By Kurt Dusterberg When Jason Widener was a teenager, golf came easily. He won the USGA’s Junior Amateur championship in 1988, and followed it up by signing with Duke University, where he won medalist honors at the ACC Championship as a freshman in 1990. Then everything changed. “Three quarters of the way through my freshman…
By DAVID DROSCHAK It’s the 50th anniversary of The Beatles coming to America, so it’s fitting Tony Keeton appears to have finally found his way. After migrating from England to the United States in 1997 to play golf at Campbell University, and then bouncing around local clubs such as Lochmere, The Neuse and Johnston County…
By Kurt Dusterberg For more than a decade, Dona Lerner made her name as a golf instructor at The Preserve at Jordan Lake Golf Club outside of Pittsboro. That was her comfort zone, until she asked herself a question. “There’s a time when you say: ‘Am I complacent? Am I making the effort to touch…
By Kurt Dusterberg When PGA professional Doug Hodges created SwingPals four years ago he wanted to use the game of golf and all its virtues to help kids reach their potential. But he didn’t just test the tenets of the game on the sport’s usual clientele. Instead, he took golf where the values were needed…
By Seth Kaplan I often say to my golfers, “You go for the reward, you get the reward!” However, too often competitive juniors, collegiate players, and pros do not trust in their shotmaking abilities, especially when they have opportunities to score. For example, let’s say you are 100 yards out and the pin is in…
Former caddy for Payne Stewart shifting golf careers By DAVID DROSCHAK Mike Hicks has read thousands of left-to-right putts on the PGA Tour during his 33 years as a caddy, toted the bag for major champions Payne Stewart and Justin Leonard, traveled the globe, and witnessed professional golf’s psychological pressures up close and personal. A…
By Stuart Hall Golf history is abundantly filled with victories claimed as a result of another golfer’s failures. Few can forget Rory McIlroy’s final round at the Masters two years ago. He began the day with a four-stroke lead, but starting with the 10th hole, made triple bogey-bogey-double bogey en route to an 80 as…
By DAVID DROSCHAK Putting and short-game instructor David Orr had a nice list of clientele from his humble and somewhat secluded home base in small town Buies Creek that included PGA Tour players Charlie Wi, Roberto Castro, Troy Matteson and North Carolina’s Neal Lancaster. So it was exciting last June when he received a call…
Ben Hynson sits in Lochmere Golf Club’s grill room on a Thursday morning, relaxed and looking refreshed. Around him golfers pass en route to tee times; a staff member wonders aloud if mats should be used on the practice range; and a nearby table of men debates whatever comes to mind. For more than 25…
As a performance coach I have had many conversations with students who think confidence is built through hours of practice and multiple repetitions. They believe they must fix problems in their swing and get it “right” before they’re able to see results. They want to see results before they believe in their ability. Though I…