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Golf on Cape Cod - Personal Profiles
Golf Digest’S Best
Teachers in Your State Unlike many “best-of” lists in the golf professional world, which are judged and voted on by panels and nominated committees, and where politics is hard to avoid, this list was generated the good ol’ fashioned democratic way, by a jury of their peers. In order to identify the best teachers in each state, Golf Digest distributed ballots to over 1,000 teaching professionals, asking them to rank their peers on a grading scale. On a state-by-state basis, the list is a compilation of those voted best in their state in proportion to that state’s total teaching population - about 20,000 PGA, LPGA, and unaffiliated teachers. For example, there were 44 chosen in Florida and California, and only one teacher was chosen in Rhode Island, Vermont, and Montana. Golf on Cape Cod was able to catch up with Sue and Jane (Rebecca was busy juggling a tournament schedule and her responsibilities at the Wianno Club in Osterville) to discuss their career histories, their teaching philosophies and methodologies, the state of the golf world today, and the rate at which the LPGA is coming up on the sports radar. Perhaps not so surprisingly, these ladies love golf and they love their jobs. Their enthusiasm for the sport is infectious, and their desire to make people better people through playing better golf was an interesting, if not encouraging, characteristic of what it takes to be considered one of the best teachers of the game. Both Sue and Jane have been recognized for their teaching skills nationally and regionally, proudly wearing over 50 significant accolades between them. Are women better teachers? It’s possible, but the jury is still deciding the answer to that question. One thing is for sure, these two women know what it takes to succeed, and they know how to communicate success to others. Take a listen…
SUE KAFFENBURGH GOCC: Let’s start from the beginning. Did you play competitively before you started teaching? The first thing I did was play. I played every other sport and I thought golf looked kind of boring and non-competitive. What did I know? [with a sigh] So, later on, I bought a house on a golf course in Maryland, became an addict, and I couldn’t get enough. I quit my job and decided that I was going to see if I could make it. I played on the mini-tours for about two years. I didn’t make enough money for my lifestyle. One of the deans of the college I went to tricked me into realizing that I loved to teach. She complained that she couldn’t hit the ball a certain way and she wanted me to teach her, but it was really all a trick to help me find my “path”. GOCC: When did you begin teaching on the Cape?
So I came to the Cape. I kind of always knew I’d retire here, I just didn’t know it would be so soon. I put my clubs away after playing competitively for about a year. I didn’t want to see them. Then, I snuck down to the range at Hyannis, and people would come and watch. And eventually they asked me to work there. I started there almost reluctantly. But the teaching part has always been my passion. It was basically the teaching that drew me back to golf. I went and worked at Cranberry Valley. I worked for Gary Philbrick for a number of years. I became a Class A PGA professional. By then, I was focusing completely on teaching. I ended up back at Hyannis [Golf Club] and I was there for 17 years, until I came here [Dennis Highlands]. GOCC: Do you think it’s important to be a great player in order to be a great teacher? I really don’t. I don’t think they need to go together. It’s great for some specialty shots. It’s great for how you manage your brain. But the actual communication is really what teaching is all about. I think one of the reasons that you have three of us women on the Golf Digest list is because we bring something more to the party, in terms of communication. I think it has to do with our ability to listen better, to communicate better. And really to nurture better and accept whatever you bring.
