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High School Golf Thread

Nice dude! Progress!

I had a kid show up today who could actually help, he's a little mental and getting him committed worries me, but he's a good kid with a solid swing. Shame he's a junior and two years are lost. Wouldn't be shocked to see him crack the top 5 if I can keep him in the box with the big picture.
 
Jman said:
Nice dude! Progress!

I had a kid show up today who could actually help, he's a little mental and getting him committed worries me, but he's a good kid with a solid swing. Shame he's a junior and two years are lost. Wouldn't be shocked to see him crack the top 5 if I can keep him in the box with the big picture.
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That's the thing I notice with golf. It's hard to get them committed. Hopefully, after he plays in a tourney and gets the adrenaline rush of competing, he'll commit and get to work. That's what I'm seeing with our guys, at least.
 
Miller Time said:
We had our first match yesterday at our home course. Great weather, but the wind started gusting not long after we teed off, so the conditions were pretty tough. Scores of 44 and 47 from our top two guys helped us win the match 193-235 against a larger school, but their kids struggled. Saw some really good shots from both teams, though. I was so impressed with all of our kids. They looked much better in competition than they ever did in practice. My favorite part? After the round, they were all talking about what they needed to work on to improve and asking for help. That's the stuff I haven't seen from them prior to this first match.

We have an away match today at a pretty tough course against a tough team from a much bigger school, so it will be interesting to see what happens. We're making a couple of changes in our 3 and 4 spots to give different guys a chance, but I'm super proud right now. I had a blast just riding around checking on the guys and walking a couple of holes with them. Most of our parents showed up for the match, too, which was cool to see.
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Does each team only allow 4 players? Our matches have 6 players but only take the top 4 (sometimes 5 players in tournaments).. Then I switched up the 5-6 spots a lot to give more kids playing time
 
Jman said:
Nice dude! Good luck today.

I wish we did matches here, but its not common at all in OK, everything is strictly tournament based outside of the large schools. Speaking of, we have our first this Friday, opening day of the season. Its WAY early, and it WILL be ugly, but its good for them to get in a mindset to know what we need to hone in on within the next 2.5 weeks before our next tourney. My 1 bag is going to be pretty salty by the end of the year, and the 2 (FR) really legitimately should qualify for state, outside of that, its getting them to believe in themselves and just play golf, not play steer the golf ball.
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It's eye-opening for me to realize how different HS golf is from state to state & region to region. I always assumed every school did mostly matches.

Are you allowed to talk to your player during rounds? Until 4 years ago in OH coaches couldn't talk to players until the turn since most matches were 9 holes, it meant coaches couldn't coach during the round. Now we can talk to them except for when they're putting
 
Our season runs along with football (starts a tad earlier). I have already been on a few kids since Nov to be putting in the house and to hit the course when the weather would allow. Getting them committed is hard. I drug one out a couple weeks ago. He asked how many holes are we walking....I said ALL of them. It did take awhile since we stopped and worked on a few things which helped him alot. With my, I will say limited knowledge, he did alot better in this round than he did late in last season.
Just seeing kids want, try and do get better is awesome to see.
 
I didn't know if all you coaches knew of the various purchase programs for teams so they can get equipment at lower prices and even fundraising through selling branded equipment. TaylorMade has the best program for schools for equipment purchases. It used to be listed at the taylormadegolf.com/schools website to enroll. Equipment is cheaper than wholesale, and teams can get bags, balls, gloves, etc. Cleveland has a program as well that includes Srixon equipment and the ability to do fundraising through a ball logo program and even getting equipment for retail cost but making a portion off the sale to apply as fundraising monies. Let me know if you need more info.
 
