Girls Class Lesson Plan # 3

Core Lesson: Honesty / Sportsmanship Core Values: Honesty – to tell the truth.

Sportsmanship – being or acting polite to others when winning or losing. Core Lesson: Five Steps for Meeting Someone New and A-L-R (Ask, Listen, Respond) Healthy Habit: Safety – Actions done to stay out of danger and keep the PLAYer from getting hurt.

Friends– People who like, trust and support each other; often share common interests.

Rules of Golf and Etiquette: Teeing Ground, Pace of Play and Spirit of the Game Golf Fundamental: Target Awareness and Clubface / Ball Contact Homework: Pages 7 - 8 PLAYer book or Pages 7 - 9 Par book

Warm-Up: Golf Fitness Warm-Up Activity (odd numbered workout day – see separate “Golf Circuit Warm-Up” handout located on the private coach website)

Opening Questions: After completing the golf fitness warm up exercise above, coaches and participants will discuss the following questions:

1. When you hear the word honesty, what do you think about?2. Why is it important to be honest in golf? Also in other areas?3. Has there even been a time when you were dishonest? What happened? 4. Why is being safe important?5. How can you make a positive first impression?6. What do you do when you meet someone new? (Go over five tips for meeting and greeting found in

Par yardage book)a. Face the other person and remove your hat if you are wearing one.b. Smile and look him or her in the eye.c. Give a firm handshake.d. State your name clearly and loudly enough to be heard.e. If you need more information, ask a question.

7. How do you create a conversation with someone you just met? (Go over ALR – Ask, Listen, Respond found in Par yardage book)

8. What is the difference between open and close ended questions? Give an example.9. How do you pick your friends and why is it important to pick wisely?

Please do not spend more than 5 - 8 minutes discussing all the material above.

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Rules of Golf and Etiquette:

The Spirit of the Game: – Golf is one of the few sports where the PLAYer is responsible for making sure that he/she is following the Rules and calls penalties on himself/herself. All PLAYers should conduct themselves in a disciplined manner, demonstrating courtesy and sportsmanship at all times. They need to follow the rules at all times and win or lose with grace.

Etiquette – Pace of Play – Play at a good pace and keep up. It is a group’s responsibility to keep up with the group in from of them. Pace of Play Recommendations. The player should play at a prompt pace throughout the round, including the time taken to: • Prepare for and make each stroke, • Move from one place to another between strokes, and • Move to the next teeing area after completing a hole.

Teeing Ground- Start each hole from between the two tee markers and no more than two club lengths behind them. This area is called the Teeing Ground. PLAYers may put the ball on a wooden or plastic tee (peg) to start a hole. It is OK if the ball falls off the tee before the PLAYer hits from the teeing ground. The PLAYer should just put the ball back on the tee and play with no penalty incurred. (Rule 6)

Review target awareness with the group using the info and diagram below.

Pick a Target - The first part of the aiming process is simply picking a target for the shot at hand.

Without a target in mind, the player will have no way of knowing where to aim, and will have very little chance of hitting a quality shot. The target doesn’t always have to be the hole itself, either.No matter what kind of target they pick, it is absolutely essential that they do pick one before moving on to the next step.

Find an Intermediate Target - Find an intermediate target. This intermediate target is usually just a few feet in front of the ball, and it is located directly on the line between the ball and the selected target.

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The idea is simple – instead of trying to aim at the target that may be hundreds of yards away, they can use the intermediate target that they have picked to aim their club properly. As long as they are aimed accurately with their intermediate target, they can feel great knowing that they are aiming correctly at the actual target as well.

So what should they pick for an intermediate target? They will be surprised at how many options they have when they look carefully at the ground in front of their ball. There is bound to be a small discolored spot or a blade of grass that is longer than the rest. Have them take a look down the target line while standing behind the ball and pick out something that they can easily spot from address. Once they stand over the ball, align their club face with that short target, take their stance, and get ready to hit a great shot.

1. Target Selection- Picking out the target by looking down the target line-standing behind the golf ball and visualizing your shot, both ball and target.

2. Distance to the Target- for beginning players this could be a simple as asking “do I use my far, medium or short distance club?” Intermediate players can identify the distance and make a club selection.

3. Reaction to the Target- we want to encourage players to get ready (pick out a target), get set (set up to the ball), and go (swing wasting little time looking at the ball).

Think about this - If players pointed a camera at the ground (or the ball), the camera would take a different picture than if the players pointed a camera towards the target in the fairway. Some swing technique issues can be addressed by changing the lens through which the target is viewed.

Clubface and Ball Contact

At address, an open clubface is one where the line of the face of the club points to the right of the target line (for right handed golfers). This is contrast to a square clubface which faces directly straight ahead.

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At address, a closed clubface is one where the line of the face of the club is pointing towards the left of the target line (for right handed golfers). This is in contrast to a square clubface which sees the club pointing directly at the target or an open clubface which sees it pointing to the right.

At address, a club placed on the ground in a square position is one where the line of the clubface is perpendicular to the target line. Indeed, a square clubface does not lean one way or the other and instead faces the target directly.

Improving your golf game begins by improving your ball striking, as there's nothing in golf quite like making pure contact. A pure golf shot is truly a magical feeling! Once you experience this sensation, you'll be hooked, trying to repeat it over and over again.

Achieving solid contact tends to be difficult for many golfers; it's what separates the pros and better players from average to higher-handicap golfers. The good news is that, if you experiment with the accompanying tips and drills, you too can learn how to hit solid and pure golf shots more often.

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Golf tip: Hands forward upon impactAs you strike the golf ball, the grip end of the club needs to be leading the hands and club head through the hitting area (a mandatory ingredient for hitting solid iron shots). This move causes the club head to compress the ball into the ground, which helps make your divot after the ball, not before. (Many times you hear golf instructors say strike the ball first on iron shots - this is what they are talking about.)

