Local PGA Professionals
Jim Kjellenberg, PGA Professional
Home Course: La Crosse Country Club
Favorite Tip: Never give up in your quest for solid, basic fundamentals.
Philosophy: Golf is very challenging. If you want to be a good/great player, be prepared to learn the basic fundamentals and practice until they become second nature. There are no shortcuts.
Joe DeRosa, Assistant PGA Professional
Home Course: La Crosse Country Club
Favorite Tip: Turn and Pivot. If you are unsure of what this means, I urge you to find out! In my opinion these are the two most important aspects of the golf swing.
Philosophy for Teaching: The flight of the golf ball is the number one concern. The golf ball is your best instructor. The ball has no set ideas about the different swing theories. All that matters to the golf ball is what the clubhead is doing when it strikes the ball. Learning to play good golf involves an understanding of the principles of ball flight and all that they tell you about your swing and impact conditions. Those conditions are controlled by the way you grip the club, aim your clubface and the path on which you swing. That being said I am a firm believer that the most important club in your bag is always the putter!
Mike Lindahl, Assistant PGA Professional
Home Course: La Crosse Country Club
Favorite Tip: Fact. The hands control the clubface. Perfect your grip first... and go from there.
Philosophy: People seem to be obsessed with power (distance) in golf these days. Please understand that power is the result of the execution of the correct fundamentals in the proper sequence. It's not purely brute strength and random force applied to the swing.
Bill MacAskill, PGA Professional
Home Course: The Bridges Golf Club
Favorite Tip: Coming Soon.
Philosophy: Coming Soon.
Brian Paulson, Assistant PGA Professional
Home Course: The Bridges Golf Club
Favorite Tip: The “Whoosh” Drill.
This drill is a great drill for all ability levels to help the golfer understand how to generate a steady acceleration of speed into and through the golf ball in order to help the golfer to hit the golfball farther.
What the golfer should do is grip the golfclub from the clubhead end of the shaft instead of the grip end of the shaft. From there, the golfer should make full practice swings trying to make sure that a “whoosh” sound is created as deep into the swing (on the target side of the golfball) as possible. The speed is generated not by just the hands and arms, but by using the big muscles of the body to help generate the power. After a few “whooshes” with the golfclub held in this manner, the golfer should turn the club back around and grip it from the grip end, trying to re-create the same feeling found while performing the drill instead and hit some balls. The golfer should notice an increase in clubhead speed and distance.
Philosophy: Whether a beginner or an accomplished player, my commitment is to help the student achieve greater enjoyment of the game. Emphasis on the importance of pre-swing fundamentals; the proper grip, aim, stance, balance, posture, alignment, and ball position is the basis of any good golf swing, no matter what level the student is at.
Educating the student on how things work and why things work is fundamental to my teaching philosophy. Helping the student understand the cause and effect relationships that occur with their golf swing will help the student become a better player much faster. Emphasis of helping the student understand the ball flight laws is a keystone component to my philosophy.
I have learned that people learn new tasks differently. As a professional instructor, it is my responsibility that the student understands the message in the most concise way possible. Communication between the student and instructor is essential. As an instructor, this is the only way that I can gain any idea as to what the student’s thoughts, feelings, and understanding of what is working and what is not working during a lesson.
I believe that it is important for the student to find an instructor that they feel comfortable with and can relate to. I feel that if the student is comfortable with their instructor, then the lesson becomes easier. If the comfort level is there, then there is trust. If there is trust, then the student is more likely to exclusively stay with that instructor for their lessons. Staying with one exclusive instructor is vital to receiving consistent feedback and consistent information, which is vital to the success of the student.
I do not teach one specific swing to all body types. I also believe that there is not one particular way to swing the golf club. I will not try to “squeeze” all my students into a one-type-fits-all golf swing. I believe that an individual’s strength, flexibility, body type, and athletic ability, along with a student’s desire and determination, are important components to allow a student to become the best golfer that they want to be.
Jason Scharping, Club Manager
Home Course: Viroqua Hills
Favorite Tip: Coming Soon.
Philosophy: Coming Soon.
Keith Stoll, General Manager/Head Golf Pro
Home Course: Forest Hills
Favorite Tip: Free your mind and take dead aim, practice hitting to a target. I see so many golfers who come to the range to hit balls who work strictly on the mechanics of the golf swing and forget to free their mind of swing thoughts. It takes practice to free your mind of swing thoughts and that can be accomplished while you practice. Every 6th shot while working on a swing mechanic free your mind, picture your ball in flight and take dead aim.
Philosophy: Fundamentals of the golf swing are a necessity for the long term success of a golfer. I find out a golfers expectations and what they are truly trying to achieve by taking a golf lesson. I then tailor the lesson to fit the golfers expectations.
