By Jerry Haas
This is the season for high school golfers to be planning potential collegiate golf experiences. Let's look at some of the rules and procedures you should consider.
First, if you are interested in going to a college and playing on the golf team, I'd suggest you put together a resume. Tell a little bit about yourself. A lot of schools will send you a questionnaire once you have written them. So you might just send out a basic form letter saying "I'm a freshman or sophomore or junior in high school and am interested in playing golf for your school."
The NCAA has a lot of rules that determine what a coach can and cannot do with a prospective recruit. Don't expect the golf coach to call you. If you are a freshman, sophomore or junior in high school, as a coach I cannot call you or your parents until July 1 of the start of your senior year, your senior summer, if you will. It's an NCAA rule. A lot of times I get calls from parents whose kids are freshmen in high school saying, "Please, return my call." Technically, I cannot call them back, and I don't. It would be a violation of NCAA rules.
A coach can write a recruit earlier than he can call. The rules are different there. I can write almost a year earlier than I can make actual phone contact-as early as Sept. 1 of his junior year.
The best thing to do, if you are interested in a university, is to keep the coach updated. Send your scores, and don't necessarily always send just your good ones. The coach wants to know also some of your bad tournaments, too. Coaches look at how low a kid can shoot-that's very important. But everybody is going to have a bad day. In college golf it is team scoring. A player can shoot 80-68-80. That 68 the second day would go a long way toward the team score. In college team competition, you count the four lowest out of the five low scores each day.
Nowadays it's getting to be pretty difficult to be a member of the team. Now all the rosters are being trimmed down at most of the major universities. That is sad to see, but that is pretty much what it's come to.
So the odds might be against you from the beginning. By the time your high school senior year rolls around, you have a tough decision to consider. "Do I go somewhere where the academics aren't as good to play golf, or do I go somewhere where the academics are really strong, but I might not get to play?" That's a really tough situation a 17-year-old kid is put in.
Attitude is very important when I watch a prospect. I always say this to kids, "If you shoot good scores, coaches will find you." So you don't have to go out and play all the American Junior Golf Association events. You don't have to play the big national tournaments. You can play locally and do well in school. A lot of coaches look at how well you do in school. What kind of player you are is just part of your total package.
Keep coaches posted. I've had a lot of kids come by and visit. A lot of them start early, their junior year. They look at campuses and narrow it down. "Do I want to go to these six universities?" and "I'm going to go down with my parents and look at them and try to meet the coach."
Potential golfers can come at any time for campus visits and call me at any time. But they can call me unlimited times, and they can write me unlimited times.
I would like to see everybody gets six scholarships and they are all full ride. Then the kid could go where he wants to go.
When I look at a recruit, the number one thing I look for is attitude, that he has a willingness to work and doesn't get very frustrated on the course. Somebody that "just plays the game." He doesn't analyze much, he just gets up, he hits, goes through his routine, hits, wherever it goes, he finds it and hits it again. A lot of players these days hit the ball and then stand and analyze their swing. "What went wrong? Why did I drive that a little bit in the right rough?" Just play the game. When you're done, then go work on any problems you might have.
I look for flexibility, I look for heart, I look for impact position. I know what it takes to be a good player, after playing on the PGA Tour for four years.
Sometimes it is those guys who aren't highly recruited that turn out to be the three, four, five men that make a good team. You always hope that you might have a superstar on the team, but it's those other guys-how they get along and how they play. Team chemistry is very important.
College can be the best four years in their lives. I want them to have that experience, but even though they all might want to be professional golfers, realistically that's not going to happen. How I prepare them and how they prepare themselves if that doesn't happen is the important part of my job.
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By Melissa Whitmire
We golfers are very fickle with our feelings about the game. As long as we are playing reasonably well we love the game, but love turns to hate the first horrendous shot that comes along. It's the quintessential love/hate relationship. The reason for the hate part is that golf reminds us how imperfect we are as human beings. Whether it's our lousy shots or the less-than-brilliant decisions we make on the course, the game constantly nags us about our inability to reach those incredibly high expectations we set for ourselves.
Our inability to accept our humanness is a major ingredient that fuels the deep frustration we feel on the golf course. Face it, the golf swing is a complex physical skill that can never be totally mastered. The intricacies of repeating a basic swing, coupled with the ever-changing conditions we face on the course, strain even the most brilliant golfers. Ask the greatest players the game has known and they will tell you they still have more to learn, or that their swings still need work. If the "greats" can't achieve perfection, how can we mere mortals expect to attain such heights?
Yet that is the foundation of our love of the game-the thrill of the challenge. We'll suffer 17 ½ holes of slices, chunks, and shanks in pursuit of the elation that comes from a well-struck ball. One good shot and that's all it takes to keep us coming back for more.
How would it feel to experience that kind joy for an entire round of golf? Can it be possible to actually enjoy the process of making a triple bogey as much as making a birdie? I believe it is possible and here's how you can make it happen. First of all, accept that as a human being you cannot do all things perfectly. When you happen to hit a rotten shot or (with hindsight) see you've made a stupid decision, shrug it off. It's a golf shot for goodness sake, not a life threatening experience! Don't hold yourself to the standards or expectations of a Tiger Woods or Nancy Lopez. Appreciate yourself for who you are instead of berating yourself for who you are not.
Second, put your heart and soul into every shot you hit. Be enthusiastic and creative. Weigh your options and be courageous, or chicken out whenever it feels right to you. Make your decision then stick to it. If you put your all into every shot you hit, you have nothing to be ashamed of when the ball doesn't fly according to plan. It's when you wimp-out and slap at shots out of frustration and anger that you get yourself into trouble.
