Q. Did you ever call him off of a club or a read?
Jake: We talked about every club, shot and putt. I just tried to encourage him.

Q. Were you mad when he hit it in a bunker and you had to rake it?
Jake: Yes. (pretty matter of fact, no elaboration)

Q. Besides your dad, who was the coolest person you met this week?
Jake: Everyone was really nice to me. Doug Tewell especially. (Editor’s note – Doug was the first PGA TOUR pro that Stan ever met when he was a teenager.)

Q. Do you think being a caddie would be a good profession for you?
Jake: No. Some of them are a little weird.

Q. But would you do it again?
Jake: Yes.

Q. We have to know, did you get standard wages or a little extra?
Jake: Less. And 2/3 of what I got goes into a savings account

Q. What did you learn?
Jake: I learned a lot about how playing conditions affect your game. Plus watching the other players, their attitude was really good. They didn’t get too up or down when good or bad things happened.

Q. What was the best advice you gave your dad?
Jake: Slow down. Don’t get in a hurry.

Q. What was the worst part of the week?
Jake: No question, fighting the umbrella in the wind and rain.

PGA TOUR photos courtesy of Stan Badz

The evolution from player to teacher has been seamless for Stan Utley. His niche as a player always has been the short game and, in a game full of mysteries, there is nothing ambiguous about the value of the short game.

After years of grinding on the professional golf tours, Utley has taken his area of expertise and turned it into something very rewarding. He has emerged as one of golf’s gifted and most in-demand instructors.

This week, Utley returns to his roots as a tournament player when he tees it up for the first time on the Champions Tour. He qualified Monday for the Toshiba Classic at Newport Beach Country Club, where Nick Price will defend his title.

“It’s certainly exciting,” Utley said. “I have completely focused on teaching golf and have played maybe two events a year. As this year rolled up and I became age-eligible for the Champions Tour, I kind of sat down and made a goal. Initially, I’d like to check out my game for about six events and continue with my teaching and corporate outings.”

Utley celebrated his 50th birthday in January. The Toshiba Classic is the first event for which he tried to Monday qualify, and he made it. Utley shot 67 at Goose Creek Golf Club in Mira Loma.

What happens after Utley gets his feet wet in those first few Champions Tour events?

“I would have to play really well,” he said. “I’m not going to predict anything. I love the teaching side of my career. And I have no big anticipation of how I might do. People ask me, ‘How are you playing.’ I haven’t kept my score for a long time and until you play, you don’t know.”

It’s not a defense mechanism against any potential disappointment.

“It’s a big taste of reality,” Utley said. “For lots of us who had a career like mine, so many hard times as a player, I feel overwhelmed and blessed to have a career now teaching golf. I’ve been far more successful with my teaching than with playing.

“For a long period of time I said I was a player who taught. I think I grew out of that and realized it’s likely I’m much better at teaching than playing. I love the teaching side.”

Utley, a Missouri native, turned professional in 1984. He won the 1989 Chattanooga Open on the PGA TOUR and three times on the Nationwide Tour — the 1993 Cleveland Open and the Louisiana Open and Miami Valley Open in 1995.

Utley’s strength was always in the short game. He is a whiz around the greens and holds the PGA TOUR record for fewest putts in nine holes — 6 — at the 2002 Air Canada Championship.

What he discovered along the way is that he is as good as relating his ability and knowledge to others. That’s not something easily done. It takes a certain intellectual capacity and talent to convey the message. Utley has it. His list of students over the years has been impressive, including Champions Tour players Jay Haas, Craig Stadler and Peter Jacobsen; and Sergio Garcia and Darren Clarke among others. Haas credits his resurgence as a Champions Tour major winner to Utley’s help.

In the process, Utley has gained a well-deserved reputation as one of golf’s top instructors.

As an author, Utley has produced four excellent instructional books: The Art of Putting, The Art of the Short Game, The Art of Scoring and The Art of the Swing.

