We've launched the new forums! Read more here

Has high school golf changed in the last 30 years

Hacker

Hacker

Hacker Supreme!
Joined
Aug 2, 2011
Messages
770
Reaction score
0
Location
Michigan
Handicap
8.2
I golfed on my high school golf team my senior year, which was 1981(I am an old SOB). My coach took us the the golf course and dropped us off and said I will see you when you get done. He never worked with us at all, never taught me one thing the whole year. Luckily some of my buddies on the team would give me some tips here and there. Now, at my home course they have a couple of schools that play there and I see them on the range and on the practice green with the coach basically giving them lessons. Is that the way they did it back then, or did my coach just SUCK!
 
I think it all depends on the coach and the athletic program. My coach was just like yours. The other HS in town had a coach that golfed and multiple players that could break 80 - we had zero.
 
It depends on the coach. My coach was okay at golf and tried to help us out where he could, but nothing like lessons really. He mostly helped us with the mental aspect of the game.
 
I graduated on '02. Our golf was year round. We had clinics and practices in the summer. Weight room and conditioning along with practice in the fall semester. Practce and tournaments in the spring. He was also at the course every day with us watching and evaluating. One thing we had to do after every practice was go to the putting green and make 4 sets of 10 in a row from 4 feet. You could not leave until it was completed. There were a couple of times that people were still on the green at 7:00 trying to finish their 4 sets. He would stay there and watch you the whole time too.
 
Must be the coach/school. My HS golf coach was really good. And he seemed to know a lot about teaching the game and identifying swing flaws and how to fix them. Now he didn't work with too many players, mostly let them play, but the kids who were the top prospects on the team did get more attention as they were the ones winning matches for us. I was on the exhibition team except for one tournament. Should have stayed home that day too...
 
My HS coach was great at organizing the team and line ups for tournaments but not with swing. We had a great team all four years I was there but we were lucky to has a player who's dad was a PGA pro. He did lessons for free for those who showed some effort. I have to say my coach was also great at getting colleges to look at his players.


Tapaway!
 
Hacker said:
I golfed on my high school golf team my senior year, which was 1981(I am an old SOB). My coach took us the the golf course and dropped us off and said I will see you when you get done. He never worked with us at all, never taught me one thing the whole year. Luckily some of my buddies on the team would give me some tips here and there. Now, at my home course they have a couple of schools that play there and I see them on the range and on the practice green with the coach basically giving them lessons. Is that the way they did it back then, or did my coach just SUCK!
Click to expand...

Your coach was a lot like my coach 15 years ago. Fun to hang out with, but was certainly not a 'coach' by any stretch of the imagination.

~Rock
 
My coach at Roswell had a son on the team. So he played a lot. And was very good. He would talk mostly about course management rather then swings because he knew we all already had a coach for that. Granted, everyone on the team was very good, so we had to have a good coach to have any chance at state. I liked him, but he tended to be more biased to the more experienced guys. I remember being named 6th on my team for a match, even though the entire week I was shooting 5 strokes on average better then the guy who was going off 3rd. It was because he was a Senior and was getting looked at by Georgia State and needed to go off early to make it look like he was good. I was a Sophomore who had only been playing 6 months at the time, but was shooting High 70's Low 80's at the time. That really ticked me off. Other then that, He was a good coach.
 
Hacker said:
I golfed on my high school golf team my senior year, which was 1981(I am an old SOB). My coach took us the the golf course and dropped us off and said I will see you when you get done. He never worked with us at all, never taught me one thing the whole year. Luckily some of my buddies on the team would give me some tips here and there. Now, at my home course they have a couple of schools that play there and I see them on the range and on the practice green with the coach basically giving them lessons. Is that the way they did it back then, or did my coach just SUCK!
Click to expand...
My coaches helped us, and I graduated in 1980. Did your coach drop you off, leave and come back or did he play on his own? You'd think most golf coaches are the coach so they can play too.
 
