I've never gotten in to podcasts but have watched a ridiculous amount of YouTube golf content. I'm not a golf instructor but have had golf lessons (in person and virtual) for me and my kids over the past 18 months.
About me: I played competitive high school golf, considered playing in college (bad D3 school), and then took a 30 year break. I got back into golf when my 14 year old showed an interest in trying to make the high school team and learning that home golf simulators are possible. I am now around a 10 handicap and practice indoor far more than I play real golf.
As for lesson length - I've done 30 minute, 60 minute, group 1.5-2 hr lessons, and week long golf camps (as a kid). I've also done a lot of virtual swing analysis lessons since starting back 18 months ago.
I think an interesting future topic could be how to go about finding a good instructor and more importantly how to know if you have a good instructor for your game. I know the podcast is geared more towards coaches, but you all must have mentors and can maybe talk about how you developed your teaching philosophy and style. Or maybe comment on the merits and drawbacks of various styles.
Near Chicago, we have a lot of instructors available, but the ones most frequently recommended are pricy, typically $200/hr for adult lessons. And the highest rated instructors can be over $300/hr. It isn't financially feasible for most people to work with these coaches long term, but there must be enough wealthy people in my area to support those prices.
As for being a parent of kids who golf, I think it is helpful for me to remind myself what the goals are of the junior lessons. I have one daughter who played junior varsity her freshman year and potentially could play varsity as a sophomore. I also have a 12 year old daughter who is a naturally good golfer, but she gets frustrated easily so doesn't enjoy playing much other than to show off at times. As a parent, I have to balance my desire to see the kids succeed in sports and activities, with their interest and desire to play.
What is my goal for their playing golf? I know there are golf scholarships available for girls who golf, but I know how difficult it is to be a college athlete - as much as growing up I thought it would be amazing to play on a college golf team, I learned the reality of the time commitment meant sacrificing elsewhere. I'd be curious if any of the podcast hosts played college sports and could talk about the pros/cons of doing so, given that most college athletes never go pro.
Realistically, I don't see my kids playing college golf. I think playing high school sports, however, is a great experience for a variety of reasons. And I want to encourage them to do so without being that pushy overbearing parent.
When reflecting on the topic, my real goal is hoping they can develop an ability to play golf, and hope they find the sport fun to play socially when they are older. This is very different from the typical competitive junior golfer you guys are more likely to work with.
As for episode 3, Erik's mic is a bit quiet. I'm a big fan of golf drills and watch them obsessively on YouTube. I think this episode would work well as a YouTube video or series of videos with demonstrating the drills and the benefits and drawbacks of each. There are probably videos already out there for these drills and maybe just putting together a forum thread with YouTube videos imbedded would be interesting. I'd be curious for people to do before and after videos of the drill and the results. My personal favorite videos are those that show before and after results, whether from a drill or use of a training aid.
And of course, discussion of training aids would be a natural future topic. I've used the stack with decent results, and I'm starting stack putting to see how it works. I was excited to hear about stack wedges until I saw that it requires the stack radar. Boo. Maybe they will change their mind and support other launch monitors in the future.