The Art of Putting, published in 2006, was the first. In it, Utley breaks down the putting stroke and teaches how to attain and keep a repeatable stroke. He does it in a straightforward way and in his typically unassuming manner.

“The biggest thing I would say that has helped my game is my friends now are some of the best teachers in the world,” Utley said. “Meeting Jim Hardy radically improved my swing. Hanging out with Mike Adams a lot over the past three, four years has radically improved my knowledge. I’m rubbing shoulders with the best teachers. I sit and hang out and chat with Butch Harmon and realize he coaches the whole game, he doesn’t just coach swing.

“Being around guys like that makes my teaching way better but also has enlightened me as a player. It’s been huge.”

As Utley embarks this week on his Champions Tour career, he is likely to find out just how huge it has been.

Tell us something meaningful about the first time you met Stan.
Paige: “He said, I always thought your brother would call me first.” (Paige’s brother Brock plays the Nationwide Tour.)

Stan has an “aw shucks” demeanor and delivery. When you first met, did you think he was just a good ole country boy?
Paige: “Wait, I still think he is…”

Everyone remembers the best shot they ever hit. What was yours?
Paige: “A skinny 3-iron for a hole-in-one when I was 13. It was 139 yards. Just goes to show that everyone needs a little luck now and then.”

What is the one thing that Stan tells you every time you see him?
Paige: “You are a great putter.”

He is indeed a great encourager. But enough about Stan, this is shaping up to be your best year on tour. Congratulations. To what do you attribute the success?
Paige: “Confidence. In myself but also the process. I worked really hard on a lot of changes in the last 3 years without immediate results, but stuck with it because I had faith that it would pay off. I think it has…or at least started to.”

You’re a Washington Husky. How did you end up in Scottsdale?
Paige: “I knew that I wanted to stay on the west coast and I had heard they have great summers…I mean winters.”

Most people ask what is the most played song on your iPod. We want to know which song causes you to immediately hit skip?
Paige: “Why would I have it on my iPod if I was going to skip it? But radio, almost all Lady Gaga songs…I hate that I like her latest.”

Yeah, we apologize. That was a lame question. Apparently we’ve downloaded songs that we really don’t like and thought everyone did. Paige…? Where did she go?

Here’s a small lift from the interview:

Your previous books have focused on the short game. How far into the full swing does your new book go?

I have tipped over into the full swing with this book, but most of it is still about my short game principles. A lot of the principles that apply to short-game shots also apply to the full swing. The impact area is the same, the full swing is just bigger.

When it comes to what I’m looking for and what I share with players, one of the core things I want people to do is to hit a shot and ask, “Ball, what happened?” The ball tells us so much based on how it flies, as long as we know how to ask it the right questions. [...more]

You can read the entire interview by visiting Putterzone.com, or you can jump directly to the interview page by clicking here.

I hope you enjoy reading the interview. Drop me a comment with your thoughts.

First, while my earlier books focused on specific shot dynamics…putting, pitching and other parts of the short game, this one encompasses all of those PLUS covers one major factor that makes these things work…the sequence of the swing itself.

The other thing that’s important in this new book relates to technology. I really appreciate some of the benefits that technology has brought to the game of golf. Titanium, space age composite materials, graphite & steel derivative products and other interesting materials have all enabled good players to play better.

But, the technology I’m talking about here is different: the Internet, small HD digital cameras, super slo-mo techniques, visual overlays, Smartphones and a whole bunch of other technologies that I can’t hope to fully understand, but which are useful in both teaching and learning.

Take My Teaching Techniques to the Range

When Matt Rudy and I began talking about writing The Art of the Swing, we both realized that writing the book was not going to be the hard part. We also agreed that the concepts in the book could be demonstrated through sequenced photos, but even well-done photos might not quite convey the new ideas in an easy-to-understand form for the readers. Video was certainly the ‘a-ha’ solution, but do we put a CD-ROM or DVD in the book? Or, could we sell the book and separately price a DVD that you could purchase after reading the book? We kicked those ideas around and finally came up with a very unique solution…and, it’s another technology that is changing things in a big way: Microsoft Tag.

