How do you know if you have a good golf teacher?

[KW2]

I just started taking lessons today from the golf professional at a local course I play at. How do I know that my teacher is teaching the right things?

[JaY_B]

It all depends on your comfort levels with the personality of your teacher, and whether you feel comfortable with what your working on.

There is probably a 100 ways to fix a persons swing, so no coach will ever be *right*.

[TinCupTampa]

I think if you are going in blind not knowing right from wrong you are at the mercy of your pro.

Its always a good idea to have a good understanding of the "swing" if you are going to try and judge the lesson you are receiving. If you dont know a chicken wing from a reverse pivot I suggest you learn a good base from your course pro until you have a better understanding of what you are trying to accomplish.

[GaijinGolfer]

If your game improves signifigantly and if when you do something wrong you know exactly what you did, you have a good teacher.
Different people have different ways to teaching how to hit a golf ball. I dont really think there is one way to teach that.

[gogolfing]

Stick with them and see how you progress over a series of lessons. I have found the ones I don't like do one of two things: a) teach every pupil the same; the old 'one-trick pony' way of teaching, or b) teaches you something one week, next lesson goes on to something else without you getting the original things you were being taught.

I think good teachers focus on the fundamentals and teach every pupil as unique. There are a different ways to skin a cat, just look at the different swings on tour; the common thread among them though is the fundamentals.

[tm22721]

I just started taking lessons today from the golf professional at a local course I play at. How do I know that my teacher is teaching the right things?

If you knew that then you wouldn't need a teacher.

[ctmurrray]

I just started taking lessons today from the golf professional at a local course I play at. How do I know that my teacher is teaching the right things?

I assume you will take more than one lesson (the usually sell in bunches at a reduced rate per session). So stick with this one for a few lessons.

a) do they remember you and what you wanted to accomplish? It is a skill, specially if they have many clients. This made me feel good, that they recalled what we were working upon. b) Did you ask for something specific? Or are you truly a beginner looking for a swing? I had a reasonable swing but wanted specifically to work on more length. He video taped my swing and could show me what I needed to work upon. Later after a few lessons and some practice on my own, he re-taped my swing. c) Can they video tape your swing? I really liked this from my pro. I can look back on my lesson and he added some comments of things for me to work upon. He has left the area but I still have the CD rom. Just some thoughts..

[extremeld]

good golf teacher generally will have some top class students

[MrSandman]

If the first thing he tells you is:
"Boy, this club is all weighted wrong, let me get you some drivers out of my pro shop to test out..."

Leave the lesson immediately. You want a pro that will teach you to hit a golf ball, not waste a lot of money on equipment in his pro shop.

[Ceej]

In short, whether or not you like how he teaches
If he dissects everything you do on the first day it's usually not a good thing. TitleistWI was right about being able to recognize what you did wrong when you hit a bad shot.

[DavidFehertysBike]

I think anyone who has good understanding of the fundementals and that you can delvelop a personal relationship with is what constitues a good golf teacher. He or she will then make a personal investment in seeing you improve. Overall, I beleive it is up to you to find the swing - the pro is just there to keep you on track and give suggestions.

[hrspear]

Unless you're really advanced, and maybe even then, I think it's tough to guage if you're being taught the "right" things. I figure that if they're PGA certified to teach then they should be teaching the "right" things.

I go by how the teaching style works for me...does they way he/she explains and demonstrates things make sense to me?

Is the instructor responsive, working with you on the things that you want to work on?

Are you seeing improvement?

If the answer to these is yes, then I would say it's a good fit.

I would also say that an instructor who is good for you at one level may not be good at another. My instructor last year was perfect for me as a new player, kept everything simple and based on feel. This year I felt ready for someone with a more technically descriptive style...I wanted to have some of the why stuff explained.

[KW2]

Thanks for all the responses.

My teacher started out with my grip and posture and we have started working from there. I usually go to the range 2-3 times per week since starting lessons. I have started to see some major improvements in my swing path (inside to out). My old grip, and posture really did not allow the club to come from a proper position which was causing me to come over the top to try to get into a positition to swing the club.

I will post back in about a week and let you all know how my second lesson went but so far I like what I am being taught.

Have had some bad shots but I have hit 2 or 3 shots that were the best strokes on the ball I have had in my life.

Damn they felt good.

PS. Excuse the enthusiasm, I just started playing and I am already excited to see improvements.

[TinCupTampa]

Thanks for all the responses.

Congratulations man... keep it up.

[metroplex]

Where can we find a database of local pros/instructors that are known to be "good" instructors? I am thinking about taking up lessons (newbie, never played golf before).

[hrspear]

KW2, Great to hear.

One word of caution from another newbie. Sometimes you have to take a step back to move forward, so don't be surprised if later this season or next your pro introduces something new that you struggle a little with at first.

I'm running into this right now for the second or third time since taking up golf. Each time it's taken me a week or two, but once I got it I got it. Sometimes you have to take a step back to move forward to the next level.

[shades9323]

Profinder on pga.com:

http://search.pga.com/profinder/page...=30303&x;=0&y;=0

[TN94z]

Stick with them and see how you progress over a series of lessons. I have found the ones I don't like do one of two things: a) teach every pupil the same; the old 'one-trick pony' way of teaching, or b) teaches you something one week, next lesson goes on to something else without you getting the original things you were being taught.

I agree with this. Too many teachers have a set way of teaching that they teach every person the same swing. They also have some hypothetical timeline that they seem to go by and move on to different things before you are ready. A good teacher starts with the basics of grip ,stance, etc....Then they will move on to a swing position and focus on that. They may or may not need to rebuild you from the ground up (this is really where your swing knowledge will come in). What they shouldn't do is keep going even if you haven't learned a particular move yet. For instance, my first lesson was my teacher getting my hips more invloved and my takeaway. I picked that up after the first lesson, no problem. My next lesson was getting more wrist bow at impact...this was in May, I have another lesson this week and it will be over the same move because I haven't shown him that I have it down yet. He keeps telling me that we can't move on until I get this down. That right there tells me that he is interested in fixing my swing and not just taking my money. Another biggie is his personality. If you don't like his personality, it will be hard to stick with him and do what he says. I love my teacher's personality. If your golf swing is terrible, he is going to tell you it is terrible. He don't hold back. He commented on a move I was making when I first got there like this: "That move looks so bad it hurts me to even watch it." Now some people may have gotten offended, but I knew right then, this is the guy I want to teach me. I don't want anyone to sugar coat anything.