Golf is challenging enough without having to dread going to your golf lesson every week.
Your coach should be there to keep you motivated and help you progress, bringing the enjoyment you felt for the game back to life and helping you improve at the same time.
A good golf coach is an expert in both the technical aspects of the golf swing but is also a good communicator and motivator.
They should be able to assess you correctly, keeping instruction simple and easy to remember, they will have already achieved good results with other players.
A good coach will ask questions, listen, plan your goals, be punctual and prepared, give you homework, keep things simple, and adapt to any style rather than trying to fit you into a text book version of how they see the golf swing.
We’ve listed 21 factors you should consider when choosing a golf coach to help improve your game.
Some you may know, but some are not so obvious, and your golf coach should have them all.
1. A Good Golf Coach Will ask You Questions
A coach should be interested in you progressing as a golfer, and as such, they should ask you questions.
These could be about your goals, why you play golf, what you get out of it, life questions, personal question.
To help an individual improve at something, you need to understand them first, and asking questions is how you get this done.
2. A Good Golf Coach Will Keep You Motivated
Everyone goes through rough patches when learning a sport, and golf is no different.
There may be times for an extended period where you feel like you are not progressing. Your coach is there to help you keep your chin up and keep you motivated.
This doesn’t mean they tell you jokes.
It means they fill you with determination knowing that the slump will eventually end and you will come out better on the other end.
3. A Good Golf Coach Will Listen
They should ask you questions, but they should actually listen and consider what you are saying.
This could be your goals, any problems you may be facing, and struggles with your game (chipping, putting, driving, your swing, etc.).
They will then understand you as a player better and implement that into their coaching strategy.
4. A Good Golf Coach Will Discuss Your Goals
If you are taking lessons, then you are there for a reason; you have goals.
Goals are different for various students, and your instructor should be able to adapt and have a set plan for your progression, whether it is a 6-month plan, a 12-month plan, or any other program.
5. A Good Golf Coach Will Assess Your Current Level Of Skill
Your coach should evaluate you and your playing style, assess what skill level you are at, and look for faults in your game (your swing, your stance, etc.).
They should not just show you the correct way for a technique.
They should guide you through your mistakes by helping you understand what you are doing wrong.
6. A Good Golf Coach Will Help You Progress
After assessing your level of skill and planning your goals, they should keep to that program, and at each lesson, they should consider you again and help you with any problems you struggled with, which will help you progress at a steady pace.
7. A Good Golf Coach Will Be Patient
Golf is a challenging game that takes a lot of practice and patience.
Your instructor should know this, and as such, they should be patient in helping you through any trouble areas you may have no matter how long it takes.
8. A Good Golf Coach Will Be Knowledgeable
A great coach will have knowledge about the game, techniques, the different courses, past professional players, and strategies, how to progress quickly and fix faults of any kind.
They will understand and know little nuances about the game that even if you played golf for 30 years, you would not pick them up.
9. A Good Golf Coach Will Be Organised
After your coach knows your style, any faults you may have to work on, a strategy, and your goals, every time you attend a lesson with them, they should be organised and ready to implement what you will be doing that day, keeping things fresh and you motivated.
10. A Good Golf Coach Will Be Punctual
Being late is a sign of disrespect, especially if you pay for your coach’s time and knowledge. They should understand this and be punctual as well as prepared for any lesson you have.
11. A Good Golf Coach Will Have A Plan For You
You may think this falls under goals and being able to help you progress; however, those are general terms, and having a plan means that they will have a plan specifically adapted to you and your play style.
For example, let’s say you have a problem with cutting the ball; your coach should look at your stance and swing and be able to tell that you’re hitting the ball across the line (due to momentum from your arms and not your hip).
He would then implement a technique specifically designed to help you grasp the concept that employs you (at the top of your swing) to move your hips first, then your torso, and so on.
12. A Good Golf Coach Will Care About You
Besides guiding you and seeing you through to your goals, your coach should take an interest in you.
They should ask you how you have been, ask about your personal life, and be kind towards you because his attitude towards you will reflect in his coaching.
13. A Good Golf Coach Will Refer Players
No one golf coach knows everything, and a good coach will know when he has reached a plateau with a player or thinks that another coach would suit a player’s style better.
14. A Good Golf Coach Would Have Gotten Results With Other Players (Track Record)
If you ask around the club, your coach should have students or have had students who have gotten results taking lessons with them.
They are a coach, after all, and they are there to improve your game and hence should have improved others.
15. A Good Golf Coach Will Be Able To Communicate Effectively
Being good at something does not mean that you are a good teacher.
A good coach will be able to communicate to you correctly, whereby you will understand and be able to adapt to the principles they are trying to show you without any hesitation or frustration.
16. A Good Golf Coach Will Focus On You
Some coaches go on and on about what they can shoot on what courses. How many holes in ones they have gotten, or how far they can drive.
A good coach will focus only on you and your goals, never overstepping his bounds and keeping all the focus on you, only ever showing you what you need to know and then helping you advance.
17. A Good Golf Coach Will Keep Things Simple
Overcomplicating things is the worse thing you can do, especially if you are a beginner.
A good coach will know how to communicate directly to you and, with ease telling you in the simplest way how to achieve what you are trying to do.
18. A Good Golf Coach Is Always Evolving
The game is never up, and there are always new things to learn, and this goes for any sport, and it is no different in golf.
Your coach should still be reading up on new devices and techniques that could help improve your game like swing analyzers and GPS trackers.
19. A Good Golf Coach Will Be Flexible
Everyone has their style of play, maybe some have an excellent short game, and some have a fantastic long game, perhaps some are good from the rough, and others can come back from a deficit.
Whatever it is, your coach should not just teach one style and should be flexible, allowing you to grow as a player, adapting and changing with the game and you.
20. A Good Golf Coach Will Make Things Easy To Remember
As we discussed, a good coach will be able to communicate well and should keep things simple.
In doing so, They should make things memorable (in the sense of easy to remember).
21. A Good Golf Coach Will Give You Homework
An excellent coach won’t just show you what to do and send you on your way; as we said, he will be punctual and prepared, having a plan for you.
This includes giving you Specific Drills and Feelings to work on before your next lesson.
Conclusion
We conclude that many factors make up a good golf coach, and being good at the sport is not the only thing you should consider when looking for a coach.
These other elements are so vital that they play a critical factor in improving your game on a subconscious level.
A good coach will not have some of these traits but all of them, and if they don’t, then you should keep looking; otherwise, your game and your wallet will suffer.
