Green Valley Golf Tips: Feel the finish and coach yourself

You can’t take the pro with you every round, correcting every shot, can you?

So, who’s going to pick you up when you fall?

Golfers have to begin to learn to self-correct as they progress, believes Tucson Golf Schools Director and top-ranked teaching pro Glen Griffith.

“You have to coach yourself after every swing,” he says to his young student, a female junior who has just unleashed four big drives in a row off the practice tee.

“Even if you hit it right where you wanted, you still have to evaluate what happened.”

The first and second seem perfect — shots any golfer covets — but he asks her to tell him why one went a little to the right and the other was a little short.

He wants her to tell him; not the other way around, simply because he knows he won’t always be around.

If you’re a golfer who has developed a swing you generally can trust, then what next?

How do you go to the next level, score better, find a groove of consistency?

Griffith believes it starts with balance, and it ends with balance. You have to begin to detect when even a little bit of that balance isn’t there — right after you have finished the swing, and every time you finish it.

Balance as you start, just as it applies to virtually any sport, means you are on the balls of your feet at set-up, squared properly to the target.

If you’re leaning back, then your body will stumble off to the left (for a righty) as you finish — a familiar sight on the practice range.

Balance at the finish means you observe your weight over the outside center of the left foot and leg — every time.

The finish, or what many teachers we’ve all probably listened to call “the follow through,” is the most critical part of the swing, he says, just at it is in tennis, baseball, basketball, bowling, bocce ball, or virtually any endeavor involving the launch of a sphere.

Griffith can take beginners — those who have never picked up a club — and help them create an abbreviated take-back with emphasis on the finish and have them hitting the ball straight right away.

Then, forget about all the things you have to do to hit the ball. Just let go and swing. Hit lots of balls and become an observer of what’s happening when you swing.

“You spend your whole life on your back swing when the answers are at the finish,” he declares, adding that he wants his students to coach themselves by “feeling the weight and flow at the finish” to determine if they’re balanced, and if not, then ask themselves why.

“Every golf shot is just a flow of weight and energy toward a target,” he tells the student, coaxing her to not think about mechanics, but rather to get her mind simply connected to the ball and the landing area, and then let go, evaluating “after.”

“That way,” he says, “even when you miss hit, you still usually get a positive result.”

“You can’t get it (the golf swing) right. You can only fall into a framework that’s effective,” he states.

If there is one universally accepted back swing that we must acquire that is always correct, then how do you explain the success of some of the tour players like Jim Furyk who display completely unorthodox back swings?

“I’d rather talk about what works for each player,” Griffith says, explaining that often instruction is just too technical.

“Let the student find the answers.”

After you learn how to do it, you just might be the best coach you ever had.

Mike Touzeau is a freelance writer for the Green Valley News.

Know your pro

Tucson Golf Schools Director Glen Griffith is a Class-A PGA teaching professional with 15 years of instructional experience as head pro at a number of clubs in the West.

Awarded a coveted invitation to play for his PGA Tour card last fall, he continues to provide quality instruction through his school for all ages and levels of play, emphasizing a balanced approach to learning and improving.

Southwest Region Player and Teacher of the Year in 2005, Griffith believes that, given the tools, you can teach yourself as you practice and play.

Based at San Ignacio Golf Club, Griffith can be reached for lessons at 579-8548 or info@tucsongolfschools.org.