Central Chapter Newsletter Summer Edition

Summer Edition

President’s Note by Josh Tremblay

Professional Golf Management Interns can

be an asset if utilized properly! I write this

article as an alumnus of the Penn State PGM

Program and I know that there are different

perceptions out there of the type of PGA

professionals this new educational foray is

producing. While I agree that it seems

increasingly challenging to get the most out

of the younger members of our staff, I’ve

found great success in supporting and

utilizing interns.

These young men and women are aspiring

professional and they are driven. Yes,

sometimes a little cockiness needs to be

curbed but I think many of us will be better

off with more “career-oriented” individuals

on our teams. Over the past ten plus years,

I’ve hired and employed over 30 of these

students from probably ten different

universities. Some of them have worked

almost entirely on the outside operations and

others have spent their whole time in the golf

shop.

Especially with schools like my alma mater

just a few hours away or upcoming University

of Maryland Eastern Shore in our section, I

think it’s easy to tap these schools and their

Improving Club

Repair… By Daniel Bengtson

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The Collegiate Opportunity By John Glorioso

Page 4

The Central Chapter Championship was played May 27th at Piedmont Club. Our champion Billy Hoffman ended up holding on for a one shot victory over

Brendan McGrath who charged with a 33 final 9. Said Hoffman on dealing with pressure, “I was one of the earlier groups to tee off so after the first 18 I was

internship coordinators with your club’s

needs. Setup interviews at the PGA Show

or take a day and go to the school to

interview several students. Your members

will enjoy getting to know these motivated

fresh faces. And who knows, they may

teach you a new thing or two while they are

learning from you and your team.

Hoffman takes both Chapter Championship and Chapter Pro-Am

Cont. Page 3

A Gentlemen’s Game By Matthew Gallagher

Page 3

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Lorem Ipsum Dolor Spring 2016

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Montross and Team win Central Chapter Pro-Junior. Matthew

Ryan wins Pro Purse.

Country Club of Fairfax was host for this years Central Chapter Pro-Junior held on June 30th. We had a total of 25 professionals each bringing 3 juniors in

support. The course was in fabulous shape and Matthew Gallagher, head golf professional

and staff were exceptional in making everyone feel welcomed. Montross’ team of George Duangmanee, Curtis Holland and Isabel Hansen put

together a solid round shooting a team 2 BB net score of 122. Jim Estes and his squad fired a

gross score of 139 to take home the gross title.

Matthew Ryan took the pro purse with a 68.

Congratulations to all those who played

especially the juniors.

As our

facilities

approach

the end of

our summer season, I would

like to share some

improvements of the club

repair services at my current

facility, as well as, the

benefits it provides to our

club and membership.

When I first began at

the Burning Tree Club there

was a basic club repair

service provided to

membership, and the re-

shafting portion was

outsourced. In the proposal

that I made to our General

Manager and Head

Professional, I had to

research the cost of building

and stocking a fully

functional club repair lab.

Also, I developed a list of

benefits the new lab would

provide to our membership.

These benefits included an

improved turnaround time

on requests, a broader array

of services and supplies, and

a new source of revenue for

the club. The highlighted

benefit was the improved

turnaround time for our

members. An improved

turnaround time is a great

way of showing the

customer you care about

them, and it shows that your

operation can be dependable.

With the new club

repair lab underway, we then

began to expand the service

into our club fitting which

included our new launch

monitor. These improved

services had a positive impact

at our club because it brought

more members to the driving

range and created a fun new

way to get fit for clubs. Also,

if a member wasn’t looking

to get new clubs we are able

to fit them to their existing

clubs correctly. Then we

could adjust their existing set

to their personal

specifications. Being able to

provide a full club repair

service and tying it in with

our club fitting services has

helped the professional staff

provide a great service to our

membership.

My hopes for sharing

this experience with you are

that it motivates other

professionals to improve and

expand services within their

facilities. If anyone has any

questions or comments about

improving their club repair

services, please feel free to

contact me.

By Daniel Bengtson

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in the lead but I thought there was a good score out there. I continued to stick with my game plan for the final 9 holes and did well with it but had a few 3 putts. I knew if I shot even or better on the last 9 I would be right in the thick of things. I birdied 8 to get it to one over par and pared number 9 to shoot 37. Once I turned my card in I was surprised to see I had the lead. So I never really felt any pressure.”

