What should I be looking for in golf instructors? I’m interested in getting lessons but don’t want to jump from golf instructor to golf instructor. Ive tried to decide on the things that are most important to me but I need work all over truthfully.
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It’s hard to tell right away but make sure your instructor is interested in helping you and your goals. Lots of pros can instruct you on what to do and do swing analysis. The person that I use I consider a coach and a friend. He cares how I am doing, he’s ok with a question or email outside of billed time etc.
Some people just don’t click well too. I’m kind of quiet and analytical as a person but my golf swing and playing is more done with feel. It took me 4 people before I settled in with the coach I have now. So it may take a few people and seeing their styles of teaching and coaching before you settle on one. Regardless, I applaud the investment in learning the game. Funny how much some people invest in equipment but never get any better or any more enjoyment from the game. Good luck!
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What are your options? Where do you usually play and practice?
You want someone who is more than a swing technician and someone you get along with and wants to help you improve at golf…
Just talk to people you play with and see who they use.
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There are resources online to find well-reviewed instructors, but I agree with earlier comments that the real key to learning is clear and effective communication from the instructor in a way that you can easily “get”.
I’ve been taking a series of lessons at a GolfTec center not too far from my house; started with a free evaluation they’d offered as a bonus for donating to a veteran’s charity (which I do anyway).
That seemed to go well so I signed up for one of their “Lesson Packs”. I was making some progress, tho as it turns out that instructor retired.
Got paired with a new coach … really nice, young guy … who’s very patient and has no problem telling me, showing me, telling me again, then showing me again in a different way every thing we work on until it starts to sink in.
And I’ve definitely been making good improvement!!
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I think in the age of online video instruction there is no reason to go local or to use someone who only gives a few lessons each week and perhaps runs the pro shop most of the time. I would look far and wide for a pro who teaches golf full time and who has a developed system for teaching golf. I prefer someone who has written an instructional book or video series that I can check out to make sure I want to learn what they are teaching.
I’m going to echo what @dpierson83 said. You have to find someone you gel with. When I decided in my coach, it was kind of a fluke thing. I know what my goal is, but wasn’t ready to take my goals to a coach yet. I was going to use YouTube and all of those things to make me “better” and not embarrass myself in front of the golf instructor. The thing is, none of that stuff was helping because I didn’t understand golf enough, being brand new to it. Well I happened to be complaining about the pro at the course because he came out and yelled at our group for slow play, but it wasn’t us that was slow playing, it was the group ahead of us. Apparently the group behind us called in the complaint. Anyway, I was ranting and raving about him being unprofessional, and how much money I spend at that course, (I usually get lunch there daily because it’s right by my work). Anyway I mentioned my goals and he said well when you’re ready here’s my number. Something told me it was meant to be. I called him up a couple of days later and we’ve been working together now for two years. He is not only my coach but a dear friend. We get each other and he wants to see me succeed as much as I want to. It’s a success for him too.
Long story short, you might have to go through a couple of people until you find the perfect fit, but if you’re looking for years of lessons and not just a dozen or so, it behooves you to find the person that you mesh best with. I got lucky finding him in the first try. I still think sometimes I would like to go to a different instructor every now and then for just a couple hours, just to hear a different perspective, but I definitely won’t replace my coach.
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I wound up using my fitter for lessons. That wasn’t in the plan even though I knew he gave lessons too, but I really liked the guy and he gave me some great pointers during the fitting. We seemed to “click” and I was honest that I wanted lessons, but that I only had so much time to practice. I’ve had a love affair with golf for a good 20 years now and feel like I am very knowledgeable (while still being a lousy player) and we don’t always agree on some things, but we always have a healthy back and forth and he’s willing to come at things from a different perspective to help me. Covid put a monkey wrench in my lessons plan this year, but I plan on resuming things soon.
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I agree with the first bit, I think you’re more likely to get good instruction from a specialist, someone whose primary interest is instruction. On the other hand, I’m not sure I want someone with a “method”, at least not in the “one way for all players” meaning of a method.
I think a first step would be an interview, even if its just 10 minutes, to find out the instructor’s attitude and general methodology. We hear of instructors who try to institute wholesale changes to a player’s entire swing, of others who try to help the player to make a single (most important) change at a time, and then move onto the next important change, which do you think you want? How about timing of the lessons, does an instructor expect you to be there once a week (way too often in my opinion) or does he want to to progress on your own before you return. Does he use video, and how does he use it? If an instructor won’t sit down with you for a few minutes to talk over some of these things, I’d never see him again.
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@davep043, I didn’t say anything about having a method, but I understand what you are saying. Every great teacher I have ever known, though, has definite beliefs about the golf swing and how to teach it. I like that approach much better than what I’ve often seen from country club pros who just watch you swing and offers a tip or a drill to “fix” what they see as your main problem. That’s a bandaid solution that rarely works for more than a month when you must return to the pro for another tip. If that’s what you want, fine, but it’s no way to build a swing that will last. Plus, in an age when I can record my swing and send it to a great teacher why waste my time seeing if the local pro can help my game.
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My apologies, obviously I misunderstood what you wrote, what you intended by “a system for teaching golf.” The internet is full of instructors who promote their own “system”, and way too many want every player to use the same swing. I’ll mention Jim Venetos as an example, teaching a method that is well out of the mainstream, yet I’ve heard some people who swear by his swing. That specific swing may work for some players, but is almost certainly not optimal for all. The best teachers tailor their instruction to each of their students.
