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Most likely, many of you have watched that show on cable where the host brings out a golf instructor, has him or her tell the viewers his philosophy of the golf swing, then orchestrates an extended phone-in session where viewers call in to ask questions of the pro. In fact, you may have even seen me on the show a few years ago. It is truly the theatre of the absurd, where all the people involved, from the pro to the host to the producers to the viewers, buy into the concept that one can get better by receiving instruction over the phone.
It is a feather in any instructor’s cap to be invited onto the show. The invitee can be assured that he will get the best of treatment. No matter what he has to say, the fact that he is on the show is de facto evidence that he knows what he is talking about. The host has the job of making the teacher look presentable. There is no debate during the show. The point is not to question the information, but to deliver it to the golfing public, forever desperately seeking any theory, from simplest to the most elaborate, that might address some chronic swing problem and offer help.
Thus the seekers come by phone, plying the pro with questions concerning the most basic to the most esoteric regions of the golf game. The pro invariably does his best to answer, although with the tools involved his attempt to address any remotely technical swing problem is at best a fishing expedition. Not having access to any video of the caller, the teacher is left to trust the caller’s explanation of his problem. The real problem then becomes the fact that in any lesson the chances are slim that a student will have any idea what he is truly doing if he has never seen it. Beyond reporting where most of his shots are ending up and how they are getting there, the average golfer has no clue what his swing is up to and is at a loss to distinguish the difference between being “over the top” or ‘stuck underneath”. If the caller’s information is flawed or incomplete the instructor, unfortunately, cannot possibly be of any help.
While answering questions about golf in a live setting is somewhat nerve-wracking, the pro can take solace in the knowledge that all calls are filtered, and nothing remotely tough or controversial passes by the censors. This gives the whole exercise a sugarcoated feeling, although the instructors would just as soon not be challenged while in the process of trying not to make idiots of themselves.
The more I watch the program the more I feel that it needs something, some excitement or controversy, to extract it from its doldrums. As I drift off to sleep while a viewer asks one more time how he can cure his slice, I begin to dream that somehow I have been invited onto the show, and that I am in the mood to rile things up a bit. The host is still our dependable good guy, we’ll name him Peter Klepschler, and he’s in for bumpy ride this particular Tuesday night.
I’m fully into my dream state now, and that annoying intro guitar music is resounding in my ears. “Doot, doot, doot, do do Doo.”
Klepschler: “Ladies and gentleman, our guest this week is the teaching pro at the Woodholme Country Club in Baltimore, Maryland, as well as Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach Florida. He is arguably the best combination of player, teacher, and writer in the game today. He has been both teacher and player of the year in the Middle Atlantic Section of the PGA, and is the only golfer in PGA history to earn both awards in the same year. He is also the playing editor for Washington Golf Monthly Magazine and instructional columnist for the PGA of America’s official Web-Site, PGA.com. Wayne, welcome.”
Wayne: “Thank you, Peter. It certainly is an honor to be on the show, although watching some of the people you have on make me wonder just how great an accomplishment it really is. I mean, come on. If a teacher doesn’t know that impact and address shouldn’t be the same position how can they possibly know how to hit a golf ball? And what about “popping up like a toaster” as soon as you hit the ball? Hello? Have you ever hit a shot in your life? Have you ever watched a film of a decent player? I mean, where do they come up with some of this stuff? What you guys need to do is to come up with a teaching contest where the viewers can decide which teachers can give a decent lesson and back up their conclusions with something more tangible than a theory. Or round up everyone you’ve had on the show and let them tee it up. I’ll bet some of these theories might tend to melt under a little heat”.
Peter: “My goodness. Aren’t we spunky tonight. We here at the Learning Center Live choose only the highest quality instructors, the majority of whom come right off the Top 100 Teachers list.
Wayne: Yeah, right. The Top 100, huh? And who selects that? Three guys from a magazine. Do you actually think they can give every able teacher in the country a decent look and come up with the best 100? You don’t think there’s any politics involved in that, do you?”
Peter: “Well, I did notice that you aren’t one of them. Sounds a bit like sour grapes to me.”
Wayne: “What do you expect? If the guys making the selections would start by checking out when the last time their candidate played in a golf tournament they could eliminate a lot of guys right off the bat. Why don’t you start asking the pros you have on the show to list their playing accomplishments? And when you find that they have none, then ask them how they figured out how to teach the game. They all go on about helping good players when they can’t play a lick themselves. I just don’t get it. What’s even more mystifying is the fact that good players listen to these guys. What is that all about?
Peter: Obviously you believe that it is important for a teacher to be a good player. That’s not a widely held belief, you understand.
