BOB HELD DOING CLUB REPAIR, AND ON THE RANGE AT THE 
FRESH MEADOW LEARNING CENTER IN HILLSIDE.

THIS FEATURE RAN EARLIER THIS SUMMER...BOB PASSED AWAY
TODAY OCT. 6 AT AGE 57 OF A HEART ATTACK...HE WAS MY
TEACHING PRO FOR 21 YEARS..HE WAS ALSO A FRIEND. HE
WILL BE MISSED BY ME AND GOLFERS EVERYWHERE WHO
KNEW HIM.....THERE WILL BE A WAKE ON TUESDAY AND
A FUNERAL ON WEDNESDAY..  There was a wake tonight and
funeral starts at 9:30 on Wednesday Hitzeman Funeral home 31st Street
Brookfield IL, burial in All Saints Cemetery Desplaines.

GOG BLOG..Bob tell us how you turned into a long time teaching pro at
Fresh Meadow.

BOB HELD.."Prior to the 1990's I was a sales representative for a
company called Power Flex, and actually National Sales Manager so
my experience is at a national level through a graphite shaft company.

GOG BLOG..But that's not the only company you are connected to.

BOB HELD.."I do some consulting work for other companies or have.
Over the years it's been Bettanardi Putters, The Carbide putter Company
and Titleist too. A lot of it was and still is shafts, but it's marketing too.

GOG BLOG..So how did you emerge as a teaching pro and equipment 
fitting and repair guy.

BOB HELD..."Back in the early to mid-90's people figured if I could
diagnose a swing and recommend equipment, I could teach so I started
doing that. Which is now almost 90 percent off my business."

GOG BLOG...Who influenced you to teach.

BOB HELD.."A collective group of people. When I was on tour in the 1980's
and things weren't so complicated then. If you could give guys things that
they could understand and not make it rocket science. You could do pretty
well. So that's been my philosophy as a teacher, and people must like it
because they keep coming back.."

GOG BLOG..."Take about Fresh Meadow, an astroturf practice facility.

BOB HELD.."It's one of the few in the midwest. The surface is green year
round that's a positive, on the other side. If you hit a target green the ball
checks, if you hit the turf it's like playing the British Open. It will really bounce
for you. The facility has been around for a long time, and has a great natural
short game area. I walked in there in the 1980's because it was close to my
house, told them what I could do and they hired me. I've been there ever
since, Crains Chicago Business did an article on Fresh Meadow and called
me a permanent fixture there, because of how long I have worked there."

GOG BLOG..You have done some golf media projects over the years.

BOB HELD.."There have been a lot of them. The Chicagoland Golf Magazine
with the late Phil Kosin, I helped him get that going. For a while I was the
equipment editor for the Chicago District Golf Association, and then the
Golf Chicago Magazine. Before I got to do some radio things with you, which
I like to do."

GOG BLOG..Talk about working with juniors and senior students, you have
plenty of both.

BOB HELD.."I don't have a giant junior program, but I am pleased that the
juniors I have worked with have generated 1.2 million dollars in college
scholarships. I have had one junior golfer win the Illinois State High School
Championship, and another take third. A half dozen or so have finished
top 15, then go on to successful collegiate golf careers. Don't start the
kids to early, but if you do let them have fun. No fancy grip or technical
instruction, the main thing is getting them to want to play golf. That's good
for them and it grows the game."

GOG BLOG...Seniors..

BOB HELD.."I have one student named Jim who started playing at age 74,
he had never picked up a club until then. He would ask for playing lessons
every week, and said go play. He would say I'm not ready. So I asked him
why he thought that. He said if all golfers play like you I am not ready. I told
him go play with real golfers and not golf pros and he would be fine. So he
did and found out he was beating those kids but good. By kids he meant
the 55-60 year olds."

GOG BLOG..You have spent so much time with equipment, how important
is the right equipment today for all golfers.

BOB HELD.."Before I give any student a new lesson, I look in their bag. They
don't need the latest, greatest most expensive. But when they take a set up
I look at the club and see where the toe is sitting. Are the clubs to short, or
to long. I look at grips too, and see if they are worn and need replacement.
I always check grips because I'm on the Golf Pride Grips advisory staff. If
they have reasonable equipment they are okay. But once you get better the
equipment makes it easier to lower your score. Setting goals to break
100, then 90, then 80, it's easier to do when your equipment fits you and
the level of your game."

BOB NOT ONLY GIVES LESSONS, BUT IS ONE OF THE TOP EQUIPMENT
FITTERS AND CLUB REPAIR PEOPLE IN THE CHICAGO AREA. HE HAS
LOWERED MY HANDICAP ALMOST 20 SHOTS SINCE I STARTED WORKING
WITH HIM. I TRUST MY EQUIPMENT REPAIR AND FITTING TO BOB.
Gog Blog Guy....Rory Spears.

TO HEAR RORY'S INTERVIEW WITH BOB HELD CLICK HERE:  
 

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