| Juniors Golf Program News » Cincinnati Enquirer - Landrum says 1-on-1 lessons can wait for most Juniors |
|
Tuesday, May 5, 1998
BY JOHN ERARDI
Six hundred kids are learning golf from Ralph Landrum, none of them one-on-one.
Once a week, kids get a 45-minute group lesson and then go out and play golf or, in the case of the 7- and 8-year-olds, hit balls at the driving range.
Landrum, a former touring pro who is now club pro at Devou Park, is an advocate of the camaraderie and healthy competition that comes out of group lessons and time on the course, especially with better players.
His attitude is, "Get a kid some decent fundamentals when he's 9, 10, 11," and then encourage him to play a lot of golf.
"And then, (as a parent), pray to God that somehow or another, success strikes him or her at some point, even if it's a total accident. You want them thinking, "Hey, I'm pretty good at this. This is pretty cool.' "
Why 9, 10 or 11?
"I don't have any scientific reason for it -- just experience," Landrum said. "Ever watch kids play baseball? . . . It's not until the second year of Knothole, age 9, they get a little grasp of things." Landrum believes hunger for success has to be there at a young age.
"Some kids show up at 9, 10, 11 and you can see that their attitude is "I like this -- I don't know for how long I'm going to like it, but I like it now -- and I want to be good at this. I'm willing to put forth the effort.' They're competitive; they've got the heart. I would think it would be very difficult to make somebody a player if they've waited until the seventh or eighth grade, at 13 or 14 years old." Even with his own sons, age 10 and 12, Landrum doesn't give individual lessons. It's group golf lessons in the junior program and then play.
"I figure if they want one-on-one help, they'll ask."
Have they ever asked?
No, Landrum said.
What fundamentals does Landrum try to impart to 9- to 11-year-olds?
"Footwork," he said. "Golf's a game of eye-, hand- and foot- coordination. Proper transfer of weight is important. It's not a standstill sport, even though it looks that way."
On the course, kids naturally get their feet into the swing. Here's the "science" of why golfers have a better chance of success if they take up the game at a young age, says the late neurologist Dr. Harold L. Klawans, author of Why Michael Couldn't Hit.
Klawans's premise for the book is that Chicago Bulls basketball star Michael Jordan had as much chance of learning to become a major-league baseball hitter at age 31 as he did of become a virtuoso violinist or speaking a second language without an accent.
There's no chance of accomplishing any of those things if you haven't been heavily exposed to them before the age of 13, Klawans says. He makes this scientific application to golf, as well.
"Learning to control your posture unconsciously in order to initiate and coordinate the exact swing you want to take, is the basis of golf," Dr. Klawans writes. "Like a kid learning to shift weight in order to walk, weight must be shifted to hit a golf ball in the right way at precisely the right time -- without a hint of conscious thought."
While it is probably true that language and music are easier to learn at ages younger than 9-11, physical size is a factor in golf, Landrum said.
For example, the grip is critical in golf, but most 9-year-olds' hands aren't big enough to grip a club properly.
"It doesn't matter to me whether they interlock or overlap, just so they're not holding it like a baseball bat. Do kids that age hold it right? No! Why don't I change it? Their hands aren't big enough." Landrum does not say that his "9-11" age range is ironclad. There are exceptions. Former U.S. Open champion Larry Nelson, who was a good baseball player as a kid, didn't pick up a golf club until he was 21. He studied Ben Hogan's book and hit golf balls until his blisters bled.
"He's an unusual example," Landrum said.
Almost every other touring pro played golf as a teenager.
"Name a guy and I'll probably be able to give you some of his history that goes back to him being 15 or 16 years old, playing golf and winding up at a major college," Landrum said. "Ninety-eight, ninety-nine percent of them. That's the pool. To get into that pool, what age do you have to start?"
Some players, like Northern Kentucky's Steve Flesch, take a while to get their PGA Tour cards. Flesch, 30, had his highest PGA Tour finish (second place) just before this year's Masters. Paul Azinger struggled early in his career, too. But, at age 33, he won the 1993 PGA Championship.
Guess what pool they were in?
"It might seem like some guys come out of nowhere," Landrum said, "Paul Azinger was on golf scholarship at Florida State University, one of the top golf schools in the country. He didn't come out of nowhere." But Azinger has always been a tenacious competitor. And that is Landrum's point: if there's one thing to look for in a youngster if you really have high expectations, it's this -- what kind of competitor is he or she?
"I don't want to sound like a nasty ol' parent, but you can see a competitor when he's young," Landrum said. "I see it in even in little kids. That's the kind of kid that's going to get after you (and get the most of his or her ability)."
An extreme example of some parents' expectations -- but a frequent enough one that it makes Landrum wonder -- is this:
"I get a lot of calls from people, "Hey, Ralph, I want to bring Jimmy over for a lesson, the first of August.' I say, "Fine! Bring him out.'
"Then, I ask, "Why, what's going on?'
"And the answer is "Golf tryouts for the high school team are in 10 days.' My response to that is where were you in April or May? You're setting the kid -- and me -- up to fail." |
| All material ©2003 Landrum Golf, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |