Instruction
What do top teachers think about the current state of golf instruction?
Photo from http://www.youtube.com/user/tomstickneygolf
A few weeks ago, I was on a plane heading back from a corporate outing I do every year with about 20 other teaching professionals. All of us were either a Golf Digest Top-50 Teacher and/or a Golf Magazine Top-100 Teacher. Since you’re a GolfWRX reader, these are teachers that you probably know by name; you know, the ones who teach some of the best professional golfers in the world.
The event is one of my favorites of the year because, surrounded with so many great teachers, it’s impossible not to learn new things that can make me a better instructor to my students. Each night after teaching, we would all sit down together over a few drinks and tell different stories about life in the instructional world in which we live: some good, some bad, some ugly. I couldn’t help but reflect on a few things that were said about the game, the students we teach (both professionals and amateurs) and what these teachers viewed as the future of the game we all know and love.
So it’s with great pleasure that I present the thoughts of some of the very best teachers in the game today. I won’t name names, because it doesn’t really matter who said what. Everyone one of these insights is from one of golf’s most accomplished teaching professionals.
- No amount of practice can overcome a bad attitude on the golf course. It will eventually catch up with you.
- At the highest levels of proficiency, sometimes “letting go” on the putting green can take a player from struggling to putting well, instantly.
- Doppler radar launch monitors like Trackman and FlightScope have changed the way we teach the game. When placed in the best hands, they can help players become LESS technical and LESS position-oriented with their swings.
- Force plates are a wave of the future and will help us to better understand how to generate more power out of the ground.
- The PGA of America must revamp its instructional curriculum to include the new technology, amended ball-flight laws and should also add a chapter covering the psychological aspects of instruction so our young professionals are more prepared.
- The short game is important, but there’s been a shift in focus to improving longer shots. It’s an efforts to eliminate unmanageable approach shots, as well as ones that cause penalty shots.
- Young professionals must be willing to work ungodly hours in an effort to build their brand and take advantage of the power of social media and the web.
- No amount of reading, YouTube videos, or technology utilized by the younger generation of teachers can make up for the experience that 10,000 hours or on the lesson tee provides, but the gap is closing quickly.
- If you have to be asked repeatedly during a lesson to remember to do something we asked earlier (like altering your grip before you hit a shot) then you are not listening and handicapping what the instructor is trying to piece together.
- Sometimes fixing the path is impossible, but managing the face-to-path relationship can change a person’s life on the course.
- There is no such thing as the “magic dust” that makes things better without focused practice.
- During one lesson, a top teacher couldn’t get through to a student so he head-butted him. They guy listened from that point on.
- Practice on the putting green without focusing on speed drills and feel is a waste of time.
- Everyone should get at least a basic club fitting that includes: club length, lie, shaft flex, grip size and set make up based on their ability level.
- Most players need a 60-degree wedge in their bag.
- Wedge fitting is a must to eliminate gaps and to ensure you can hit the ball comfortable distances with each wedge.
- At the higher levels, the golf ball you play can cost you distance off the tee and control into and around the green.
- Hitting flatter trajectory wedges into the green is more consistent for distance and spin control.
- Most players have the wrong bounce on their wedges.
- Low spin drivers cannot make up for improper angles of attack or poor impact points.
- Practicing on the golf course is a must after obtaining the “feel” you want on the range.
- The serious high school and college golfers of today can score better than yesterday’s kids, but usually have only one shot that they can hit under pressure.
- Ladies’ putters are often hand-me-downs and are the most ill-fitted clubs in the game of golf.
- The most effective practice comes in short bursts, not overly long sessions.
- Forcing everyone into a model swing is dangerous and tends to paint instructors into a corner.
- Most people forget that golf is supposed to be FUN! Relax and enjoy it!
I hope you enjoyed the thoughts from my peers on golf today and what’s going on. If you have any questions, let me know in the comments section below and I’ll do my best to respond.
There may be no more painful affliction in golf than the “yips” – those uncontrollable and maddening little nervous twitches that prevent you from making a decent stroke on short putts. If you’ve never had them, consider yourself very fortunate (or possibly just very young). But I can assure you that when your most treacherous and feared golf shot is not the 195 yard approach over water with a quartering headwind…not the extra tight fairway with water left and sand right…not the soft bunker shot to a downhill pin with water on the other side…No, when your most feared shot is the remaining 2- 4-foot putt after hitting a great approach, recovery or lag putt, it makes the game almost painful.
