A Caddie's Thoughts on Looping with 5SK and LSW

[JKolya]

I spent this past season caddying with loops ranging from absolute beginners to tour players, and events from corporate outings to international tournaments. Here are some thoughts:

 

1. Unlike many, I enjoyed the beginners. While they guaranteed a long round, I enjoyed the teaching aspect they afforded me. With beginners, instructing them in key number 2 resulted in the most immediate results. I do not know how many times someone thanked me that they could now play golf because they could make contact. Obviously, they would still have a ton to work on, and weight forward alone did not result in a successful golf swing - but weight forward was the one single change that allowed many to play the game. For the absolute beginners, I would usually have them preset their weight forward, and make sure that their weight stayed forward on the backswing. Obviously, there will be some correlation between key 1 and key 2 - ie, preseting weight forward, and not changing that in the backswing, aids in having a steady head (the head could still move, especially towards the target on the downswing, but this prevented them from moving it in the backswing. 

2. Whether it was a match between friends, the club championship, or a bigger tournament - shot zones and LSW  helped my team a lot. No surprise to everyone here, but most golfers (that I looped for) wanted the number, what the wind was doing, and then would go right at the flag. Very few ever thought of shot zones and their misses when approaching a shot. Nor did they think of setting up the next shot. A side note on this - golfers over estimate their distances. I could not count how many times I gave a number, the guy comes up 20 yards short, and then looks at me and either questions the number or comments on the wind. My guys were constantly surprised when I would either recommend an additional club and/or provide a line not near the flag. But when all was executed properly it helped us score well more often than not. Again, no surprise. 

3.  A couple of anecdotal stories on teaching pros. We had one event sponsored by an LPGA player with the aim of introducing women to the game. The player's swing coach was at the event instructing the players on the range before we headed out for a round. I was amazed at the advice being given to absolute beginners. Most of the advice centered around club head position, and completely ignored the player's body. Not surprisingly, most of the women - their heads were all over the place, their bodies were rocking back and staying there - yet, the instructor was saying how good they were doing when the club head went to the position he wanted. He probably is a good instructor for his pros, but was clueless with beginners.

 I looped a number of teaching rounds with instructors and players. I was amazed at how often the instructors would tell  high handicaps, who could not consistently make contact, to change their stance or swing or hands for various holes (this hole requires a fade, etc). I do not know how many rounds I played with instructors, but I can say that not once did I hear an instructor talk about a steady head or weight forward when these were obvious problems. The instructors always made it more complex, and/or focused on club position. At the same time, during on course instruction the instructors often pushed the player to select a shot they had no chance in making instead of playing their distances, shot zones, and misses. 

I could go on for awhile, but will stop here. Obviously these are generalizations based on my experiences, but to some it up - 5SK and LSW helped me help my players play golf and win tournaments. And simultaneously, a lot of players and instructors are clueless on the swing, ball flight laws, and shot selection. 

[Yukari]

Those are some very good observations. 

I would agree that steady head position should be one of the very first fundamentals that should be taught to beginners. I see a lot of hackers swaying during their backswing and have no clue why they are so inconsistent. 

[DeadMan]

Hitting a draw or a fade on command is something even lower handicappers don't do. Why would an instructor try to get a beginner to do that? Ugh. I'm a 9, and I basically never try to shape a shot. If I do, it's because I made a mistake or I'm fighting a bad miss. Bad instructors are everywhere.

[JKolya]

One event was with a 4 man shamble with a PGA instructor and caddie in each group; two best scores. My pro had a 27 cap (generously) and had him hitting different shots on almost every shot. "Open your stance, hands high and shallow, keep the club face open." I was amazed. The same with the LPGA pro who is a top 50 guy. After his on the range lessons, I spent five minutes with my ladies and had them preset their hands and weight, and take 1/2 to 3/4 punch shot type of swing. They could at least make contact that way. 

My overall experience, in addition to crazy advice, was that these guys had been instructors for 30 years, but haven't really stayed on top of advancements in knowledge,  theory and data, and teach the same things they have for years without regards to the individual or new info. Reminds me of a bio instructor in grad school - he hadn't worked  in a lab in over 35 years so knew little of advancements in DNA and other bio issues - we were constantly correcting him in lab. 

[mvmac]

Good stuff, thanks for sharing.

Sounds like you owe @iacas some royalties 

[JKolya]

8 minutes ago, mvmac said:

Good stuff, thanks for sharing.

Sounds like you owe @iacas some royalties 

I was thinking the other way around - that he owes me for how many players I sent this way. I cannot count how many times I wrote the site and both of your names on the back of a scorecard. Hopefully some of them are lurking around here somewhere.  

[Mr. Desmond]

6 hours ago, DeadMan said:

Hitting a draw or a fade on command is something even lower handicappers don't do. Why would an instructor try to get a beginner to do that? Ugh. I'm a 9, and I basically never try to shape a shot. If I do, it's because I made a mistake or I'm fighting a bad miss. Bad instructors are everywhere.

I'm in the same boat - stock shot only for now - slight draw.

To @JKolya, thanks for posting your observations. Refreshing.

[David in FL]

Interesting insight from an unusual perspective.  Thanks for sharing @JKolya!