"Be the Star of Your Own Lesson"

[iacas]

https://www.golfwrx.com/729152/ryan-be-the-star-of-your-golf-lesson/

 

I wanted to start a topic on that article, and see what y'all had to say about it.

 

The short version from my side of things is that the author makes several comments that made me scratch my head, chuckle, or some combination of both (these are all quotes):

 

1. The scenario typically unfolds like this: you arrive, hit a few shots, receive some compliments from the instructor, and then endure a 10-15 minute discourse about your swing.
2. The more money you spend, the more the conversation veers into technical jargon, referencing “data” from devices like Trackman or FlightScope.
3. The instructor proceeds to explain how difficult it is to implement a specific change, offering a random adjustment, and if fortunate, a practice drill, before moving on swiftly to the next lesson.
4. Finally, a system teacher understands the cause and effect of patterns and movements on trajectory, curve, and distance. Sadly, 99 percent of instructors fall into the method or non-system categories, and 100 percent of these are charlatans.
5. As a result; that lesson that went well two weeks ago has all of a sudden turned into a total golf swing overhaul.
6. better players should tackle multiple skills in a session.
7. Once you’ve nailed the basics of arm structure and club face awareness, the rest isn’t really that hard.
8. Too many instructors want to be the stars and overhaul your swing.

 

I had to work really hard to post only the most egregious parts of the article, lest I just copy and paste the whole thing.

[GolfTurkey]

As much as there are heaps of swing myths that won't die ("keep your head down", grr), there are truckloads about instruction as well.

 

Looks like that author has ingested a lot of the greatest hits.

[MonteScheinblum]

In the article

 

Some truth

Some debatable points

Some egregious ignorance  

[MonteScheinblum]

Just now, GolfTurkey said:

As much as there are heaps of swing myths that won't die ("keep your head down", grr), there are truckloads about instruction as well.

 

Looks like that author has ingested a lot of the greatest hits.

While I despise lessons and teaching that are pure jargon and data based, ignoring the data is the opposite ignorant extreme.

 

I use the term false dichotomy a lot.

 

There is a proper balance between jargon/data and feel.

There is a proper balance between educating a player on what reasons they’re not hitting it better and simplifying their process to one idea at a time.

Etc.

As soon as he said work on multiple skills in the same lesson, it’s obvious he’s coming from a place of inexperienced knowledge.

[iacas]

I'll say for now I may have facepalmed hardest at the word "data" being in quotes and at the idea of the instructor "offering a random adjustment" to the student.

 

Wha?

[MPStrat]

I support the idea of speaking the truth on nonsense political popularity top teacher lists. Many golfers unknowingly assume inclusion or rank on a top teacher list means some level of competence which could not be further from the truth.

 

Joe Mayo coined the accurate term “professional guesser” for golf instructors and many people are paying exorbitant amounts of money for their services anticipating a magical outcome. I believe that because of some of the deceptive marketing in the industry, many golfers are conditioned to overestimate the value of a golf lesson. 

 

The sad part is that this type of article is warranted, but the author failed to highlight some of the actual legitimate issues in the instruction industry, and instead made some weird nonsensical claims that are mostly false. With the level of specificity, it sounds like the author is describing one of his own bad experiences. To add, Mcleans, “method, system, non system” labels, and that all teachers fall into one of those categories was silly. Basically, the article sucked.

[JayMas]

Thought it was poorly written and lacked specificity about a topic that could actually be worth covering.

 

So, not good.

[MonteScheinblum]

There’s a good and a bad way to use data in a lesson;

 

Telling a guy he’s not steep enough with his wedge because he’s down 3 and the tour average is 5 with no context.  Awful.

 

Telling a guy he is 15* short of the rib cage tilt tour average at impact and his lesson is to achieve 15* more rib cage tilt at impact…..worse.

 

Telling a guy who is trying to hold his right wrist extension through impact that 99% of tour players unload that angle from p6-p8.   Because he was told to do that and with no other real issues it’s causing a wipe, .  Necessary because he’s under the impression he’s supposed to hold the angles.

 

Telling someone who is right tilting early on his driver and creating a 2 way miss because he’s trying to hit up 5 that the tour average is down 1.  An imperative.

