My Short Experience in Golf Course Architecture

When I was in high school I was always drawing golf course layouts.  I enjoyed envisioning what my layouts might look like in real life.  So much so that I was going to choose that as my career.  I took architectural drafting in high school and did show some potential in that area as well.  I was an average student in high school and never really applied myself to studying.  I was on the golf team and spent my time practicing and playing.  When it came time to sit down with the high school counselor and learn what it took to get in the school of architecture I could see it would take seven years of college and lots of math!   

So I changed career paths and decided on General Business…boring!  I wasn’t a great college student so ended up leaving school and worked for my dad for a handful of years before then getting in the golf business.  I made the correct choice as I really enjoyed my career.  I worked at some of most famous clubs and resorts and some of the most respected professionals in the nation!  

My longest stint as a head golf professional was at the TPC at The Woodlands.  I was there from 1988-2001 and was host professional to 14 PGA TOUR events.  In 1998, we were going to do a greens restoration and hired Houston architect Carlton Gipson to complete the job.  Carlton had several original designs and restoration projects in the Houston area.  It was a great learning experience to see how greens are constructed and shaped.  I would go on the course with Carlton on a regular basis and he thoroughly explained the process.  For the most part the greens were just being returned to their original design and size.  But one day Carlton indicated to me he would like to do something different to the par 3, 14th hole.  It was a very wide green in a horizontal hourglass shape surrounded by 4 bunkers.  The green itself was fairly flat.  If the hole location was left or right it made for a difficult shot with a long iron.  The water wasn’t really more than a visual issue.

He asked my opinion on changing the shape of the green.  This is where my short stint in golf course architecture began.  I told him it would be interesting if the water was more in play.  I thought it would be cool to have a sort of bowl shape in the middle so a hole location could be near the water at the front of the green.  If you hit a shot long to avoid the water, you would have a fast putt coming down the hill.  In addition if the green was closer to the water you could lose the right bunker and have another great hole location over the water.  As he was listening to my idea I could tell it intrigued him.  So long story short, he used my idea!  

I don’t have an actual picture of the finished green but this is from the yardage book.  So here it is 25 years later and the same green exists.  Although the course is no longer a TPC it does host the Insperity Invitational on the PGA TOUR Champions.

Commit to your Target

I came across this picture from Golf Digest and it reminded me of a statement I heard years ago…”give life to your target”.

In this photo Annika Sorenstam is hitting pitch shots to her caddy.  She was focused on hitting to a specific target and distance.  By hitting to her caddy, she was in essence giving the target life.  I think doing this really increases your focus as you don’t want your caddy to be running all over the place.  It also helps one improve their visualization skills as you can imagine you are hitting to your friend or coach.

From 1981-1984 I was an assistant golf professional at Shady Oaks Country Club in Fort Worth.  Ben Hogan was a member there and we crossed paths on a daily basis.  After working at his office at the Ben Hogan Company all morning he would then go to lunch at Shady Oaks.  After lunch he would come through the golf shop and these were his exact words to me…”Sonny, you got a shag boy for me today?”

Mr. Hogan would take his shag bag full of balls and my cart attendant then head to the Little 9.  The Little 9 was a short course at Shady Oaks with eight par 3’s and one par 4.  The par 4 hole fairway was a perfect place to practice and Mr. Hogan would only hit balls into a right to left wind.  He would position my attendant appropriately and begin with short irons progressing to driver.  By hitting to my attendant he was giving the target life.  But, Mr. Hogan frowned upon the attendant catching the ball, he wanted to see it land.  Mr. Hogan might be out there for 2 hours or more practicing.  

One of the stories I like to tell is one day after a long practice session my attendant came in the shop and pulled his shirt up to his chest.  There were two huge welts on his chest and I asked what happened?  He said he had lost the ball in the sun and Mr. Hogan pegged him with a 7 iron shot, then, before he could get up, he hit him again😂😂😂!  On days I didn’t have a “shag boy” Mr. Hogan would take one club and hit shots as he walked the course.  

On occasion he would practice on the range and he always signed a ticket for the range balls he hit!

That’s me in 1982!  Anyway, the point is, hitting practice balls to a live target is good for your focus.  This is pretty much impossible to do now days but I recommend to use your imagination as you practice.  I promise you will see increased concentration and visualization of your target.

I also used to practice on the Little 9 and I would hit from the par 4 fairway to an area short of one of the par 3 greens.  It was a secluded green surrounded by trees and I had to really focus on my aim.  I had my own shag balls but didn’t have use of a shag boy.  I would hit 75-80 balls then go pick them up.  It’s amazing when you know you have to pick them up your concentration goes way up.  Since Shady Oaks was not a busy club I could hit 200-300 balls per day.  There is no doubt these focused practice sessions helped me win the 1982 Metro Chapter Assistants Championship and win the Player of the Year award!

From this experience I recommend when you practice try to focus on a narrow part of the range.  In other words try to find an imaginary grid between target flags/poles that is no more than 20 yards wide and focus on hitting every club in this grid.

Swing Thoughts

Whatever swing thought he used this week worked well!  It seems professionals don’t really give away their trade secrets very often.  They like to keep their edge private and their coaches and caddies are the only ones privy to that secret.  There was a book published in 1993 titled “Swing Thoughts” which revealed some swing thoughts from various players from the 1980’s and early 1990’s.  These swing thoughts were used to win various tournaments from both the PGA and LPGA tours.  There are as many swing thoughts as there are players.