I played in the late 90's and our coach would pair up with a different group each practice and observe but also point out things when he saw them. Rules, swing fixes and/or strategy were all discussed. I'd say he was decent, but wish I had a coach that was a current/former instructor to improve my game/consistency.
 
Geography can play a big role in this. In my neck of the woods (where I grew up), golf and tennis (as well as all sports) were year round activities that were very heavily invested in. Heck, my high school golf team had all 5 guys go on to Division 1 schools, 2 of them went to top Division 1 schools. Tennis was just as big. Tennis players left school at 1 pm each day and went to tennis academy training. Football and basketball were huge and baseball was just as big. Tons of talent came out of the area to the top levels of both college and professional sports.

Not just from my school mind you, but the entire area. Yet when I have lived in other places, there are some schools that produce decent athletes, but I believe geography plays such a huge role. Look at the top athletes in college in different sports and such a large majority seem to come from 3-4 states.
 
Unfortunately, my HS did not have a golf team when I attended. I tried to get one started with a buddy of mine who played, but we couldn't drum up enough support (or players) to get one going. Luckily I worked for a pro at a local course, so I got some instruction and experience, but it would have been nice to play for my school.
 
I coached a high school golf team for a year because the coach had back surgery, that was 3 years ago. It was in the school district I teach in so I jumped at the opportunity. I'll say that where I coached all the kids belonged to country clubs and worked with the pro there. They were all getting lessons so I was told by the coach not to give any tips, even if I saw something. These kids were paying a lot of money to their club pro's for lessons and the parents didn't want someone else giving opinions. Don't get me wrong, I wanted to help but it wasn't worth it at the expense of dealing with angry parents. So all I did was fill out the lineup, drive around and watch them play, record the scores and email them to the paper after the match. The best part of the job was after all the kids went off, me and the other coach would drive ahead of the groups and play until the kids finished.
 
Last edited:
My coach in high school played along with us. He really didn't help much with swing advice or course advice. He manly just hung out and made fun of kids. I really didn't like him that much.

The coach we have now at the school, just rides around in a golf cart to check on the players. He takes them to the matches and that is about it.
 
Smallville said:
My coaches helped us, and I graduated in 1980. Did your coach drop you off, leave and come back or did he play on his own? You'd think most golf coaches are the coach so they can play too.
Click to expand...
He dropped us off and I think he went in the clubhouse and talked with the people that worked there. He was an assistant pro at another course, which was pretty cool because he would let us go out to that course and play for free. He was a good guy, but definitely not a coach.
 
So it sounds like a lot of the coaches take the hands OFF approach to coaching. Me and a friend of mine thought it was just our coach. We always say as we look at these kids hitting balls on the range, just think how good we would of been if we had someone telling us how to golf at that young age.
 
Dang my high school had special training camps-daily practice sessions with him and the club pro-they play pretty well
 
JB said:
Geography can play a big role in this. In my neck of the woods (where I grew up), golf and tennis (as well as all sports) were year round activities that were very heavily invested in. Heck, my high school golf team had all 5 guys go on to Division 1 schools, 2 of them went to top Division 1 schools. Tennis was just as big. Tennis players left school at 1 pm each day and went to tennis academy training. Football and basketball were huge and baseball was just as big. Tons of talent came out of the area to the top levels of both college and professional sports.

Not just from my school mind you, but the entire area. Yet when I have lived in other places, there are some schools that produce decent athletes, but I believe geography plays such a huge role. Look at the top athletes in college in different sports and such a large majority seem to come from 3-4 states.
Click to expand...

This is very true. Up here in North Metro Atlanta. Golf is huge and we have a lot of top talent up here. It's very hard to disguise yourself to D-1 Colleges unless you shoot 67 at State. And yes, I was playing in his group. We are very competitive up here and at times, I wish it wasn't.
 
