Dan's Papers - July 4, 2008

If you ever attend a PGA Tour event and wander over to the driving range, you will see some great ball striking. Take a closer look and you'll realize that there are no two swings alike. Great teachers realize that there are a lot of different ways to swing a golf club. I had the opportunity to ask Jim Flick how he became a one of the greatest instructors in the World. He answered, "I have seen and fixed every swing in the book two times over". This reminds me of how many Seinfeld episodes I have seen; I can recite most of the lines in any show. The eastern end of Long Island is famous for some of the greatest golf courses in the United States. Below are a few professionals and their different philosophies on teaching golf.

Greg Gauvin PGA Professional Southampton Golf Club

Gauvin looks for tendencies in each student with their body lines and clubface alignment. Greg inspects feet, hips, shoulders, and clubface. Correct body lines are essential for ensuring proper path and a square face. Gauvin also looks to see if a player has the correct equipment. Poorly fit clubs makes it difficult for a player to setup correctly hitting errant shots. Students will then start to adjust their body lines to the off-target ball flight they start seeing. Properly fit equipment with correct body and clubface lines will promote a square hit with the proper path.

Darren May Teaching Professional Atlantic

May relies on ball flight to determine the efficiency of a golf swing. Ball flight provides feedback on the clubface, path, speed, and the golf club's angle of attack. With today's technology, Darren no longer has to just watch a player's ball flight, he can actually measure it. May uses radar to show students hard data including spin rate, trajectory, club head speed, path, and face angle at impact. Using technology allows Darren to show precise swing changes in numerical data and provides useful information for club fitting.

Jeff Warne PGA Professional The Bridge

Warne looks for the position of the clubface throughout the swing. A proper clubface position allows for an athletic and natural swing. It promotes an efficient plane without any need for manipulation. A clubface that is not square forces a player to take instinctive, un-athletic corrective measures that result in path and plane errors which ineffective teachers often address as a cause (rather than a result).

Any PGA golf professional would agree that there are many ways to get the ball in the hole. Golf is a game with a ball and a stick. The golf ball does not have a brain and does not go in a certain direction because it wants to. Take some advice from some of the best teachers on the east end. Learn to control the clubface of the golf club and you will hit good golf shots. Every shot you hit is telling you something, all you need to know is what it is saying.