If you’ve ever seen a bar code on a can of soup in the supermarket, then you get the basic idea of what scanning these codes is all about. Computers at the check-out stand accept the bar code scan and interpret these codes and ring up a price. Microsoft Tags embedded on some of the book’s pages will allow you to scan the tag with your Smartphone and then you can play a video at home, at the office (don’t tell the boss!) or on the practice range right on the phone. These video instructions are part of the book’s price, so you don’t have to pay extra for the video tips!

We’ve shot over 25 short sequence videos in High Definition (HD), each about 90 seconds in length. The videos are hosted on the Internet and can be downloaded and played after you scan the Microsoft Tag on the page. We believe this is the first time this technique has been used in golf instruction book publishing, and we’re very excited about this “extra” benefit for my readers who are really serious about improving their golf games and increasing their fun on the golf course. If you’d like to see what one of these videos looks like, click on this video link and then let me know what you think.

We are set for a May 12, 2011 publishing date through my publisher Gotham Books, an imprint of the Penguin Group. The book will be available at your local bookstores, or you can pre-order on the various electronic book buying sites. A list of the online buying sites are shown below.

If you buy the book and use the videos, please don’t hesitate to give me your feedback on the website or on my Facebook page. And, if you see improvement in your golf game, then I’d like to share some of those stories with others as well.

First, the beneficiary was Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts Medical Center. The Child Life services group does wonderful work with kids by healing them and also making them feel like kids – not just patients.

Enjoying Time with my Playing Partners

The event also was very creative in how they used my time there. I gave a short clinic to their Host Committee and played eight holes with folks from their Gift Sponsor, Bennett Electrical. That was fun, but the real creativity was in the raffle. At registration, they sold raffle tickets to win a chance to play three holes with me throughout the day. There were three different winners and I got to spend time with each of the three groups. I got to help at least one player in each group improve significantly. And that is always the highlight of my day. Also, Ed Pitts from Tufts Medical Center was a terrific host as he chauffeured me around and introduced me to the different groups throughout the day.

Chatting with Attendees

Finally, I can’t say enough about Salem Country Club. This Donald Ross classic has hosted multiple USGA championships and it is truly a treat to visit.

Thanks to my friends at Huron and the folks from Tufts Medical Center for including me. If you’d like to learn more about the Floating Hospital Golf Classic, visit Floating Hospital for Children Golf Classic

Throughout my career as a golf instructor I have written three instructional books (The Art of Putting, The Art of the Short Game and The Art of Scoring) with the most recent, The Art of Scoring, coming out last year. Out-of-the-blue last month, the publisher called me up and said that all three of my books will be promoted in all the Border’s bookstores across the country in the front of their stores in a sports theme table from April 20^th through July 11^th. I was completely speechless; I thought to myself, “Could that many people really want to read what I have to say about the game of golf.”  I guess so. The publisher will go back on press for the three titles to supply the Border’s store promotional efforts.

Long story short, I am completely thrilled about this news and I owe it all to my fans and those of you who have supported me throughout the years. Without you none of this would be possible. I only hope that the folks that do purchase my books reap the benefits and play better golf. After all, I want you to have more fun on the golf course!

Horn says, “I have a passion for the game, and since moving to LA I have played golf all over Southern California, and wherever my business travels take me in the U.S.”

When Philip came to me for his lesson he was already very knowledgeable about the game of golf and carried an 11 handicap. All of that is great, but there were still several issues we needed to work on. Mainly he had lost all confidence chipping and pitching his ball around the greens.