And I’ve been fighting the yips (again) for a while now. It’s a recurring nightmare that has haunted me most of my adult life. I even had the yips when I was in my 20s, but I’ve beat them into submission off and on most of my adult life. But just recently, that nasty virus came to life once again. My lag putting has been very good, but when I get over one of those “you should make this” length putts, the entire nervous system seems to go haywire. I make great practice strokes, and then the most pitiful short-stroke or jab at the ball you can imagine. Sheesh.
But I’m a traditionalist, and do not look toward the long putter, belly putter, cross-hand, claw or other variation as the solution. My approach is to beat those damn yips into submission some other way. Here’s what I’m doing that is working pretty well, and I offer it to all of you who might have a similar affliction on the greens.
When you are over a short putt, forget the practice strokes…you want your natural eye-hand coordination to be unhindered by mechanics. Address your putt and take a good look at the hole, and back to the putter to ensure good alignment. Lighten your right hand grip on the putter and make sure that only the fingertips are in contact with the grip, to prevent you from getting to tight.
Then, take a long, long look at the hole to fill your entire mind and senses with the target. When you bring your head/eyes back to the ball, try to make a smooth, immediate move right into your backstroke — not even a second pause — and then let your hands and putter track right back together right back to where you were looking — the HOLE! Seeing the putter make contact with the ball, preferably even the forward edge of the ball – the side near the hole.
For me, this is working, but I am asking all of you to chime in with your own “home remedies” for the most aggravating and senseless of all golf maladies. It never hurts to have more to fall back on!
Over the last couple of decades, golf has become much more science-based. We measure swing speed, smash factor, angle of attack, strokes gained, and many other metrics that can really help golfers improve. But I often wonder if the advancement of golf’s “hard” sciences comes at the expense of the “soft” sciences.
Take, for example, golf instruction. Good golf instruction requires understanding swing mechanics and ball flight. But let’s take that as a given for PGA instructors. The other factors that make an instructor effective can be evaluated by social science, rather than launch monitors.
If you are a recreational golfer looking for a golf instructor, here are my top three points to consider.
1. Cultural mindset
What is “cultural mindset? To social scientists, it means whether a culture of genius or a culture of learning exists. In a golf instruction context, that may mean whether the teacher communicates a message that golf ability is something innate (you either have it or you don’t), or whether golf ability is something that can be learned. You want the latter!
It may sound obvious to suggest that you find a golf instructor who thinks you can improve, but my research suggests that it isn’t a given. In a large sample study of golf instructors, I found that when it came to recreational golfers, there was a wide range of belief systems. Some instructors strongly believed recreational golfers could improve through lessons. while others strongly believed they could not. And those beliefs manifested in the instructor’s feedback given to a student and the culture created for players.
2. Coping and self-modeling can beat role-modeling
Swing analysis technology is often preloaded with swings of PGA and LPGA Tour players. The swings of elite players are intended to be used for comparative purposes with golfers taking lessons. What social science tells us is that for novice and non-expert golfers, comparing swings to tour professionals can have the opposite effect of that intended. If you fit into the novice or non-expert category of golfer, you will learn more and be more motivated to change if you see yourself making a ‘better’ swing (self-modeling) or seeing your swing compared to a similar other (a coping model). Stay away from instructors who want to compare your swing with that of a tour player.
3. Learning theory basics
It is not a sexy selling point, but learning is a process, and that process is incremental – particularly for recreational adult players. Social science helps us understand this element of golf instruction. A good instructor will take learning slowly. He or she will give you just about enough information that challenges you, but is still manageable. The artful instructor will take time to decide what that one or two learning points are before jumping in to make full-scale swing changes. If the instructor moves too fast, you will probably leave the lesson with an arm’s length of swing thoughts and not really know which to focus on.
As an instructor, I develop a priority list of changes I want to make in a player’s technique. We then patiently and gradually work through that list. Beware of instructors who give you more than you can chew.
So if you are in the market for golf instruction, I encourage you to look beyond the X’s and O’s to find the right match!
Most pros take months, even years, to win their first tournament. Lottie Woad needed exactly four days.
The 21-year-old from Surrey shot 21-under 267 at Dundonald Links to win the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open by three shots — in her very first event as a professional. She’s only the third player in LPGA history to accomplish this feat, joining Rose Zhang (2023) and Beverly Hanson (1951).
But here’s what caught my attention as a coach: Woad didn’t win through miraculous putting or bombing 300-yard drives. She won through relentless precision and unshakeable composure. After watching her performance unfold, I’m convinced every golfer — from weekend warriors to scratch players — can steal pages from her playbook.
Precision Beats Power (And It’s Not Even Close)
Forget the driving contests. Woad proved that finding greens matters more than finding distance.
