Recently I had someone contact me to discuss the possibility of me working with his 14 year old nephew. The conversation ended with us scheduling a lesson. At the end of the lesson (which went well), when deciding what to do going forward, the uncle said, “Well, we’ll soon find out if you’re the right instructor for him”. I was not insulted by this, but rather impressed that the uncle realized this: not every instructor works well with every student.
In this case, it appears the uncle, not the student, will be determining whether or not this fit (instructor/student) is the right one. I think every golfer, who is considering taking a lesson with someone new, keep that in mind. Especially, if it’s the first instructor you’ve ever worked with.
In my opinion, it isn’t how much knowledge and experience an instructor has. There are many instructors out there who are very knowledgeable when it comes to understanding the mechanics of the golf swing. But the REAL skill comes in applying that knowledge to each lesson, what many of us refer to as the “art” of teaching.
Teaching golf is a very challenging profession, and in many ways it’s because teaching golf is about communication, and communicating the same thing with ten different people, may require ten different approaches. On top of that, every golfer has different goals and different resources; time, many, and talent. This makes every lesson a little, if not, very different. How I approach helping a 70 year old woman, can be quite different than how I approach helping a collegiate player or fellow golf professional. And sometimes, no matter how hard an instructor tries, or how good the instructor is – he strikes out – the student doesn’t benefit from the lesson. Once, during a instruction seminar, an instructor raised his hand to a question and he responded “every student I have worked with has gotten better”. I wanted to jump up and scream “bulls***”. It just isn’t possible that every teacher can be for every student. I strike out sometimes, and so does everyone else – that’s the reality of golf instruction.
But at the same time, golfers need to be realistic and patient – you may not see immediate results after the first lesson. I’m sure at least some of the golfers I have seen only once, didn’t come back because they didn’t feel that got what they were hoping for with our first, and only, lesson. You need to give the instructor at least a few lessons to see if you can make progress with him or her. And you can’t expect miracles in one lesson – it just usually doesn’t happen. So give the instructor a chance, and work on the ideas that he or she is prescribing, before you decide whether he is right for you. And if after a few lessons you don’t think the fit is right, try another one; it may take you working with a few instructors before you find the right one of you.
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