A few weeks later we got to play our annual Central Chapter Pro-Am at Stoneleigh where Matt Hess and his team welcomed 28 professionals and their 3 amateurs. The course was in great shape and Billy took advantage. “Whenever I play in pro-ams I like to bring members that like to joke around and have a good time because it really relaxes me and I don't think about playing golf as much.” When asked how he keeps his foot on

the gas when he is going low he replied, “When I'm playing well I try to enjoy the moment and believe that I can birdie every hole. The moment that I try to "get to the clubhouse" I'm done, I know this from past experiences. I have a game plan and when I stick to it and it works I shoot good scores. I'm good at not checking my score constantly during a round (I knew I had a good score going at Stoneleigh but I didn't know I shot 64 until I added it up.) I put value on each shot and try to hit the best shot for that situation.” Congratulations Billy!

A Gentlemen’s Game

by Matthew Gallagher

I often get asked by many people why I love

the game of golf. I have been playing sports for as long as I can remember, not just golf, but any sport that I could play; baseball, hockey, tennis, basketball,

football, soccer, you name it I wanted to play it. Competition, camaraderie and of course the desire to win kept bringing me

back to sports. But golf was different from the rest, it had all the other things I loved

Yong Joo takes Central Chapter Assistants Championship

The man is tough to beat. We have seen stellar play from Yong all year and his 4 under round of 68 at Cattail Creek on day 2 of the assistants

championship was more of the same. Carding 7 birdies against his 3 bogeys. 6 of those birdies came in a 7 hole stretch in the middle of his round (9-15). Needless to say we are all chasing a great player in every

tournament.

Congratulations Yong

Cont. pg 8

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1

Hoffman, Billy 590.45

2 McGrath, Brendan 538.62

3 Estes, Jim 408.33

4 Montross, Geoff 389.48

5 Kinn, Daniel 336.29

6 Bogdanoff, Steve 320.22

7 Grier, Ashley 316.43

8 Joo, Yong 286.22

9 Shapin, Scott 285.47

10 Graham, Kent 261.85

11 WenPetren, Steve 237.46

12 Labourdette, Peter 230.06

13 Lindell, Jay 218.13

14 O'Leary, John 215.23

15 Newsom, David 205.08

16 Bowers, Phil 201.69

17 Busse, Brice 189.90

18 Donahue, Jerry 184.14

19 Anderson, Brian 179.22

20 Ryan, Matthew 158.11

21 Moser, Dustin 155.26

22 Mankulish, Gary 147.33

23 Benkovic, John 130.89

24 Schoenfeld, Jonathan 123.98

25 Purpura, Scott 123.38

26 Steigelman, James 121.66

27 Nathlich, Chris 119.55

28 Barillo, Mike 119.24

29 Dolan, Sean 118.96

30 Moseley, Chad 113.67

31 Lintelman, Bud 113.58

32 Tucker, Tyler 110.23

33 Duggan, Sean 109.07

34 Gaffney, Tim 108.15

35 Thomas, Blake 106.35

36 Aldrich, Mike 104.66

37 Melideo, Tom 104.31

38 Farewell, Mike 103.99

39 Brogan, Timothy 101.86

40 Clark, Steve 98.76

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Bucklin, Andy 95.07

42 Bengtson, Daniel 91.78

43 Ahrnsbrak, Mike 89.32

44 Hughes, Pleasant 88.03

45 Ferguson, Rob 87.14

46 Bennett, Jim 86.82

47 Goff, Monty 86.00

48 Bell, Michael 83.63

49 Scott, Greg 83.28

50 Kremer, Kevin 82.46

51 Heiberger, Andrew 82.27

52 Miller, Steve 81.74

53 Forman, Jeff 80.30

54 Hess, Matthew 77.56

55 Miller, John 75.29

56 Sciorra, Cary 75.08

57 Tremblay, Josh 72.87

58 Veress, Evre 71.95

59 Bosdosh, Steve 68.31

60 Rhodes, Fran 68.31

61 Guttenberg, Mark 66.09

62 Danielson, Steve 63.87

63 Fischer, Mike 63.87

64 Fitzgerald, Jim 63.87

65 Johnson, Marty 63.87

66 Marr, Joshua 62.35

67 Pius, Michael 61.14

68 Ruddo, Tim 60.59

69 Stassi, Peter 58.85

70 Dufty, Jay 57.73

71 Keefer, Nicholas 57.72

72 Allen, Zach 57.46

73 Hardin, Andrew 55.78

74 Hogan, Ben 55.68

75 Burk, Richard 52.70

76 Schneider, Matthew 49.80

77 Ferguson, Frank 47.61

78 Harrell, Adam 47.61

79 Shelton, Jeff 47.61

80 Phillips, Glenn 45.46

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24,243; 4,477;

