Will Halamandaris is a PGA Associate and a Teaching Professional at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, New Jersey.

Will Halamandaris on the importance of allowing beginner golfers to swing their swing:

We hear it so many times. “Swing your swing.” But sometimes we don’t take it to heart. With all of the information there is out on social media, it’s so easy for a beginner golfer to watch a video and think that their swing has to look a certain way. I know we have heard it over and over again, but the fact of the matter is there is no such thing as a default golf swing. When I first meet with a beginner for a session, I tell the player to get loose and hit a couple. Even if the player has never hit a golf shot before, I still want to see their swing. I am not looking to see where the ball goes or what the contact looks like, I am looking to find what the player’s tendencies are and how their body naturally wants to move. It doesn’t matter if a player has taken five or 500,000 swings in their lifetime, there will still be tendencies and there will be indications of the ideal movement for their body.

Will Halamandaris on the business impact of allowing beginner golfers to swing their swing:

Confidence and consistency. If I can instill those two concepts for my player after our session is complete, I have succeeded. Of course, confidence and consistency are developed over time through hard work. But the goal is to provide my player with a blueprint to continue to improve. When you think about it, swinging your swing goes hand in hand with confidence and consistency. Say a player comes to me for our first session together and I see them hit a few shots. I then tell them I want them to swing with a whole new swing. Now that is certainly taking away from the player’s confidence. Each golf swing is unique. Each golf swing is an art. No golf swing is unfixable. The original mannerisms will always be there, but we just have to make tweaks to the swing we are presented with. We want our beginners to embrace the journey to better and we want them to feel comfortable. By letting players swing their swing and then making adjustments from that baseline, we are allowing players to feel comfort in a new environment.

If you would like to email the author of this Best Practice directly, please email whalamandaris@baltusrol.org.