Pkielwa said:
I didn't know if all you coaches knew of the various purchase programs for teams so they can get equipment at lower prices and even fundraising through selling branded equipment. TaylorMade has the best program for schools for equipment purchases. It used to be listed at the taylormadegolf.com/schools website to enroll. Equipment is cheaper than wholesale, and teams can get bags, balls, gloves, etc. Cleveland has a program as well that includes Srixon equipment and the ability to do fundraising through a ball logo program and even getting equipment for retail cost but making a portion off the sale to apply as fundraising monies. Let me know if you need more info.
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I would like more info.
Unfortunately our rural area, struggles. I don't know if some can drop money on new clubs, but some might.
 
Imo Cobra/Puma's program is better than TMs, which is solid. Most companies do have HS programs, some you work with directly, some you have to go through a course.
 
Jman, can ya post a link on cobras program? I found TMs.
 
Song Dog said:
Jman, can ya post a link on cobras program? I found TMs.
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You'll need to email them, they'll give instructions and after signing up to their site with the school email they will apply the HS program to it. They're PHENOMENAL to work with, our girls have used them a lot this year, for the boys we have been dealing mostly with Matte Grey at the moment.
 
Awesome!!!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
We won our 2nd match last week, our first road win on a legit goat track. I couldn't make the trip, but the head coach sent me a pic of the greens and it was terrible. Our scores weren't great, but it gave them a little more appreciation of our course.

Great day of practice yesterday. Spent a lot of time with our 3 and 4 on the range and they really wanted to work, which is refreshing. The 3 makes great contact, but is so quick coming down that he hooks everything. Really working on slowing him down a little. If we could just get him shooting 50 every time out, we'd be tough to beat in our sectionals as a team. Our 4 is kind of my pet project. He doesn't get to come a lot because he spends a lot of time in tutoring, but he's a great kid and fun to work with. Has a really solid swing, too, for this being his first year. I'm not sure breaking 50 is possible for him anytime soon, but I'd love to get him around 50 before we get to sectionals.

After some range time, we went up to the green and we spent some time doing the gate drill from about 3 feet. They seemed to like that. To end the day, I set up a putting game for them on the putting green from about 30-35 feet. Placed a towel just behind the hole and set up two tees about 3 feet short of the hole and about 4 feet wide. You got 1 point if you got the putt inside the tees or on the towel just past the hole. You got 3 points if you made the putt. I explained to them that the key here was to focus on getting it close. The kids really struggled with this one. We had two groups on holes right next to each other and I said the first person to 10 wins. We spent a good 20-30 minutes on it and I don't think anyone got to 10. There was a big roar when one team finally made the putt. We will definitely be doing this one again. It was a fun way to close out the day.
 
NICE!

I actually really kind of wish we did matches here.

The weather this weeks has BRUTALIZED us heading into Spring Break, thunderstorms Mon/Tue and likely Fri as well, which is more of an issue than normal because on spring break 4 of my starters are going to Colorado then we have a tournament the Wednesday we get back.

All that said, we finished 7th out of 22 last week at our first tournament, 6 strokes out of second place (first was WAY out front with their highest player shooting an 82). Was a "Modified Maxwell Format" meaning we all played together in a team group and instead of dropping the high player at the end of the round we dropped the high score from each hole. The kids sort of mentally ran out of gas on the second nine (they blame the meal break) as we shot 20 strokes higher on that 9 than the first 9. It was a good learning experience though, had some fall apart down the stretch, but we finished decently considering our 1 bag was days out of basketball and the 2 bag is a freshman (who did break 90 at his 1st HS tourney, and that was finishing up double-double). There is a lot of talent here, its just getting them to realize is and to play smarter, SO many mental mistakes around the greens on shot and club selection. Luckily our course has an awesome teaching pro now and he is going to come out and work with the ones who want it for free, also have a couple clinics I'm going to try to get the kids into at the end of next week if they get back from their vacay soon enough.

Beyond that, on the more aesthetic side, the kids adored our Matte Grey shirts I picked out for them, and they were adamant no one looked as good as we did (UA is the "in" team apparel around here right now, naturally). I'm also officially moving them all over to Bridgestone golf balls, its not even a debate. No.1 will fit into the new B330, the no. 2 the new B330-RX, and 3-5 will play the e6.