14,564; 157; 14 By John Glorioso

Just a bunch of numbers to start an article? A Binary Search Algorithm to create the perfect golf swing? No, that’s way beyond my brain capacity. Those numbers are:

• 24, 243 – Total PGA Members as of May 2014 (PGA Links)

• 4, 477 – Total Apprentices in the PGA (PGA Links)

• 14, 564 – Total Operating Golf Courses in the United States (National Golf

Foundation)

• 14 – Courses that opened in 2013 (NGF)

• 157 – Courses that closed in 2013 (NGF)

For all of us who aspire to be Head Professionals at a golf club, these numbers do not seem to add up in our favor. We definitely have a supply and demand issue in terms of the amount of openings that are/or become available each year, and the amount of qualified PGA Members who go through the interview process to obtain these positions.

As we have seen over the past few years, the golf industry is changing. More and more golf courses are closing, more positions are being consolidated, and thus, there are fewer opportunities for us to forge ahead in our careers. The answer to this point has been to introduce various initiatives to bring more individuals into the game. Whether it be the First Tee Program, Play Golf America, Get Ready Golf, or our new Golf 2.0 program, a lot of effort has been put into attracting golfers to the game, and rightfully so, but that is a long-term solution that will not necessarily address the issues we are facing in regards to opportunities within our field. Until these programs can begin to reverse the trends of the past 10 years, we need to look at different avenues and approaches to promote ourselves and all the training we have gone through to join this great organization and continue to be the leaders in the industry.

It is at this juncture where I believe the PGA, and us as its members, need to begin to

look at the non-traditional roles in the industry and begin to branch out with our expertise to create more opportunities for ourselves as the experts in the field. When it comes to expertise in the industry, we need not look any further than a PGA Member. We have been trained through bookwork and real life experiences to be competent

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managers in any role that is required at a golf facility. Besides the obvious role of running and maintaining golf course facilities and golf operations, and being the most qualified individuals to teach the game, the avenues to our success are not limited to these roles. As we can see in our classification of members, there are many roles that we have not even started to put our stamp on. Some of them being, General Managers at clubs, operating and owning golf ranges, being on site PGA members at retail stores, and even focusing on club fitting and sales, or club repair. These may not be as glamorous as being the Head Professional at XYZ club, but it does provide us with other means of giving our expertise to the masses. Deep down, most of us want to

be that Head Professional at any course and with it the glamour of being called “Pro”, while knowing that we are one in a few that holds down those positions. It commands respect when it comes to our industry, but in reality, unless the men and women who have mentored us through our years in the business step down, or move on, we all patiently wait our turn.

Another avenue for us which I find interesting and challenging, is coaching. I am not talking about individual coaching, or teacher/student coaching, I am discussing team coaching in golf. I look at this route, and I am amazed at the people who I see running golf teams at even the lowest level of the team game, high school. I personally coach a high school team and at tournaments or “matches”, I look at my opponents, and their “coach”, and have seen, retired teachers, swim coaches, basketball coaches, parents with kids on the team, health teachers, IT instructors,

and all the while watching them coach a team with gifted players who more than likely received their instruction from us, PGA professionals. This is by no means disparaging any of those individuals, because they too are taking time from their lives to help the same people we do. However, it really makes you wonder? How can it be that these young boys and girls, playing golf at a high school varsity level, do not have a coach/mentor with them during their season who knows what it is like to stand over a 5 footer to win? Or knows what the pressure of playing that final hole in a tournament setting will do to you? Why are there not more of us, even as apprentices who have gone out there and offered our services? Oh sure, it’s not like we are going to go to our boss and say, “hey boss, I’m quitting because I just took over the high school program down the street with its measly stipend”. No, but it does give us a voice in the game. It gives us an opportunity to mentor these players, these kids, who more than likely, if they are good enough to compete

Deep down, most of us want to be that Head Professional at any course and with it the glamour of

being called “Pro”

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at that level, have some aspiration of playing at the next level. We have the means to help them get better every day, and honestly, it gives us the opportunity to generate more students for ourselves.

