In the Beginning – Starting in Golf – Breaking Par with Bernard Sheridan

If you are new to the game it can not only be confusing but expensive. There is also so much information out there it is hard to know what is right for you. Another big issue will be that every person you know or run into who plays will have some type of advice that they think you should follow. The first thing you need to do is to consult several golf professionals and gather information on how they teach and their overall outlook. How can they help you learn the ins and outs of the game and how is their overall commitment to their clients. it is like conducting an interview as if you where hiring someone to work at your company. What some many golfers do is forgo the interview process when finding an golf instructor and just pick one that is close to them. This is more out of convenance for most of us. We choose someone who is close because it makes it easy to get to our lesson. I want you to forgo the art of convenance and understand that the attitude and commitment of the instructor is far more important than how far they are from your home or work. Does the golf instructor have your best interest at heart and are they passionate about their craft. Ask for a list of clients as references that you can contact to see how they feel about their experience with said instructor. Do they tech just a swing style or can they teach any style. Can they explain in detail reasons why they ask you to do certain move or position or drill. What you need to remember is that you need answers to help you progress and just the old, ” because that’s the way it’s done”. When ever I work with a student I always explain why I need them to do something to improve. I let them know how it will help them improve and how they will get better results because of the change. If an instructor cannot let you know this then you need to find another instructor. After all golf instruction is expensive and it is important that we are getting results. I believe that you should begin to see results in a short time. What we must also realize is that to become fairly good at the game it takes a commitment on the students part. That means staying the course and working on the process over a long period of time. I feel that if you truly want to improve then you are looking at minimum a six month commitment or somewhere around 100 hours of practice and lessons along with on course play time. That can brake down to about 1/3 of each of these. One lesson a week – one practice session a week for about one hour and at minimum nine holes a week. This is by far the minimum commitment it will take to start to see any notable improvement. Many folks think that if they have an outing coming up for work or pleasure and they have not played for a long time that they can just take one lesson and go out and not make a fool of themseleves. This is a kin to going out to open mic night and playing a guitar after one lesson. One lesson is not going to fix the problem. Our society looks for instant fixes and this is not possible in golf. So take your time to find the right coach who has a good track record. Interview many and if you have to travel to go o the best it will be well worth it. See if they can also help online in some way. This will help cut costs and make it possible to work with someone who is not right around the corner.

Bernard Sheridan is the founder of Par Breakers Golf Academy and the founding host of Breaking Par with Bernard Sheridan the weekly golf instruction podcast of iTunes and Stitcher radio. Please leave any comments below and if you feel you know someone who would benefit from this blog please share it on social media.