What Woad did:
• Hit it straight, hit it solid, give yourself chances
• Aimed for the fat parts of greens instead of chasing pins
• Let her putting do the talking after hitting safe targets
• As she said, “Everyone was chasing me today, and managed to maintain the lead and played really nicely down the stretch and hit a lot of good shots”
Why most golfers mess this up:
• They see a pin tucked behind a bunker and grab one more club to “go right at it”
• Distance becomes more important than accuracy
• They try to be heroic instead of smart
ACTION ITEM: For your next 10 rounds, aim for the center of every green regardless of pin position. Track your greens in regulation and watch your scores drop before your swing changes.
The Putter That Stayed Cool Under Fire
Woad started the final round two shots clear and immediately applied pressure with birdies at the 2nd and 3rd holes. When South Korea’s Hyo Joo Kim mounted a charge and reached 20-under with a birdie at the 14th, Woad didn’t panic.
How she responded to pressure:
• Fired back with consecutive birdies at the 13th and 14th
• Watched Kim stumble with back-to-back bogeys
• Capped it with her fifth birdie of the day at the par-5 18th
• Stayed patient when others pressed, pressed when others cracked
What amateurs do wrong:
• Get conservative when they should be aggressive
• Try to force magic when steady play would win
• Panic when someone else makes a move
ACTION ITEM: Practice your 3-6 foot putts for 15 minutes after every range session. Woad’s putting wasn’t spectacular—it was reliable. Make the putts you should make.
Course Management 101: Play Your Game, Not the Course’s Game
Woad admitted she couldn’t see many scoreboards during the final round, but it didn’t matter. She stuck to her game plan regardless of what others were doing.
Her mental approach:
• Focused on her process, not the competition
• Drew on past pressure situations (Augusta National Women’s Amateur win)
• As she said, “That was the biggest tournament I played in at the time and was kind of my big win. So definitely felt the pressure of it more there, and I felt like all those experiences helped me with this”
Her physical execution:
• 270-yard drives (nothing flashy)
• Methodical iron play
• Steady putting
• Everything effective, nothing spectacular
ACTION ITEM: Create a yardage book for your home course. Know your distances to every pin, every hazard, every landing area. Stick to your plan no matter what your playing partners are doing.
Mental Toughness Isn’t Born, It’s Built
The most impressive part of Woad’s win? She genuinely didn’t expect it: “I definitely wasn’t expecting to win my first event as a pro, but I knew I was playing well, and I was hoping to contend.”
Her winning mindset:
• Didn’t put winning pressure on herself
• Focused on playing well and contending
• Made winning a byproduct of a good process
• Built confidence through recent experiences:
- Won the Women’s Irish Open as an amateur
- Missed a playoff by one shot at the Evian Championship
- Each experience prepared her for the next
What this means for you:
• Stop trying to shoot career rounds every time you tee up
• Focus on executing your pre-shot routine
• Commit to every shot
• Stay present in the moment
ACTION ITEM: Before each round, set process goals instead of score goals. Example: “I will take three practice swings before every shot” or “I will pick a specific target for every shot.” Let your score be the result, not the focus.
The Real Lesson
Woad collected $300,000 for her first professional victory, but the real prize was proving that fundamentals still work at golf’s highest level. She didn’t reinvent the game — she simply executed the basics better than everyone else that week.
The fundamentals that won:
• Hit more fairways
• Find more greens
• Make the putts you should make
• Stay patient under pressure
That’s something every golfer can do, regardless of handicap. Lottie Woad just showed us it’s still the winning formula.
FINAL ACTION ITEM: Pick one of the four action items above and commit to it for the next month. Master one fundamental before moving to the next. That’s how champions are built.
PGA Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer. You can check out his writing work and learn more about him by visiting BEAGOLFER.golf and OneMoreRollGolf.com. Also, check out “The Starter” on RG.org each Monday.
Editor’s note: Brendon shares his nearly 30 years of experience in the game with GolfWRX readers through his ongoing tip series. He looks forward to providing valuable insights and advice to help golfers improve their game. Stay tuned for more Tips!
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Phil
Jul 11, 2014 at 1:20 pm
Very interesting list. One point about teaching. It lasts a lifetime. I’m sure eveyone reading this has had a lesson from years ago suddenly make sense during practice.
What is “the wrong bounce” on a wedge? How do we determine the “right” bounce? I’ve never heard this before.
Ken
Jun 26, 2014 at 4:10 pm
Most players need a 60° wedge. The only distinctive thing you can do with one is hit the ball over a tree from a very close distance. With a 14 club limit, learning how to use a gap wedge and sand wedge will obviate the need for 60’s in 99.99% of situations that arise during a round.
