Golf Team Tryout Schedule

[iacas]

I'll be an assistant coach to my old high school's golf team this year, with an eye on taking over the team in the next three years (as coach; the current one - my former coach - will be retiring soon).

Back in my day, we'd play 18 holes. We'd play match play front, match play back, match play total, and total score for four possible points. Nowadays they play 9 holes and score ten points per match: one point per hole (low score) and one for the final score. Evaluating players was fairly straightforward.

My old coach (the existing one) is not much for swing tips. During my last two years on the team, I was basically the honorary swing coach. I had an eye for the swing and for thinking of good swing thoughts to suit the different players. I could play a little back then too, but I'm not here to brag about stuff from a decade ago.

Tryouts and practice begins in the fall before school starts. Two weeks of practice, with a cut coming after the first week. The golf team can keep about 10 players, and 15 or so typically try out. Some cuts are easy, some are tough.

I'm trying to come up with a schedule that intersperses regular play for evaluation along with some things intended to sharpen people's games. Here's what I've got so far:

[pre] 9 Holes Practice Time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mon Regular Range Work
Tue Regular Putting Round Robin
Wed Regular Range Work (+ video)
Thu Three Club + Putter Short Game (<100 yds + chips)
Fri Regular Free Day (do whatever)
---------------------------------- Cut -----------------------------------
Mon Regular Putting Round Robin
Tue 80% On Every Swing Range Work (+ video)
Wed No Driver Putting Drills
Thu Scramble Free Day (do whatever)
Fri Regular Range Work[/pre]

What would you change? How would you set up a schedule to accomplish two things in a very short amount of time:
1) determine which players are good, and which players have potential (you want to keep some of the latter so they're not discouraged from trying out the next year).
2) get the most (again, in a short time) out of the players you have, hence my emphasis on short game work.

[BDR444]

All I have to say is try to get them off the range and onto the course more often.. Our team plays 9 holes every day.. mon-fri.. each day focusing on a different aspect while playing the nine holes.. friday is a free day.

However, our tryouts suck, 36 holes on the hottest day of the year down here.. must break 80 both days for men... 100 for girls from tournament tees.

[iacas]

They play 9 holes every day, BDR. Then they have practice time. You can see in the chart above I've got both planned out.

[gas_can]

All I have to say is try to get them off the range and onto the course more often.. Our team plays 9 holes every day.. mon-fri.. each day focusing on a different aspect while playing the nine holes.. friday is a free day.

After that Q-school should be a joke for you!!!!

Sounds like you guys have a pretty competitive team. What's the course you guys try out on? I play in Austin every few months and will have to give it a try next time I'm in town.

[TomG]

First, I like that you are looking to keep kids with some potential, because at their age, one day you stink, and the next day you are knocking the pins down.

Having said that, I think I would pay close attention to the bottom line...in other words you have to find out what they can shoot consistently.

[ehawk]

Congrats,

You are going to love it. I am also a golf coach (8 years) and can't think of a better way to share the game that I love so much. You will find that these boys soak up any information about the game you can give them.

My advice: Schedule looks great and I think that you will be able to make some good decisions about who to keep and who to cut. Cuts are the worst and you need to be very prepared as to why you made the cuts. My format - scores, scores, and more scores. The range time is great but it is very subjective and makes cuts very difficult. I don't take my team to the range until after cuts. During tryouts I spend my day driving around watching various groups during tryouts. I am looking for a lot of things when I watch my boys tryout - scores, swing, attitude, etc. but it is their score(s) that get them on my team.

We are lucky at my school - we have the ability to keep two teams each with their own coach and their own schedule. So I keep 12 on my Varsity and my JV coach keeps 12.

You are smart in pushing the short game practice. Kids need this more than anything. They are very willing to spend hours on the range hitting drivers when they really need to spend hours putting, chipping and hitting 75 yard wedge shots to various pins. That is where they will "shave" strokes the quickest.

I like your plan. Getting the kids off the course and on the practice range is a necessary way to get them to improve and the best way for you to interact with more players. You should come up with some games/competition for the range and putting green. Boys work a lot harder when there is something at stake and I think we all know how much harder we work when there is a little competition.

Congrats. Please contact me if you have anything else you want to "bounce" off me. With your knowledge and love of the game I am sure you will love your new role as coach and you will do a wonderful job. Good luck!

[iacas]

I believe they're only allowed to play the 9 holes/day, which is why I've only scheduled that many. I plan to play some games on the range, too, like calling out "draw" or "fade" during a swing, and things like that. Thanks for the advice and feedback.

[BDR444]

After that Q-school should be a joke for you!!!!

