Johan Hampf, the PGA of Sweden’s vice-managing director and head of training has been relieved and delighted at the torrent of favourable feedback received following the successful staging of the PGAE Teaching and Coaching Conference in Malmö.
“We have had lots of positive messages from many sources including the speakers themselves,” he said. Some 600 PGA professionals attended from around the world, including such far-flung places as Chile and Brazil.
Under the heading of ‘Aiming to Simplify’ the conference avoided instruction on swing technique to concentrate on the ‘mind game’, attitude and mental and physical preparation.
Here are some random comments from the speakers:
Chuck Hogan
How to be a successful Golf Instructor
“It’s OK to miss the ball. It’s no problem to play a bad shot. It’s a game. People don’t ring each other and say ‘let’s go work some golf…’ they say ‘let’s go play some golf…
“The ‘secret of golf is to only get emotional with your good shots (Yeah! Baby…).
When you play a bad shot simply say very slowly to yourself: ‘Oh dear…my ball has gone into the trash.’”
Jamil Qureshi
Understanding how your mind works
‘How we see themselves’ can be the most restricting factor. We beat ourselves up. We talk about what’s bad about ourselves… and yet you’re all fantastic golfers. Your students will always look up to you because of your qualities.”
Kjel Enhanger
Good, better, best… what is the difference that makes the difference?
An enthusiastic, charismatic speaker, he entertained and informed the audience with his dynamic way of discovering the minor details that help golfers to improve their game.
Dr Alan Hocknel
Calloway’s chief designer on Equipment
In explaining how the objective of modern designers is to achieve the most effective transfer of potential, stored energy to the clubface and from the clubface to the ball, and that the thickness of clubface metals are measured and implemented even more accurately than metals in airliner jet engines, he told the audience “You may not wish to hear that…”
Tom Wishon
Why Custom-fitting is Essential
‘One-size-fits-all’ doesn’t work any more…The way to get more fun out of playing golf is to go get yourself custom fitted.
Professional custom fitting brings more improvement to middle/high handicappers than to the low handicap player in helping their shot-making ability. Such factors as shaft length and loft and lie angles need to be personalised to take into account size, strength, athletic ability and swing characteristics.”
Dr Greg Rose and Dave Philips
Titleist Performance Institute
You have to figure out what’s right for you to find out what’s the right way for you to swing the golf club. If you understand about the physical side of golf it will help you to enjoy it more.
Helen Alfredson
2007 Solheim Cup captain
I’ve hardly ever turned up on time. I never book a hotel in advance, I’ve always questioned everything… I’ve been thrown out of two airports for arguing. I think coaches need to let young players, in particular, be who they are. Find out what they want to do, ask them how they feel they can improve their game, and help them to do it.
The coaches that helped me most were the ones who understood me.
As Solheim Cup captain I wasn’t going to tell Annika (Sorenstam) that I thought she’d prepared wrongly. She knows best about herself. You don’t tell Wayne Rooney how to play football: he’s different but he’s good. We all know how John Daly looks and how he lives his life but nobody helps people more than he does, nobody does more work for charity. You can’t change him…
Peter Mattsson, the English Golf Union Head Coach explained the rationale of coaching national teams and getting the best responses from them. He talked of a meeting he had with the then England football team coach, Sven Goran Eriksson, at the London office of the Football Association. Sven, it seemed wanted to pick Peter’s brains just as much as the reverse!
The three-day programme was concluded by Pia Nilson and LyNn Mariot of Vision54, on the topic of ‘Every Shot Must Have a Purpose’. They explained their belief that the dream of eighteen birdies is possible if all relevant parts of one’s game comes together in the same round.
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