LYTHAM ST. ANNES, England –
The Lytham Trophy was the second amateur event I’ve covered this season, following the McEvoy Trophy. As I walked the links at Royal Lytham, I couldn’t help but feel for amateur players and their parents. Trying to make your way to the pinnacle of the professional game is like walking through a minefield. There are many routes, pitfalls and dangers lurking along the way.
Here are 10 pieces of advice to help amateurs navigate their way to success:
1. Have a plan. From talking to players and parents, it was clear many had not thought things through. Most players who played in the Lytham are intent on making it in the professional game. Yet many I spoke to had only the vaguest notion of their route to the pro ranks. Parents and players need to sit down and map things out, even if that means having Plans A, B and C depending on different variables. But some sort of road map, however sketchy, is needed rather than firing shots into the dark.
2. Plan for failure. It is an indisputable truth that most of those who played at the Lytham and the McEvoy will fail in their efforts to get to the top. The game is littered with can’t-miss kids who missed spectacularly. That’s why every player has to have some idea of what they will do if they aren’t good enough to make the grade.
3. Accept bad shots. Not even Tiger Woods hits the ball perfectly every time. Yet I see amateurs hit bad shots and get down on themselves. If perfection is unattainable for the greatest player in the world, then you need to learn to live with bad shots.
4. Learn to grind. Following on from No. 3, you need to learn to grind out the best score you can. I watch a lot of amateur golf, and I sometimes see players throw in the towel after a bad hole or a couple of bad holes. You need to try to shoot the best score possible that day, even if that means an 81 instead of an 82. Those who can grind out a score, even when they are playing poorly, are usually the ones who do well in the pro game.
5. Beware changing teachers. I had a conversation with a player’s father who was asking me about good coaches. Seems this father wasn’t happy with the coach his son had even though said teacher had gotten the kid to a plus-2 handicap. I told the father that changing coaches in midstream didn’t sound like my idea of success. A lot of times parents want name coaches, those who have earned a reputation in the professional game. The sad truth is that for every player a name coach has helped, you can bet there is someone he hasn’t helped. Changing coaches is a huge gamble.
6. Leave the psychology until later. Another father I spoke to asked me to recommend a good sports psychologist. His son was still in his teens, yet the father felt it was time to bring in a sports psychologist. Many parents think there is some sort of magic formula. There isn’t. Sports psychologists have become de rigueur recently. Some of these people have never even played in a club championship let alone felt the pressure of a big tournament, yet they are telling kids how they should act. Young minds are delicate instruments that can be easily ruined. Leave the psychology until later and let the kid play.
7. Earn your own way. A lot of amateurs earn a false sense of entitlement after attaining a modicum of success. They get fawned over by management companies, equipment companies and national golf unions, and life seems easy. Life isn’t always going to be easy. Don’t expect everyone to continue spreading out the red carpet. Be ready to earn your own way.
8. Don’t be seduced by the management companies. They scour the amateur game for potential players. They offer advice, but it isn’t always good advice. Like swing coaches, there are good ones and bad ones. Most management companies want amateurs to turn professional as soon as possible. They can make money off you then. They can’t while you are still an amateur. Don’t be rushed into the professional game. Turn pro when it’s right for you, not when it’s right for the management companies.
9. Treat people with respect. The people you meet on the way up are the same people you will meet on the way down. Treat them with respect because you just might need them when things are falling apart. There is no future in being arrogant.
10. Speed up! The pro game is slow enough already. We need faster players turning pro, not slower ones.
Posted: 5/6/2008
print
email
discuss