We play both Clubs of lakeway courses: yaupon & live oak from the gold tees. Check it out next time you are down here. They are pretty cheap courses and fairly nice (although Yaupon is a lot nicer in my opinion.) If you're looking for a nice place to play down here try Twin Creeks, and Cimarron Hills is pretty nice too.. although I believe they are private courses. Which courses have you played down here?

[gas_can]

We play both Clubs of lakeway courses: yaupon & live oak from the gold tees. Check it out next time you are down here. They are pretty cheap courses and fairly nice (although Yaupon is a lot nicer in my opinion.) If you're looking for a nice place to play down here try Twin Creeks, and Cimarron Hills is pretty nice too.. although I believe they are private courses. Which courses have you played down here?

I've played several, all four at Barton Creek which rank as some of my all time favorite courses (especially the Canyon), Hills CC (where I snuck on as a guest of a guest), Hancock muni, and Blackhawk (which I think is one of the best deals in TX).

Next time I'm in town, I'll have to drop you an e-mail and if you're not busy, we can sneak in a few holes.

[iacas]

You guys mind not thread-jacking? C'mon, I'm trying to help the kids, it's all for the kids!

[Newbie Collection Agency]

We play both Clubs of lakeway courses: yaupon & live oak from the gold tees. Check it out next time you are down here. They are pretty cheap courses and fairly nice (although Yaupon is a lot nicer in my opinion.) If you're looking for a nice place to play down here try Twin Creeks, and Cimarron Hills is pretty nice too.. although I believe they are private courses. Which courses have you played down here?

I went to Cimarron Hills when they had the Parade of Homes in 2007. It's really a beautiful course. They had a new clubhouse too which looked really nice!

[Dent]

That schedual looks awsome to me. And if i was trying out id definatly be up for that!

[Eore]

just something from an actual high school golfer who is doing tryouts-if i shoot consistantly in the mid to low 90's and i'm coachable, would you rather that over an arogant kid who shoots an 80 on the first day then a 100 on the second when the pressure is on?

[Crafty]

I'll be an assistant coach to my old high school's golf team this year, with an eye on taking over the team in the next three years (as coach; the current one - my former coach - will be retiring soon).

Would you mind explaining the purpose of 80% swinging besides the fact that it teaches a smooth swing. THis is a personal case but I tend to lose distance and create very bad habits when I swing too slowly. My suggestion would be to integrate the 80% swing drill into a range workout and gove them one more round.

Some other things I would suggest: -Play a round with all irons and down from the tee that is next closest to the one you play (or from the normal tees if you really really want to challenge them. -Use some kind of circle putting drill to work on short putts I really wish I could be a part of a program like you intend to run. My practices are 9 holes, 18 if the coach will let us. There are no drills or work afterwards, not to mention the fact that my coach doesn't have a ton of knowledge about golf.

[Big_M]

Would you mind explaining the purpose of 80% swinging besides the fact that it teaches a smooth swing. THis is a personal case but I tend to lose distance and create very bad habits when I swing too slowly. My suggestion would be to integrate the 80% swing drill into a range workout and gove them one more round.

This is a good point... 80% swing is not for everyone. I think the most important part of a swing is to maintain balance, but 80% might mean something totally different from one person to the next. One thing you might be able to do week 2 is this... after you have a good idea of who is shooting what, pair them up for some match play to see how they handle themselves. I like the 3 club... it teaches you to be creative. One thing we occaisionally did was play "worst ball". You hit two shots from every place you end up and must play the worst. It helps with consistency. You can also just do this with tee shots and it will teach how to play from some of those off the fairway, less than ideal lies.

[Tristan]

The set up looks pretty good but if I were you I'd set more short game 'challenges' nearer to the cut time. try to take them out of their comfort zone and put them into a 'pressure' situation, this is were the cream of the croup will rise and those who can't cut it fall

[JonnyGolf]

First, congrats on becoming a golf coach. If I could do it, I would love to coach water polo in the fall, golf in the spring.

If you're making cuts, IMO, you should be strictly evaluating the kids. I wouldn't do any real coaching until you've made cuts. And, then, I'd be careful about it if they already have a coach. On the course game management, however, is wide open for you.

For evaluation, you need to do both scoring (I would do 4 days of 9 holes - like a mini-Q School) and match play. After 4 days of scoring, there should be a clear separation between the players, the almost players, and the learners. Learners go to the JV team or get cut. I would take the almost players and put them into match play to see who folds under pressure. From there, you can choose your team. But, I would tell everyone who doesn't make it to be ready for next year, they now know what it takes to make the team.

Pretty brutal, but it should show who is ready to contribute to the team. Any subjective evaluation is going to come back to haunt you as the parents will go ballistic when their son/daughter doesn't make the team. I would be very clear as to how you're doing tryouts upfront to avoid issues.

Have fun
JG

[907golfer12]

People check the date on the thread, it is from 2 years ago, 2005!