As he celebrates his 50th year as a PGA Member this month, David Galloway reflects on his earliest golf lesson, what the great players taught him and how he helps people fall in love with the game at the Port Noarlunga Driving Range in South Australia.
My dad, Jack, was a pretty good player and I started to caddy for him at Royal Canberra when I was about 10. I picked up on things. Before the new course at Westbourne Woods opened, the old course was down along the Molonglo River and there was a par-3 where you had to hit over the river. Dad always used to let me go down, walk across the bridge, and hit a little pitch from the other side of the river. One day I started to walk towards the bridge and he called me back. He had a little bag of balls with him and said, “Come on. Hit one over the river.” It was a good 60, 70-yard carry. Of course, I popped the first one in the river. Then I hit another one and popped it in the river. Another one. Another one. And golf balls were pretty scarce back then. And then I hit one over the river and I never hit one in the river again. Ever.
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When I was doing my PGA traineeship with Ray Thomas at Royal, I was an awful bunker player. Ray said to me, “Go down to the practice bunker, and I’ll be down there in 15 minutes and I’ll give you a bunker lesson.” I went down and took my practice balls out and started to hit bunker shots, just stuffing them up, as I usually did. Four hours later, after he hadn’t come down, I was a really good bunker player.
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My teaching philosophy is very simple. I get people to think about what their clubhead is doing at impact. I use the analogy of a plane landing or taking off. So many people try to hit up on the ball; we want the feeling of landing the plane at impact. I’ll say it 20 or 30 times, “Make the plane land. Make the plane land. Make the plane land.” When they do it they often look at me and say, “Wow, that felt good.”
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Golf, to me, is psychology. It’s physics and psychology. It’s understanding the physics of why a golf ball does what it does. I always give people the question, “Don’t ask why it didn’t go where you wanted it to go, ask why it went where it went.” If you ask the wrong question, you’re always going to get the wrong answer, but if you ask the right question, yes, you might get the wrong answer the first time, the second time, even the third time, but eventually you will get the right answer.
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I’ve been working with this lady down at Links Lady Bay for 11 months. She was a complete novice when we started but physically very fit, ran marathons, that type of thing. We’ve been doing lessons every fortnight and whatever it is we’ve been doing, she now absolutely loves golf. She cannot wait.
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I go down there to play in the Saturday comp and when I drive in, which is fairly early now, she’s there with her partner. They play nine holes before any of the comp field comes through and she just loves the game. That’s as big a kick for me as turning her into a 5-handicapper.
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How we get people hooked on golf does depend a lot on the age of the person. You bring the kids out, just give them a club that fits them and let them hit. Just let them hit. I love it when I see a mum or dad on the range with their kid and they just chip balls 40 or 50 metres. The kid might have a hybrid or a long iron but they keep up with mum or dad. Then when the kid starts to hit it further, the parent hits it further to keep up with him. That’s a great way to encourage kids just getting started.
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When I played on tour in the ‘70s we all shared swing thoughts and ideas with each other. We were in New Zealand one year and Robbie Taylor was right over at the right-hand edge of the practice fairway, hitting it down the barbed-wire fence. Straight down the barbed-wire fence. I said, “What are you doing that for?” He said, “Well, I can’t get the ones that go over the barbed-wire fence.” And this was the time when you had to collect your own practice balls. We’d go onto the practice field and we’d play games. We’d all hit and we’d, “Can you hit a draw? Can you hit a fade? Can you hit high?” That’s how we did it.
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There was a famous statement made by Henry Longhurst back in 1976, when a 19-year-old Spaniard – and we know who that was – hit it all over the course and finished second to Johnny Miller. Longhurst says, “This young man has turned golf from a science into a great adventure.”
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There’s an obsession with distance right now but the quickest way to better scores is through the short game. PGA Tour player Pat Perez was on YouTube and said, “All you guys that are going down to the driving range, teeing up drivers, trying to hit as far as you can, what you need to do is get a better short game.” You’re going to hit the ball offline with a driver, or a long iron, or whatever. But if you can play bunker shots and you can putt, you’re going to beat more people.
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I’m not here to train up US Tour players. I’m just here to help people get a little bit better at golf and enjoy the game a bit more. I’ve got a very good mate who is teaching me about wine and I said I would teach him about golf. The biggest compliment that he gives me is, “David, if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be playing golf anymore.” That’s what it’s all about.
• PGA Professionals have the experience and knowledge to bring the best out in your golf. To find your nearest PGA Professional visit www.pga.org.au/find-a-pga-pro
