Coaching Will Improve Your Game

Everyone wants to play like Tiger Woods, but is he the best person to ask for golf tips?

Tiger certainly knows how to play, but does he know how to teach? There is an old saying “those who can, do; those who can’t, teach others how to do it”, which is rather dismissive of the noble art of teaching and does not allow for the different mindset required to watch, analyze and coach.

So, why not Tiger? Partly because he is a competitive professional player, not a teacher. His total focus is on being better than anyone else is and that in itself works against helping someone else to improve. He makes a living (as if he needs to) playing professional tournaments and he will be looking for coaching, not seeking to give it.

When I was starting out playing golf, I found that 15 to 20 handicappers gave me much better and usable advice than far better players. Low handicappers become quickly exasperated with fluffed shots than less able players who probably remember very well their struggle at the beginning of the endless journey that is golf. Also, they have plenty of problems of their own and that lends sympathy to others in the same boat.

All the top pros have coaches of their own and I don’t suppose many of them could play as well as their star pupils! What they can do though is bring their analytical skills to bear and formulate structured ways to address the issues (let’s not call them problems) that their pros have identified themselves or ones that have become apparent in their game.

Many pros, Tiger included, change their coach one or more times during their career. This may lead to a temporary loss of form while they adapt to a changed swing, or iron shots. One thing you can be sure of, they did not just decide to change their game on their own; it will be their coach that identified a longer-term advantage in taking a short-term hit.

Don’t forget too that pros play every single day, practicing driving, putting, chipping and fairway shots. As well as developing very specific shots that suit their style and physique, it enables them to attain a level of understanding about the game that they could never share in a coaching session.

Each of us needs to develop strokes and shots that make the very best of our individual size, musculature and age. Without doubt, most of us would benefit from regular one-to-one coaching to help us make the most of what we have, rather than try to emulate our golfing heroes.

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