Author: Abby Welch Golf

The former captain of the University of South Carolina's women's golf team where she completed a double major in Marketing and Management leads the resort's instructional programs for both women and juniors and is a lead instructor for many of our schools. As a PGA Certified Instructor as well as a LPGA Certified Instructor she has appeared in magazine articles and was nominated for the Junior Golf Leader award for the Carolinas PGA. Abby and husband Greg have been married since 2008. Abby has been recently selected for the inaugural list of Golf Digest's Best Young Teachers. Her credentials and high standing in the instruction community have earned her a spot among the top 40 instructors under the age of 40.

2017 February Women’s Golf Getaway

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I am so excited to post about our Women’s Golf Getaway Event. This was our 5th year of this special event. I am so proud of all the ladies for coming out to improve her games at Kiawah.

We hold it each year during the month of February, towards the end of the month for lots of sunshine. It is such a special event for me, because it is an all ladies event. For two days, we learn about golf, play golf, and talk about golf…..yes and occasionally drink some wine . The event starts with a cocktail/meet and greet hour at the Sanctuary where we all meet to discuss the following two days and yes get acquainted. Then the next two days have 3 hours of morning instruction on the range focusing on topics from short game, full swing w/ video, club fitting, trouble shots etc….

On the range we have both women and men instructors. It is a 5 to 1 student to teacher ratio: this way everyone will get hands on instruction more often. Followed by a great lunch Tomasso’s restaurant. Then off to a 9 hole playing lesson. Each foursome has their own personal instructor to help them on every shot! After the two days, we then all come together for a great awards ceremony at the Sanctuary in one of their amazing ballrooms where special awards are given out, dinner and drinks, and the closing ceremony. I know I meet so many great women during the event and everyone walks away with great tips and knowledge of the game, but also new golf friends around the world.

I promise once I know the events date, I will post it in on this site.  Also, feel free to check out Kiawah Islands’s website at http://www.kiawahresort.com, under special events. It fills up fast. If you have any questions please contact me.

May 2017 Golf Digest Highlights

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Yay! The Tommy Cuthbert Golf Learning Center was recognized as Golf Digest’s Editor’s Choice for best Golf Academies in the Southeast region. We are so proud to have received this recognition.
“The best golf academies offer something for the destination traveler and local lesson taker………staff teachers who rake highly on our best teachers list” – that’s me!!

(see page 84 under academies or visit http://www.golfdigest.com/story/best-golf-schools-and-academies)

In addition to this recognition, I was quoted under the Best Young Teachers Column (see page 28, right hand side).   Hope you enjoy the quote!

 

 

Finish like a Pro

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This is a great week for golf. Masters week! I tell everyone, even if you don’t watch golf, this is the week to at least take a peak!   It is beautiful, exciting, and eventful.

Of course after watching a great event, we all get excited to go out and play like the pros. The biggest take away from watching the greats play golf is how amazing they complete their golf swing. I try to do my best on every swing, such as this picture above. My weight is completely transferred, my hips and chest are pointed at the target, and I am watching my ball land right next to the hole posing for the camera! On each students full swing, this is how we want to finish! Check yourself out and see where you finish. Watch the masters, see where they finish.

Posture at setup

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I am a big advocate of using your shoulders and hips to hit a great golf shop. In order for these parts of your body to be initiated put yourself in the correct position to use both of these parts. When you have great posture, your back should form a straight line. No slouching! Shoulders should feel like they are pulled back by your ears and your butt ( yes, your butt) should feel like it is sticking out. This initiates your core. Almost like feeling your abs, back, and shoulders are tense. Therefore your arms and hands can relax a little more. If you look I the picture above, my friend Mark has great posture. A good way to check your posture on your own is looking in a mirror. This way you can see what you look like and either acknowledge your awesome posture or fix your posture. If your body is setup properly, you are another step closer to a good swing.

Alignment

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First thing is first, setup and alignment. Normally I would talk about setup first but a lot of golfers out there struggle more with alignment than anything. When a student comes to me and is worried about the direction of the ball, my first question is where are you aiming. Sometimes, they look at me and go, “Straight!” ….. well what is straight. First you need to always pick a target. In this picture it is the red flag. Now, we need to setup the ball to go towards the red flag. I put down an orange stick in front of the ball to verify that the ball is going towards the flag. Now I can setup my body PARALLEL (orange stick on left) to the intended target line (orange stick on right). Thus making parallel lines, with the ball going towards the flag or some people like to say “Railroad Tracks”. Most students, end up aiming their body at the target therefore their ball will go to the right. When I am practicing this is what I do first to ensure I am setting up properly. I can either hit the ball (please make sure the orange stick on right is far enough in front of the ball that it won’t be hit) or I can pick up the orange stick on the right and just practice with the stick on the left for my body. After I practice my swing with the sticks, then I pick up the sticks and go through a pre-shot routine to practice aiming without and aid. Always practice with a stick or something on the ground if you are not going to go through your aiming process. This will allow you to hit balls and work on your stroke without having to think of too many things.

PS: If you are a left handed player, it is flipped!!

 

My Family

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I thought I would write my next blog  to tell you a little bit about my family. I was married in 2008 to my awesome husband Greg Welch. We met working at Wild Dunes Golf Course. We started as golf partners and it grew into more. You can see a picture on my site of his favorite moment, sinking a putt on the green after our wedding. Yes, he made it on his first try….it was meant to be! About a year later I started hinting about possibly having a kid, therefore Greg bought me a dog instead! She is an amazing golden retriever named Merritt. Then a couple years later I hinted again and we had Cole. He is now four years old and has been playing golf for about a year now. He has a great swing, but his putting needs a lot of work. But we hope to all be on the golf course in heavy competition soon!

Welcome to my website

This is the excerpt for your very first post.

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Thank you for visiting my website. I am hoping this site will help you find great instruction, tips, and information about golf. I picked this picture because it is truly Kiawah Island Golf Resort where I work. We love to see the nature surrounding us and hope that our golf balls don’t go anywhere near these hazards! If they do, please feel free to contact me through this website or Kiawah and we can straighten out those golf shots.