Get Your Game On
Cure your golf ails in style at one of these resort academies.
BY THOMAS BEDELL
 “Disce semper,” Mike Lewis said, and I was impressed that a golf instructor knew Latin. More conversant with pig Latin, I asked him what it meant.
“Learn always,” he said, and I was ready, since my golf game had limped into town and was looking for someplace to hide.
The town was Bend, Oregon, the venue was the Pronghorn Golf and Lifestyle Resort, where splendid Jack Nicklaus and Tom Fazio courses sit cheek by jowl, reasons enough for a visit if not a lot purchase.
But I was there for a Golf Wellness Weekend, which added yoga, massage, and nutrition counseling to the instruction at The Jack Nicklaus Academy of Golf at Pronghorn. My golf game had no place to hide.
Strapped into a plethora of state-of-the-art gizmos that probably could have analyzed what I’d had for breakfast, I was fed back every aspect of my golf swing in 3-D glory or, in the curious case of my putting stroke, some cold, hard statistics.
“We use a lot of technology,” said Lewis. “But the golf ball is still the best teacher. it doesn’t lie. It goes where you tell it every time.”
It’s amazing how complicated that conversation can become, considering that the golf swing takes about a second and a half. The complications are what keep Lewis and other teachers of the game steadily employed, though they’ve largely tossed out old models in favor of something like the Pronghorn 360 -- a holistic, total game improvement approach that includes physical conditioning, diet, and the mental game.
The new breed of golf schools, particularly at engaging golf venues, offer something for everyone, from pros to scratch players to high handicappers who haven’t hit a straight ball in years. programs and prices are infinitely varied, although three-day schools seem to be a golden mean.
Such is the case at the Red Zone Short Game School, part of the Reynolds Plantation golf nirvana in Georgia (five courses and counting, with a new Pete Dye track under construction), where director of instruction Charlie King says, “The traditional way of teaching is based on a model -- the stack-and-tilt or one plane, or Ben Hogan’s swing, or Tiger’s. The problem is, with a model I have to change your swing to fit the model.”
 King has long taught what he calls essential skills, full swing, and short game. “But we no longer take you to the deep end too soon.” In the Red Zone School student strengths and weaknesses are tested and analyzed first, and then attended to in the short game area.
“Chipping is not a complicated skill, but most are mind-boggled by it. It’s very easy to hit a golf ball, but not that easy to hit it well. We work on the skills it takes to do that.”
There’s a timeless art-deco allure to The Biltmore Hotel near Miami, where everyone from Crosby to Capone has checked in, where Esther Williams swam in the pool, and where Babe Ruth roamed the fairways of the 1925 Donald Ross layout that surrounds the property.
The historic site has been brought well up-to-date, including a renovation of the Ross layout under Brian Silva’s direction, and a twofold approach to instruction. At The John Pallot Golf Academy, the eponymous instructor channels lessons he’s synthesized from the likes of Bob Toski, Jim McLean, Peter Kostis, and Butch Harmon.
The resort’s Biltmore Total Performance Golf takes a team approach, bundling biomechanical evaluation with physical therapists, fitness trainers, masseuses, and the golf instructor, building a swing around what a student can physically achieve.
I’ll always be beholden to the Barton Creek Golf Academy at Barton Creek Resort & Spa for teaching me how to get out of a bunker without achieving major excavations or shooting rockets well over greens. I had made dozens of minor adjustments in the sand over the years until I was maladjusted, clueless.
 No problem for the staff in Austin, under the direction of Brech Spradley, a certified GolfPsych instructor, among his many credits. With a minimum of bunker (or couch) time, I was cured of serious over-thinking and over-zealous flailing.
I was quickly plopping ball after ball onto the practice green and ready to tackle as many as possible of the four courses at the resort, which completed a multimillion-dollar enhancement in November.
There’s a strong women’s program at Barton Creek, too, under the guidance of former women’s state champion Barbara Puett. The ladies’ programs teach all aspects of the game and give special attention to the issues and priorities of female golfers.
Learn to hit a ball in Texas hill country, and you have a leg up when confronting links golf in the Auld Sod. One round in a stiff breeze on a firm course will confirm the wisdom of switching from an aerial to a ground game, with low, boring-through-the-wind shots. But how to hit them?
As its name implies, the Colin Montgomerie Links Golf Academy at Turnberry in Ayrshire, Scotland, specializes in playing the firm and windy oceanside courses that link land and sea, be they in Scotland, Ireland, England, or Wales.
The Kintyre and the shorter, nine-hole Arran complement the Ailsa course, a regular visitor to our annual Platinum List and the host of this year’s British Open Championship, July 16 to 19. The Turnberry Resort is closed until then, undergoing a total renovation, but is accepting reservations for July 20 onward.
In his book, The Thinking Man’s Guide to Golf, Montgomerie outlined how he could shave six to eight strokes off any amateur’s game just by instructing the player how to think his or her way around a course -- thinking before rather than after each shot.
I’m thinking I still need to work on my putting, and will plan my 2009 curriculum accordingly.
SWING SCHOOLS
● THE JACK NICKLAUS ACADEMY OF GOLF. (800) 541-9424, www.pronghornclub.com
● REYNOLDS GOLF ACADEMY. (866) 443-6742,www.reynoldsgolfacademy.com
● THE JOHN PALLOT GOLF ACADEMY and BILTMORE TOTAL PERFORMANCE GOLF. (800) 915-1926, www.biltmorehotel.com
● BARTON CREEK GOLF ACADEMY. (866) 572-7369, www.bartoncreek.com
● COLIN MONTGOMERIE LINKS GOLF ACADEMY. 011-44-1655-331000, www.turnberry.co.uk
● ANNIKA ACADEMY (see story, page 20). (888) 266-4522, www.theannikaacademy.com
Child-Friendly Fairways
Four Junior Golf Academies are scheduled this summer at Barton Creek (see sidebar on previous page) for 8- to 18-year-olds, combining the three necessities for a family friendly golf resort -- pressure-free golf, plenty to do besides golf, and time enough to do it (clinics are half-day). Some other good choices for stick-swinging families:
● WALT DISNEY WORLD, ORLANDO. Need more be said? Two junior camps a year, but play for youngsters anytime at the short Oak Trail course. (407) 938-3869, www.disneyworldgolf.com
● HERSHEY ENTERTAINMENT & RESORTS, HERSHEY, PENNSYLVANIA. The Spring Creek Golf Course opened in 1932 with young chocoholics in mind. (800) 437-7439, www.golfhershey.com
● LOS SUEÑOS MARRIOTT OCEAN & GOLF RESORT, PLAYA HERRADURA, COSTA RICA. Take a zip line through the jungle and then let the kids play golf for free, as at many Marriott resorts. (888)236-2427, www.marriott.com
● WATERCOLOR INN & RESORT, SANTA ROSA BEACH, FLORIDA. The Family Golf Experience unfolds on the Origins course. (850) 534-5000, www.originsgolfclub.com
● THE WESTIN KIERLAND RESORT & SPA, SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA. Kids’ clinics and junior tees are part of the resort’s Family Golf Program. (480) 624-1600, www.kierlandresort.com -- T.B.
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