Wayne: I never said a teacher has to be a good player, I said that a teacher should play and compete. I don’t care what he or she shoots. He just needs to get out and try. These so-called “gurus” forget what it’s like to feel that heart pounding and that sick feeling in the pit of the stomach when you step up on the first tee and try to keep your first tee shot in play. It doesn’t take but a few holes under pressure to find out if the ideas you have been working on in your swing are on the right track or if you have been wasting your time. How do you know if anything works if you never test it out? And how do you figure anything out in the first place if you never hit any balls or work on your short game to get ready for a tournament? If someone is a good teacher shouldn’t they be able to teach themselves? And if someone loves the game and is not just a salesman how can they not want to take the time to practice and play? I just think that most of these teachers avoid playing because playing is hard and teaching is easy. If they play poorly people might think they don’t know what they are talking about. So they don’t play at all. And the crazy thing is, no one seems to care. The vast majority of people involved with golf never think twice if a teacher can’t hit a shot and never plays in tournaments. They offer up these lame excuses about being too busy and not having enough time, and people accept that without question. So what if they played half decently in college 20 years ago. I suppose they got it all figured out way back then and decided to quit so they could devote themselves to dispensing their incredible wisdom to the masses. And the golfing public is so clueless that they will take lessons from a teacher who had gained his accreditation by going to a weeklong school that purports to teach teachers how to teach. Myself, I think the whole thing is crazy. Every time I turn around I see people who can’t hit a golf shot of any quality being provided with a stage to tell other people how to quality golf shots. It makes absolutely no sense. Ben Hogan has to be twisting in his grave.
Peter: So, you’re saying that teachers who don’t play shouldn’t be on Learning Center Live?
Wayne: If they don’t play they should have a good reason not to. The public deserves to know that the information they are being given has some basis in reality. If the teacher can’t do it at all, how can the student expect to be able to do it? All these instructors need to take a good hard look at themselves and make a resolution to spend time practicing what they preach, and they should all be required to enter individual stroke play tournaments and keep score. If they are horrible, then they should make the effort to improve, just like they encourage their students to do every day. Why should they be exempt from the process? Have they figured everything out? If they are not playing then they are not learning. And if they are not learning they are doing their students a disservice.
Peter: You mentioned before that good players listen to the very instructors you are castigating. Not only that, in many cases the teacher in question makes his reputation on the credit assigned to him by the player. Why isn’t that enough to establish that a teacher knows what he is talking about?
Wayne: There is a strange symbiotic relationship between teachers who can’t play and players who don’t want to think for themselves about their own games. Many Tour players could care less about the playing ability of the person who is giving them advice because they just want an eye, some ideas, and someone to call and talk to about their game when no one else really cares. I’m not saying that it’s impossible for a teacher who can’t break 85 to help someone, but teachers should be held to a higher standard than is now the case. If that somehow came to be then the state of teaching would improve and the average player would have a much better chance to receive a quality lesson from a far greater number of teachers.
Peter: Are you saying that there are good players who would be good teachers but no one pays any attention to them?
Wayne: Unfortunately, no. Most professionals who compete are weak teachers simply because they are lazy and won’t do what it takes to become better teachers. They rely on the mysterious “feel” method of teaching and avoid any study of the mechanics of the swing. What non-playing teachers who gain good reputations have going for them are teaching skills such as communication, information, and the ability to use teaching aids such as video and swing gizmos. At least these guys have done their homework and have some idea of a model swing to work with. My whole point here is that these very teachers would be doing themselves, their students, and the game a lot of good if they would commit to becoming competitors again. They would learn so much more about what it really takes to play the game.
Peter: Is there anyone else you would care to offend before we take some phone calls?
Wayne: Well, since you asked, I think that with rare exception it’s impossible to give an effective lesson without using a video camera to slow down and freeze-frame a swing for review, and that any instructor who argues against the use of video is an idiot. The equipment tends to be expensive, so I would expect some young instructors would be unable to afford a camera, but even then I would say that if one was going to make a commitment to being a first-rate teacher they would find a way to get one. Pros who have the wherewithal to own a video system and don’t have one are either lazy or just don’t know enough about the swing to put one to good use. The swing is simply too fast to follow through the hitting area. To really know what the golfer is doing you must be able to slow down the swing. Without a camera I am a fraction of the teacher I am with one. Obviously there are many elements of the game that can be worked on without a video, but to do effective work on technique in the full swing and the short game a camera is a must.
Peter: You’re not going to make many friends in the teaching end of the business with these opinions. In fact, you’re probably going to irritate a lot of your peers.
Wayne: You know what? I could care less. None of these guys care what I think anyway. They are all too busy whipping up their next “Better Golf in Three Seconds” video or trying to come up with the next “Sam 5000” to foist on the public and make a quick buck. There was a time when I referred to myself as a teacher who played rather than a player who taught. Now I know better. Golf starts with playing. That’s what it is, a game, and not a business. Everything comes from the playing of the game. Those who don’t play are not part of the game. They have no real passion for it. They may make a living off it, but they are salesmen, not golfers. There is a certain amount of suffering in playing the game. It takes time and effort, and it’s far easier to give up than it is to keep grinding. If you are going to call yourself a teacher you should have enough love for the game to want to keep playing it, learning about it, suffering with it. How hard is it to stand up and proclaim to a TV audience that you should play golf without any tension in your body? Words come very easy to the glib. I’d like to see him stand up on the first tee at Riviera in the PGA and tell me about being tension-free. I felt like it was a victory to be throw-up free. I feel the same way every time I tee it up in an event that is important to me, and I don’t bother playing in events that aren’t. But that’s the game. That’s why I love it. Not because I win every tournament I play in, but because I don’t. It’s a challenge and a struggle at every turn. I’m not even close to knowing everything about the game, and if I stopped playing tomorrow I would cease to be able to tell if my ideas about playing the game were on the money or missing the boat.