I graduated from high-school in 07' and much like your coach Hacker mine had a very hands off approach. I feel like a more hands on coach would have done wonders for my golf game.

My teams average handicap was probably 15 which wasn't a lot of fun when we faced our rivals (avg. team handicap of 5) that had coaching.
 
JB said:
Geography can play a big role in this. In my neck of the woods (where I grew up), golf and tennis (as well as all sports) were year round activities that were very heavily invested in. Heck, my high school golf team had all 5 guys go on to Division 1 schools, 2 of them went to top Division 1 schools. Tennis was just as big. Tennis players left school at 1 pm each day and went to tennis academy training. Football and basketball were huge and baseball was just as big. Tons of talent came out of the area to the top levels of both college and professional sports.

Not just from my school mind you, but the entire area. Yet when I have lived in other places, there are some schools that produce decent athletes, but I believe geography plays such a huge role. Look at the top athletes in college in different sports and such a large majority seem to come from 3-4 states.
Click to expand...

It is such a big advantage to live in the south or the west because you can play sports all year long. It is amazing how many more football and baseball players come out of those states as opposed to the northern states, it can't be all talent
 
Hacker said:
It is such a big advantage to live in the south or the west because you can play sports all year long. It is amazing how many more football and baseball players come out of those states as opposed to the northern states, it can't be all talent
Click to expand...

I kinda agree with this. Golf takes hard work. But I had someone on my team who only practiced 2 days a week and he was on the team. Now he wasn't that great and was often an alternate, but he could still shoot good scores. I think in that situation it's because Country Club Sports are pushed here in the South. Just my observation.
 
Hacker said:
It is such a big advantage to live in the south or the west because you can play sports all year long. It is amazing how many more football and baseball players come out of those states as opposed to the northern states, it can't be all talent
Click to expand...

Yeah man here in the southwest we have year round golf-except really early and really late in July so we don't get 100+ weather. They practice a lot here
 
Greg' said:
I graduated from high-school in 07' and much like your coach Hacker mine had a very hands off approach. I feel like a more hands on coach would have done wonders for my golf game.

My teams average handicap was probably 15 which wasn't a lot of fun when we faced our rivals (avg. team handicap of 5) that had coaching.
Click to expand...
Absolutely, if you have a coach working with you, you will get better. I am sure if your coach at least tried to help you a little you would of had a better chance
 
I graduated high school in Colorado in '98, and I played golf all four years. Our coach drove us around and basically said "go putt," "hit the range," or "go play nine." I don't remember any instruction whatsoever during my time. Our team was decent, but I don't remember us ever winning anything. My senior year I think I averaged 74 or 75 per round, and I was third or fourth ranked on the team. None of us were country club brats, but I worked at one for my junior and senior years. I think a lot of the modern training practices started just after I graduated high school, when Tiger Woods, technology, and new health trends revolutionized the game.
 
Earlier I posted how I was a high school golf coach for a year and didn't do anything because the parents didn't want me to. I would have gladly helped any golfer on the team, but with every kid on the team working with a pro my hands were tied. I do think that this is a trend these days. That a lot of kids who get serious about golf work with pros and leave little for the coaches to do. I just wanted to say this because my earlier post could have come off like I didn't want to help. The teacher inside of me wants to always help kids reach their potential and give advice but parents paying $200 per hour for a lesson don't want the high school golf coach giving advice.

I feel bad for those of you who played in high school and wanted tips and advice from their coach but didn't get it. It's a shame that some golf coaches could be lucky enough to have players who want to improve and parents who support it and yet the coach does nothing to help. I should have said in my earlier post but when I was on my high school golf team, none of us worked with a club pro and our coach was great. He would work with us at the range and on the greens. That's what I was hoping to do when I took the job but as JB said, sometimes geography dictates what the coach can do. While golf isn't year round in NY, some areas (like the one I coached in) have the financial means to keep kids playing golf all year (trips, indoor facilities, etc.).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top