Philip’s main issue around the greens was that he would swing the handle of the club away big in the back swing. He would also keep his right elbow stiff and in front of his body which caused the handle to move outside a good swing plane. Since he moved the grip back big and to the outside in the takeaway he would pull the grip hard through during his downswing. Since the reaction to his backswing was to accelerate the grip end of the club in the through swing this did not allow him to release the club head back to the ball with any consistency.

The first thing we worked on to correct his chipping and pitching move was to get Phil to swing the club head instead of swinging the grip-end or handle.  I also had Phil focus on the fact that his right elbow needed to fold back along his right side during the takeaway so the club comes more from the inside. During the downswing, we tried to get Philip to feel like he was throwing the club head at the ball by casting the club head with his left thumb.  The result is that the club head will contact the turf with the bounce first and then the ball. Additionally, we had to work a little on Philip’s lower body. Even when pitching or chipping the ball, a small pivot or turn of the lower body is always necessary. To achieve this, allow the left leg to straighten and the right knee to turn into the left and finish up with your body standing tall and facing the target.

We also worked on Philip’s bunker play. When in the bunker we focused on four keys for success. First, at address we focused on keeping Philip’s spine tilted left or towards the target. Secondly, we worked on a big body-turn during the takeaway accompanied with loose and snappy wrists. And lastly, we worked on finishing the swing with his weight forward and completely off his right heel.

So, during our lesson back in December we worked on two main points, Philip’s pitching/chipping and his bunker play with a small emphasis on his full swing. About a month after our session I was curious to hear what Philip had so say; so, I sent him an email with a few questions. His responses are below:

1. 1. What is your handicap?

My Index is currently an 11, but I I expect to be single digit due to Stan’s help by the end of February.

1. 2. What did you take away from your time with Stan? What are you working on?

From Stan I learned a repeatable technique that makes sense to me. His teaching style is simple, and it is one that I can now practice all the time, because I understand the technique I am trying to execute.  I work on this technique every other day and keep my 58-12 wedge and a range tube of balls in my car at all times.

1. 3. Have you improved? How has it helped you?

I have improved my up and down’s to better than 50% per round, (sandies, chippies). In fact, our group now calls them Utley’s (as they know I went to Stan for personal instruction), and they are all reading his books. I went from blading shots over the green or chunking chip shots to hitting crisp clean shots. My time with Stan is one of the best investments in my golf game I have ever made. I do not fear chipping and pitching anymore and saw immediate improvement. I was properly chipping balls after 6 minutes with Stan, yes 6 minutes. I have the confidence now to be more aggressive and am at the point where I expect to get it up and down.  In our weekend group, we now keep track of Utley’s counting them just as we do sandies, birdies, and other junk bets.

1. 4. Any other comments?

If you are serious about improving your short game and by serious I mean being able to invest in yourself go see Stan as he is the Short Game Guru Man!

MONDAY

This year the qualifying round was held at Southern Dunes Golf Club in the city of Maricopa, just south of Phoenix. I was a little nervous heading into it and still recovering from the previous Friday’s return from 10 days in Madrid, Spain. But, I was fortunate enough to have the first tee time of the day (8 am) and a great playing partner in Frank Lickliter II. There were 80 guys who, just like me, were trying to Monday Qualify. Looking at some of the other names in the field, I knew that scoring in the mid-60s was necessary to even have a chance of making the tournament field since only the top four players got invites into the Frys.com Open event. My prayers were answered and we played our round without a breath of wind, which is very unusual on this particular course. I was able to make 8 birdies and 1 bogey for a -7 score of 65, which was good enough for third place and a spot in the 2009 Frys.com Open.

TUESDAY
I was asked by a company called Geos Communications, Inc. to put on a little short game clinic for some of their employees and key customers. Geos Communications is a leading developer of global mobile applications. They’ve got a product called MyGlobalTalk which provides low-cost calling from any device. It’s endorsed by PGA Tour veteran and 2009 Presidents Cup Captain Fred Couples, as well as Tom Pernice Jr.

