PGA Level 3 Seminar: Day 3

Welcome to the halfway point of the PGA Level 3 Seminar: Advanced Teaching Seminar Day 1! These are my favorite days of any Seminar because I’m always looking to improve as an instructor. You won’t see a lot of guys working on their Work Experience Portfolios during these sessions.

We’re in great hands over the next couple of days. Rafael Floriani (PGA) has been at all three of my Levels. He’s one of only a handful of PGA Master Professionals nationwide, meaning he’s achieved the highest level of PGA Education one can, and he has four gold stars above his name.

At the beginning of the day, Rafael introduced Eric Hogge (PGA), pronounced rogue but with an “h.” Earlier in the week, Bill Cioffoletti (PGA) told me to expect great things from Eric. You know I think the world of Bill, so if he says he’s great, then he’s great. Eric was the Kentucky State Amateur Player of the Year in 1991 and played Division I college golf at Western Kentucky.

Rafael called Eric one of the most knowledgeable club fitters in the country, pretty high praise coming from a PGA Master Pro. “Surround yourself with people who are better than you, and you’ll get better,” said Eric with a laugh.

Eric is a numbers man, which is great if you’re a blogger like me. Here are just a few of the stats he threw out about teaching:

* Lesson takers play 20% more golf in the next 12 months
* Lesson takers will spend 65% more on food & beverage over the next 12 months
* Lesson takers will spend 79% more on golf product in the next 12 months
* There will be a 300% improvement in brand support (Callaway, Titleist, etc.) if the facility stocks that brand
* 75% of the people who went through a golf club fitting said their expectations were exceeded

Eric also told us that from Level 1 to Level 3, the cream really rises to the top and that he notices the conversation between staffers and students really improves. He also told us there’s a 55% chance students will become PGA Professionals when they’re sitting at Level 1, an 85% chance when they’re sitting at Level 2, and almost a 100% chance when they’re sitting at Level 3.

The declining numbers at each Level speak to the each Level’s exclusivity, something I alluded to in yesterday’s post. There are some good Head Professional jobs coming up in the next couple of decades too. Forty-seven percent of PGA Members are Seniors, meaning they’re aged 50 or older.

There are a lot fewer slides in Advanced Teaching. Much of the morning wave was devoted to the mental game. You’ll remember it from such phrases as, “The less I think, the better I play” and “If I think, I stink.” Your brain doesn’t understand negatives. Tell it to do something positive like, “Hit it left of the water,” and it will.

There is so much to type here, I could never do it justice. My biggest takeaway was that I need to learn more about Opti International and try to get that Certification later this summer. It’s already on my to-do list, and I would be the only one in Tucson to have it. Here’s a blurb about the product straight from the Opti Brain web site:

“Opti trains patterns in the brain (the nonlinear domain), not levels, which is part of our patented algorithm. The two training programs are synergy (synchrony, balance in the brain) and Serenity (efficiency) in the brain. We train the skill of always creating balance in the brain (not a state). So whatever level of activation you are in, you will learn to create balance and then you can perform at a high level.”  – myoptibrain.com

Eric posed another interesting thought – golf coaches don’t generally view their players’ practice sessions or their rounds. Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski is right there on the sidelines. New England’s Bill Belichick is at every practice. So how do we know that our students are improving? That’s where an assessment comes in, and there are two parts to any assessment: measurement and evaluation.

You can’t have one without the other. You can use numbers to assess the aspects of a player’s game that need the most improvement, but you have to practice the right shots if you want to get better. If you know this information, you can help your students along.

In the afternoon session, we split up into two big groups and headed outdoors. Finally! At around 2:15p, we piled into the people movers and drove to the south side of the practice range at the PGA Center for Golf Learning. We watched Eric give an individual lesson to one of the guys in our group. It was great to see how someone else navigates his way through a lesson and how quickly he can get the results for which the student is looking.

