Fehr Play

BY BOB SHERWIN • CG STAFF WRITER

What sets up Rick Fehr as an outstanding golf instructor is his incomparable wealth of experience, as the one-time Seattle wunderkind reached a competitive peer level where he played and beat the greatest golfers in the world.

Barely into his teens, Fehr had a fluid and elegant swing that made him, along with Fred Couples, a local player destined for greatness. He would go on to win state and national junior tournaments, was a two-time All-American at Brigham Young, low amateur at both the Masters and U.S. Open in 1984, then spent a couple decades on the PGA Tour with a pair of victories, nine runners-up, 41 top 10s, and ranking as high as 45th in the world.

He is uniquely qualified to pass along vital insights to his accomplished clients as to what was required for him to make 238 cuts on Tour.

By the same token, and perhaps more importantly, he can detail what was missing in the 168 cuts he didn’t make. That might be more relatable for his aspiring students, how he dealt with his struggles, when his swing declined and his mind stuttered.

“When I had my first extended struggle, I kind of questioned how I did things,” said Fehr, who made the decision to change swing coaches as both his career and the century turned. “I wish someone had said, ‘relax, don’t make any changes.’ We made significant changes that I now recognize the risk in doing that.”

It was a futile search for a swing that he would never find, at least not one that allowed him to compete again at that elite level.

“That influences how I teach now,” Fehr added. “If a player has a stated goal of X, my feeling is, ‘can he achieve that with his current swing technique?’ Change is difficult. It takes a lot of work. It can be disruptive at best and devastating at worst. It is possible for players to get worse and for coaches to be part of that process.

“I do coach scared, so to speak, and ‘do no harm’ is sort of the first guiding principle.”

What all this means — all his successes and failures, all his physical swing changes as well as his mental swings — is that Rick Fehr has been fully rounded and adequately prepared to improve the level of play for any golfer of any age or skill level. He experienced it all, at the highest level. He had all the shots and, ultimately, took all the hits. He was a winner and was wounded, gifting him with essential learning tools from both extremes.

Fehr, 60, who has been teaching golf for more than 20 years at various clubs and courses in the area — most recently at Aldarra Golf Club in Fall City. This spring, he started his own teaching business, Rick Fehr Coaching. He works out of Newcastle Golf Club in Bellevue as well as an indoor facility, Mercer Island Golf Club.

“This is where I’ve landed,” he said. “There’s no place like Aldarra, but I’m available to more golfers now.”

He takes on all varieties, the older golfers seeking 10 more yards as well as the young ones reaching for the stars. He offers advice and instruction for young teens, just like he once was, seeking a spot on a college team. He also works with accomplished golfers from the University of Washington with professional dreams, as he once achieved.

“We can identify with other sports, whether it’s Scott Servais (Mariners) or Pete Carroll (Seahawks) or a good high school football coach, communicating clearly is very important,” he said. “It starts with, for me, being empathic. I think I have the ability to sense what the golfer is going through and figure out a way to communicate effectively.”

Empathy. That’s the word. That’s what he brought back with him from his lifetime of fairway walks and range routines. Empathy is in his mental briefcase, intertwined with his lessons, advice, tips, warnings and caveats that he can be to the benefit of any client.

“Some people need to feel it, others need to see it,” he said. “I like to think I can take complex things and simplify them. That’s really been my pursuit. My depth of understanding and what I’ve studied from different aspects of human performances, allow me to get to the root of the issue.”

His method is not wholesale swing changes but to work with what the player has. As he says, “that’s the least invasive surgery.

“The difficult thing for a player and a coach working with him is to evaluate how do you play your best,” he added. “Then do we need to move the bar so that the best is better or is the best good enough?”

If there is one element of the game that has been consistent in Fehr’s career, it’s putting. He’s kind of a specialist in that area. He was consistently among the Tour leaders in putting, including No. 1 on the Tour in putts per round (27.71) in 1998.

Putting, of course, is a different golf discipline. It doesn’t have all those body parts working in unison for the perfect drive or wedge. It’s a much simpler setup that requires a sharp eye, a steady stroke and accurate touch. There is not much variation in putting styles for professionals, perhaps different grips or postures but basically the same. So, why are some players — generally the Tour’s elite money-winners — consistently better? What makes the difference? It may have to do with something unseen.

“The brain is a huge component to everything we do. All motion originates upstairs, in our brain,” Fehr said. “It’s a complex sport, from everything that’s going on in our brain and our mind to our technique and all the other factors.”

It’s particularly apparent over a putt. Once the golfer has set up, determined the line and figures how much force is needed to reach the hole, that’s when the brain takes over. Or should. It’s the brief quiet time to minimize distractions, eliminate doubt and believe that the ball will fall. As Fehr says, paraphrasing sports psychologists he follows, “performance equals ability minus interference.”

Once mind and body are lined up — which is the eternal challenge — then see it; hit it. And make it quick.

“I think the best putters in the world are pretty quick,” said Fehr, adding that the longer a golfer stands there, deliberating, the more opportunity for the brain to be muddled. “There’s a time for processing and thinking, making your decision, but then once you step into the shot or over the putt, go. You don’t want to figure out then what you’re going to do.”

Fehr is there to help those trying to figure it out. He enjoys what he does and believes he’s making a difference.

“It’s been a number of years since I’ve played competitively and I think there’s a similar, perhaps an exhilaration, but it feels pretty good to accomplish something,” he added. “In this case, what other people are accomplishing.”

Go to fehrgolf.com and learn about his sessions, options and rates, which are reasonable and bring a pro sizzle to say the least.