After observing a summer of elite golf in his home country, Scottish golf journalist, John Huggan, concludes that ladies are markedly inferior to men in all aspects of the short game. In pitching, chipping and putting, he surmises, women should be every bit as good as men. But just aren't.
Mr. Huggan speaks with golf coach David Whelan who's coached Paula Creamer, Rachel Hetherington and other high profile golf girls. He feels that when girls are learning the game, far too much emphasis is put on hitting balls off the tee ... and and a lack of technique around the greens is the direct result. Hmmm. According to this story, David Whelan is working to change that balance and is making strides toward narrowing, "perhaps the biggest gender gap in golf". If Paula's short game is any indication, and I'm not sure it is, he's on the right track.
Coach Whelan also seems to imply that, from a coaching standpoint, women are less confident and more needy than men thus requiring more encouragement and individualized attention.
I'm quite sure there'll be a few who disagree with this part.
Update - Check out Golf Chick's well-articulated response to John Huggan's story and David Whelan's observations.
GRRRR! You know how to get me to comment, don’t ya?
ReplyDeleteThese attempts by golf gurus to stir the pot they fill will crap about men being more capable of playing golf than women is hurting golf. Their attempt to rationalize superiority of one sex ability over another in golf pushes people who hear or read their essays away from even attempting to find out what golf is truly about. I could take up you entire blog on this issue, so I will just leave the details in my next book.
Bottom-Line: Initially, the primary interest by the majority of golfers, man or woman, which draws them to the game, is the full swing. The thrill to golfers in the beginning is the adrenaline high produced when they seemingly vaporize the ball out of sight with the driver. That feeling wanes to becoming a distance second place to their interest when they feel the satisfaction of chipping in from 50 ft to win a $100 Nassau. The fun, the thrills, the memories created and the agonies of defeat are all part of golf and are not gender based.
I also read that article and thought about posting about it. I just haven't decided whether or not it deserves my time to formulate an argument. Instead, I will probably address it in my own way, irrespective of one coach's opinion on a few elite golfers (there's a clue to how I feel about it).
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion:
ReplyDeleteGive me Paula, Lorena and SeRi from 100 yards out, against any three PGA pro's and the PGA guys will come in second best to the gals.
It's worth taking a look at some statements by Annika Sorenstam and Michelle Wie about the differences between shots around the green by PGA players--they suggest the men give themselves more options and have a wider variety of shots.
ReplyDeleteBut across the board men better than women on the wedge/short game? Look at Mi Hyun Kim, who until the last few weeks was playing great this year--if she averages 250 off the tee she's having a good week, yet she's in the top 5 in birdies on the LPGA. There are many many players like her and I would stack their short games up against any guy's on any tour.
That said, everyone can improve from 100 yards in and that probably makes the biggest difference in scoring at the elite level, so anyone who encourages LPGA pros to focus more on that aspect of the game I tend to give the benefit of the doubt. You do sometimes get the feeling that many on the LPGA take the Ben Hogan approach to the game--and I'd put Annika and Se Ri in that category.
what is this guy going to do next, analyze white's v. people of color?
ReplyDeletehe is taking a very strange approach to gaining attention in this day and age. maybe he should have a fried chicken dinner with fuzzy - who is probably the only guy who can relate to this asshole!
I heard one of the golf-guru-coaches say (a year ago or so) that he had done a an informal survey of the amount of time spent on full swing practice and time spent on the short game by female pro golfers vs male pro golfers. And that the females were spending much less time practicing the short game -- because there is so much talk about how much farther the boys hit the ball, how much stronger they are etc. And that the women should be focusing on the short game as much as the men do. As a girl golfer who spends much more time trying to hit it longer, that statement rang true for me. Since then, I have focused on my short game and have dropped my handicap index by 4 strokes.
ReplyDeleteWell, here's my take.
ReplyDelete