Hill-Murray School - Girls Golf

Coaches Notes Friday, April 22nd:

Hey, everyone! Here are some results and some random thoughts for today. First of all the results from our conference match at Oak Marsh on Wednesday, April 20th were as follows:

Simley 188 (8pts)
Richfield 189 (7pts)
Mahtomedi 190 (6pts)
Tartan 203 (5pts)
Hill-Murray 205 (4pts)
South Saint Paul 212 (3pts)
North Saint Paul 223 (2pts)
Henry Sibley 227 (1pt)

We used scores from Lydia Ogren (50); Kennedy Fabian (51); Elizabeth Schaan (52) and Alyssa Burgland (52). I was very satisfied for our first conference match of the season. I think we are very close to competing for the conference title this year when you consider 17 strokes seperated the top 5 teams in our first 9 hole match. Our next conference match is Monday, April 25th at the White Bear Yacht Club and this is a 4 point match against the northern division only, consisting of Mahtomedi, Tartan and North Saint Paul.

Some Notes/Thoughts on Coaching:

From time to time I do get parents who will ask me about what they should look for in golf lessons for their daughter. As you may or may not be aware, golfers CAN work with instructors during the season. While I really like that girls are getting individual lessons, like just about everything, not every lesson (or instructor) is equal. From my experience here are some things to keep in mind (in no particular order).

    Price and/or reputation does not necessarily guarantee a quality lesson or a good outcome. Simply because someone has played on this tour or that tour does not necessarily mean he/she is a good teacher. Conversely, I have run across teachers who have no college playing experience (or very little) but they have coached for 20+ years and they simply KNOW how to communicate with young people what a good swing is. So, all that being said, look for someone your daughter can communicate with, someone she feels comfortable asking questions to and someone who can really EXPLAIN the swing in terms that she will understand. An example that comes to mind is the player that comes to me and says "Coach, I'm working with this new pro and he showed me this cool alignment thing." When I ask what the "alignment thing" is, the player cannot really explain a) what it is or b) (and most importantly) why it works. So, it might have been a cute and/or temporary fix during the lesson, but if she leaves not knowing WHY it works, she has not really learned anything.
    Second, I caution parents against the "guru" mentality. The guru mentality is projected by those coaches who basically communicate to the girls in very definite terms, "I know the swing and you don't and you NEED me to fix you." As in all things a good teacher, if he/she does his/her job creates a player that is self-sufficient. This does not mean that the player cannot have an on-going relationship and ask questions, but a good teacher creates players that know their bodies and their swings well enough that they can self correct during a match when it goes wrong (as it inevitably will for a least one hole, EVERY match.) Believe it or not, the golf swing is NOT so complicated that a high school boy/girl can't understand it. I am very leery of teachers who give the impression the golf swing is just slightly less complicated than brain surgery.
Finally, remember that in all this, there is a real air of mystery.   Contrary to every article you have read about this teacher or that teacher, trust me NO ONE has the ultimate answers. This is why it is important for your daughter to feel comfortable with his/her swing coach. If you would ask the teachers who coach the PGA and LPGA pros, almost all of them will attest to this air of mystery...no one has all the answers or the definitive answer. Aside from certain, basic, fundamental things when it comes to teaching the golf swing, there can be a lot of variation among teaching methods.   So, that being said, I always encourage parents when looking for a swing coach, to be very leery of the ego of the teacher. In my experience, the best teachers are the most humble, the ones who know it is all a work in progress.

Ok...enough for today! It's been a real pleasure working with your daughters so far and I hope you know you can always voice your concerns/questions or concerns! My voicemail at school is 651-748-2479.

Happy Easter!