Rinker’s Golf Tips Claude Harmon III Top 100 Teacher inducted his father, Butch, into the Teaching Hall of Fame last week at the PGA Show. Claude III went to the Masters for the first time in 1987 with his grandfather, Claude Harmon, who won the 1948 Masters as a club professional from Winged Foot Country Club. Claude III got a glimpse of what golf was all about and his grandfather took him into the Champion’s locker room to have breakfast and sit with some of the game’s greatest players. “It was a pretty special experience and one that made me want to get involved in golf at the highest level. Golf wasn’t cool and accessible when I was growing up. Just to see how great players treated my grandfather. They would put a chair out on the driving range and he’d watch people hit shots which he loved to do. My grandfather had an amazing “eye” to see things.”
Butch would say to Claude III, “It’s only what you learn after you think you know everything that really matters.” Butch’s philosophy was that he tried to make things simple and not take too long to help people. Golf is a fairly simple game that confuses smart people. Sometimes instruction can be so technical, an overload of information, and at the end of the day we are trying to get people to hit a ball with a stick and have them enjoy it. It doesn’t have to be difficult. So Claude III learned how simple his dad tried to make things and “when you are working with the best players in the world, you can’t guess what you think might work for them. You have to be right because they are trying to make a living and if I’m wrong, you are going to affect their livelihood,” stated Claude III.
“Players have fingerprints, things that they do in their swings, regardless of how bad they are. They have things in their golf swings that are positive that can help them, and if you change a few things, they can learn to play better golf. Get to the cancer of the golf swing. I’m changing golf swings less these days,” said Claude III. Tiger has had all these coaches and the public thinks they have to over haul their golf swings. There is a time and talent level to be able to accomplish that. Most people don’t have the time so with them don’t try to change massive things. Block practice is very good when you are first learning a skill but golf is a game played in a random fashion. So once you start to execute better shots practice in a random fashion to help you prepare to play your best golf out on the golf course. Claude Harmon can be reached at the Floridian in Palm City, Florida at 772-678-4210