Spring Swing Tuneups and Managing Expectations

After the worst winter since 1880-1881 (the one Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote about in The Long Winter), most of Michigan’s golfers will struggle to find last year’s game.

Range sessions and tune up lessons are de rigeur, but the most important thing after such a long layoff may be to just manage expectations. If you think you’re going to pick up where you left your game last fall, nothing but disappointment and anger awaits. In this early season, you’re going to be shorter, wilder and less consistent. Accept it.

For the early season, tee it up forward. That way, your shorter, wilder drives won’t lead to a domino cascade of errors. Shorter drives mean longer approach shots, with correspondingly higher rates of error. Longer approach shots mean more missed greens and longer putts when you do arrive in regulation. Longer putts mean more three putts. None of these things are good for your attitude.

I personally never want to quit playing golf as much as I do after a spring round when nothing feels right or goes right.

Then go for a tune up lesson or two. I’ve been out a couple of times the past two weeks, and it is pretty evident to me that I’m going to need some lessons myself.

Kendall Academy’s founder Dave Kendall (of whom I wrote about last fall), has his crew ready for rusty golfers:

“After a really tough winter, we’re happy to see new and returning students taking lessons and getting serious about their game,” said Kendall, a two-time Michigan PGA Teacher of the Year. “Often, it’s just a matter of our students focusing on fundamentals under a teacher’s eye to get their game back in shape. But sometimes due to a long layoff or a rough pre-season in Florida, some bad habits have crept in that need to be fixed.”

Full press release below:

Spring clean up means swing clean up at Kendall Academy

(Ypsilanti, Mich.) After the longest and worst Michigan winter in memory, it’s time to park the snowblower and play golf. But you don’t just bounce out and swing like a two-time Masters champ. You’re rusty. Like the lawnmower, your swing needs oil, sharpening and maybe a spark plug. Old swing faults pop up like weeds. And there’s a lot of debris all over your game.

In short, you need help. Just like your yard needs some attention, your golf game needs a swing clean up. For over 18 years, golfers have visited Kendall Academy near Ann Arbor where its swing doctors have cured slices and duck hooks, chunked chips and putts that refuse to fall.

Dave Kendall’s staff of top-ranked PGA professionals have worked successfully with every level of player—beginners, juniors, golf league members, recreational, and competitive amateurs and professionals alike. They’ve seen them all and helped thousands of golfers enjoy the game more.

“After a really tough winter, we’re happy to see new and returning students taking lessons and getting serious about their game,” said Kendall, a two-time Michigan PGA Teacher of the Year. “Often, it’s just a matter of our students focusing on fundamentals under a teacher’s eye to get their game back in shape. But sometimes due to a long layoff or a rough pre-season in Florida, some bad habits have crept in that need to be fixed.”

Kendall and his roster of award-winning teachers frequently use teaching aids and everyday items to help in the learning process. Kendall Academy teacher and Michigan Golf Hall of Fame member Jack Seltzer uses a variety of aids. “My number one tool is video because with many students seeing is believing,” said Seltzer. “But I also use simple alignment sticks, two-by-fours, and boxes to help a student.” Seltzer said these aids can be found and used by students at home. “These are not expensive or fancy teaching tools,” added Seltzer.

Kendall also uses a variety of teaching aids but he offers an important caveat about them. “A swing aid is only effective if the student understands the logic behind it,” said Kendall, a past President of the Michigan PGA. “I only want my students using an impact bag, for example, if they grasp how to use it properly.” (Here’s a YouTube video on Kendall using a broom as a teaching aid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_nvNz1Uicg (Preview) )

Besides Kendall and Seltzer, there are seven other teaching pros at Kendall Academy at Miles of Golf in Ypsilanti: Paul Haase, Tom Harding, Scott Hayes, Nick Ma, Frank McAuliffe, Sandy Wagner and Jim Yuhas. Collectively, they’ve taught for almost 200 years.

Offering year round instruction, Kendall Academy is located at Miles of Golf, a full-service golf operation featuring a retail pro shop, practice facility, and state-of-the-art club-fitting center on Carpenter Road. To book a lesson or for more info, call 877-973-9005 or visit http://www.milesofgolf.com and http://www.milesofgolf.com/lessons/