Do You Have a Coach AND/OR a Teacher?

Taking regular lessons from a PGA professional is the single best thing you can do for your game. Once you’ve learned the basics, though, it may be time to change your student/teacher relationship to player/coach. “Teaching and coaching are two different things,”  says GlenArbor GC Director of Golf Rob Labritz. “With a beginner, you teach them the basics of the golf swing. With a more experienced player, coaching how to play the game of golf becomes more important.”

Tom Willson with Rob Labritz
photo by John Fortunato

Labritz, by the way, is speaking as a player, not a coach. The four-time PGA Championship competitor and 2103 Met PGA Player of the Year has worked for thirteen years with Tom Willson, who retired last year as head professional at Bonnie Briar CC. The two met in Florida. During the season, Labritz sees Willson about once a month but frequently sends him videos of his swing for commentary.

“There is no one perfect swing,” Willson points out, “but there is a perfect swing for Rob.”

“We talk about strategies, too,” Labritz says. “We’ll work on different lies and how to get the club on the ball to make it do what we want.”  They have worked tougher enough that they can even talk about course situations over the phone and come to conclusions about what Rob needs to do. At big tournaments like the PGA Championship, Willson will often travel with him and accompany him on practice rounds.

When it comes to the player/coach relationship, Labritz says, “It’s more than the golf swing. You get to know how people think, how they feel, how their emotions act on the golf course. Once you get to that point, the trust grows.”

Trust your coach, trust your swing—your game is bound to get better.

Among many other books, Dave Donelson is the author of Weird Golf: 18 tales of fantastic, horrific, scientifically impossible, and morally reprehensible golf

Rob Labritz Caps Great 2013 at Treiber Memorial

Rob Labritz
photo courtesy of Titleist

Rob Labritz must have worn out several pairs of celebratory dancing shoes this year.  His win at the Treiber Memorial Tournament of Champions was the perfect end to the season--and propelled him into the Met PGA Player of the Year honor for the second time in his career.

He also took home the winner's hardware for the Polo Golf Met PGA Head Professional Championship (for the second year in a row) as well as the Metropolitan Professional Championship (also for the second year in a row). Quite a collection of trophies for the 42-year-old upbeat and energetic Director of Golf at GlenArbor Golf Club in Bedford.

Then there was the hail-Mary pitch shot from the fairway that dropped into the last hole of the sudden death playoff at the PGA Professional National Championship and put him into the PGA Championship at Oak Hill. Video of the shot earned "Top Play" honors on ESPN and went viral across the internet, prompting worldwide acclaim for his wedge prowess and many a chuckle over the rather lame high-five that followed.

Labrtiz, of course, is no stranger to championship golf. He also qualified for the PGA Championship in 2002 at Hazeltine and in 2003 at Oak Hill and was the low club pro at Whistling Straits in 2010 where he shared the winner's circle with Martin Kaymer. Locally, his list of titles includes the 2008 and 2011 NY State Open and 2006 NY State PGA among many, many others.

The biggest prize for Labritz this year, though, was Ryan Miller Labritz, a sparkling baby girl born to him and his wife Kerry on August 14, just three days after the PGA Championship. That, my friends, is a trophy that will shine in his life forever.

Among many other books, Dave Donelson is the author of Weird Golf: 18 tales of fantastic, horrific, scientifically impossible, and morally reprehensible golf

Amazing Wedge Puts Rob Labritz in PGA Championship

In one of the most exciting finishes of his career, GlenArbor Director of Golf Rob Labritz holed out a 95-yard wedge in the second playoff hole to earn a spot in the field for the PGA Championship. The video shows this amazing shot


Labrtiz had edged into the playoff at the PGA Professional National Championship at Sunriver Resort in Oregon with a one-over 288. He was one of six vying for three spots in the major to be played at Oak Hill in Rochester this August. Danny Balin, of Burning Tree in Greenwich, made the playoff as well. Balin dropped a birdie putt on the first playoff hole, as did Bob Gaus, leaving four contenders for the last spot in the major.

On the second playoff hole, the 457-yard par four eleventh on the Crosswater Club course, Labritz had pulled his tee shot into an ugly bunker where he was left with a difficult lie. He gouged it out into the fairway while the other three players put their second shots on or close to the green.

Left with 95 yards, Labritz called on hours spent working on wedge shots with his swing coach Tom Willson, head pro at Bonnie Briar, and took dead aim with a 52-degree wedge for the uphill shot to a pin placed precariously on the upper tier. His hope was to get close enough for a one-putt par to stay in the playoff. The video shows what happened instead.

Standing ready for the post-shot interview was Labritz compatriot at GlenArbor Brian Crowell, head pro at the Bedford club, who was providing on-course commentary for the Golf Channel coverage of the event.

This will be the fourth PGA Championship for Labritz, who was the low club pro at Whistling Straits in 2010.  Oak Hill may be a particularly memorable tournament for another big reason: Labritz and his wife Kerry are expecting a baby girl to be born about that time.

Two other Met Section pros made the cut in the tournament, but finished just outside the line for the championship. St. Andrew's Greg Bisconti was tied for 24th. Metropolis assistant John Guyton finished in a tie for 59th.

Among many other books, Dave Donelson is the author of Weird Golf: 18 tales of fantastic, horrific, scientifically impossible, and morally reprehensible golf