If You are Considering Taking Golf Lessons.....

Finding a Good Instructor/Coach

The major reason it is difficult to find good golf instruction today is that instructors/coaches are not ranked by results.  The PGA, Golf Digest, no one does this.  What we need is an “Angie’s List” for golf professionals.  This may be why only 2 out of 17 golfers take lessons.  I’m sure it is at least a factor.

At this point word-of-mouth is all we have.  If you are thinking of taking lessons, you need to do some research before you pay your hard earned money to someone.  The good ones will have no problem with this.  If they are offended by your questions then move on.  You would be wasting your money with them anyway.

Here are a few points to consider before signing up with someone:

• If they try to sell you a package up front there is a problem.  If they haven’t spent any time with someone how can they possibly have any idea how many lessons you will need.  Packages are not bad unless you are being asked to sign up for one initially.

• If they do split screen video comparing your swing to some tour player and proceed to point out how many things are wrong in your swing you need to ask for your money back.  This is what is generally referred to as “Let me show you how many ways your swing sucks” school of instruction.

• The real red flag is do they teach a method?  Every instructor should have a method of teaching but should never teach a method.  It’s like saying “One size fits all”.  No method fits everyone.  People and golf swings are individual.

• They spend a lot of time talking about how much they know and how good a player they are.

• They don’t spend any time asking about your goals, medical problems, and swing thoughts.

Here is some things you can expect from a good instructor/coach:

• Introduction. Students are often intimidated by teaching professionals, so he or she will try setting the student at ease and developing a rapport prior to the session. This leads to more effective communication between the teacher and the student.

• They will want background information. This information includes: Previous golf and sports history; previous injury history; ask about physical limitations; occupation; previous instruction history; goals for golf.

• They will want specific golf information. This includes: examination of the golfer's equipment; ball flight characteristics; determining how far the golfer hits each club; strengths and weaknesses in the various aspects of golf; practice habits; motivation for playing golf (i.e., competition vs. hobby vs. spouse activity, etc.); motivation for taking golf lessons.

• A good instructor will form a personal relationship with you and be personally interested in your success.

• There is even a trend now among the good one ones to offer monthly and yearly rates for unlimited help since people learn more effectively in frequent, short sessions.

The real art of instruction is figuring out what is integral to each players swing and knowing that you should not try to change that.  You have to work around it and help them become the best they can be with the fundamental swing they have.  If you know someone who does this, please let me know.  I want to promote them to everyone.  I already have my list of teachers.

There is good news though.  There is a growing number of instructors out there that will help you simplify what you need to do and will help you maximize your swing and ability – not remake your swing in their image of what they think it should like.  It’s just difficult to find them because they don’t get much publicity.

Word of Caution

One word of caution – if you try to go it alone, keep this in mind that it is going to be incredibly difficult .  If you google golf instruction, golf tips, how to fix a slice, etc. you will get a huge selection.  One reason for this is that these people are in it for the money and not to primarily concerned with helping golfers.  You are bombarded by emails and infomercials telling you that if you buy this DVD or training aid, this book, etc. your game will dramatically improve and each one is telling you a different secret.  They have tour players and ex-tour players swearing its some type of breakthrough.  I hate to tell you, but virtually all of them are all scams.  Nobody has the secret because there is no secret.  They are simply trying to make money off you regardless of what they tell you in their video.  Anyone that appears on the first page of google results has an ulterior motive or they wouldn’t go to that much trouble to get that highly ranked.

If you have questions or would like to get in touch with me just leave a comment.