Above are some samples of these swing thoughts.  In my opinion, swing thoughts fall into two categories of either mental (creating a picture, feel or routine) or physical (direct order to a body part).  For the mental swing thought the sample from David Graham indicating he focused on his his pre shot routine to win the 1981 U.S. Open helped him stay calm.  For Cindy Figg-Currier it was the image from Harvey Penick swinging a bucket of water helping with the timing of her swing.  This thought led her to victory in the 1991 JAL Big Apple Classic.  The physical swing thought can be a pre swing or in swing thought.  Pre swing would include grip or set up which Missie Berteotti used to win the 1992 Women’s Kemper Open.  In swing thoughts are direct orders to a body part to perform in a certain manner.  This could be backswing, downswing or finish.  The example from Jerry McGee in which he says “drive your right knee toward the target” is a thought he used to win the 1979 Greater Hartford Open.  The bottom line is swing thoughts are personal and every player has a swing thought based on what they are working on in their swing.  

Swing thoughts can be fleeting however.  Jack Nicklaus once told one of my mentors, Terry Dill, that his swing thoughts lasted an average of six weeks. This means during a year of playing the TOUR he might have 3-4 different swing thoughts.  I feel most professionals have a “library” of thoughts to draw from.  Some days your “A” swing thought just doesn’t work so you have to go to “B” or “C”.  I think the stress of a certain event can influence whether your swing thought is going to work.  

As a PGA golf professional I played in hundreds of PGA Section tournaments.  I also qualified to play in three PGA TOUR events including the 1990 Texas Open and the 1995 and 1999 Houston Open.  Competing in the Section events I would say nerves aren’t too much of an issue as I am in my comfort zone at this level of competition.  My swing thoughts usually were clear and led me to some success as I won the 2005 STPGA Section Senior Championship with scores of 71-67.  I think most PGA and LPGA competitors feel the same on their respective tour.  But, competing in a major such as a U.S. Open, Ryder Cup or Solheim Cup, the nerves begin to play a roll in how effective the swing thought will be.  When I played in my first Houston Open I was also the head professional at the host course.  To me, this was my major event.  I will admit I was nervous and anxious to play.  As I was warming up my heart rate was definitely up but I was in control.  On the putting green I was in control.  When it was time to go to the first tee I was walking between the ropes and my heart rate was off the charts.  When the starter announced my name the crowd applauded and I had an out of body moment.  I couldn’t feel my feet and the brain was racing.  I couldn’t even think of a swing thought and before I knew it my ball was down the fairway about 260 yards!  Once I got to the second hole I calmed down and my swing thought worked beautifully.  What I learned from that experience is your swing thought (and not thoughts) has to be simple.  It has to hold up to the tension of competing at the highest level. 

I really admire these young players coming out and how they perform.  But, as we’ve witnessed even top players have lapses coming down the home stretch leading a tournament.  When the mind starts thinking to far in advance, you skip the shot at hand and the swing thought goes away.  

 

After a lesson I always try to summarize the thoughts of the hour into one basic swing thought to take to the course.  Then, as we progress through the instruction process I ask them how their last round of golf fared?  What was good, what didn’t work so well, then we keep refining.  I recommend you write down your thoughts when things are going well.  Over time you will have your library of thoughts you can draw from.

 

 

Utah Golf is Great!

I just added the 20th state I have played golf…Utah!  I had never travelled to Utah before this week but it’s definitely a place I will visit again.  I was in Midway, which is just around the mountain from Park City.  The courses I played and highly recommend were Wasatch State Park (Mountain Course), Soldier Hollow, the Gold Course and the Silver Course.  

Wasatch State Park (Mountain Course)

Beautiful course, excellent condition and lots of elevation change.  Tall pine trees framed many of the holes which just added to the beauty and difficulty of the course.

Soldier Hollow (Silver Course)

The Silver is a true links style course with only minor elevation change.  It was in great condition and fun to play!  The views are magnificent as Soldier Hollow sits around 5500’ elevation and overlooks Heber Valley.

Soldier Hollow (Gold Course)

The Gold is now one of my favorite courses I have ever played.  The elevation changes were significant and it made for some very intriguing tee and approach shots.  The course stair cased up the mountain so every hole had a great view of the surrounding mountains and Heber Valley.  

Imagine Muny

So many “firsts” for me at this historic golf course.  Muny was the first 18 hole golf course I played (1968), my first golf lesson (1969) and my first tournament I competed was the Austin City Junior Championship (1969).  My high school team practiced and played there daily in the early 1970’s.  In fact, I still have friends to this day I met as a junior golfer at Muny!  The bottom line is Muny provided me the opportunity to fall in love with this game in which I made a career of being a PGA golf professional.  I loved the original design and hope Muny will be saved and restored for future generations.

Student Juan Martinez Correcting “Over the Top”

This is one of my students, Juan Martinez, working on correcting his “over the top” downswing.  In this picture note how the divots are all headed outside to in causing slices to the right.

We performed a series of drills utilizing a hula hoop and alignment rods.  The majority of the drills did not involve striking a golf ball but focus was on developing the correct feel for an on plane golf swing.

Once he performed the drills and he felt he had the correct feel in his mind we brought the ball back into the equation.  We used the training aid for a few swings to make sure he stayed on plane.

In the following photo note the divots are much straighter.  With a short iron he was hitting it solid and straight!  It’s still a work in progress but with more practice he will see better results with all of his clubs.

Stay Connected for More Consistent Shots

      This drill can help you if you tend to over swing on the backswing or allow the elbows to separate either in the backswing or finish (chicken wing).   Secure a towel under your arms and keep it in place while you hit balls.  I recommend starting with a short iron and making half swings.  As you progress you can make full swings.  In general this will make your backswing feel more compact and help you rotate your torso better to the finish.  My mantra for this drill is “rotate and hinge the wrists, then rotate to target and re-hinge the wrists”.