Then we went over to where Rafael had set up four different hitting stations – three with various launch monitors (FlightScope, Earnest Sports’ EsS14, and TrackMan) and one with just alignment sticks. You’re looking at prices ranging from $20,000 for TrackMan to $400 for the Es14 to just $10 for the alignment sticks.

While the data is no doubt sexy, you could tell just as much about a person’s swing path (the bottom of the hula hoop) with the alignment sticks as you could with the high-end launch monitors. “Remember, they were giving golf lessons long before TrackMan ever came out!” exclaimed Rafael.

It was pretty eye-opening, especially since most of us have to justify the cost of purchasing a launch monitor to management or else figure out a way to pay it off. This was easily the best day of the Seminar so far.

Power vs. Fine Motor
Before the morning session started, Bill introduced me to Eric. Eric saw me sign-in with my left hand, and that led us to a discussion of power versus fine motor skills. Eric is super smart, which can tell right away. “Do you play left-handed as well?” he asked. “No,” I replied. “Do you eat left-handed?” he inquired. “Yeah,” I replied. “So you use your left hand for fine motor skills like writing, eating, combing your hair (which is a low blow because I don’t have any), and brushing your teeth. If I said something to you and you were going to hit me, what hand would you hit me with?” he asked. “I guess my right,” I told him. “So your right side is your power side,” said Eric. “That’s why you play right-handed.” Mind blown!

Preview of Day 4: Advanced Teaching Seminar, Day 2 (8:30a-5:50p)
Day 2 has a lot to live up to if it’s going to surpass Day 1, which, in my humble opinion, was the best day of the week by far. If my iPhone weather app is correct, there are thunderstorms in the forecast beginning as early as 9:00a but most definitely by 2:00p. For those sessions, we’re going to have to be on the simulators they have in Ballroom C. After hammering out another hour or so on the Work Experience Portfolio, I’m now up to nearly 34% Complete.

Small World Story
Turns out my roommate, Gally Carreira Jr. played offensive line for the University of Montana when I was still just a fledgling sports broadcaster in Lake Charles, Louisiana back in December of 2002. I worked the NBC affiliate KPLC-TV Channel 7 covering then Division I-AA McNeese State. We were talking about how it remains one of the greatest football games either one of us has ever seen. Gally was on the sidelines recovering from a knee injury. We were on the same field, just on opposite sidelines!

The Grizzlies were up 17-0 in the 3rd quarter in the pouring rain when the Cowboys dug in their spurs and came back to win 24-20 to advance to the Division I-AA National Championship in Chattanooga, Tennessee. They eventually lost to the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers coached by Jack Harbaugh Sr. (father to both Jim now at Michigan and John still at Baltimore). McNeese had a good team that year. Several of their players saw time in the NFL.

Cornerback Keith Smith was a 3rd round draft pick of the Detroit Lions in 2004 and last played for the San Francisco 49ers in 2009. Fullback Luke Lawton caught his first career touchdown pass from Peyton Manning in Indianapolis in 2007 and last played for the Oakland Raiders in 2010. Running back Vick King was with the Tennessee Titans, Miami Dolphins, and New York Jets before unexpectedly retiring in 2005.

B.J. Sams probably had the best NFL career of all of those guys combined. Sams signed with the Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted free agent in 2004. In his rookie season, he had 1,826 total kick and punt return yards including two punt returns for touchdowns. His rookie season mark of 1,251 kick return yards still stands as the best single-season kick return total in team history. Sams suffered a broken leg against the Cinncinnati Bengals during the 2007 season and was never the same player. His last NFL stint was with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2008.

On a side note, Gally’s full name is Galahad, and he’s a junior. Of course, there’s a story behind the name! Gally’s grandfather named all seven of his kids after either knights or well-known actresses back in the 40s. So there’s another Galahad, a Lancelot, and a Gaylord and a Greer (Greer Garson) and a Maeda. You can learn a lot from another person, especially when you turn the television off. We have yet to turn it on in the last two days.