During my Golf Happiness Workshops I ask the participants to imagine a time when they are no longer able to play golf. If they had the chance to do it over again, what would they do differently? The answers are pretty much universal; they would not get upset with themselves, they would walk more often and take time to enjoy nature. They might practice more but wouldn't keep score. In other words, they wouldn't be so concerned about the results as much as enjoying the actual playing of the game.
Here's my suggestion: Don't put yourself in the position of looking back someday, regretful you didn't enjoy the game more. Enjoy it now. Remember, it's just a game. PLAY + GAME = FUN. And that, my friends, translates into having the Best Season of Your Life.
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By Gary Jacques
You have taken all the right steps to this point. It's time to enjoy your round on the course. Golf offers the opportunity to make new friends, to walk in a beautiful natural setting and the ability to relax in a casual atmosphere. Appreciate the benefits. Golf is a lifetime sport!
Steve High, head professional at Oak Hollow Golf Course in High Point, has tutored beginners for many years in the finer points of golf. Steve reflected on the game's growth:
"Beginning golfers are coming into the game like gangbusters. In the last two or three years, our junior program has doubled and tripled in attendance. We run several beginners clinics. We always get overflow crowds for those and would like to do more."
One of the first things the beginning golfer should try to find is a playing partner, High noted. "Seek someone that you can depend on to play golf with. Find a group that you can play golf with on a regular basis. With tee times at a premium, you need to have a foursome or an organization that you belong to that will give you access," he said.
Try to be ready and relaxed before teeing off. "I tell the golfers that the first thing is to relax. Don't rush!," he cautioned. "Most of the golfers today jump out of their cars and go right to the first tee. They find they are not loose. They're not thinking about the round of golf ahead of them. They are thinking about all the things they've been involved with," before getting to the course.
"Get to the golf course at least 30 to 45 minutes early," he continued. "Try to hit some warm-up shots. Go out on the putting green, try to relax, and putt. Make sure that you get loose before you play!"
Booking tee times is an important part of etiquette for all golfers. Always call ahead to determine if the course is available when you want to play. Steve explained Oak Hollow's tee time policies. "Be familiar with what the tee time policies are. Our course-being public-we don't book tee times well in advance. We like to cater more to the area. Our times are only two days ahead for weekdays. On weekends, we take them on the Thursday prior. You don't necessarily have to plan your event for us weeks in advance. We do require at least two persons in a group for weekdays. On the weekends, we require foursomes. Be aware of the policies of the course. It will save some embarrassment and aggravation on the day and times you want to play."
What can you do if booking for just yourself? "Feel free to come out to the course as a single," he said. "Most courses will do everything possible to work you in with a group."
The first tee can be intimidating. "You have other golfers standing around. You're under the gun a little bit. The first tee shot is like the second serve in tennis. Just try to get the ball in play and in good position to approach the green. Start with a 3-wood or long iron on a par-4 or 5. A nice shot 150, 180 yards down the fairway would certainly be better than a 300 yard drive out of bounds or in the parking lot. Start conservatively . Get your first ball in play."
Steve suggested the beginner have a course strategy, particularly when playing with an unfamiliar group. "Understand your limitations. Don't be a hero. Hit the club that you're comfortable with. Establish how far you hit each club. Have some fun!"
Nonetheless, you should seek to give yourself the best scoring opportunity. "Play to the part of the green that will give you the easiest putt," he offered. Always be thinking one shot ahead. On your second shot on a par-5, hit to the position that will present the easiest third shot. On putts, stay on the low side of the hole so that you don't have the downhill, breaking putts. On par-4s, on your second shot, get it close so that you chip up and one putt for par. The beginning golfer often puts too much emphasis in practice on the long game. I would encourage practicing 75 percent on the short game-chipping, putting, pitching."
The rest of the time, work on the long game.
Steve had several suggestions for dealing with the short game. "On chip shots, use the maximum-ground-time rule. You want the ball on the ground very quickly and rolling. A nice, high, lofted shot looks very pretty and professional but it is not very consistent. The most consistent shot is the putt. I want your chip and short shots acting like a putt as quickly as possible onto the green. Let the ball roll the rest of the way to the hole. Use a lot of bump-and-run shots. Stay away from the lob shots if you don't have to hit them."
Sand bunkers can be especially troublesome for the beginner. Steve suggested that some lessons from a PGA professional might be helpful. "A bunker shot is intimidating but doesn't have to be. A professional can show you how to play the shot and be effective. With large soles on sand wedges, it is easier than in the past. Don't be a hero. Your goal is to get the ball out. The second goal is to get on the green. Your last goal is to be close to the hole."
Putting is responsible for half of the numbers on your scorecard. Steve offered some ideas to improve your putts. "Successful golf professionals use an arm and shoulder motion. There's very little wrist involved. Work on a pendulum motion with arm and shoulders and no body and no wrist. You'll be more consistent in your putting."
When in the woods or trouble, play smart. "Get back into the fairway and give yourself a clear next shot."
Beginners should buy a quality set of clubs. "Make a commitment to stay with the game before investing. Start with oversized, heel-toe weighted clubs, geared for forgiveness."
When you have an opportunity, play Captain's Choice. There's less pressure to score, you play the group's best shot, and your shot can help the team!
Downhill, uphill? "Take a more lofted club on downhill shots. On the uphill, make sure you have enough club to carry the hill."
Have fun, play smart, and enjoy your round.
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