When people come to a lesson, many of them are in great physical pain and also emotional pain, of being unsuccessful golfers being beat up by the game. And some people are uncomfortable bringing those feelings to a good-looking young golf pro with good abs. I don’t know maybe we’re gentler than that. GOCC: So, women are better teachers? Do you want me off the record or on the record [laughing]? Actually, I believe there are great teachers from both genders. I do believe, however, that women tend to go a little deeper in the sense of taking on your success as part of their success. First of all, they [the men] don’t know how our body works, really. They might be great players, and there’s that question of, here’s a kid say, 25, 30 years old, great player, but what does he really know about helping Mrs. Lipton, 65 years old, get the golf ball up in the air? And he’ll maybe look at his watch. He wants to get on with it. Maybe he hasn’t really studied teaching. There is an art to it. You had better be current because there are so many changes. GOCC: What do you mean by current? What I mean by current is that so many people teach what they taught 10 years ago, 20 years ago, 30 years ago, I mean that wouldn’t occur to any other professional. Think of heart surgery. Even 20 years ago, 5 years ago, things change. I’m so passionate about this that every year in the off-season, I scan the horizon. I go to every guru I know, and I pick their brains. I sit at their feet and watch what they do, and take some of this guy and some of that guy and some of that guy, and make my own recipe. Last year I went out with Butch Harmon. I had served on a committee with his brother, Craig. He had this great seminar out in Las Vegas – himself, Jim Hardy, Jimmy Ballard, and a number of other guys – and it was just fabulous. You know, I’m going to listen to them. And it really changed what I teach. It changed the information.
GOCC: How do you approach a new student? The first thing I do is de-brief you. I want to know what you think you’re supposed to do. Most teachers don’t de-brief their students before a lesson; you come to the lesson and you’re hitting the ball to the right, or whatever the problem might be. The teacher gives you some pointers, asks you to memorize them. And you go off, and “see ya later”. See, that style is not going to stick. This is a motor sport. Whatever I present to you has to be somewhere in your experience. You have to have a comparable feeling, so you can own it yourself. If I just give you words and you memorize them, it’s never going to hold true out on the golf course. There are so many urban myths out there about what people think they are supposed to do: left arm straight, elbow down, take it back to here, wherever here is (which is usually the wrong place), how do you start down… For me, the whole thing is, do you have control of the club head? Do you know what the club head is supposed to do? Do you have any intent in terms of what that club head does? It’s not so much about what you are doing wrong, it’s more about what I am supposed to be doing right, or how do I do it right. Only telling you what you’re doing wrong is not going to fix anything. If you want to see that, just go out on the range out here, and listen to the spouses tell the other spouses what they’re doing wrong. If all you do is point out the things that are wrong, you are not receiving any information on how to fix it. For me, there are two big elements. The first element is that the only communication that we have is with our hands, because our hands hold onto the club head. If you have no information about what your hands are supposed to be doing, they’re not necessarily going to follow what your bigger muscles are going to do. The second, that’s hardly ever pointed out, is that this is a game that we play from the side. Most people are putting in rules as if they were standing croquet-like, right on the target line. They get their aim wrong based on that idea. Their intentions are wrong based on that idea. People forget that the perspective is from the player’s point of view. It’s a side-on game. Most people are trying to swing the club straight back and straight through, but it doesn’t go that way if you’re standing four feet to the side. If we were playing croquet, it would be straight, but of course we’re not playing croquet. GOCC: On the grand scale, statistics everywhere say that less people are playing golf. Do you see evidence of that trend as a teaching professional on Cape Cod? Well, I think there’s no question that all the numbers say that the game is flat. I see new people coming in to taste the game, and then I see them leaving - more so in the women’s population. I think that is because their needs aren’t being met. They’re not getting information that makes the game fun. Some people have attributed it to the cost of playing golf. I think that’s a factor, but I don’t think it’s the factor. The bottom line is, a lot of these people aren’t having fun. And that’s our job. If you don’t teach them something that’s easy and fun, they’re not going to stay. Maybe it’s because I am a teacher and I see so much heartache out there, people ready to walk away because of the failure in the sport. But, really, how many times is somebody going to keep at something that they don’t do well at? I’m really passionate about this point, but I think that’s where the problem is. I think as teachers, this is awful, but I think a lot of teachers out there really shouldn’t get paid. I think a lot of teachers, women teachers included, are not stepping up to the plate. As a teacher, I can effect change in people’s lives, and get them to have more fun on the golf course. Well, I think their bodies might have something to do with it [laughing]. I mean, let’s get real here. Also, I think the average golfer can relate more to a young gal who’s smaller than they are, hitting it farther. They are intrigued by the women. GOCC: After 20 years of a career teaching golf, celebrated with various awards and recognition, what keeps the job fun for you? I love it. A guy I had today, he’s probably around 70 years old. He had never heard the information that I shared with him. He’d come with all those myths – couldn’t get the ball in the air, and so on – and he was having a dreadful time. So I start telling him the simplest of simple cause-and-effect things. And he’s walking around shaking his head. He can’t believe what he’s just been told. It’s like giving him a new life. Yeah, I get off on that. He stayed on the range during my next two lessons, hitting ball after ball, and just having the best time. For me, if I can bring that kind of new energy and new experience and better ball flight, and therefore better feelings to a person, I really feel responsible for his day today. When I can do that, then coming to work is the best thing in the world.
