It's estimated that less than 20 percent of the 26 million golfers in the U.S. have ever taken a hands-on, in-person golf lesson.
What's worse, the vast majority of golfers who took at least one lesson complain that they did not get better.
They say things like "the instructor and I were just not compatible."
"He was too technical for me, I couldn't understand him."
"It was overwhelming."
"He talked a lot... seemed like lot of conflicting advice."
"I didn't see any results for weeks."
Of course, instructors beg to differ. They point to their successes and are quick to blame the students for any lack of improvement...
"People just don't practice. They put in the time they need to."
"A lot of people just can't make the moves. They don't have the physical ability."
"They're just a bunch of idiots who want a quick fix."
Clearly, there's a gaping divide between those who teach, and those who are trying to learn.
I believe it's a communication issue. That's the #1 thing that sabotages golf lesson effectiveness.
I've spent the last 30 years helping business owners clarify their messaging and communicate more effectively. I know muddled thinking and poorly worded pitches when I see them.
Very few golf instructors are have the right words, stories, metaphors and descriptions they really need to make their explanations understandable.
Instructors love to use wonky terminology and insider information because it makes them look smart. But for most students, the technical mumbo jumbo goes in one ear and out the other.
The minute an instructor starts lecturing, they start losing students. It’s just talk, talk, talk until the instructor ends up sounding like Charlie Brown’s teacher.
Even if an instructor has a gift for common, everyday language like Harvey Penick had, things can still get lost in translation.
Sometimes what the instructor says and what he shows in a demonstration just don’t jive. Here’s a painful example that I recently ran across — on YouTube, of course...
Europe’s leading tour pro guru instructor recently did a lesson with a popular YouTube influencer.
The influencer promoted it as “I'm turning the camera around and taking a game changing lesson from Europe’s hottest instructor."
It made for great “content!” More than 2.1 million people watched the video in the first few months after its release.
But how many of those 2 million will translate the idea of “spinning your right arm down” into any sort of lasting improvement?
Maybe two.
I watched the video multiple times and I still have no idea what that means or why he’s using that terminology.
The words he was using did not sync with the visual demonstration. The idea of “spinning” anything made absolutely no sense. I had several instructor friends watch it, and they too were stumped.
Just a couple weeks after that video was released a competing YouTuber filmed a follow-up video titled “Spinning the right arm. What does that mean?” The original video was so obviously confusing he figured he could get a lot of views on his own YouTube channel by providing a translation.
Good idea!
Unfortunately, even after watching the second video the lesson is still is utterly baffling.
The second instructor did not clarify a thing. Anyone who starts thinking about spinning their right arm in the downswing is going to spiral downhill fast.
But wait, there’s more! (I could not make this stuff up.)
After tracking the popularity of his competitor’s knock-off video, the original YouTube influencer released his own follow-up in this spinning folly of destructive instruction.
In his second attempt to explain the lesson he had taken, his wording changed completely and mde matters even more confusing...
“Never mind the term ‘spin the right arm down.’ It’s more like rotate the right arm,” he says.
“No, actually you UNrotate it! UNrotate it with your right side down to the ball. Yeah, simple as that”… “No it’s not really that simple.” “You could say throw the right arm down.”
The instructor is just fishing for language that fits a vague and confusing mechanical concept. Who could possibly benefit from all those contradictory thoughts, confusing images and muddled words?
And more to the point, how many people who watched those “spin the right arm down” videos would be harmed? Led down a rabbit hole of experimentation that messes up their swing for years.
There should be a hypocratic oath for golf instructors: "First, do no harm!"
But that would completely kill the YouTube trade.
An instructor friend of mine recently admitted that he " feels like a broken record. It's the same old fundamental stuff every time. Grip, Aim, Stance..."
If the teacher's feeling like a broken record I suspect his students are feeling a bit bluesy about the lessons they're getting from him. The same ol' song and dance is bad for morale.
The fact is, golf instructors have to find new, engaging ways to communicate the fundamentals. You have to take the same, basic information and make it relatable, memorable and actionable for each different person.
That's the job!
It's 15 percent teaching and 85 percent communication and hand holding.
There's an old, Chinese proverb that goes like this:
"Tell me and I will forget.
Show me and I will remember.
Involve me and I will understand."
That's how instructors can improve golf lesson effectiveness... Find ways to involve the student on a physical and emotional level.
You're going to have to get creative.
Instead of telling them anything, find the right questions to ask. Gently guide them so they come to the information themselves. Enable them to discover the "feels" of good fundamentals.
PGA hall of fame instructor Mike Heron calls it "guided self learning." He says he always asks his students, "Do you want me to teach you, or do you want me to help you learn?" They always choose learning.
Hebron's book, "It Depends" is a must read for any instructor who wants to understand the learning process and the shortcomings of traditional teaching methods. Hebron admits, he was doing it all wrong for the first 20 years.
"Deep learning arrives mostly not by what students are told, but what they discover for themselves through practical trial and error."
So you can't talk for 30 minutes send them away to "work on it on their own" and expect to see improvement from your student.
Same thing goes for instructor demonstrations. You can't do a swing and expect your student to see what you're talking about, much less replicate it.
You have to get on the same wavelength with your students and let them experience the teaching for themselves.
What you're looking for is a meeting of the minds and a meeting of the language.
Some people need all the technical explanation before they'll believe what they're hearing and open themselves up for real learning. Others, who are less informed, get paralyzed by all the analysis.
If one idea doesn't seem to be getting through, try a different approach. Sometimes it may seem like a fishing expedition, but it's a necessary one.
As boring as it may be at times, you have to cater to the student's unique needs, not your own agenda.
That's how you can deliver a lesson that's more effective than anything the student can find on YouTube or TikTok.
Smart, science-minded instructors can always come up with new ways to describe the bio-mechanical nuances of the golf swing. They can dissect it down to terms like "ulnar deviation" and "Optimal Femur rotation."
But the wisest scientists know that technical information is not path to idea adoption and student satisfaction.
If they want their ideas to stick, they have to tell stories.
Story telling is the secret to golf lesson effectiveness. And we can help you with that.
We can help you frame your teaching ideas into stories, language and images that people will love and hold onto.
Want help communicating your game-changing instructional ideas. Contact me here.
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