A golf course is a fun outdoor classroom complete with fresh air, friends, open spaces and hands-on learning opportunities. From math and science to responsibility and etiquette, get schooled on the course this season. A variety of clinics provide experiential lessons and necessary life skills for all ages.
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math)
Science is experienced in the laboratory or, in this case, on the golf course. A golf club swinging or dropping because of gravity creates heavy force (mass times velocity). Leverage created by a long shaft enables a little girl to out drive a big man. Centrifugal force makes a slow swing much faster.
Technology is learned when you can touch and feel it. What is titanium and how can it be so strong that we can hit 10,000 golf balls and it does not break?
Engineers know golf is a game of opposites: when you swing down, the ball goes up and when you swing slow, the ball goes fast.
Math is at the center of golf club design and decision making on the course. The faster one makes math decisions, the more time the creative part of your brain can take over and make golf fun and exhilarating.
Power and Distance Class (Ages 12 and up)
- Wednesday, 9-9:50 a.m.
- Get schooled and learn how every golfer creates power and focus on the 5 major power and distance moves.
Junior Morning & Afternoon Clinics (Ages 6-18)
- Monday-Friday, 10-10:50 a.m. or 4-4:50 p.m.
- Get schooled with new lessons taught each day, specialized just for junior golfers. Clubs are provided.
LIFE SKILLS
Personal responsibility is learned through training, etiquette, rules of golf and sportsmanship. Golf is a skill and requires refined movements taught in simple methods by successful instructors. This 600-year-old game promotes successful life habits by process-oriented thinking.
The true spirit of the game is peaceful, yet invigorating, and builds self-confidence. When I asked a 10-year-old student why she liked golf, she responded, “No one is yelling at me.” Another student said, “The ball waits on me.”
Little Swingers (Ages 3-7)
- Monday & Tuesday, 5:15-6 p.m.
- Parent participation required. Learn to love the game of golf with proven methods of swinging, singing and fun. Parents will learn how to coach.
Written by former PGA Touring Pro, Doug Weaver, the Director of Instruction at the Palmetto Dunes Golf Academy. He conducts “Where Does the Power Come From?,” a free hands-on interactive clinic and demonstration, every Monday at 4 p.m. For more information, call 843-785-1138, 800-827-3006 or go to www.palmettodunes.com.