JANE FROST GOCC: Do you still play competitively? Not anymore, it’s either going to be that I pay the bills via teaching or I pay the bills via playing. And, actually, to follow my heart, it’s all about teaching. When I played competitively, it was great fun. I enjoyed the opportunity that I had to play. But the real key for me was when I was playing the mini-tour in 1984–1985. I had the opportunity to teach a junior clinic after the round was done. And I was more excited about teaching the junior clinic then I was about playing in the tournament. I said to myself, ‘Ok, hello, there is a message here.’ And definitely, my passion has always been to teach. I’ve had the opportunity to be a general manager and the head professional over at Holly Ridge. I just keep coming back to the fact that I want to teach. GOCC: Did you start teaching on Cape Cod?
GOCC: I can’t even imagine working for someone for 29 years… And now you’re supposed to say, ‘you don’t look old enough to have worked for someone for 29 years’ [laughing]. But seriously, when I see my name on a list, the peers have voted me as one of the top in the state; to me there should be an asterisk next to my name because it is not just about me. I have learned so much from Bart Brown and from Lynn Marriot, Peter Nielsen, and Chuck Hogan, and all of my peers in the PGA and all of my peers in the LPGA, and there have been so many people who have contributed to my success that I hardly stand alone on that list. It is an asterisk that I would want to say thank you to everyone who has contributed to my success. GOCC: How were you able to create an environment where so many people were willing to help you through your career? Because I was willing to use these [pointing to her ears] more than this [pointing to her head]. I would listen and be a little sponge. I hardly think that I know all there is to know, especially about teaching. I have so much more to keep learning. GOCC: How do you handle a situation where you’ve gone through a particular regiment with a student, and you learn something different that contradicts the previous lesson? I don’t know if I’ve ever found that it’s counteracted what I’ve taught, but better yet enhanced or clarified a point that I had wanted to make. I mean, I will read any kind of theory or method that is out there. And as I ask my students to be, I try to be a filter for the information. Or one of my favorite sayings, ‘Minds are like parachutes, they work best when they’re open.’ I don’t want to be closed-minded, because what if the secret is out there. I do believe that the secret lives within all of us, and we have to go on our self-exploration to find the answers. The more I can help guide my students and coach them towards understanding and self discovery, the greater the opportunity they will have to be successful. Two different entities. I think it’s important, that through my playing, I’m able to demonstrate to my students. In other words, I can’t ask a student to do something that I can’t do. I have several prominent juniors, and I work a lot with their balance and doing crazy things like hitting off of beach balls and standing on balance pods. If I can’t do that and demonstrate for them, they are going to laugh me off the lesson tee. So I better know what I’m doing. I’ve talked to tour players, and they’re always asking me, ‘How do you teach for 12 hours a day?’ And I ask, ‘How do you travel 12 months a year?’ It’s a different personality, a different mindset, and I’m totally in awe of what they do year after year as touring professionals. I think my playing definitely helped me appreciate what a good coach means and how it helped me to be successful, and I hope that I’m equally as good a coach for the clients that come to see me. GOCC: How do you describe your teaching style to a new student?
