There's an interesting blend here of discussion on the step from college to pro as well as pre-college to college that begs this question: for the average college golfer, is it easier to learn short game touch or OTT/approach? It seems (to an outsider) that the recent trends in speed training to lengthen distance off the tee ***when players reach body "maturity" around college age*** couples nicely with an earl(ier) learned touch around the greens, making improvements in approach a nice bonus. This is a super simplistic view, but I'm curious how score improvement data looks when comparing say a kid who has good short game that then betters their OTT/approach as opposed to a kid who already hits the ball well but then gains touch around the green?
In my opinion there are so many more unknowns when it comes to ball striking. If a freshman arrives on campus with poor ball striking skills there are more complex decisions needing to be made for the coach and player without perfect information. How are you going to change the swing and why? Will this swing change solve the miss pattern/improve the dispersion? That’s always a big unknown. Further, beating balls for hours every day increases the chances for injuries. To list a couple.
Short-game and putting is more straight forward. Sure, there’s technique involved in both as well, but much shorter feedback loops and less “risky”. Seems like you can get better quicker also!
I think Mikkel makes a great point about this in that improving ball striking through changing a swing takes a lot longer. He summed it up by saying “recruit good ball strikers and coach the heck out of their short games.” I really like that.
A few thoughts. Technology is making it easier to drive the ball long and straight, which is making it tougher to separate OTT. The best players in the world already have elite short games, also making it tough for them gain around the green on tour. Elite iron play / distance control still separates the best in the world.
From my vantage point the best college players drive the crap out of the ball (hardly ever are out of play) and separate with awesome mid/long range iron play. They do also hit most shots from around the green to kick/in. At the top of the college game ball striking is still likely the greatest separator. Short game / putting (lag putting - 3 putt avoidance) is probably more important in the middle of the pack…trying to separate yourself and become a lock for the post-season.
Good points. The best players in college play a lot like tour players. But the average college player are worse ball strikers, giving them higher frequency of shots around the green, where they are also worse than the best players. Which likely closes the race between approach and Around the Green. There are more ways to Rome (lower scores) for the average college golfer.
I think you can improve distance control on approach fairly quickly, but Changing ten guys’ swings when they get on campus to become good ball strikers is probably not a good idea. Won’t give very good scores for a while. But short-game and putting focus can yield quicker results.
Thank you for the input, Coach! I completely agree with the point about technology and that at different levels in college, different skills can be the separator. At the top of the college ranks it should be similar to the tour (ball striking) but at the lower level, a good short game can make a huge difference.
There's an interesting blend here of discussion on the step from college to pro as well as pre-college to college that begs this question: for the average college golfer, is it easier to learn short game touch or OTT/approach? It seems (to an outsider) that the recent trends in speed training to lengthen distance off the tee ***when players reach body "maturity" around college age*** couples nicely with an earl(ier) learned touch around the greens, making improvements in approach a nice bonus. This is a super simplistic view, but I'm curious how score improvement data looks when comparing say a kid who has good short game that then betters their OTT/approach as opposed to a kid who already hits the ball well but then gains touch around the green?
In my opinion there are so many more unknowns when it comes to ball striking. If a freshman arrives on campus with poor ball striking skills there are more complex decisions needing to be made for the coach and player without perfect information. How are you going to change the swing and why? Will this swing change solve the miss pattern/improve the dispersion? That’s always a big unknown. Further, beating balls for hours every day increases the chances for injuries. To list a couple.
Short-game and putting is more straight forward. Sure, there’s technique involved in both as well, but much shorter feedback loops and less “risky”. Seems like you can get better quicker also!
I think Mikkel makes a great point about this in that improving ball striking through changing a swing takes a lot longer. He summed it up by saying “recruit good ball strikers and coach the heck out of their short games.” I really like that.
A few thoughts. Technology is making it easier to drive the ball long and straight, which is making it tougher to separate OTT. The best players in the world already have elite short games, also making it tough for them gain around the green on tour. Elite iron play / distance control still separates the best in the world.
From my vantage point the best college players drive the crap out of the ball (hardly ever are out of play) and separate with awesome mid/long range iron play. They do also hit most shots from around the green to kick/in. At the top of the college game ball striking is still likely the greatest separator. Short game / putting (lag putting - 3 putt avoidance) is probably more important in the middle of the pack…trying to separate yourself and become a lock for the post-season.
Good points. The best players in college play a lot like tour players. But the average college player are worse ball strikers, giving them higher frequency of shots around the green, where they are also worse than the best players. Which likely closes the race between approach and Around the Green. There are more ways to Rome (lower scores) for the average college golfer.
I think you can improve distance control on approach fairly quickly, but Changing ten guys’ swings when they get on campus to become good ball strikers is probably not a good idea. Won’t give very good scores for a while. But short-game and putting focus can yield quicker results.
Thank you for the input, Coach! I completely agree with the point about technology and that at different levels in college, different skills can be the separator. At the top of the college ranks it should be similar to the tour (ball striking) but at the lower level, a good short game can make a huge difference.