Choosing a Golf Pro.

Here is a good short article by Dr Bob Rotella, on choosing your instructor. He's a great sports psychologist and my Pro made me read his book, the Golfer's Mind.

A few personal notes of mine on the article:

The commitment level of the coach is really important. How focused is he during the lesson. Does he answer the phone during the lesson? His he watching you all the time or also looking down range at others? That will really tell you his work ethic.

And for point 3, I agree completely that it's really important to connect with and understand your coach if not it's no point and your progress will be really slow. Last coach wasn't really good in English and had problems  articulating the problem of my swing in depth.

I really agree with point 4. Introduced a work person to my coach, didn't work out. Found out from my coach the reason was that he was stubborn and kept bringing up what his old coach tells him and stuff and couldn't accept what was being taught now. Found out from my Pro that he went onto at least 4 other coaches at the club. And they also said the same thing about him. So you have to believe your coach if not don't waste your money.

I quite disagree with the 5th point. A good coach will be able to teach both ways, both technical and by feel and visualisation. A good coach is one who can understand you and will be to figure out the best way to bring the message across to you. 'Many ways to skin a chicken'. But what I find important is the use of video. My Pro really loved to use video, and I agree cause the swing is so fast that it's impossible to check multiple aspects of the swing. With video you can check alignment, hands, hips, spin angle and so forth. And in his words, you use video to back up what you say. He's got a great compilation of swings of various golfers which he uses to compare the swing with.

Two more points I must bring up:
1. The Pro's attitude to teaching and golf. He must really love golf. My Pro loves to play golf in addition to teaching. But really love his attitude to teaching, he really wants you to play your best. "you can hit further than that" and he doesn't mind teaching the driver. A lot of coaches don't really want to teach you the longer clubs especially the driver cause they really can't rip it themselves. Played with my coach and he gets a couple of one-ons on the short par fours. Not that he doesn't focus on swing tempo and all that stuff but distance is an important part of the game now that the courses are getting longer.

2. A lot of Golf Coaches are not teaching properly. "80% of the Golf Coaches are teaching rubbish". It's not difficult to become a golf Pro. Play decent, join the SGA or PGA. Pay your fee and go for the course, then get your certificate. Took me good 11+ years to find my current coach, but he's gone back to the USA already. I am on my own for now. Under him, I have improved tremendously with him, hitting further and sharper. Short game and putting sharper too. And he teaches me everything and how to correct my swing. Relates everything to fundamentals and explains how the swing fault comes about so I can do a self correction. Now that he's gone, I understand the statement 80% of coaches are not teaching properly. Am really apprehensive about going to another coach because I don't want to spoil my swing, don't want to lose the ability to hit the back net of the driving range.

So how does one know what swing or swing theory the golf coach is teaching and even if he cuts it at all? This is something you know if your low handicap/ good player friend has taken lessons from him and can recommend you to him. Was lucky as my friend went to him for a one lesson tune up, after that he twisted my arm to go see him. No looking back after that (think I have overtaken my friend..LOL) So how many good golfers do you know who still take lessons often? And here in Singapore, don't think we have many good coaches here either who are readily available.

So as a beginner how should one go about it? Find the best coach. But how would you know? Like retrospective I felt that I should have taken more essons earlier but who? (my other coaches were no where near him)

hmmmm......... More questions then answers.