Now you’re probably asking; do I really want to be a high school golf coach? Probably not, but this leads into what I believe is one of the biggest opportunities for us to expand as an organization. College Golf! According to the Junior College Scoreboard, there are currently 1781 colleges in the United States that have golf

programs. That’s all levels of college, from Division 1, to NJCAA, Men’s and Women’s. In Division 1 alone, there are 515 programs. Did you know that out of all those jobs, there are only 169 A-12 (PGA Members) and 7 B-12 (PGA Apprentices) running those programs? So that’s 176 positions held by PGA members or apprentices. Less than 10%.

Pretty low figures for an organization that are the experts in the game…. Now, does everyone aspire to be a golf coach? Absolutely not…. Does everyone have what it takes to be a golf coach? By no means, but I do think that we are all in this business because we love the game, and we are here to give something back

to the game. What better way than to be involved and in touch with the future players of this game? Whether they want to be PGA professionals, tour players, or use their talents for the game to get an education? We can definitely make an impact on the game.

So having said this, how do we begin to integrate ourselves into this field? We do it the old fashion way, we network, we ask, we volunteer our way into assistant jobs, or we take high school jobs, and we meet college coaches, and of course, we Google…. We have to start somewhere. The longer we go as an organization that believes the answer lies solely in getting more people playing the game, the more out of touch we will become with the non-traditional roles that golf professional

play, and we will continue to be that one resume out of a hundred who hopes to get our dream job.

“If you want to succeed you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success.” John D. Rockefeller

We are the PGA of America, 27,000 dedicated men and women promoting the game of golf to everyone, everywhere. We should not leave any avenue closed that will continue to make us the leading voices in the industry.

Less than 10% of College Golf coaches are PGA Members

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in sports, but it also had something more, something that the other sports didn’t have. Golf was a gentleman’s game, a noble game where words such as honor and integrity are

woven into the fibers of the game.

The Rules of Golf are not the easiest read in the library, but I wanted to share with everyone my favorite section that I think is often passed over as players dig deep into the rule book to find out what rules infractions occurred on the course today. That section is Section I, Etiquette; Behavior on the Course. The first

paragraph of the section reads;

“This Section provides guidelines on the manner in which the game of golf should be played. If they are followed, all players will gain maximum enjoyment from the game. The overriding

principle is that consideration should be shown to others on the course at all times.”

The overriding principle is that consideration

should be shown to others on the course at all

times. What a great sentence! This is why I

love the game of golf. In an age were the modern sports athlete is seen as an ego maniac whose only concern is his or her

own well being, one of Golf’s main principles is the consideration of others. This was on center stage at the PGA Championship this year as we saw Phil Mickelson & Rickie Fowler wave up Rory McIlroy & Bernd Weisberger as the sun set on the final hole at Valhalla. Let the TV Personalities and Sports writers pontificate about how mad Phil and Rickie should be about having to wave up the final group; the fact remains that they both set aside what was in their best interest and put their fellow competitors, the tournament and the fans interests above their own and they showed the world what golf is all about.

Pace of play will always been a hot topic at any golf course, within the Etiquette Section

of the Rules of Golf, Pace of Play is talked about in detail, but there is still no need to go further than the first Paragraph. The overriding principle is that consideration should be shown to

others on the course at all times. We often get

caught up in worrying about what others on the golf course should be doing for us. The faster players want the slow players to speed up or just simply get out of the way; the slower players want the players behind them to be more patient and quit rushing them; but the answer to our problem was right there in the beginning of this Rule Book that we hold so sacred; The overriding principle is that

consideration should be shown to others on the course at all times.

The Etiquette Section of the Rules of Golf contains more to it than these simple words, it

also covers Safety, Care of the Golf Course, The Spirit of the Game, Penalties for Breaching the Rules and of course, the

aforementioned Pace of Play. Take some time to educate your members and staff and

have them read over these guidelines on the manner in which the game of golf should be

played. If they are followed, all players will gain maximum enjoyment from the game. I

love the game of golf and feel honored to play a game that has the player responsible for his or her own actions and a game that holds the consideration of others as one of its highest priorities.

