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Do you have a question you’d like to ask me about your golf game? If so, leave a comment in my mailbox and I will answer your question. If you’d like to include pictures or videos with your question and can’t post it here, feel free to email them to me at kvoska@hotmail.com.
Thanks,
Kyle Voska
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About
KYLE VOSKA, PGA PROFESSIONAL
I grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio and graduated from St. Michael’s, St. Xavier, and Miami University. After graduating from Miami with a Finance degree, I moved to Florida to pursue my professional golf dreams. After a few successful years and a couple of difficult years, I stopped playing full-time. After a year of caddying on the LPGA Tour for Young Jo, Kim Williams, and Angela Stanford, I moved back home to Cincinnati. Currently, I live near Sharonville with my lovely wife, Lindsay, our kids, Maclin and Ellie, and our dog, Nora.
Teaching golf for over a year in Florida and having taken and watched many lessons from PGA Certified Master Teaching Professional Carl Rabito, becoming a golf instructor was something I really wanted to do. Fortunately, I was able to find a home at Sharon Woods Golf Course in Cincinnati, my old home from the 90′s, to further this new career path. As I enter my 6th season as a golf professional, I’m excited how my role is taking shape. I assist in managing and supervising a staff of nearly 40 while teaching golf lessons to over a 100 students. Hopefully, someday I’ll have the opportunity to mentor some future golf professionals like myself.
Email: kvoska@hotmail.com
ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
- PGA Member – June, 2009
- 2008 PGA National Assistants Champion
- 43 Professional Tournament Victories
- 2010 Southern Ohio PGA Section Player-of-the-Year
- 2010 Southern Ohio PGA Southwest Chapter Player-of-the-Year
- 2009 Cincinnati Chapter Match Play Champion
- 2009 Southern Ohio PGA Assistant’s Champion
- 2001 and 2010 Southern Ohio PGA Open Champion
- 2000 PGA Buick Open Contestant
- 1998 Miami Athlete-of-the-Year
- 2-Time NCAA Division I All-American
- Mid-American Conference Sportsman and Player-of-the Year (1998)
- 2-Time Cincinnati Met Amateur Champion (1997, 1998)
- Cincinnati Met Amateur Medalist and Runner-Up (1996)
- NCAA low scoring average on Par 3′s (2.91) in 1998
- Low competitive round – 62 (3 times): Four Bridges CC (’01), Oasis CC (’09), and Juniper Hills GC (’02)
- Low non-competitive round – 61: Browns Run CC – White tees
- Won a 54-hole Developmental Players Tour event by 9 shots shooting 19 under par with no bogies (64,64,69)
- 4 career Holes-in-One and 3 career double eagles
MY PGA MENTORS:
Tom Bach – Head Professional at Sharon Woods Golf Course
George Long – Kenwood CC PGA Professional/Head Pro at The Mill Course (17 Years)
Carl Rabito – PGA Certified Master Teaching Professional (Top 100 Instructor)
Mike Bender – 2009 PGA National Teacher-of-the-Year (Top 100)
Craig Shankland – 2001 PGA National Teacher-of-the-Year (Top 100)
Jim Suttie, Ph.D - 2000 PGA National Teacher-of-the-Year (Top 100)
Bill Madonna – Bill Madonna Golf Academy (Top 100)
Andrew Park – The David Leadbetter Golf Academy
Chris Toulson – Jim McLean Golf School at Doral
As you can see, I’ve been very fortunate to have learned from some of the best PGA Professionals in the country. I feel privileged to pass on the wealth of knowledge I’ve gained from spending time with these great gentlemen.
KV
Great website! Looking forward to visiting it often and using your advice.
Keep the great information coming and I will see you on the golf course sooner, rather than later, I hope.
Your’s truly,
George Long
Thanks George!
KVo – I am loving the blog. This is the first blog that I have read. I come back to it about once a week. Your articles are great, I am amazed at how much of this I forget. Keep the jokes coming. They make the tips more fun to read.
Terry
Thanks Terry. I’ll continue the jokes, but I can’t guarantee they’ll be funny.
Kyle,
Thanks for the tips, I appreciate your blog. We’ll see you in the Spring for some more short game instruction!!!
Looking forward to it. Thanks, Greg.
I saw a recent tour player using a yellow ball. I see that Srixon has come out with their yellow ball, a “calming” color according to their info. Do you plan on using a yellow ball in the future? Another general question for another article: does it really matter what ball we use?
How come Dayton CC isn’t on your favorites list? Sure is a good place for me!
Nice website.
Dayton CC is a great course and a lot of fun to play. I’m looking forward to playing a couple of tournaments there this summer.
Great web site. Very Impressive and love the tips. Pray they will help the over the top golfer. Will let others know of this great resource for the golfer! Will keep you and the family in prayer. Frank
Thanks Frank!
Today I experienced the situation described in your paragraph:
“Here’s how to procede when your ball moves. First, the good news. If your ball moves and you haven’t addressed your ball or didn’t directly cause your ball to move there is no penalty. And, to the surprise of many, you play the ball where it lies. Do not move the ball back to its original position. If you do, you’ll be assessed a penalty.”