I’ve used video instruction myself, successfully, but I think for most people in-person instruction which utilizes video is most likely to be the best choice, if a good instructor is available.
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I think there’s a lot of good advice here already, one thing I would add is to be wary of places that want a big upfront dollar commitment for a lesson package. I’ve seen places that charge extra for a first lesson calling it an “initial assessment”. The instructor I currently use lets you sign up for a first lesson and then apply that cost directly to a lesson package if you wish to continue working with him.
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This is a great conundrum. I think it largely depends on what you want to do. Are you trying to improve on what you already do or are you interested in a total rebuild?
I do think the most important thing is to find a teacher that you get along with and that will listen to you. You also need to find someone who explains the game in a way you understand.
I would ask around your area to see who other people see and like. But you will probably have to go through a bit of trial and error to get a teacher you’re happy with.
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I would say the best thing you can do is talk to them before you start. First of all though figure out what you want. Do you want wholesale changes? Or just a few little nudges here and there. Then ask yourself what you respond to. Some teachers will be highly technical. Others much more feel based. I’m pretty technical so that’s what I look for. Then do some research into what the options say about themselves. Find one who sounds right and then talk to them about what you want and what you’re looking to achieve. Then trust your gut.
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I’m no instructor, this is simply my opinion, but I’d run away from anyone who wants to do a “complete rebuild”. Even if that is what’s needed, its probably best accomplished one step at a time. Each and every step should be an improvement, but change is hard, changing everything at once is impossible.
The question of feel v. technical instruction is interesting. To me, the instructor should understand all of the technical stuff, and be able to explain it in technical if that’s useful to the player. However, he should also be able to leave the technical stuff out of his teaching for those who choose not to hear it. After all, even the most technical-minded player can NOT see exactly what he’s doing in full swings, he can only feel things. “You need to increase internal rotation of your trail shoulder at P3” “OK, what does THAT feel like?” Chances are, feels aren’t accurate, but a specific feel change can often lead to real technical improvement.
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I agree that I wouldn’t go for an instructor who wants to do a full rebuild, but if I was hell bent on getting better and had the time and funds to do several lessons a week to really get better (think Faldo in 1985) then I’d want a coach who could do that with me. There was a guy at my club growing up who was masterful at giving the members a little thing to work at that made them better. They’d do it and play better for a few weeks and then it wouldn’t work anymore so they’d come back for another lesson. Rinse and repeat. He was very good at giving people what they thought they wanted and to be honest if it was the day before an event he’d be perfect to go see. I wouldn’t let him within 100 yards of my swing for an overhaul though.
But there may be times where I want a coach to tell me what I need to fix in total and then set to work with them. Doesn’t mean I’m going to try to do it all at once. I’m pretty good at focusing what I’m working on. I also like to have an idea of the roadmap. So I don’t want someone who wants to do that. But I do want someone who is comfortable doing it. My current coach (who I haven’t seen in over a year owing to the pandemic) is really good at picking out the thing I need to work on now. My fundamentals are worlds better than they were. I’m building a better game. It’s taking a long time since I have two small kids and no time to work on it, but it’s what I want to do so I’m good.
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I think this is pretty common, and not necessarily the fault of the instructor. Lots of folks will work diligently to make a change, do the drills, slow motion, exaggerated movements, whatever, and they’ll see the improvement. Then they say they’ve learned it, they don’t need to do that kind of practice any more, and they slip right back into bad habits. I know I still do specific drills from a lesson from a few years ago, to continue to remind myself of the “right thing”.
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For sure. The person in question wouldn’t give them drills or anything like that. It was literally like “you need to move the ball back an inch” or “flare your left foot out”. Something totally mundane that the person would think ah yes, hit a couple of decent shots and their confidence would go up and they’d play better. Never lasted though. Great business model for him though. His lesson list was always packed and people loved him. It didn’t hurt that he had the gift of the gab.
I know I’m bumping a 9 month old thread. But damnit, I have the same question. How DO you figure out a guy (or gal—I do not care) when you start thinking: damn I think I need a pro looking at me.
I’m in Houston. I’ve thought about the guy who runs one of the driving ranges I go to, but I don’t even know what questions I should be asking. And I’m not interested in dropping 1500-2000 on perfectly fitted clubs: I don’t even know what posture or position I should be in! How can I know that I’ve a consistent enough swing that we can start building clubs around it?
(Vs me lead taping/sticking another shaft in, trying to bend the lie on the freebies I’ve got?) Seriously. I don’t want to drop a K on new clubs. I’d rather spend it on lessons/TrackMan/whatever-they-use on putting greens time.
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Where are you at in Houston? My pro is moving to kingwood and I highly recommend him… he can show you what you are doing and work to find out what works for you… no set swing he preaches, just looks at your swings and helps make it better.
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West Galleria. I was debating going to Marti in SW Houston—God knows I hit enough balls there—but I’m really looking for a guy/gal to say, “Hey, you’re doing X. How about doing Y: try these drills for a week or two and come back and see me?”
Basically, trying to make sure I don’t have the bad habits I suspect I do. Kingwood’s a drive—I love Kingwood CC though–but it’s not a deal killer distance wise.
I just don’t know the basic questions to ask. Why “This pro!”, but not “That pro.”
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