The clinic was a great success. I taught and told stories for about two hours to a group of about 25 participants. As with every clinic I teach, the skill levels of the participants were all over the map. However, every player had an awesome can-do attitude and it made my time spent with them a real pleasure. At the conclusion of the clinic, everyone played a round of golf on the Talon Course at Grayhawk (Raptor was getting set up for the Frys.com Open), but not before they gave me a warm round of applause and some nice compliments which I really appreciated. What a great bunch of guys! I look forward to working with Geos Communications in the future. Below is a video clip taken from my short game clinic with Geos.

Tuesday afternoon I was able to get in nine holes of practice on the Raptor Course at Grayhawk Golf Club with good friend Tom Pernice, Jr. Since it is my home course, I’m familiar with the layout. But, it’s always nice to get out for a little practice because the set-up is pretty close to tournament conditions. This gives you a chance to get a feel for the course with bleachers, corporate tents, TV camera positions and things like that since they do alter the way your eye usually sees a hole versus playing the same course for fun. Practice rounds are really, really important.

WEDNESDAY
I got in some light practice, but didn’t play the course. I had a good friend of mine in town, the singer and recording star Paul Colman, and we went over to TPC Scottsdale so I could watch him hit a few balls. I kept the day a light one getting ready for the tournament kick-off on Thursday.

THURSDAY
Round 1 started great for me. I had a wonderful pairing of Jamie Lovemark and Peter Tomasulo, two young up-and-comers who just pound the golf ball. I don’t hit the ball as far as they do, but it sure was a treat watching them navigate around the course and hit approach shots from places I didn’t even think possible. We started on the back nine and I was even through 10 holes with 10 straight pars. I finally got to red numbers with a birdie on the 2^nd hole, my eleventh of the day. I made another birdie at No. 6 before making my one and only mistake of the tournament. I carded a snowman (8) on the No. 7, finishing my round at 2-over par (72).

FRIDAY
Round 2 was a catch up day for me – that was the plan at least. With so many scores under par in the first round I knew the cut line was probably going to be around even or 1-under par. That being said, I needed some birdies. I came right out of the gate and birdied the first hole and the sixth hole before bogeying No. 7. Whew…THAT hole again! It got the best of me all week, but in any event I was 1-under through nine holes and playing exactly how I had hoped.

Unfortunately, I played the back-nine 1-over to shoot an even par round of 70 on the day. My two-round total was a 2-over 142, and I ended up missing the cut by three shots.  I played great for 34 holes. Hole No. 7 got me both days and was probably the reason for the missed cut. Playing a single hole at 5-over through two rounds is…well…not fun. If there is any consolation at all, it’s that No. 7 played as the hardest hole all week for all the players since it usually plays as a par 5, but during the tournament it played as a 500+ yard par 4.

All in all I was really happy with the way the tournament played out for me. I was able to get a peek into the future of golf with Jamie and Peter in my pairing, and we had a lot of fun. By the way, Jamie Lovemark went on to tie for first place with Rickie Fowler and Troy Matteson, only to lose in a playoff on the second hole. Keep up the good work Jamie.

Back to teaching for me now since this is our wonderful teaching season here in Scottsdale. I have a few pro-am tournaments I’ll play over the winter and, who knows, I might just tee it up in a tour event again sometime in 2010.

Central Post Office in Madrid

I was lucky to be invited to visit Madrid, Spain by a student of mine, Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño. For those of you who don’t follow the European Tour, Gonzalo is one of the up-and-coming players from Spain, and he is currently ranked #50 in the world. You will be hearing his name soon as he ventures to America to play a few more PGA Tour events in the coming years.

The main reason for the trip was to put on a short game clinic and teach the Spanish PGA members of the Spanish Golf Federation. As a bonus, I was invited to play in the European Tour’s Madrid Masters at Centro Nacional de Golf. I wanted to remember my time spent over there so I tried to keep a brief diary.

Also, I’ve posted more photos in two different Madrid photo albums on my Facebook Page.