Central Chapter Pro Assistant and Meeting

Army Navy CC-Arlington

Monday, September 8th

Meeting begins @ 9am

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Chicken Winging

By Kevin Tanner

The dreaded flip has plagued amateur golfers and PGA professionals trying to teach the game for years! While chicken winging/scooping/flipping have wreaked havoc on golf courses all over the world, golf coaches have been left to clean up the mess of skulled shots, chili dips, cold tops, and the dreaded “I hit that solid why is it so short.” In order to properly help the golfers of the world stop flipping we must understand what causes this phenomenon. While there can certainly be a conceptual misunderstandings, I will focus purely on the technical changes that directly impact a golfer’s ability to eliminate chicken winging/scooping/flipping.

There are a few main factors that contribute to a golfer’s ability to hit a golf ball with forward shaft lean and maintain a straight left arm post impact.

Ok, so now that we have established the main causes, I will walk through why these are

the major culprits of the “I never take a divot” guy. By far, lead wrist flexion is the most important move to master to eliminate the flip!

Flipping, which almost always results in chicken winging, is a result of left wrist extension, most times caused by an open clubface in the downswing. With an open club face in the downswing golfers will tend to hit the ball right or their target. As a result these golfers have learned to hit the ball straighter by extending their lead wrist (cupping) their wrists to square the face. As we all know this can lead to a number of problems with controlling distance, direction, and contact. To eliminate this movement the lead wrist must move in the opposite direction, lead wrist flexion (LWF) or bowing. LWF serves one major purpose, it closes the club face. This allows the hands/handle of the club to be forward of the golf ball at impact without hitting the ball too far to the right. LWF can be constant (Dustin Johnson), or gradual (Tiger Woods).

1. Wrist Function/Open Club Face (Flexion of the lead wrist) 2. Club Head Path 3. Hip Slide and Shoulder TiltS

4. Body Rotation (Torso and Pelvis) 5. Extension of the ArmsS 6. Forearm Rotation (Flexion of the lead wrist)

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Because of the constant movement of the golf swing motion and golfer’s desire to hit the ball straight, LWF must be maintained or increased to control the club face and eliminate chicken winging.

Now, in order for the wrist to not extend past impact, a few more factors need to be considered.

First, of all the club head path should be moving down the target line, or on an inside-to-out path. This will allow the arms to extend without hitting the ground. When the path of the club head is moving over-the-top, the lead arm runs out of room to straighten and as a result, the left arm bends at the elbow and wrist. Second, Rotation of the body allows the momentum of the club head to stay behind the rotation of the body. If the body stops rotating, the lead arm and wrist will bend because of the continued momentum of the club head. Finally, past contact the arms must extend (straighten) and the lead arm should supinate. Let’s talk body movement for a minute...

Upper Body As the golfer delivers the club to the ball a few things must happen to allow the lead arm to straighten through impact. At set-up, an angle is created between the club shaft and the lead arm, leaving a specific distance between the lead shoulder and the club head/ground. During the downswing the lead wrist will radially deviate (unhinging angle between lead arm and club), making the distance between the lead shoulder and the club head longer. In order to not hit the ground behind the ball the torso must turn and tilt, raising the lead shoulder away from the ground, to allow the lead arm to straighten.

Lower Body The hips must also slide toward the target to effectively move the low point of the swing more in front of the ball. This will also allow the club to be delivered with more forward shaft lean. This combination of hip slide and shoulder tilt are very effective in reducing chicken winging. It is important to note that for some clients may only need one or two of the factors listed above. Others client may need all of them. However, to truly fix the dreaded flip you must understand how all of these movements work independently and how they work as a group.

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Drills Impact Bag to Right Field - replace the golf ball with a light impact bag. Imagine you are standing on home plate and aiming at the pitcher. Take slow swings hitting the impact bag toward the right fielder. [Left handed golfer opposite]

Lie Tool Impact Bag Drill - Place a magnetic lie tool on the club face and place an impact bag approximately a foot in front of where the golf ball would be positioned. Make a slow backswing keeping the lie tool pointing at your target line (not pointed straight at the ground). Then make a slow downswing, at club parallel to the ground, the lie tool should be pointed down toward your target line. As you continue into impact, spear the lie tool into the impact bag. If you flip your wrists the lie tool will point over the bag.

Hip Shift Head Back - Place a chair next to the left leg (the chair should be positioned so as to not impede the forward swing). As you start your downswing try to move the chair with your hips while keeping your head behind the ball.

Reach for the Target - Take slow swing trying to touch your target with the club head while maintaining balance and trying to keep the head over or behind the ball.

Documents

Central Chapter Newsletter Summer Edition