Golf Instruction Used To Be Simple
In the battle of simplicity vs.
complexity, simplicity wins, every time. We gravitate toward products and
services that eliminate complexity from our lives, and we rail against the
things that complicate matters and make us feel stupid.
Back in the days of the
three-martini lunch, golf instruction was simple and appealing. As a country
club member you had a pro at your disposal. He’d work with you on the driving
range, play with you, coach you to get better, and monitor your progress.
It was a personalized, one-on-one
experience.
No two lessons were the same. He
worked with the swing you had, and helped you build the skills you needed to
score well on the golf course.
Accountability was built in… You’d
practice because you knew the pro was keeping an eye on your progress.
But those days are gone.
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| Sam Adams Golf Instruction Used to
Be Simple |
Today, less than 5% of all golfers
have a relationship with a golf professional. According to the NGF, less than
half of all golfers have ever taken a lesson, and when they do they are often
disappointed. There are 27 million golfers, but less than 4 million lessons in
any given year. Maybe we should think about why that is…
I believe that most lessons are
totally intimidating, especially for women. Because most instructors make
them way too complex! Most of all, because they frequently don’t work.
It is a rare instructor who sends
the student off with fewer than five or six “things to work on.”
According to Phil Mickelson, even the tour gurus are often guilty of
over-instruction. “Can’t you just give me one thing to work on?”
Often it’s a checklist of a dozen
mechanical issues that the average person can’t possibly grasp, much less
incorporate into his or her game. The more technical the lesson is, the worse
it gets.
Group lessons and most golf schools
are especially ineffective. Common complaints include: “I came back worse than
when I started.” “It was just way too technical.” “He didn’t give me anything
positive, it was all about what I was doing wrong.”
Video analysis only helps the most
analytical, visual learners; Maybe one half of one percent of the golfing
population. And yet, instructors routinely use stop motion video to
analyze every position and point out every flaw.
I call that the “Let Me Show You How
Bad You Suck” school of golf instruction.
More often than not, it’s just
confusing and demoralizing for the student.
In an issue of Golf Digest, Jim
Flick, one of the top five teachers of all time, wrote an article that sums up
the problem with modern golf instruction:
“A lot of today’s teachers are
enamored with what works for the tour pros, and they give the same information
to their higher-handicap students… In general, trying to swing like most of
today’s tour pros will make the average golfer – say a 5 handicap or higher, –
only worse.”
Rather than working with the
student’s natural swing, today’s teachers tell everyone to emulate Tiger or
some other tour player.
They bottom line is that if the golf
industry is going to turn things around, the methods of instruction HAVE to
change. We’ve got to make it simple, enjoyable and fun.