Its been fun, and stressful, so far. So many of the little things they just don't slow down to think about on the course. Hero shots, trying to fly the ball to the hole, trying to cut across massive carries, etc. We will get there though, I truly think we can qualify a couple individuals this year and maybe sneak in as a team.
 
Jman said:
NICE!

I actually really kind of wish we did matches here.

The weather this weeks has BRUTALIZED us heading into Spring Break, thunderstorms Mon/Tue and likely Fri as well, which is more of an issue than normal because on spring break 4 of my starters are going to Colorado then we have a tournament the Wednesday we get back.

All that said, we finished 7th out of 22 last week at our first tournament, 6 strokes out of second place (first was WAY out front with their highest player shooting an 82). Was a "Modified Maxwell Format" meaning we all played together in a team group and instead of dropping the high player at the end of the round we dropped the high score from each hole. The kids sort of mentally ran out of gas on the second nine (they blame the meal break) as we shot 20 strokes higher on that 9 than the first 9. It was a good learning experience though, had some fall apart down the stretch, but we finished decently considering our 1 bag was days out of basketball and the 2 bag is a freshman (who did break 90 at his 1st HS tourney, and that was finishing up double-double). There is a lot of talent here, its just getting them to realize is and to play smarter, SO many mental mistakes around the greens on shot and club selection. Luckily our course has an awesome teaching pro now and he is going to come out and work with the ones who want it for free, also have a couple clinics I'm going to try to get the kids into at the end of next week if they get back from their vacay soon enough.

Beyond that, on the more aesthetic side, the kids adored our Matte Grey shirts I picked out for them, and they were adamant no one looked as good as we did (UA is the "in" team apparel around here right now, naturally). I'm also officially moving them all over to Bridgestone golf balls, its not even a debate. No.1 will fit into the new B330, the no. 2 the new B330-RX, and 3-5 will play the e6.

Its been fun, and stressful, so far. So many of the little things they just don't slow down to think about on the course. Hero shots, trying to fly the ball to the hole, trying to cut across massive carries, etc. We will get there though, I truly think we can qualify a couple individuals this year and maybe sneak in as a team.
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That's such an interesting format. That's the thing I like about 9-hole matches. Just long enough not for them to crash on the back. The tough thing is, when we go to sectionals and hopefully state, those will be 18-hole rounds and I'm worried our kids will run out of gas.

We have all Adidas gear (school partnership), but our polos and pullovers are sweet. I'll have to post pics later. Too bad the pullovers got here when the weather is going to be 75+ from here on out. The head coach bought a lot of e6 balls with our school logo on them and picked up some X2 Hot and Laddie balls as well. Kinda wish he would've asked me, but I have to remember I'm not the head coach sometimes haha. I'll have the guys to myself today as the head coach is out, so we're going to get out on the course and work on some of those things you talked about as far as course management.
 
Good stuff Jman & Miller Time! off to a pretty good start! I'm getting psyched up for next season already! We are carrying 2 varsity teams for the first time. It will be interesting to see how this works, and what it will mean for the JV guys (hopefully more opportunities to compete).
 
Love reading about the teams guys. Sounds like some very good coaching happening with both of you.
Really happy to see you set your team up with the Matte Grey and the Bridgestone Jman. Make the team look good and play a ball that that will work great for their game.
 
Thanks for the continued updates. It all gives me great flashbacks to my h.s. days.

The Modified Maxwell format sounds very interesting.

What are you guys doing for practice during bad weather? Do you give your players "homework"?