Unless you need to replace a standard 56° mid to high bounce sand wedge because of the sand consistency at any given course, it seems to me that you’d have to remove a more useful club on the off chance that you’ll be stymied by a tree when you’re within 40 yards of the pin.
Tom Stickney
Jun 26, 2014 at 4:20 pm
Ken- hitting the 60 full is the last thing I’m talking about when suggesting this club for the masses. If you’re using a 56 out of a deep bunker, pitching to a tight pin, playing greens that are 10+ on the stimp, etc you will never be the player you can be w/out one. Trust me.
septic tank
Jun 26, 2014 at 5:46 am
Everything is very open with a clear description of the issues.
It was definitely informative. Your website is extremely helpful.
Many thanks for sharing!
Tom Stickney
Jun 26, 2014 at 8:09 am
Thank you.
Randy
Jun 25, 2014 at 4:20 pm
Lots of great guidance here! But I have a concern about what, at least in my experience, seems to be a fundamental flaw in current golf instruction: starting with where a player is, without learning about how he/she got there. For example, at my first lesson at the age of 52, I told the PGA instructor that I had gone to the driving range during summer vacations, played one round of golf for the heck of it as a teenager, and played some rounds of mini-golf, mostly with my son. In retrospect, I think that I would have made faster progress if he had said, “Ok, let’s start with the basics: grip, stance, alignment, posture, weight transfer, etc.,” instead of saying, “Well, I see you’re swaying; here’s a drill to work on that.” I had never been taught the basics, as I suspect many recreational golfers have not. My experience with subsequent instructors has been similar. What do you think?
Tom Stickney
Jun 25, 2014 at 6:04 pm
You should always begin with the basics…
G.Love
Jun 25, 2014 at 10:54 am
Can you elaborate at all into what “letting it go” on putting green means?
Tom Stickney
Jun 25, 2014 at 2:15 pm
Relax…don’t try and make it happen. Allow it to happen.
paul
Jun 24, 2014 at 2:42 pm
I was hoping to see in the article that costs have to come down or people will never take lessons. Oh wait, 90% of golfers don’t take lessons. I would love to go to the range and see an instructor there, and be able to cough up $10 for a 10 minute lesson. Or some other affordable way to learn golf.
Tom Stickney
Jun 24, 2014 at 4:39 pm
Sadly you often get what you pay for on the instructional end- not always but most if the time. Being a serious instructor is not cheap on my end either- the costs (out of our pockets) to buy video systems/TrackMan etc are very very expensive…there are affordable programs like get golf ready from the PGA and group instructional packages many of us offer as well.
DC
Jun 25, 2014 at 11:41 am
Tom, do you ever get frustrated by comments about how expensive lessons can be – only to look in the players bag and see $1,000 + worth of equipment in there? I get told all the time how expensive lessons are yet one hour with a top instructor costs 1/4 of that new driver in your bag – that you cant hit anyway.
Tom Stickney
Jun 25, 2014 at 2:17 pm
People also want cheap lawyers too but again you get what you pay for most of the time.
Mark M
Jun 25, 2014 at 5:54 pm
Lessons are an ongoing expense, gear is usually a one time expense. And I do believe that top instructors are considerably more expensive than you think. The main issue is the incredibly low quality of the vast majority of instructors out there. No one will commit time and money to see a local club pro or whatever if they don’t see it as being able to help them.
Everyone knows someone who faithfully takes lessons and never improves. That’s the reality that the PGA and instructors need to address.
Tom Stickney
Jun 25, 2014 at 11:33 pm
Mark- as with any profession there are average and great people…golf is no different. Take the time to really investigate the teaching pros in your area. There will always be one or two names that pop up. Interview them. Ask for their philosophy etc. Equipment offered in their lessons. Check their status on top teacher lists etc. You must do your homework…I’d never go see a specialist about anything without doing my due diligence. Most people never take this step to heart…
DC
Jun 26, 2014 at 7:20 am
I don’t know any players who take lessons and don’t improve – unless they put in zero practice time and zero playing time in between lessons.
People are going to get out of golf pretty much exactly what they put into it. You can take lessons from the world’s greatest instructors but if you aren’t willing to put in the work then you have no shot at getting better – regardless of how good the lesson was.
Steve
Jun 24, 2014 at 8:24 am
Thanks for giving us an inside look. Can you expand on for some, path can’t be fixed? You’re saying that some who have an out to in path – no matter what they do they’ll never get it in to out? Is that because of physical limitations?
Tom Stickney
Jun 24, 2014 at 10:43 am
No. As teachers/players we have all seen flaws that cannot be fixed in certain players for whatever the reason…at that point you must work around the issue to improve.