For example, I had Sandra Haynie as a student – LPGA tour Hall of Famer who won 42 times. Do you think she really needs help with her golf swing? No. Not so much the swing, she needs to check her alignment, her set-up, her posture, ball position, and all the things that the recreational or club-type players totally ignore. So, if a tour professional of her caliber still needs an outside set of eyes, everyone does. Our perception is that we are doing things correctly. The reality is that our perception isn’t always accurate. An outside set of eyes is very important. The message to my students is – “Let’s see what you’re capable of doing.” We write notes, and they have a notebook that they keep during their lessons that I call their owner’s manual, golf my way, and then they sign their name. Then they have to figure out how they’re able to do it when they’re doing their best. What is it that allows me to create the best motor program that creates the best and most consistent results? I don’t believe that there is a cookie cutter golf swing. Everyone is different. Tour players appear to be cookie cutter because they are all in great physical shape. They’re all playing as a business. So the risk/reward is much higher. They appear to be much more consistent…but I’ve got someone with a fused neck and a hip replacement. I have to teach them differently. I have to teach them in their own unique way, because to them, success might be getting the ball airborne for the first time in a year. And that is just as exciting to me as watching a new golfer hitting it for the first time, or a tour player hitting it next to the flagstick for the tenth time in a row. GOCC: Statistically, I’m reading that golf is flat. It’s not a growing sport. Are you seeing a trend in that direction from a day-to-day teaching professional perspective? The golf schools are very flat, if not on a decline, but my private clientele, who have their own little group who want that personalized attention, that part of the business is going very well. GOCC: Why do you think that is? The challenges for new golfers are everywhere. The golf courses are very difficult. It’s so interesting that golfers have this mindset that harder is better. It seems that every golf course that is built nowadays, it’s like how long can we make it, how difficult can we possible make it? Let’s just put a volcano and a fire pit out there! Let’s just throw everything at them, so that they shoot 2010 as a golf score. Why can’t we have user-friendly golf courses? We need shorter golf courses that would encourage new golfers, male or female, junior or senior, doesn’t matter. Are there men’s and ladies ski slopes? No. It’s by ability. We come to golf and it’s like, ‘oh no, the women’s tees are up there’, and there are a lot of guys that need to be playing from those red tees based solely on ability. The heck with these ladies tees and men’s tees, no such thing; the USGA recognizes them as front, middle, and back. No more of this men’s and ladies stuff. Let’s play golf on a golf course that allows us to play in a shorter amount of time and to be more successful, and then they’ll come back and do it again. GOCC: Should the tees be based on handicap? Yes. Why not? They do that in Germany. You have to show your handicap. Not only does it give you what tees you’re going to play, but also what tee time you’re going to be playing. So the better players get the more prime time tee times. And the better players set the pace for the rest of the day. That’s what I ask people: would you go down the black double diamond ski slope just because it’s harder? ‘Well, I don’t know [they say], I might hurt myself.’ Well, based on that response, maybe we need to make them hurt themselves! The bottom line is that we need golf courses that allow people to play in a more timely fashion, that aren’t as expensive. During the boom years, people got greedy. All the owners got greedy. They were going up and up in prices. GOCC: There are three Cape women golf pros on Golf Digest’s list. No men. Are women better teachers? There are a lot of great guys out there. Bob Miller is a great teacher. I can’t explain how three women from Cape Cod got on that list. I said to Mike, “Maybe it’s what we drink in our water. Maybe we smile better.” It’s a vote of the peers. Is it personal interaction that we have with people? You’d have to ask the people that did the voting. All I can tell you is that I love to come to work every day. I appreciate everybody that has helped me get to where I am today. And I love to teach. I love to help people enjoy the game that has brought so much enjoyment to me over the years. You can learn so many things from golf. You can learn about yourself. You can learn how to deal with disappointment. I think it’s great for young people to challenge themselves, because it’s only them against the golf course. Them against they’re own personal demons – and we