Golf tip: Correct postureThe second key to achieving solid contact is having correct posture throughout the swing, as this allows you to swing the club on the proper plane. The majority of golfers who struggle with making solid contact lose their posture as the club head connects with the ball. This leads to many miss-hits; fat and thin shots, hooks, slices and chunks. It is essential that you keep your posture, just as it is at address, throughout the swing.

Golf tip: Control the clubfaceThe final ingredient in the search for solid ball striking is controlling the clubface through impact. In other words, the face of your club must be square when it contacts the ball. Most golfers have the face of the club too open at impact, which leads to miss-hits that cause loss of power and distance. The clubface should rotate from open (prior to impact) to square (at impact) to slightly closed (after impact). The timing of this face rotation is what separates good ball strikers from not-so-good ball strikers. Proper practice will improve this timing.

Golf ball drill: By placing an extra golf ball behind your ball (12 to 14 inches behind the target line), you will learn to strike the ball with a descending blow and have your hands leading the club head through the hitting area. If you use a scooping motion (hitting the ground before you make contact with the ball), you won't be able to strike your ball without first hitting the extra ball.

Golf Activity 1: Zombie Bowling Putting

Objectives of Game: For players to touch each bowling pin with their golf ball until all pins have been eliminated. Only one pin at a time can be eliminated. Pins can be half cones or the special zombie bowling pins. The team that clears the pins first is the winner.

Objectives of Golf Fundamental: To develop target awareness with respect to the putting stroke.

Supplies: Colored golf balls, zombie bowling pins or cones, survey tape, tees and yarn

Description of the Set-up: Coaches set up their pins in the bowling alley. The alley can be outlined using survey tape or yarn. The tee area is 6 feet from the pins and the safety area is off of the green by at least 5 feet.

How to play: The first player of each team putts one ball at the pins. If they touch a pin it is eliminated. Each player putts one ball at a time rotating until all of the pins have been eliminated.

Coach notes: Encourage players to think about clubface / ball contact.

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Player Advanced: Move the tee box farther from the pins or move the pins farther apart from each other. You could also use smaller objects as pins if they are available.

Activity 2: Over-Under Chipping

Objectives of Game: To chip golf balls with specific trajectories either over or under a swim noodle

Objectives of Golf Fundamental: To learn trajectory and how the club’s loft affects trajectory; ground-time versus air-time. Concentrate on clubface / ball contact.

Supplies: string or rope, tees, golf balls, swim noodles, hoops, long tees, putter/irons/all clubs

Description of Set-Up: Near the putting green, set up a variety of swim noodles either lying on the ground (staked in with the long tees or stakes), curved to create an arch, or crossing to create an “X”. Next place tee markers to create the hitting stations. Finally, create circles or targets for the PLAYers to aim toward. As the participants become more experienced, the coach can either make the circles smaller or have the circle surround holes. Place the hitting stations at varying locations, to encourage participants to change up their clubface positioning.

How to Play: The player will need to make good ball contact to get the ball to go over the noodle and under the noodle. Students will use a wedge or sand wedge at both stations. Allow participants to discover various ways to chip the ball with the intention of getting it over or under the noodle. Upon hitting the three balls, have students switch to the other chipping station where they can hit another three balls. Allow participants to use tees to assist in getting some loft on the shot which goes over the noodle.

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***Coaches: As you are overseeing this activity, try to make a connection between meeting and greeting and chipping. The five tips for meeting someone new are a checklist for success in this activity. What kind of check list do players have when they are chipping? For example: 1) Grip down on the club 2) Stand slightly closer to the ball 3) Strike down on the ball and listen for a “thump” sound 4) Finish in balance. Having a few simple thoughts can lead to more success with chipping.

Over Under Chipping Aerial View (above)

Golf Activity 3: Full Swing with Hybrids

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Objectives of Activity: To hit to targets on the driving range and demonstrate a full swing.

Objectives of Golf Fundamental: Have the students demonstrate their target selection and intermediate target selections as part of their “Get Ready to Swing” routine.

Supplies: cones, tour sticks, noodles, golf balls, hula hoops and anything else that can be used as a target

Description of Set-Up: Set up 7- 10 hitting zones on the driving range using cones as tee markers. Use the diagram below to help guide your set-up.

How to Play: Split participants into groups of 2 - 3. Before beginning, the coach leading this station should explain that the hybrid is designed to be used for longer shots. Once finished each group should be assigned a hitting station. Players will hit to the noodles and hula hoop targets set up on the driving range. Each participant should hit a few shots and then switch with their partner. Have a coach work with the group that is waiting to hit by helping them with target selections.

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Bridge to Life: Use the following questions to help participants apply their “on-course” work to their “off-course” activities and experiences.

1. How did you use the golf fundamental Target Awareness today?2. Did you learn a new golf rule today?3. How are you going to practice your golf game over the next week?4. How did you display safety today? How are you going to be safe on the way home?5. How did you demonstrate sportsmanship and honesty today?6. How will you use your new meeting and greeting skills this week?7. What did you learn about ball contact and why is it important? 8. How do you plan to keep working on your clubface and ball contact when you practice?9. What are the 5 Tips for a Successful Meet and Greet?10. Do you feel more prepared to make a good “first impression” now?11. Why are friends who share your same values important?

Lesson Plan Progression: Activities will follow this sequence.

Fitness Warm Up Opening Discussion – Honesty, Sportsmanship, Safety, Friends and Meet and Greet Activity 1 – Zombie Putting Activity 2 – Over / Under Chipping Activity 3 – Full Swing Hybrids Bridge to Life Questions Homework Assignment - Pages 7 - 8 (PLAYer) or Pages 7- 9 (Par)

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