Hiring An Instructor

Most teachers have great intentions and if you have been teaching for more than a few years you probably know the game otherwise no one would go to them and they would be out of business.

Teaching Fundamentals

Often times when you are teaching all day long teachers get into teaching one way and telling all there students the same thing. I think every instructor is guilty of this. It’s easy to teach a system especially when you are teaching 10 lessons a day like most top ranked instructors are. Weather it’s the A swing, one plane, 2 plane or stack and tilt like anything there are trends and popular ways to swing every 5 years or so.Right now most teachers are teaching coming from the inside. 5 years ago it was stack and tilt and also the one plane swing. Truth is the fundamentals have not changed over the years. 2 of my favorite guys on tour are Charl Swartzell and Jim Furyk. Charl has one of the most fundamentally sound golf swings you will ever see and Furyk has one of the best body clear moves and best down swings on tour. Both have had there dad as their swing coaches their whole lives and don’t change it. They love their swings and trust them.

Accomplishing Swing Goals

I like teachers that go with what you have. They listen to what you want to accomplish and hear your goals before they start telling you what to do. They would ask you a series of questions starting with physical limitations and how much time per week you have to practice if any. What is your learning style. Most good teachers can pick up on a lot of these things by just talking to you and also it’s a great way for you to get comfortable and just be yourself and relax before you get started.

Video Instruction

Video would be a must if you were going to teach my son or daughter and also a Trackman. I don’t want the instructor shooting from the hip or guessing as to what your doing with your swing. I like a instructor who lets you hit a lot of balls during a lesson and doesn’t talk a lot telling you how smart they are and swing theory. I love instructors who have a little comment on every shot or every other. Learning as you go not having to listen to the pro talk and talk and then your forget what is even going on. Learn as you go while you are hitting is the best value for you money over a 30 minute or 1 hour lesson.

Experience

I have found for most people at age 16 years old their swing will be almost identical for the rest of their life. I’m not saying you can’t change your path or set up or grip and hit a different shot shape but for the most part we all have physical limitations and weaknesses in different areas in our swings and we can improve them but for the most part our swing will stay the same after we learn the fundamentals. If you try and change your club face at the top of your swing or major grip change most good players will never be found again. We have our tendencies for a reason in our swing and when you change one of them it tends to change a lot more other things with it. I think Tiger Woods has made it look easy with 3 major swing changes but for one he was extremely gifted in his power and flexibility. Also if anyone worked as hard as him they could probably change there swing too but he put countless hours and effort into each change and I don’t know any other person that gifted or willing to commit to that.

Conclusion

If you do want to improve and make a swing change you are not going to be able to do it in 3-5 golf lessons. It will take a lot of practice swings working on it in slow motion and at least 6 months and also 10-20, 1 hour lessons. Starting out with chip shots and working your way up from there.

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