Madonna - Coaching Golf Successfully

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Madonna, Bill, 1945

Coaching golf successfully / Bill Madonna.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 0-7360-3391-2

1. Golf--Coaching. I. Title.

GV979.C6 M33 2001

ISBN: 0-7360-3391-2

Copyright 2001 by William J. Madonna

All rights reserved. Except for use in a review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying, and recording, and in any information storage and retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

Notice: Permission to reproduce the following material is granted to instructors and agencies who have purchased Coaching Golf Successfully: pp. 22, 23-24, 43-46, 48, 53, 56, 59-61, 66, 69, 70, 73, 75, 77, 85, 88, 92, 94-95, 104, 105, 106, 137, 139, 140, 163, 164, 165, 166, 169-170. The reproduction of other parts of this book is expressly forbidden by the above copyright notice. Persons or agencies who have not purchased Coaching Golf Successfully may not reproduce any material.

Acquisitions Editor: Martin Barnard; Developmental Editor: Kent Reel; Managing Editor: Cynthia McEntire; Assistant Editor: Kim Thoren; Copyeditor: Karen Marker; Proofreader: Pamela S. Johnson; Indexer: L. Pilar Wyman; Graphic Designer: Nancy Rasmus; Graphic Artist: Tara Welsch; Photo Manager: Clark Brooks; Cover Designer: Jack W. Davis; Photographer (cover):David Sanders; Art Manager: Craig Newsom; Illustrator: Dom Lupo; Printer: United Graphics

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To my family, Bonnie, Nancee, and Bill Jr.
Their support and talents have always made me look good.

CONTENTS

S ince youre holding this book, the odds are good that youre a golf coach, or you know someone who is. Now, lets get one thing straight: The typical golf coach is not like a football coach or a voice coach or a debate coach. The truth is, the typical golf coach doesnt exist. Golf coaches come in a staggering variety.

You may be a knowledgeable, accomplished player of the game. But frankly, I doubt it. Please, dont take that personally. I was just playing the percentages. The fact is, among the 36,000 or so golf coaches across America, precious few know much about the game. That doesnt mean theyre not suited to be coaches. The truth is, its not important that you be able to shoot par, or quote the rules of golf verbatim, or name the last 10 US Open champions. Whats important is a more elusive qualityand the fact that youve acquired this book means you already have that qualitycommitment.

Sadly, commitment was not the distinguishing characteristic of my own high school golf coach, Mr. Cooney, a chain-smoking industrial arts teacher who wore a wrinkled Lieutenant Columbo raincoat 365 days a year, had the personality of an embedded ball, and didnt know a 5-iron from a waffle iron. He was assigned to me and my teammates, however, because he possessed the one indispensable asset of any golf coacha station wagon.

Cooney ferried the six of ustwo in the front seat, three in the back, and the sixth guy in the way-back with the clubsto and from our nine-hole matches, where he sat in the club parking lot and smoked for three hours. Sometimes on the way home he even remembered to ask us who won. He was without question the lowest form of life in the golf phylum.

The highest form of life is the author of this book, Bill Madonna. I came to know Bill a decade or so ago when GOLF Magazine named him as one of the top 100 teachers in America. At the time, he was the teaching professional at the Baltimore Country Club, giving lessons 12 hours a day.

But Bills commitment to teaching the game went well beyond his well-heeled members. A few years earlier, the National Golf Foundation had asked him to conduct a seminar for 100 golf coaches, mostly high school teachers, in Pensacola, Florida. He had no experience with golf coaches and was stunned when the majority arrived wearing tennis shorts, sandals, tank tops, and an array of other items too ludicrous to mention. Many of these men and women had never set foot on a tee, a green, or anywhere in between.

They had the demeanor of educatorsthey were one of the most dedicated, eager, willing, and interested groups Id ever been in front of. he says, but very few of them had any awareness of golf.

Not long thereafter, Madonna founded NAGCE, the National Association of Golf Coaches and Educators, with the goal of giving the nations golf coaches the same information, support, and structure that the coaches of other sports have had for decades. Today, his organization numbers nearly 20,000 members who mentor over 300,000 junior boys and girls. NAGCE has the support of two of the games greatest names, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, as well as the USGA and several other golf industry leaders.

Coaching Golf Successfully is the official training manual for NAGCE. For the first time, it brings together between two covers everything a golf coach needs to mold a fine team of golfers as well as a team of fine individuals. Its a shame that my golf coachand the thousands like himnever had this book. But on behalf of all the kids out there now, Im awfully glad its here.

George Peper
Editor-in-Chief
GOLF Magazine

To my parents, for setting the standards by which I live.

To Bonnie, whom I met when I was four days old and married twenty years later.

To Royce Hewitt, my first boss in the golf business and godfather to my son.

To Bill Strausbaugh Jr.; no one was more honored to be a part of his flock.

To Don Rossi, former director of the National Golf Foundation, who believed in my abilities even more than I believed in myself.

To George Peper, Jim Frank, and Lorin Anderson of GOLF Magazine, who believe in and are helping further my dream for NAGCE.

To my fellow PGA and LPGA members, who have continued to support NAGCE.

And to the thousands of coaches I have met through NAGCE.

All photos courtesy of Bill Madonna and NAGCE, except for the following:

1996 Terry Wild Studio

Sport the Library/SportsChrome USA

Louis A. Raynor/SportsChrome USA

Sport the Library/Darren England

Michael Zito/SportsChrome USA

Rob Tringali Jr./SportsChrome USA