How do you choose a coach?

[iacas]

1 hour ago, Jerry in DC said:

How would you organize the process to optimally achieve the intended goals?  How do you evaluate progress towards those goals?  And at what rate do you expect those goals to be achieved?  

Nobody could really answer that.

That stuff depends so much on the student's abilities and dedication.

1 hour ago, Jerry in DC said:

I was in evolvr last year.  I'm out now, but I'll get back in eventually.  One of the things that I liked about the philosophy is that they have a project plan.  They don't tell us the whole plan immediately, but that's actually pat of the plan - not overloading us.  We work on one or 2 very specific things.  Get them right.  Then move on to the next one or 2 things.  We have specific goals / milestones that are far more specific than "score better" or "hit draws".  So we have a defined process and we have specific, measurable, intermediate goals.

Yes, it's one of the things we do really well, IMO.

But even Stephan, Brian, Preston, or myself couldn't tell you "you'll be a 9.0 index in 13 months, 5 days."

1 hour ago, Jerry in DC said:

A lot of times on the range I'll see instructors working with a very, very new golfer- "you have to do this, you have to do that, ok this time you did that, but you also did THIS, which was a problem.  [next swing] OK you did THAT right, but this time you did this".  It's never going to work.  One or two things.  Lots of swings, until you get it right without thinking.  It's not glamorous, but it's necessary.

Yeah. Teaching beginners is often the toughest.

1 hour ago, Jerry in DC said:

In terms of how long it would take to improve - I don't think there's a right answer.  It's just a question I would ask to gauge the personality and thought process of the instructor.  See if they're pumping BS, if they're invested in my improvement, etc.

Ah, that's good then, yes.

And IMO their answer should include "it depends a lot on you…"

[downbylaw11]

I'm terrified of them all!

true story, one of the golf instructors at the course I practice at, I recognized as a friend of a friend, who about 7 years ago, I stayed in a house with in vegas when I used to play poker for a living.  about 15 guys rented a house there during the world series of poker so they could play all the events and I stayed there for a few days while I played in one of the events.  Anyways, this guy was probably in his early 20s at the time and as far as I knew was one of the young internet ballers of the time but generally acted like a psycho while I was there.  He would constantly rage while playing poker, and while watching sports on tv, and was generally a massive degenerate who when I left was probably the guy at that house that impressed me the least.  Now years later he's a golf coach, though I'm unsure of his actual qualifications other than that he's pretty good at golf, and gives lessons to beginners.   Things like this make me wonder about who these guys are outside of golf.  are they an asshole? are they the scumbag at the bar who tries to **** everything that moves? are they even able to teach someone how to be a better golfer? 

 

so yeah, in conclusion, I guess I'd say the best thing to do is research them, and hope that maybe there are reviews of that coach, or better yet, have someone refer you to him/her

[Lihu]

Never seen that scumbag type of coach before, but they might possibly be out there? Most of them are likely very patient with a Psychologist like demeanor.

Remember that they have to watch frustrated golfers at the height of their frustration and give them advice contrary to what they are doing.

So, whatever happened to this coach you are talking about, had to have converted his demeanor along with his life choice being a golf instructor. Otherwise, I can't imagine him being a coach for longer than a day or so. . .

Edited September 16, 2017 by Lihu

[downbylaw11]

I actually met a former coach during a round today.  she used to be a teaching pro before giving up the game for 5 years due to what sounds like insane burnout.  she's getting back into it now and hopes to start teaching again next year.  she had a lovely swing and was fun to play with.  I would definitely let her give me lessons.  so if thats any indication, the best way to find a coach is to randomly play a round of golf with them and find out what theyre all about 

[carri10]

On 9/13/2017 at 1:26 AM, DaveP043 said:

This is where I've seen the value of video.  Changes can feel very uncomfortable.  If you can look at your own video, and see that you're making the desired change, that discomfort means you're doing it right.  Without the positive feedback that video can provide, its easier to give up on a change because it simply feels wrong for a while.  To me, use of video would be a positive thing if I'm looking for an instructor.  Combined with this...

This I really agree with.  Really

 

As it happens I went for the trackman certified guy. 

Thanks for the all the thoughts, At lot of them made a lot of sense.

Not sure I really got an answer into the fundamental question

-How do you know if the advice you are being given is just plain wrong?

I, for one, don't want to waste a couple of months being shown the wrong path.  It's a difficult game and weeding out the good advice from the bad is tricky.  The best I've found is to look at how an instructor fixes a "problem"  If they talk about fixing the movements that lead up to the problem, the previous links in the chain, then they get more points.  If they just fix the problem without referring to anything else, then they lose points with me.

 

Thanks for the help all.

Now to get to the range again!