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.
@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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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”.
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.
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.
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.”
I hear you… he’s not there yet, but his name is Ben fulkerson…
I can’t answer how to find a good swing pro, and I don’t recommend Ben to everyone… but he has really helped me get a feel for some of the technical parts of the swing as well as helped me develop some different shots…
He also recommended golf scrimmages for some drills, if you want to check it out!
I’m also a big believer in Adam young and the practice manual…
Cool, I’ll look for him. ‘Technical’ is great, IMHO. I want to know why X is resulting in 22A, but X/2 only results in 3A. Or why I suddenly have developed a rocket launch profile on my drives that Elon Musk would envy…
Adam Young is fantastic. I had a few professional obligations that ate the time, otherwise I’d have totally gone for that deal on immersive teaching he was offering a few months back. Beyond what he normally offers in the Strike and Accuracy Plans.
I’ve been playing golf for 23 years now and I’ve probably had ten instructors – mostly through one-off gift certificates my family gives me. I would say the majority were good instructors. I agree that you have to find someone whose teaching style you prefer to get the most out of it.
My take is that being a golf instructor is a very difficult job. The instructor has to meet the pupil where they’re at in terms of skill level and go from there. People have unrealistic expectations of how quickly they can improve and the student is either unwilling or unable put in the work required. The pragmatic solution offered up is to improve your short game. It definitely will lower your score and is something that people can achieve if they have the discipline.
However, short game advice is not what an aspiring golfer wants to hear. Every hacker wants to be that crazy good ball striker they see at the far end of the range because they know deep down that no matter how good their short game gets, it’s not enough to get into that league. So, what can be done? I’ll take another large bucket, please. 
Totally agree. The more lessons I take - and I’ve been going fairly regularly for the past 5-6 months - the more I start to internalize just how HARD this crazy game is!
But the #1 real key as had been mentioned earlier is … COMMUNICATION.
The instructor needs to be able to communicate pretty difficult concepts in any one of several various ways until the student can understand, and act on, all that information. Ie. different people learn differently and a good instructor can adapt their teaching to each individual.
Now… how to find that wonderful person…???
Recommendations are a good start but imho you’ll have to do some trial and error in evaluating different pros and who you can mesh with…
Is Fulkerson coming down to Houston? [EDIT: Let me rephrase that. When is he coming to Houston?]
Because the Ben Fulkerson golf guy I find is a teaching pro in Kentucky. Which is a bit of a commute.
If I were in KY, I’d totally look him up though. His website was saying things I liked.
I get that; it’s one of the reasons I like Adam Young (and our host) so much, because they put numbers on just how hard it is to do the things we do with a well-lit golf ball.
I don’t mind drills. Or hard, true statements—again, like our host has stated at this site: if you’re only able to devote this much time to getting better, you can realistically expect to only improve this much.
I just don’t want someone who, in the words of (IIRC, Gary McCord), sits in a chair, and periodically yells at you, “Keep your head down!”, as you beat through a bucket of balls. Or, like the guy I tried a few lessons with 30 years ago, who was a total devotee of the Leadbetter method, and my swing needed to be flatter, with the bigger muscles dominating.
Which would have been GREAT, if it worked.
Yes. Bens last day at my club in Kentucky was yesterday.
He’s headed to kingwood soon.