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Hogan golf school comes to Kansas
   KGA Q & A: Terradyne Country Club’s Greg Bray

   The economy has impacted the world of golf in a variety of ways recently – many negatively. But one is a positive, especially for the state of Kansas. The Ben Hogan Golf Schools have moved their headquarters from Phoenix to Andover’s Terradyne Country Club. Begun as the Nicklaus-Fleck Golf School, the organization has been most recently recognized as the ESPN Golf Schools.
   Former Wichitan Charlie Ricks, who managed the schools for six years under the ESPN brand,

then went to the Hogan family and obtained permission to use the name and image in the school’s latest incarnation. Now, with a more centralized headquarters location and a goal of bringing the schools to more than 50 sites throughout the country, Greg Bray, four years head professional at Terradyne, will lead instruction of the schools.
   Bray, a University of Oklahoma graduate who began his teaching career at Lafortune Park Golf Course in Tulsa, Okla., later moved to Wichita Country Club and worked with current WCC Head Pro Cary Cozby. Bray moved to Terradyne as head professional in 2006.
   KG Online recently had a chance to chat with Bray about the Hogan Golf School and how it fits into the Kansas golf landscape at Andover’s Terradyne, Donald Sechrest’s Scottish links-style course and a frequent stop the last few years for both KGA championships and the popular KGA Senior Series.

   KG Online: Can you tell us about the evolution of the Ben Hogan Golf School that has brought it to your facility?
   Bray: “The president of the Ben Hogan Golf Schools, Charlie Ricks, has been involved with different golf schools in the past. Formerly it was the ESPN Golf Schools and, due to the economy and whatever else, it dissolved. The sponsors that we had and ESPN decided not to do it when the economy started heading downhill in late 2008, early ’09, and Charlie went to the Ben Hogan family and proposed the Hogan Golf School and they gave him their blessings to go forward with that.
   “He then came to the owners at Terradyne; he’d known them from relationships here in the past. He used to live here in Wichita a long time back and felt like Terradyne would be a good home for the Ben Hogan Golf School, with the practice facility...and just thought we would be a good fit to have the golf schools down here.
   “What it’s about really is teaching the five basic fundamentals of the Hogan philosophy and

just getting that out there to the students. Some students need to get back to the basics and (with) some, that’s where they’re starting. So that’s basically what the Ben Hogan Golf School is really about, just getting people re-familiarized with the game and really helping them to improve.”

   KG Online: So can you explain the Hogan teaching philosophy and those five fundamentals?
   Bray: “It’s based on the Hogan book that has been the No. 1 instructional book on golf of all time, The Five Fundamentals of Golf by Ben Hogan. You’re looking at grip, stance posture, swing plane and tempo – really the basis for the golf swing…how to generate lag, how to generate club head speed, and all the things that go into a very repeatable golf swing. So what we try to focus on is getting the student into a position where they can create an effective swing consistently, time after time…obviously we pay particular attention to the position of their hands, the arms at address, how the weight should transfer back and forth, and really, the swing plane is very, very important.
   “So we take those aspects that are in the book, and we give every student (a copy of The Five Fundamentals of Golf) so that they can read along, and read it in a book after hearing us teaching them in the clinics, just to kind of reinforce it. That’s the whole basis of the school.”

   KG Online: Who can benefit from the school, in terms of age, skill level or sex?
   Bray: “Really everybody at every level (and) every age golfer. The first school that we did we had a great turnout, we had 55 students. We had three kids under the age of 12 and we had, I think, a half a dozen women, we had several seniors. So we had someone (aged) nine to, I would have to guess, around 70 and really it was good for everybody. There were several beginners in the class and there were a couple guys that were very low handicaps, like one to

four handicaps. Everybody loved it. We saw a lot of improvement. A lot of people were surprised at how much they improved.
   “It’s really a good school for anybody that’s looking to improve because the better golfers always have things in their swing that they are not really sure about or ‘What should I be doing?’, ‘I don’t feel comfortable doing this…’ or ‘Why do I keep doing this?’ It gives them the answers that they are looking for so when they go practice they know exactly what to do in their practice and can be more effective and it can be more beneficial for them.
   “The golfers that are just starting out, it gives them a fantastic foundation of what to work on and their starting point is the proper starting point and not just going out and swinging the club and developing bad habits. They have something to work with that points them in the right direction.”

   KG Online: Terradyne has upgraded its practice facilities recently. What are some of the facilities that are of benefit to the schools and the students?
   Bray: “We have a putting green and a chipping green that we utilize in the school. Then we also have a brand new practice facility across the street from the (club house). It’s a 300-yard plus driving range with four different tee boxes on it. Then we also have three practice holes over there; we have a par 5, a par 4 and a par 3 that are regulation size. It’s a great place that you can take a student and do actual on-course kind of applications for golf instruction that has really worked out well.
   “The students that come to the Ben Hogan School have access to all of those facilities. So it’s great for them to have a place to practice in between clinics, because a lot of students don’t belong to clubs or don’t have great access to practice facilities and they’re able to use that during the clinic so that has worked out really well and we’ve been really happy with the finished product...”

   KG Online: Though the KGA Championship/KGA Senior Series schedule doesn’t include a stop at Terradyne in 2010, the club has been frequent host for the Association’s events that past few years. Do you see that relationship continuing as Terradyne goes forward with the Hogan schools?
   Bray: “We’re happy to accommodate the KGA and their senior events or their regular (championships) and I don’t see that changing in the future. We’re not hosting any this year. I spoke to (KGA Senior Series Commissioner) Dick Kendrick and I think the dates just didn’t work out for the dates he had and the dates we were able to do it. We’re still happy to have the KGA out. Their events are run very well and I think the players enjoy playing here so I think we will be able to accommodate (the KGA) in the future.”

   For more information on Terradyne Country Club go to terradynecountryclub.com and check out www.terradynecountryclub.com/espn.html for more information on the Ben Hogan Golf Schools.