Now that I am back, I thought I would share some of my experiences with all of you. It’s not much, but here goes:

Monday 10/5 – I arrived in Madrid, took a shower and taught a 4-hour clinic to some of Gonzalo’s friends. A quick jet lag tip: when you get to your destination, go right to work. Do NOT take a cat nap. I never experienced the symptoms of jet lag all week because I fought the urge to catch a few hours of sleep, and just kept going until bedtime in Madrid.

Tuesday 10/6 – Played a practice round at Centro Nacional de Golf with Gonzalo and a young Spaniard who had attended the University of Arizona to get ready for the tournament. In the afternoon, I spent some time teaching Alex Noren from Sweden. Alex and I have been working together for 4 or 5 years and his career is really taking off. He won the Omega European Masters in September.

Wednesday 10/7 – Pro-Am day arrived, and I was really nervous. So glad that I felt this way today and not on Thursday. I played pretty well and was able work out some of the kinks in my swing that have accumulated over my time spent away from competitive golf. The coolest part of the day was being invited to attend a party at Gonzalo’s house with about 15 of the greatest Spanish players ever.

Tournament action. Note the crowds are pretty good.

Thursday 10/8 – My first day of my first pro tournament in…well, I don’t really remember. I was surprisingly calm,  but unfortunately a “cell phone” rang in the middle of my backswing on the very first tee. Luckily, while I thinned it a little bit, it stayed in the fairway. I struck the ball pretty well all day, but putted poorly. Not too good for a short-game coach, I know. Feel free to use all the “physician heal thyself” jokes you can think of. After the round, I got to hang out a bit with Sergio’s parents, that was a lot of fun but the evening was the highlight of the day. I went to dinner with Gonzalo, Thomas Björn and Luke Donald and had my first ever taste of sushi! And I loved it.

Friday 10/9 – I was much more comfortable playing today, especially after I finally made my first putt of the week longer than four feet. (more jokes now…I’ve got thick skin!) I struck it pretty good for the second day, but could only manage two birdies which was not enough to get me a spot on the weekend. Although I didn’t play well enough to make the cut, I really enjoyed the two days of competition. Since I played early today, I followed Gonzalo around the course in the afternoon.

Saturday 10/10 – My family arrived today! Yeah! My son had Fall Break at school and we thought this would be a great opportunity for some family time and memorable experiences. Since everyone was pretty tired from the travel, we just hung out for the day.

Sunday 10/11 – I took the whole family to the tournament where they got to meet all the famous players I’ve been telling them about. The players were as gracious as you can imagine, and we got a really awesome photo of my family with Sergio Garcia.

Monday through Wednesday 10/12-14 — I basically spent these three days teaching about 20 Spanish Federation pros and 12 of the best young players in the country while the pros observed. I got to start each morning using the SAM Putt Lab with the professionals. They were amazed at the data and how it could help teach putting. In the photo above, I’m standing behind the student looking at his posture over the ball (while also snapping the photo!).

On Monday, my family went sightseeing in Toledo and all of them, except my son Jake, toured Madrid on Tuesday with Ricardo’s mom. Now would be a great time to say thank you to Ricardo Relinque who is the head of the professional division of the Spanish Golf Federation and another one of my hosts for the week. He has a great organization and I am grateful that he invited me to come and visit.

Back to Jake, on Tuesday he skipped the sightseeing in Madrid and joined me for my clinics. As it turned out, he ended up getting a lesson from the biggest golf legend in Spain, Pepito Gallardo. Pepito has taught almost all of the famous Spanish players – including Seve – at one time or another. His patience and his constant smile made the experience one that my son will never forget.

Thursday 10/15 – Family day. We had a chance to tour the Royal Palace, see the King’s Church and go to the Royal Armory. Armored knights, horses, weapons, etc. It was like a full day in a museum. Another very cool experience.

Friday 10/16 – Time to come home with a suitcase full of new friends and unforgettable memories.