all have them. So it’s about how to defuse those demons. GOCC: In contrast to the declining golf numbers and the decreasing amount of people playing golf, the LPGA is showing a surge in popularity. Any ideas why? Well, we’ve got some exciting players. We have a commissioner who is grabbing the business by the horns, running it as a business and saying we are of value. We are a commodity that is to be recognized. And she’s shaken up a few things. And I think Carolyn Bivens has just done an outstanding job at recognizing where the frailties of the organization have been in the past and finding out why we haven’t been as successful. We’re only now realizing the potential of the industry. I mean, there’s no question that we need sponsor’s dollars, sponsor’s dollars, and did I mention sponsor’s dollars? When you’ve got the PGA and the LPGA players playing for similar purses, then we know we’re coming of age. We still don’t have the television exposure and the sponsors that are needed to get to that level. We are in a very small market with the Golf Channel. We’re still not getting the TV coverage and the sponsor dollars that we need. But I think what Carolyn is doing and has been doing is all positive. GOCC: So there’s room for improvement? There’s always room for improvement, no matter what you’re doing. Take Annika [Sorenstam, LPGA Tour Player]. Annika shot 59, and she says I could have done better. We can always do better, no matter what the score is. I could give the greatest lesson, but I’m always looking for ways to improve. GOCC: After 20 years of teaching, several prominent accolades, and your own business, why do you still love to do this? Look at my office [big laugh as she points to the golf range]. I oftentimes get asked, ‘Why aren’t you at a private golf course or why aren’t you at a state of the art technological facility?’ I don’t need it. I like the grass roots. And as far as teaching goes, I think seeing the smile on people’s faces when they get “it”, the “I did something for the very first time” feeling… that is so rewarding. Watching a young man who shoots 86 and comes back and shoots 72 the next day, just because we had a conversation and he got it. Watching people and helping people recognize things. That’s what I love about teaching. I also like to show people how to keep a balance and help people understand that it [golf] is a game. It is a sport. And even for those that were thinking about pursuing golf professionally, let’s keep it in perspective. Let’s have fun first, and good scores will follow. And whatever that fun is, keep it, keep a sense of humor, keep a sense of dignity, and always be a gracious champion – even in defeat. Golf is about the core values of life, and I can’t think of any greater vehicle of imparting that to young and older people alike. We need to be reminded about what it’s like to be a good human being first, and ‘Oh by the way, if you play good golf, that’s an added bonus’. We don’t define ourselves by our golf games, thank God. There are peaks and valleys in all of our lives, and it’s what we learn at the valley that defines what the next peak is going to be. Do we make it to the next level? Does it take a while? Keep moving forward and keep it in perspective. When you look at some of the great players, some of them were ball-beating-aholics, but a lot of them created balance…family life, personal life. It’s all about balance –and not letting it run your life, but making it a part of your life. And that’s what I love.
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I came to the Cape in 1982, and I had tried to qualify for the big tour a couple of times and realized that it was not for me. I started too late. My trunk of experience, especially in the short game, wasn’t exactly full enough.
If you’re a teacher and you’re not doing that, maybe you should do something else, because you owe it to the student to give them the best chance. 
I was fortunate enough to have a great mentor by the name of Bart Brown, and he and his family owned Middleton Golf Course, where I started, and subsequently bought Holly Ridge [where Jane F. was previously]. They have truly been the greatest supporters anyone can have, helping me through my career and constantly giving me the opportunities to be the teacher that I am today. Bart was not only a great mentor for me as well as a player, but also as a teacher and as a businessperson. I worked for them for 29 years. And it was just the most awesome experience because of their support throughout all those years. 
It’s all about the fact that each one is a unique individual, and I come to the practice tee with an open canvas. I have no preconceived notions. I don’t have a set agenda. I need to know what they’re goals are, what they hope to accomplish, what do they deem to be successful. And then I’ll guide them as to what they want to achieve, and try and show them how to reach their own goals.