PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT
Anyone who thinks they’re not talented enough to play golf should talk to Clinton Schmaltz first. The head teaching professional at The Willows in Saskatoon, Sask., believes hard work is the great equalizer for anyone who may not have a natural instinct for the game.
In a nutshell, practice makes perfect.
“Getting better isn’t necessarily talent-related,” Schmaltz says. “It’s about improving skills developed through practice.”
He cites Geoff Colvin’s critically acclaimed book Talent is Overrated, which, among its many nuggets of sound practical advice, espouses deliberate practice, “an activity designed specifically to improve performance, often with a teacher’s help.” Schmaltz also refers to, and highly recommends, Ernest Jones’ Swing The Clubhead, the oft-referenced book first published in 1952, and still considered a landmark of golf instruction.
These books say much about Schmaltz’s own approach to teaching, one that finds him at it 10-15 hours a day, six days a week. Add another 44 hours per week during the winter, and he’s one busy guy.
“I do 99 per cent of the teaching,” he says, adding that “I’m pretty much maxed out lesson-wise.”
Not that he’s complaining. He loves to teach, a calling that came to the fore after he spent “eight great years” at the Calgary Golf & Country Club and left to take the head pro position at Stewart Creek Golf & Country Club in Canmore, Alta. His focus shifted for the next three years when he decided to play professionally around the globe, including the European Challenge Tour and the Ecco Tour in Denmark.
Fast forward to Saskatoon, where he met his wife Tara, and where The Willows provides a first-class teaching facility and the latest in teaching aids and fitting technology.
Schmaltz is as passionate about club fitting as he is about teaching, though he says you can’t put the fitting cart before the horse. “Instruction always comes before club fitting.”
Once someone is ready to be fitted, he knows he can count on Cobra to deliver the goods. Their club design is just one of the many things he likes about the brand.
“I’ve been part of the Puma/Cobra family for a few years. What I love about the company, and what sets it apart in my opinion, is the quality of the product, the attention to detail and the service you receive. They tend to put more of their money into research/development as opposed to marketing, which shows up in the finished product.”
That kind of added value is something Schmaltz’s students, many of them elite provincial juniors, can also expect. Besides instruction and fitting, Schmaltz also provides guidance on fitness, nutrition and mental preparation.
Add in his passion for staying current with new technology and training, and it’s easy to see why he says that “he can make any level of player enjoy the game more and improve”.