Our middle school (MS) started a golf program last year. It had 1 kid. This year, my wife is coaching and another parent that's a pretty good stick is also helping. We got 12 (5 5th graders) to sign up this year. But, I've never seen more than 8 at a practice. Being a MS program, golf is only 2x/week, with an optional session on Saturday morning. Plus, it's going up against track/field. Our daughter, and a couple other boys, are doing track and golf. Plus, some kids are also in the music programs. Tuesdays are practice sessions where my wife teaches. Fridays are at the local par 3 course. I've gone out to a few of the practice and par-3 sessions and enjoyed watching and occasionally providing some advice/tips.

Only 6-8 graders can play in tourneys. But, we got the principal to agree to let 5th graders take part in the after school practice sessions in hopes that they would be more tournament ready when they enter 6th grade.
 
staticline said:
What are you guys doing for practice during bad weather? Do you give your players "homework"?
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Since I don't actually teach at the school, I don't have meetings with the team between practices, but a lot of the guys go out to the course on their own. I just constantly remind them to play the shot that avoids the big number, especially those guys that aren't shooting under 50. For example, yesterday, our #4 pulled his drive left and was in the trees but had an out in a couple of different places. He wanted to go for the out that was 100 yards down in a small gap that would've left him with a tough pitch over a bunker into the green instead of the gap that was right in front of him that would leave him with a wedge into the green. I convinced him to play a nice punch 7 through the easy gap and even demonstrated the type of swing he should play. He hit a great out shot, a solid wedge and then 2 putted for a 6, which is better than the 8 he was staring at had he tried for the hero shot. He's a 9th grader, so he's still really young, but I'm just trying to pound playing smart into their heads. It could be the difference in a 50 and a 55.
 
staticline said:
Thanks for the continued updates. It all gives me great flashbacks to my h.s. days.

The Modified Maxwell format sounds very interesting.

What are you guys doing for practice during bad weather? Do you give your players "homework"?

Our middle school (MS) started a golf program last year. It had 1 kid. This year, my wife is coaching and another parent that's a pretty good stick is also helping. We got 12 (5 5th graders) to sign up this year. But, I've never seen more than 8 at a practice. Being a MS program, golf is only 2x/week, with an optional session on Saturday morning. Plus, it's going up against track/field. Our daughter, and a couple other boys, are doing track and golf. Plus, some kids are also in the music programs. Tuesdays are practice sessions where my wife teaches. Fridays are at the local par 3 course. I've gone out to a few of the practice and par-3 sessions and enjoyed watching and occasionally providing some advice/tips.

Only 6-8 graders can play in tourneys. But, we got the principal to agree to let 5th graders take part in the after school practice sessions in hopes that they would be more tournament ready when they enter 6th grade.
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I ask them to putt indoors, but these are teenage HS boys who we are talking about, so, yeah.

Next year I hope to ask if we can hang a net in the baseball hitting barn and use it in the winter and poor weather days, but thats a long shot.
 
Jman said:
I ask them to putt indoors, but these are teenage HS boys who we are talking about, so, yeah.

Next year I hope to ask if we can hang a net in the baseball hitting barn and use it in the winter and poor weather days, but thats a long shot.
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Any virtual golf nearby? My teammates and I used to go once every couple weeks during the winter after school, was always a great time.

Also surprised they aren't putting indoors like you asked. I putted, chipped, took full swings all over my house in the winter...used to drive my mother absolutely nuts.
 
Voluntary practice this morning on spring break at a course nearby with a range, we shall see how many show up, I'm betting two.
 
Man I wish I could coach a highschool team. My work doesn't allow for it really. I often wonder if I could do it.
 
T2GRN18 said:
Man I wish I could coach a highschool team. My work doesn't allow for it really. I often wonder if I could do it.
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Its all about patience with this generation, which I'd forgotten in my years out. I've got a couple I can really push, the rest though, they're so damn hard to read.
 
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Jman said:
Its all about patience with this generation, which I'd forgotten in my years out. I've got a couple I can really push, the rest though, they're so damn hard to read.
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Hahah hard to read and hard headed...yeah I've got one of them at home.
 
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