With youngsters, never confuse playing and instruction BY RICH CONWELL
A few weeks back I wrote a column responding to various questions e-mailed to me throughout the past few weeks. Well it seems as if this ideas has caught on as I have received several more questions through the e-mail system, so I thought this week I would answer some of the more intriguing of these questions. So following is a list of your questions with my answers. As always if there are any questions please feel free to e-mail me and I will answer them directly or in this column. When should my child start playing? This is a question that has no correct answer, as each child is different, but there are some definite guidelines to follow. First off is he/she interested? If so, a good par 3 course is a great way to introduce golf to children seven and under. If the child shows seems to be pretty adept at playing, a shorter regulation course using the most forward tees would be the next step. The main guideline to follow is: keep it fun, keep it short and never confuse playing for instruction. Learning the game is hard enough, so do not make playing any harder than it has to be. Give the basic instruction so no one gets hurt and have fun with it. The love of the game will come from having fun with it at an early age. Do not overload with instruction, do develop a fun environment for the child to enjoy. How do you become a PGA golf professional? A PGA Class A Professional is required to complete a rather rigorous program in order to call himself or herself a member of the PGA of America. First is the professional readiness orientation (PRO) that introduces new people to exactly what being a golf professional entails. From there you are required to show reasonable playing ability by passing the Playing Ability Test (PAT) which is two rounds of golf in one day with a set target score that must be matched or beaten in order to pass the test. Usually the score needed to pass the test is 155 for 36 holes or 18 hole scores of 78 and 77. Once this step is completed there are three more levels of PGA education, each lasting one week in the classroom and testing, each of which requires approximately four months of preparation per level of education. Once all levels are completed, an oral interview is conducted that assures the PGA of America of your knowledge and dedication to the game. If successful at all levels, you are then elected to membership in the PGA of America. The classes are pretty intense and cover all areas of the golf business, including merchandising, teaching, club fitting and repair, rules of golf, customer relations, retail management, turf grass management and general business/retail management. Sound pretty difficult? Well in reality it actually is, especially the playing segment of the program. It seems to appropriately educate and eliminate candidates, as there are only 25,000 PGA golf professionals in the United States of America.
Who determines, writes and revises the Rules of Golf? The rules are administered and written by the United States Golf Association. The USGA is the governing body of golf in North America and one of two governing bodies worldwide, the other being the Royal & Ancient Society located in Scotland. The rules are reviewed and revised every two years and updates or modifications can be done on an annual basis. While the rules are at times confusing, the USGA is dedicated to educating everyone about the rules and does its level best to keep them as simple as possible.
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The first three people to email the correct answer to the following question will win One Dozen Pro V1 golf balls. What two golf courses in Pennsylvania once boasted Byron Nelson and Ben Hogan as their Head Golf Professionals?
Rich Conwell is the PGA Head Golf Professional at Uniontown Country Club. Rich is an avid teacher of the game of golf and has developed numerous scholarship winners, one state champion and two regional/national event winners. Rich is also extremely proud of his work with beginning players and junior players. Rich Conwell’s column appears in Sunday editions of the Herald-Standard. Conwell may be contacted at richconwell@atlanticbb.net