Tom Stickney
Jun 26, 2014 at 8:13 am
DC– I’ve never seen anyone on the lesson tee that couldn’t improve…I’ve seen plenty of people stop trying to do so when they didn’t have instant results. NO one is exempt from the learning process!
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Dan
Jun 24, 2014 at 2:49 am
Most players need a 60deg wedge? Thus is a bit controversial
Tom Stickney
Jun 24, 2014 at 3:07 am
You ever short side yourself? Am’s need all the help around the greens they can get.
Dan
Jun 24, 2014 at 3:23 am
I have one in my bag. But so many pages you look at recommend for amateurs not to have them since we don’t have the skill to hit it properly
Mark M
Jun 25, 2014 at 12:26 am
While reading about golf on the internet and talking to golfers you meet can be informative, you have to take a lot of what is said with a grain of salt. For example, no amateur can hit a long iron, beginners shouldn’t use drivers off the tee, you can’t hit a lob wedge, you can’t hit a fairway wood off the deck, you can’t hit a flop shot. All these and more are pieces of “wisdom” I have come across. None of it is true. You can learn to hit any shot and any club if you practice and seek out help with lessons as needed.
Some golfers assume because they struggle with something that everyone else can’t do it either.
Tom Stickney
Jun 25, 2014 at 2:17 pm
All about practice
tom stickney
Jun 29, 2014 at 11:16 am
I don’t buy that…saying you don’t have the skill to hit a 60 is like saying you don’t have the skill to hit any other higher lofted club. It’s only 4 degrees of difference. If you moved from a 56 degree to a 64, I might buy the argument but 56 to 60, no way.
Gary Lewis
Jun 25, 2014 at 2:18 am
I agree. The 60 degree is very helpful for some shots around the green and one can get fairly competent with the 60 with a little practice.
Tom Stickney
Jun 25, 2014 at 2:18 pm
Agree gary
Paul
Jun 25, 2014 at 7:21 pm
I agree with the 60 degree wedge.
In fact, most mid handicappers might gain more out of carrying 4 wedges (gap, sand, pw, lw) than carrying an extra wood. By getting rid of the 15-25 yard gap between the SW & PW, people would do better scoring. Plus the GW is a great chipping club too.
tom stickney
Jun 29, 2014 at 11:17 am
Ask Pelz what he thinks of the four wedge concept in the average golfers bag…
marcel
Jun 23, 2014 at 7:36 pm
everyone get yourself AAA+ coach that costs peanuts in comparison to new equipment. I started hitting my drives straigh and long 250m on the average with few good hits 300m and one extra long last Saturday 340m. 36 yo, 3-4x gym per week, R1 stiff, Bridgestone J38 CB stiff.
Tom Stickney
Jun 24, 2014 at 3:08 am
There are a bunch of good teachers out there for sure…
Nick Chertock
Jun 23, 2014 at 4:30 pm
Tom: This is an excellent summary of where instruction is right now. I’m dying to know what this Corporate outing was where you end up with an airplane full of famous golf teachers. My advice is to charter a separate G5 for each pro in case of a terrorist attack. We wouldn’t want it to be “the day golf died”
Tom Stickney
Jun 23, 2014 at 6:55 pm
Ha. I’m sure the game would survive…
matt nicolle
Jun 23, 2014 at 3:17 pm
Really interesting insights into the best minds in the game right now, I like the last bullet point to sum things up, what it all boils down to is enjoyment, if too much focus is on the technical fine tuning and matching up of numbers on a screen a player will lose sight of what golf is all about, nice article.
Tom Stickney
Jun 23, 2014 at 4:25 pm
Thx. It’s just a game…
paul
Jun 24, 2014 at 2:30 pm
Just a game? You have to be kidding. Don’t tell my wife or she will have more ammunition to get me to play less. Thanks to golfwrx, YouTube, and devices I shot 2 over par on 9 holes. Don’t sell your articles and videos short. All the path and face articles really helped. I hit straight draws and fades very well now. However, 15 minutes with a pro every few months really helps the most. What I really need is a golf nerd I can bounce my thoughts off of once in a while that doesn’t cost $120/hour.
bradford
Jun 24, 2014 at 2:46 pm
Golf nerd reporting. I’ll do it for $100…
Tom Stickney
Jun 25, 2014 at 11:38 pm
Paul…that’s one of the biggest reasons why I’m on golfwrx. To help you all…and it’s free. This is also why I try and answer every reader question that’s posed herein.
Scott
Jun 25, 2014 at 12:57 pm
Right. Its not life or death. It is much more important than that.
Tom Stickney
Jun 26, 2014 at 10:07 pm
Some days it feels like that…