I did not cause the ball to move and was disqualified for moving the ball back to its original location and hitting it. Is disqualification the correct penalty for this? One or two stroke would seem more reasonable. and by-the-way, I reported this on myself.
Thanks,
Yvonne
This is a challenging rule to interpret. The penalty is 2 strokes for playing the ball from a wrong spot. In this case, I believe it should be a one stroke penalty, but the rules are the rules. I don’t believe you should’ve been disqualified. I’m going to copy a section out of the rule book:
If a competitor makes a stroke from a wrong place, he incurs a penalty of two strokes under the applicable Rule. He must play out the hole with the ball played from the wrong place, without correcting his error, provided he has not committed a serious breach (see Note 1).
If a competitor becomes aware that he has played from a wrong place and believes that he may have committed a serious breach, he must, before making a stroke on the next teeing ground, play out the hole with a second ball played in accordance with the Rules. If the hole being played is the last hole of the round, he must declare, before leaving the putting green, that he will play out the hole with a second ball played in accordance with the Rules.
If the competitor has played a second ball, he must report the facts to the Committee before returning his score card; if he fails to do so, he is disqualified. The Committee must determine whether the competitor has committed a serious breach of the applicable Rule. If he has, the score with the second ball counts and the competitor must add two penalty strokes to his score with that ball. If the competitor has committed a serious breach and has failed to correct it as outlined above, he is disqualified.
Note 1: A competitor is deemed to have committed a serious breach of the applicable Rule if the Committee considers he has gained a significant advantage as a result of playing from a wrong place.
You weren’t trying to gain an advantage, you just didn’t know the rule. I wouldn’t deem this as “serious breach of the rules” so I wouldn’t have dq’d you. A 2-stroke penalty seems like the fair ruling in my opinion.
I hope that helps!
You’re wonderful. Thx for taking your time to give me such a great explanation. I’m saving your website for future reference. Hopefully I won’t have another “bizarre” situation!
Kyle, thanks making your Wednesday night “Golf 101″ class so enjoyable. My dad and I really got a lot out of it, and we’re already booking tee times and hitting the driving range to practice what we’ve learned.
Hitting that first drive on #1 at our last class is something I’ll never forget; it was at that moment I felt I went from “someone who is learning how to play golf” to “someone who can golf and strives to get better”, and it’ll be worth every round of golf and every bucket of range balls just to hear and feel another well-hit shot. I’m hooked!
Thanks John! I’m glad you guys had a good time. I did as well. I look forward to hearing more about your progress.
Scored my first birdie on #18 at The Elks Golf Club in Wilmington, my “hometown” course, since that’s where I grew up and the only golf I’d ever played before was there.
What a feeling!
That’s great John! Thanks for the update.
Hi Kyle,
Great class today.
Thanks
Imtiaz
Kyle, Great round yesterday. We saw the score in the newspaper today. Luke and I will be in to see you soon. He’s in the Jr.Met today and tomorrow………
ted/Luke
I heard a rumor that in the near future that the PGA wants ALL players to use a yellow ball. Any truth to this?
Very interesting. I haven’t heard anything about this and would be very surprised if there’s any truth to it. That being said, I believe the yellow golf balls are a little easier to see on the course and on tv.
While watching the US Open today, Mcllory was in a trap, #4 I think, he dug into the sand with his feet for his stance, then stepped out of it and then back in, digging in again. I thought that once you established this stance you were not permitted to move out of it for you would be called for testing the sand. Is this true
Good question. In this case, Rory did not break a rule. He dug in next to his ball, stepped out, and then went back into his original foot prints. If he had smoothed out his original foot prints and then re-taken his stance, he would’ve incurred a penalty. Or, if he had taken a stance away from the ball in the bunker, he would’ve incurred a penalty there as well. A player is allowed to go in and out of a bunker as long as they’re not deemed testing the sand.
Hi Kyle,
After you headed up to the clubhouse, I hit a few more balls trying to hit a draw. When I try to keep my finish a bit lower than I usually do (to create the draw), about a third of the time, I pull the entire shot to the left, hitting it low. Do you have any suggestions in addition to hitting the shot toward the 2:00 o’clock position?
Also, I can’t seem to hit the hybrids or the fairway wood much at all, so eventually I hope you will talk about any peculiarities involved with those clubs.
Thanks.
Steve C-F
Steve,
Your swing was looking good yesterday. If you try getting to that finish too soon, you’ll come over your backswing plane and pull the ball left.
Try: 1) making a full shoulder back and 2) keeping your back to the target a little longer on your downswing. This will make is harder to start the ball left. If you open up too soon, you can start the ball left. A drill, which you’ve probably seen, is to place 3 balls in a row at a diagonal angle pointed 45 degrees to your left. The balls will be about 4 inches apart. Hit the middle ball without hitting the outside balls.
I will cover those clubs next week. In a nutshell, to hit those well, you have to keep your body real level throughout the swing.
See you soon!
Kyle