 8 or 9 years. She played that Summer about 15 times on a full size course, though she rarely finished rounds which was fine.

The following year I approached her current swing coach about private lessons, and due to our history he was enthusiastic about getting involved. He is a well known junior golf instructor and supporter here in WI, and there is a large boy's H.S. Invitational named after him. He has seen many of his students play college golf, and a number of went on to varying levels of pro careers. She took maybe six or seven lessons as a 12 year old from him, and played at least twice a week with me and her mother at the course where we had a membership. That Summer she also played a number of par 3 tournaments, winning three, and placing in most of the others. She played too full sized 18 hole events at the end of that Summer and was destroyed.

That's when she really wanted to get serious. She had three lessons from him in the local dome in the winter, he goes to Alabama from Jan. to April, and come Spring she started seeing him on a bi-weekly basis. She participated in his junior program (we joined this club) and practiced a lot last summer, played 12 18 hole tournaments last year, shooting in the low 90's early on, and finishing in the mid to low 80s in the last half. She played really well in the Fall, always shooting less than 85. This Winter she could only putt after having a cyst removed from her wrist, but is hitting the ball beautifully right now. Her handicap is 13 and if that doesn't drop to single digits by June I'll be surprised. She'll be moving up this year to a higher bracket, and will play longer courses against tougher competition and older kids. She's really fearless.

There have been a number of up and downs over the last couple years. As you're surely aware, girls are very emotional, and she was very hard on herself, and had trouble accepting poor shots. Some rounds have been ruined due to this, but her growth in that area has been substantial. Her coach really feels if she was as confident as she should be, she would be shooting scores in the mid to high 70s.

It's going to be a really exciting Summer for us both. Sorry for the long post, but you asked. LOL.

Kevin
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That is awesome, thank you so much for taking the time to give me the run-down of her career thus far. This summer will be a big one for both my daughters to see if they really want to play more often and we'll go from there. I do have them both signed up for a jr. golf camp at the course I play at, the pro seems to really go well with the kids and I've heard good things about the camp so we'll see how things go. I love reading about you talking about your daughter, you can tell you are very proud of her and that you're a great dad. I'll bet you two have a lot of fun together on the course. So let me ask the question...has she beat you yet?

Thanks for all the info Kevin, I cannot wait til my girls want to play more. We're at the point now though that I just want them to have fun and hope that they want to play...so I'm suckering them in with packs of Skittles at the turn as they ride around with me and my dad for now!
 
This is the post I missed reading earlier! Thanks for sharing.
 
Very cool to hear! I love the fact that a mental approach is followed mostly with staying positive! I too wish I was afforded this luxury when I was first learning. Not so much in that I had a temper, but I didn't think I was that good or would be that good and now I feel quite the opposite. I think a positive attitude though might sound cheesy really reaps MANY rewards in so many other ways.

Congrats to you Esox, I hope my two very young daughters can just enjoy golf with me in the future, and if it happens to be something they latch on to then even better!
 
Puttin4Bird said:
That is awesome, thank you so much for taking the time to give me the run-down of her career thus far. This summer will be a big one for both my daughters to see if they really want to play more often and we'll go from there. I do have them both signed up for a jr. golf camp at the course I play at, the pro seems to really go well with the kids and I've heard good things about the camp so we'll see how things go. I love reading about you talking about your daughter, you can tell you are very proud of her and that you're a great dad. I'll bet you two have a lot of fun together on the course. So let me ask the question...has she beat you yet?

Thanks for all the info Kevin, I cannot wait til my girls want to play more. We're at the point now though that I just want them to have fun and hope that they want to play...so I'm suckering them in with packs of Skittles at the turn as they ride around with me and my dad for now!
Click to expand...

All you can do is offer them "encouragement and opportunity", to quote her swing coach. It can be a little tough because not many girls are interested in golf. Grace was never a team sport kid, she played basketball and softball and may play some rec league softball this Summer, but she enjoyed tennis more, then took to golf. If skittles is what it takes, my brother, buy the big bags. I'm looking forward to this year when she has some teammates with which to relate.

And to answer your question, she has beaten for 9 of 18 holes, but never for a full 18. She once had a 41 to my 42 on the back nine, and another time a 42 to a sloppy 44. In my defense, when she's playing well, I often forget my own game and keep an eye on her. I hope in the near future she beats me every time. I suspect, however, that thanks to the motivation of The Morgan Cup, it won't be this year. LOL.

Kevin
 
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