One for the Coaches (and the players)

“My game has progressed a lot in the last three years. I’m better prepared, I know my swing better, and I’m looking forward to the future.”

Be a seeker but not a searcher. The journey as a golf coach has no discernible end but that should never mean it shouldn’t stop.

The quote at the top of the page comes from a good friend and player who just sealed his first victory on the Asian Tour in Taiwan, the key line for me as a coach is the middle one. “I know my swing better”. In those five simple words he encapsulates everything a coach should be trying to achieve with a player, you are assisting them to take ownership of THEIR game.

In order to reach this seemingly simple goal you need to be consistent in everything you do, you need a clear picture of the players tendencies, a picture of how you can improve them and the keys that they can always refer back to when it’s not going so well. This means a a coach you might have to (god forbid) repeat yourself a lot and not be afraid that the player might think you don’t have the answers. 

There’s a difference between not having the answers and being consistent in your vision yet in this time of empowering technology we are guilty of always looking for something new or a better way. Don’t use your players as guinea pigs, what might sound impressive to the player and boost your ego a little is the very thing that might well erode at that players ability. 

As coaches we often feel pushed into finding new answers to the same problems, even more often the player doesn’t really know what they want. “I need to hit up more”, “I need to hit a fade”, “I need to hit it further”. The question you need to ask before you attempt to fulfill these common desires is, “Do they?”. If it is no (and it often is) then stick to your guns, explain why they should be doing X & Y and to put Z to one side for now. That way they might stop searching and as a result you will too, this leaves you to get on with what you already know.

If you understand how to measure a golf swing stop searching.

If you understand how to adjust swings to obtain the best flight stop searching.

If you understand how to explain a players tendencies to them stop searching.

Be boring, don’t fear repeating a lesson as the person in front of you will ALWAYS revert back to the same issues. Different nails needs different hammers, never change the hammer that suits if you want to get the job done.

Being a seeker means you seek to improve without end, being a searcher indicates a lack of faith in the answers you already have.