Edited January 2 by MonteScheinblum

[GolfTurkey]

20 minutes ago, MonteScheinblum said:

There’s a good and a bad way to use data in a lesson;

 

Telling a guy he’s not steep enough with his wedge because he’s down 3 and the tour average is 5 with no context.  Awful.

 

Telling a guy he is 15* short of the rib cage tilt tour average at impact and his lesson is to achieve 15* more rib cage tilt at impact…..worse.

 

Telling a guy who is trying to hold his right wrist extension through impact that 99% of tour players unload that angle from p6-p8.   Because he was told to do that and with no other real issues it’s causing a wipe, .  Necessary because he’s under the impression he’s supposed to hold the angles.

 

Telling someone who is right tilting early on his driver and creating a 2 way miss because he’s trying to hit up 5 that the tour average is down 1.  An imperative.

And also depends on the student.

Someone whose mind works like Bryson needs the data to be mentally at ease, and someone like DJ will melt his shoes running away from data.

[MonteScheinblum]

Just now, GolfTurkey said:

And also depends on the student.

Someone whose mind works like Bryson needs the data to be mentally at ease, and someone like DJ will melt his shoes running away from data.

💯 

[iacas]

It's also funny to me that a "scientist" would put "data" in quotes like he did.

[KD1]

2 hours ago, iacas said:

I'll say for now I may have facepalmed hardest at the word "data" being in quotes and at the idea of the instructor "offering a random adjustment" to the student.

 

Wha?

You know... The old "your path is 2 donuts inside, try clucking like platypus on your takeaway."

[rondo01]

Wait, people actually read the articles on the front page? News to me. 

[Soloman1]

In almost all cases, data is for the instructor, not the student.

 

Tailoring language to the individual is a wonderful skill. Jargon is for those unskilled in communicating.

 

The old “Start with why,” then “how,” using a drill and feel is a time-tested way to teach.

 

Albert Einstein was convinced by his associates at Princeton to take up golf. The pro, knowing who he was, went through thing after thing after thing in rapid order. Hey, He’s the smartest guy, he can handle it.

 

Einstein picked up a handful of balls and threw them at him and said, “Catch!!” He then scolded the pro and told him to do one thing at a time.

 

Einstein gave up golf. When asked why, he said it was too complicated.

 

And there you have it. It was too complicated for Albert Einstein. What chance does the average person have to master it? 🙂

 

[Ajgaguy83]

11 minutes ago, Soloman1 said:

Albert Einstein was convinced by his associates at Princeton to take up golf

I wasn’t familiar with this. Great story, thanks for sharing. 

[iacas]

11 minutes ago, Soloman1 said:

And there you have it. It was too complicated for Albert Einstein. What chance does the average person have to master it? 🙂

 

Apparently, it's pretty easy once you get a few things:

 

Quote

Once you’ve nailed the basics of arm structure and club face awareness, the rest isn’t really that hard.

[JamesFoote]

This strikes me as an article with the best of intentions, done poorly.

 

There’s a heap of lazy assumptions that are made, painted with a pretty broad brush. I’m sure there are plenty of poor instructors out there, same as within any profession and industry in the world. But to lump everyone together like this is average journalism at best.

 

The arm structure and clubface awareness sentence is particularly lazy and stupid.

 

But he’s right that students need to be more proactive during their lessons. Not to the point that instructors can’t do their job, but in asking questions and ensuring they’re on the same page.

 

 

[virtuoso]

I feel like a mosquito at a nudist colony—I wouldn’t even know where to begin, but I would take away 2 things:

 

1. This guy thinks he could personally be a great instructor.

2. If you stood him behind an 20 hdcp guy who was paying him and topping the ball (not a super talented college player asking for free advice), things would suddenly get very real.

[virtuoso]

2 minutes ago, JamesFoote said:

This strikes me as an article with the best of intentions, done poorly.

 

There’s a heap of lazy assumptions that are made, painted with a pretty broad brush. I’m sure there are plenty of poor instructors out there, same as within any profession and industry in the world. But to lump everyone together like this is average journalism at best.

 

The arm structure and clubface awareness sentence is particularly lazy and stupid.

 

But he’s right that students need to be more proactive during their lessons. Not to the point that instructors can’t do their job, but in asking questions and ensuring they’re on the same page.

 

 

If he says that 99 percent of instructors are charlatans, it is far from the best intentions.

