I’m currently looking for a GUITAR instructor. I’ve been playing for a little more that a year and I’m basically been teaching myself through material I’ve found on the internet. And while learning guitar and golf has it’s similarities, it also has it’s differences. But the one thing it has in common is that students are looking for the best instructor they can find. So how do you go about it?

Well, the one thing I’ve learned about guitar instructors is that they don’t need much credentials to call themselves “guitar teachers”. It appears that all you have to do is be able to play and you can hang a sign outside your shop (or basement of their home) that reads “Guitar Teacher” and start giving lessons and getting paid to do just that. To me this is very scary, and it makes me think about how students seek out an instructor. After all students, whether you are a golfer or guitarist, are going to be spending their hard earned money and dedicate precious time to practice what the instructor gives to them. So I started searching the net and doing some research on some guitar instructors – who they’ve worked with and whether they have any “certifications” and/or were educated in the area of education. I’ve found someone and will be starting with him this week, with hope that he will work out well. But the fact is he might not.

And so the search for a golf instructor should not be much different. If you are currently in search of a golf instructor you can start by asking your fellow golfers who they have worked with (I didn’t have the benefit of knowing a lot of guitarist who take lessons) and which ones they have liked. But keep in mind that one golfer can think a particular professional is a genius and another golfer thinks that same professional is a terribly ineffective instructor. You could also go online and start doing some research there. Some things to factor in are credentials – most golf instructors, at least in the Metro NY area are PGA Members, or at least, PGA Apprentices. Now this certainly has some value, but due to the fact that, in my opinion, the PGA does not require enough studying in the area of instruction, that credential by itself can only be weighted so much. There are PGA Members who I consider very good instructors and others who, well let’s just say are not as good – just like in any profession. If you belong to a private club, you could start with the instructors at your club and they may or may not be good for you (my fellow pros are going to hate that I said that). The fact of the matter is that I have a handful of members at my club who seek the help of professionals not at my facility – and I have to accept that I or my other assistants can’t be the right instructor for everyone or it could be as simple as we don’t have a female professional and some women prefer to take a lesson from a woman. Other members have found other instructors that work for them – that’s just the way it goes and to me all that really matters is that the golfer is finding someone they are comfortable and confident with.

Now, even if you do find someone you think you might want to start taking lessons from, you should at least make the commitment to do a handful of lessons before you start to evaluate whether it’s a good fit or not, unless you find the communication skills of the professional just doesn’t work for you. If that’s communication between you and the instructor isn’t good then you might want to start looking for another one sooner rather than later. But trying a few lessons is really the only fair way to see if the relationship is going to be a beneficial one. I’ve more than few times where I was working with the same student and it wasn’t until the third or fourth lesson where we were really able to make a breakthrough. I’ve also had many golfers come to me for one lesson – then to never see them again. We’ll never if our relationship could have worked if given a little more time.

Finding an instructor can be similar to find a therapist. You may have to work with a few before you find the right one for you. So I’m excited to work with this guitar teacher, but also realize that he may not be the last one I work with.

I recently returned from the 2010 PGA Merchandise show and spent some time looking at the new clubs and balls that will be offered in the upcoming season and of course they come with all the promises – drivers that go longer and straighter, irons that produce more accurate approach shots, putters that make more putts than any other, and wedges that will spin like no other.

So what does all this mean for the 2010 golfer. Honestly, not much. This “new” breed of technology won’t really make any difference in the game of golfers, just as past equipment really hasn’t had that much of an impact – which is proven by the fact that golfers scores/handicaps are not improving. Now I don’t want to downplay the importance of club/ball fitting, because I think that each golfer should be fit with the proper equipment, and the right ball. But I can’t help but wonder whether equipment changes and benefits are just as much mental as they are physical.

The reason I say this is the countless times I’ve experienced the following scenarios with golfers; a golfer finds and purchases a new driver that he absolutely loves, then a couple of months later is looking for a new one because he can’t hit that one anymore. Or a golfer finds a golf ball – a brand/model he’s never played – on the golf course, decides to play it and plays the last 7 holes of his round really well – so now he wants to buy that brand of ball. A golfer is struggling terribly with his putter so he buys another one – then starts to put really well. Another golfer tries a demo set of irons, that he loves, so we order the set, but then he finds he can’t hit them as well as the demo set so we sell him the demos and we end up putting his new/used set in stock as the demos. Now in this last example, could there have been a physical difference? That’s possible, but I doubt enough of a manufacturing physical difference to explain the radical performance difference the player was experiencing.

So what all these things mean to me is that much of it is mental. I see golfers with the same 5 wood in their bag for the past 15 years and ask why they haven’t changed it – the new technology is clearly proven to be better. But they’ll say they’ve tried the new technology, but they just love that 5 wood and have confidence in it. This is especially true with putters – once you find one that you like, most golfers tend to use it for a long time – which makes sense since, in my opinion, there really isn’t that big of a difference in technology when it comes to putters. In fact sometimes when a golfer comes in and I ask him or her if they love their putter, and they respond “no”, I suggest they look at possibly trying some other putters. Why? Because chance are if they change their attitude toward their putter, their putting will start to improve. And once it starts to show some improvement, the player gains more confidence, which then improves their putting even more.

So as the season begins (and it will for those of us that live in colder climates), there will be new equipment choices that will be presented to you – and may even tempt you. But I think you owe it to yourself to make sure that you are using the correct equipment – both with clubs and balls. Then after that you have to ask yourself the question, is it the club, or is it my attitude towards that club? So you have choices. You can change the club, or change your mental approach/attitude, or maybe do a little bit of both.