Teaching someone

[clonewars222]

Ok, my uncle's been asking for lessons for a long time now, and he even asked me to teach him for money like two years ago, when I was only like 12 :P. Anyways, his birthday is here and he wants to get four lessons from me. I have an idea of what to teach... but I've never actually taught someone before. I know how to fix slices and all that, but I'm just kind of worried about if something else comes up that I'm unfamiliar with.

I'll probably start with teaching him how to stand next to the ball, with position etc. Afterwards, I'll have him do a sort of chipping swing/half swing, and just get him into the motion of simply having the shoulders move the club halfway up and having the body and arms connected, and with the center of gravity in the middle so that he won't have his whole body swaying (topped balls?). Other than that, I'm not sure what to do... could you give me some tips! (drills, what to teach afterwards?) Thanks!

[flopdarock]

has he ever played golf?
if he has... is he a high hcp?
is he really old/inflexible?
if he is totally new to the game... id start from green to tee... get him putting asap... then chipping... then pitching... then 1/4- 1/2- 3/4- and full swings at the range

[gogolfing]

If it is his birthday, I'd buy him some lessons from a PGA pro.

If you are going to go through things with him, then start with fundamentals: grip, posture, alignment....

[deronsizemore]

Yeah, I would just advice him to get lessons from a PGA Professional if he really wants lessons.

[ks8829]

I think this is a great opportunity to teach or introduce your Uncle to golf. This will also help you re-learn the basic golf fundamental and it might help your game as well.

I would start by watch videos on You Tube and have a good understanding so that you can teach your Uncle, I would focus on the following below:

Grip
posture
stance
take away
backswing
Etc

This video is a starter:



putting


Have fun and its a nice way to spend some time with your Uncle. You might consider having your uncle watch these videos so that he can learn some of the basic fundamentals before meeting with you.

[luckyluke699]

Ben Hogans modern fundamentals - get him to read that... start with the grip and stance, then move on to a basic swing! Good luck! :D

[kurtbayne]

Two main pieces of advice:

(1) THE STUDENT MUST BE PATIENT. I think a lot of golf failures come from unrealistic expectations that golf is easy to understand and execute. Tell him that 99% of golfers don't really understand what it takes to control a ball and that 99% of balls hit on a golf course don't really go where they were intended. People want magic secrets that instantly result in good golf, just like people want thinner thighs in 30 days or a foreign language in 3 weeks. All this is garbage. What if you were raised in China and your uncle said "hey I'm going to China next month. Since you grew up there, can you give me a few tips on how to speak Chinese?" And they expect to speak Chinese in three weeks from you or from listening to tapes? There are millions of CHINESE in CHINA who can't communicate well. I equate learning golf to learning chinese. Most people will spend decades playing and learning golf without effectively "communicating" the ball to the hole. And like learning Chinese, millions of people START to learn golf/Chinese, but few actually FINISH learning golf/Chinese, often because of unrealistic expectations. I would talk to your uncle and say "why do you want to try golf? what are your expectations? do you have any goals?" and I would talk to him about why you play golf. Tell him that golf is a lifetime sport, and one reason that it's a lifetime sport is that you'll spend your entire life wondering why your ball isn't going where it's supposed to go.

2. THE TEACHER MUST BE PATIENT. I hear a lot of amateur teaching on the range. A common fault I see is too much information to the student too quickly. The student simply cannot accommodate the firehose of information that teachers inflict upon them. It's like you go to someone and say, how do I get to the mall? and get 3 paragraphs of directions. How the hell can you possibly keep that all in your head? It's usually better just to say "Go about a half-hour that-a-way and then ask somebody else".

So instead of
BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH swing BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH swing
it should be
BLAH swing swing swing swing swing swing swing swing swing swing swing swing swing swing swing swing swing swing BLAH swing swing swing swing swing swing swing swing swing swing swing swing swing swing swing swing swing swing

This is hard, because every little thing about a swing is connected to every other little thing about the swing.

Just having him watch you swing for a half-hour might help. Having him watch other golfers flail about on the range can also help.

Your uncle will make a lot of errors. Actually he'll do nothing BUT errors. But as long as they are a variety of different errors, I would generally leave him alone. If he's making the same error over and over again, day after day, and it's his most important error, then I would briefly address the issue as best I can.

One more thing: You are fortunate to have started golf young. Golfers who start young have a clear advantage in speaking fluent golf later in life. Your uncle will not have that advantage. His golf will be unintelligable at first, and then horrible pidgin-golf, and then, if he sticks with golf for years, he will still speak with a foreign accent. Keep this in mind when you start to think "HOLY CRAP, my uncle is a golfing retard!" and "HOLY CRAP, teaching golf is reaaaaaly hard!"

[sean_miller]

Do it!

I taught a friend/ex-coworker to golf in the early 90s (~1993). It wasn't easy for the first couple of months, but before the summer was over it was satisfying to see the enjoyment he was getting from the game. Not just hitting balls and shooting lower and lower scores. He now enjoys every aspect of golf. An early evening stroll with friends down a tree lined fairway with a cigar and a flask, an early tee time with all the ground contours and different types of grass magified in the first light of day, getting down to a 6.0 hdcp and kicking the living crap out of me every time we play.

How did he/we start? He knew that I went to the driving range with my gf (ex) on Saturday mornings and asked if he could come along - he'd picked up a used set from the classifieds. I brought a couple of Golf Digests magazines for the swing photos - I picked ones where the featured player had a similar stature. He looked at their grip and setup and then mine and came up with his own - solid but his own nonetheless. He mimicked my swing tempo and shot selection at first, then he started experimenting with the shots he'd see on TV and eventually had his swing videotaped.

I gave my friend a good start - then he did the rest. To this day his swing has elements of mine (e.g. tempo) - until the ball lands next to the pin and mine's 20 yards left - in a pot bunker.

[clonewars222]

Ok, these are the "notes" i've taken on putting (what i'm going to teach him first)

Teaching :

Putting:

General:
-Feel like shoulders are moving the arms and hands.
-Everything should be in balance, from the shoulders down to the putter.


Putting Stroke:

-Left armpit feel like taking back, right armpit area going through the ball.

Speed:
-Short putt: bring putter inside of back foot, follow through past front foot. SMOOTH.
-Medium : Past the back foot by a little bit,
-Fast: Well past the back foot.
-For more momentum, don’t try to push further, take the putter back further.


Alignment:

-Line up parallel to the ball.
-Use the line on the ball for reference. Stand behind the ball and then setup, don’t try to change it when you’re already setup.

[flopdarock]

is it his first time ever swinging the sticks?

[clonewars222]

Yes it is

[Shorty]

This really is a bit strange.
You say he wants to have four lessons with you. This seems a little specific to me. I am wondering what his expectations are. Especially as you mentioned that he has offered to pay you. (curioser and curioser)
You are not qualified to "teach" him anything.
Why not take him out at a quiet time and have a hit.
Then - the best thing you can do is ask around and find a qualified professional who you think would be a good match for him.

[tm22721]

Don't do it. Put the 10,000 hours into medicine, law, physics or concert piano instead.