Peter: My goodness: We’ve spent so much time on this discussion that we only have time for one phone call. Let’s talk to Richard from Maryland. Hello, Richard. What can Wayne help you with today?
Richard: Hi, Peter. I just wanted to tell you how much I love the show and the way you make all these teachers seem so knowledgeable. I get so tired of watching programs where everyone disagrees with each other. It’s refreshing to see anything anyone says be totally accepted as gospel truth just because they are on the show.
Peter: Why, thank you Richard. Now, what’s your question for Wayne?
Richard: Well, Wayne, I’ve been playing for about 40 years and I’ve been to just about every teacher anyone could name. I just can’t seem to find the answers I’ve been looking for. I don’t know who knows what, and I don’t know how long to stick with something when it’s not working. I’m not sure whether to grip weak, neutral, or strong, and I can’t get comfortable with my distance from the ball. I’m not sure where I should play the ball in my stance with any club, or whether I should leave it in one place or change it as I change clubs. I don’t know how much to bend from the waist, or whether I should bend more from the hips, or if maybe a more erect posture would be better. I’m wondering if I need more knee flex, and I don’t know which foot should have more weight on it. I’ve tried putting my weight toward the heels, and sometimes toward the balls of my feet, and I have a hard time feeling just what is balanced. Should I start slow and then speed up? Or should I just think about swinging smooth the whole way? I can’t decide if I should set it early with my wrists or whether a one-piece takeaway with more extension is better. I’ve been told I take the club too far inside, but that my hands go too far outside away from my body, so I pulled my hands more in, and the club went too far outside. I’ve been too deep, too narrow, and too far off the ball, and then in a matter of weeks find myself too far in front of myself, too wide, and reverse pivoting. I’m not at all sure if the shaft should stand up more vertically in the backswing or if it should be rounder. I’ve had the plane explained to me a hundred times but every explanation seems to be completely different. I don’t know whether to pull my arms down from the top of the swing, just let them drop, or have the body pull them. And speaking of the top, should I be parallel, or short of parallel, and should my wrist be cupped, flat, or bowed? Should I get more behind it, or do I need to stay more on top of it? Should I release as fast as I can or would it be better to delay the hit for more club head speed? Should I return the club to my address position when I get to impact or should impact be different? I’m not positive if the hips should be alongside the ball when I hit it or open. Do I hit from the inside, or will this get me “stuck” too far inside behind my body? I’m definitely confused about pronation and supination, and which hand is doing which. Do I hit down, or sweep, or a combination of both? Do I finish more in my posture, or should I stand up after I hit the ball, taking for granted that I hit it. How do I decide what to think about when I’m standing over the ball? Should I think at all? And how do I relax when I have all these questions to worry about? I sure hope you can help me out here.
Wayne: Richard, I have some advice for you. Take two weeks off to think about things, like your life and whether it has any meaning. Then take two more weeks off. Paint the house. Plant a garden. Make love to your wife. That is, if she can still stand you. Read a good book about anything but golf. Then go to the store and buy a gun. A 57 Magnum should do nicely. Find a nice, quiet spot in the woods, and…
Peter: Uh, that’s about all the time we have for now. Wayne, it’s been great to have you on. And you viewers, if you want to contact Wayne you can call him at Woodholme Country Club at the number…
Wayne: Hey, wait a minute. I wasn’t finished answering the question. I was just getting to the good part. Hey, Richard, you still there?
Peter: Now, calm down Wayne. (Yells off camera): Security! Get him out of here!
Wayne: (Being grabbed by two security guards and dragged out of the building). What’s the matter, Pete? Can’t take a little reality, a small morsel of truth? (A fading scream)…Do that guy a favor. Tell him to kill himself. It’s his only way out…
Peter: (Alone now). And that’s all for this edition of Golf Learning Center Live. Next week tune in to see “The Swing Swami cure your slice.”
I woke up with a start to the smooth sounds of Chris Schenkel and the ‘72 Masters. I pinched myself to make sure I was awake, and then breathed a sigh of relief that my appearance on TV was just a dream. I hadn’t really said all those things, and I hadn’t blown my chance to be a Top 100 Teacher and a guest on The Golf Channel. Now, if I would just keep my thoughts to myself and tell everyone how great they are, I could still manage to worm my way up the ladder to teaching stardom where I belong.