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School Daze in Naples
A look at top area golf schoolsBy James Y. Bartlett, member of the Golf Writers Association of America
Phil, a beefy, barrel-chested golfer from Long Island, took the club back slowly. Then, he lifted it almost straight up into the air, as if he was about to dispatch a snake crawling at his feet. Somehow, he managed to get the club back to the ball, which skittered off to the right, low and hard.
"Oh, man." Phil muttered under his breath as he watched his swing on the video monitor at the David Leadbetter Golf Academy at the LaPlaya Beach & Golf Resort in Naples. Senior instructor Scott Holden murmured some reassuring words, then, returning the video to the first frame, pushed a few buttons and cued up an image of Tiger Woods at address. Adding insult to injury, he ran Tiger's swing motion.
 David Leadbetter Golf Academy at the La Playa Beach & Golf Resort |
Same sport. Different world.
Nevertheless, Phil got the message. And within minutes, back on the practice tee, armed with a simple drill from the instructor, Phil was soon making nice round swings and the ball was rocketing off into the distance.
Golf school is certainly no place for the self-conscious. Watching one's swing on video can be horrifying. Yet for those who want to improve their game – and who doesn't? – a day or even an hour or two with a qualified teaching professional is the only real panacea.
Naples offers three of the country's premiere teaching programs. In addition to the David Leadbetter Academy at La Playa, noted instructor Rick Smith – he works closely with Phil Mickelson, among others – operates his Golf Academy at Tiburon, in the shadow of The Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort, Naples and the Faldo Golf Institute, originated by Britain's Nick Faldo (he will captain the European squad in the 2008 Ryder Cup), is based at The Rookery at Marco at the Marco Island Marriott Resort, Golf Club and Spa.
All three programs offer a variety of schools, ranging from intensive three- or five-day programs to half-day or hour-long clinics.
At the Rick Smith Academy instructor Mike Jonges led four of us over to the chipping green for some short-game tune-ups. After a brief chalk-talk about the goals of chipping and putting he let us fire away while he gave each of us some personal pointers and suggestions. We also spent some time in the bunker and on a putting green. After the two-hour session, we all headed back to either the practice bunkers or the range to work on some of the new ideas we'd just digested.
 Faldo Golf Institute |
The three-hour morning session at the David Leadbetter Golf Academy made heavy use of the video camera. With modern digital technology, it was easy for instructor Holden to zero in on body parts or swing planes that were misaligned, and to do his split-screen magic comparisons with one of the near-perfect swings of a Tour player. Even better, a few days after the lesson, a DVD arrived in the mail with the before and after videotaped swings, and Holden's suggestions for further practice drills.
Down on Marco Island, a bald eagle was circling the immense practice range at The Rookery when senior instructor Sarah Hilmoe drove me out to the back of the range for some one-on-one swing analysis. She, too, captured my swing on tape and later gave me the video with her recorded commentary. Using her suggestions for a drill – involving an exaggerated repositioning of my rear foot – I was soon hitting nice, crisp draws down the range. The eagle seemed to swoop in approval.
The best part of Naples' golf schools is the resorts they are attached to. Overlooking the beach on Marco Island, the Marriott resort offers plenty of places – like Quinn's on the Beach – to forget all of one's dubs and foozles. At the Ritz-Carlton, with its 36 holes of Greg Norman-designed golf, the hot-rocks treatment at the Spa is made to order for bone-weary golfers.
And at LaPlaya, I eased my practice-weary bones into the whirlpool tub in my lovely room overlooking Vanderbilt Beach, opened the windows and even forgot about golf entirely for a few minutes!
Wherever one stays in Naples, the selection of golf school programs is certain to help cure anyone's slice and cut strokes off anyone's game.
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