I was speaking recently with a fellow golf coach and he was talking about the perception golfers have of you as a coach. He is an extremely talented coach who has worked in high performance programs in Australia for a number of years and has an amazing amount of success with his students. He was relating a story about a friend of his, a club golfer, who was talking to him about her game and the trouble she was having. She then asked him if he knew a golf coach he could recommend to help her with her game. When he suggested himself as a potential coach (as you would!) she was surprised that he would coach a golfer such as herself. She had a perception of him as a coach that would only coach low handicap players. Personally, I found a little of that perception when I was overseas. Some of the younger players in Taiwan were scared to approach me and ask for advice as they saw me as the National Coach and not a coach that would help younger players.
As a golf coach, I look at a lot more than the player's handicap before deciding if they are a good student or not. The ideal student for me to work with and coach is someone who is prepared to put in some work and practice time, be open to new ideas and not afraid to try new things. This is the kind of player, regardless of handicap or ability, who I can work with and get results.
When I say I want a player to put in some work and practice time I understand that each person has a different amount of practice time available to them
and not all players can spend five hours a day hitting practice balls. What I need from a student is a commitment to use what practice time they have effectively and efficiently. The use of a player's practice time links to two previous blog posts of mine about evaluating your game and effective practice.
As a coach, I love to work with a student who is keen to make changes and improve their game. This kind of golfer is not looking for a "quick fix" and is seeking long term improvement. We can use the evaluations in my earlier blog post to determine their starting point and can then design a program that allows them to get to their destination of improved golf. Along the way we use their statistics records and other monitoring tools to target their practice and keep them on track for success.
A perfect situation for me as a coach would be a lesson book full of students who wanted to have fun, work hard and get the most out of their golf game. I would be challenged as a coach to keep them improving and the players would get the reward of better golf for their hard work. If you are a golfer and that sounds like you, please feel free to get in touch with me and we can have some fun together improving your golf game!
Until next time,
Brent