[Shilgy]

49 minutes ago, iacas said:

 

Apparently, it's pretty easy once you get a few things:

 

It is if you can do it right handed and left handed……(checks notes…)

sorry, wrong thread.🤣 /s

 

Seriously though.  The “data” (and yeah love the quotes implying it isn’t) to me is important to know why you want me to change.

 

Lets say I’m getting a lesson from you…..I’m one of those that knows just enough to be dangerous.  If you suggested a change I would want to know the why to it.  Especially in an initial lesson.  The longer we worked together the more I would just trust what you say is correct.  If I never reached that level of trust with an instructor I’d be looking for a new one.

[llewol007]

Sounds like you went to GolfTec. 😂😂

At least that was my experience with the whole thing. Work you up then work you over for a 14 lesson package of some sort. 

[Trippels]

1 hour ago, JamesFoote said:

This strikes me as an article with the best of intentions, done poorly.

 

There’s a heap of lazy assumptions that are made, painted with a pretty broad brush. I’m sure there are plenty of poor instructors out there, same as within any profession and industry in the world. But to lump everyone together like this is average journalism at best.

 

The arm structure and clubface awareness sentence is particularly lazy and stupid.

 

But he’s right that students need to be more proactive during their lessons. Not to the point that instructors can’t do their job, but in asking questions and ensuring they’re on the same page.

 

 

Not surprising, 99% of article writers are charlatans after all.

[bluedot]

Any attempt to examine a complex topic in 7 paragraphs is doomed to fail, and this article is a pretty epic fail.

 

If the author’s point is that golf lessons costing hundreds of dollars aren’t worth it, then he should say so, and perhaps consider naming names of guys that charge that kind of money for poor instruction.  But painting with a broad brush is rarely a valid tactic, and throwing some grenades at “data” only makes that worse.

 

It sort of sounds like he had a bad experience, and he’s now generalizing about it.  “Be the star of your own golf lesson” is a meaningless statement; ANY teacher-student dynamic is about a lot more than who the star is.  
 

Reading this makes me grateful for the teaching pros I’ve been lucky enough to work with over the years.  I’ve never paid $500 for a lesson, but I’ve had lessons that I realized later were worth that much to me.

[virtuoso]

23 minutes ago, bluedot said:

Any attempt to examine a complex topic in 7 paragraphs is doomed to fail, and this article is a pretty epic fail.

 

If the author’s point is that golf lessons costing hundreds of dollars aren’t worth it, then he should say so, and perhaps consider naming names of guys that charge that kind of money for poor instruction.  

Well, he said 99 percent are charlatans so…..that would be a lot of names.

 

Honestly, if you are capable of being the star of your own lesson, you don’t need a lesson.

[virtuoso]

Here is an excerpt from one of his previous articles. What does this tell you about the guy?

 

A couple of days ago, I played with a talented young player. For the first seven holes, he was flawless. Then he started to hit a number of bad drives. He explained the frustration of “missing both ways” and described endless hours on the range, working through it. He also described the frustration (and fear) of having to play when not knowing where the ball was going but felt he had no choice but to grit through it cause of his scholarship. Finally, on the 11th tee, he turned and asked if I had any feedback. The issue was that
he was setting up with the face too square. When his path was right, the ball would start straight and hook. Under pressure, he would increase side bend (a lot) to try and square the face. The result would be a block. I told him to fan the face open, try to hit a draw, and swing hard. Now that the face and path matched, tight draw that never crossed his target line. BOOM!

[MPStrat]

1 minute ago, virtuoso said:

Here is an excerpt from one of his previous articles. What does this tell you about the guy?

 

A couple of days ago, I played with a talented young player. For the first seven holes, he was flawless. Then he started to hit a number of bad drives. He explained the frustration of “missing both ways” and described endless hours on the range, working through it. He also described the frustration (and fear) of having to play when not knowing where the ball was going but felt he had no choice but to grit through it cause of his scholarship. Finally, on the 11th tee, he turned and asked if I had any feedback. The issue was that
he was setting up with the face too square. When his path was right, the ball would start straight and hook. Under pressure, he would increase side bend (a lot) to try and square the face. The result would be a block. I told him to fan the face open, try to hit a draw, and swing hard. Now that the face and path matched, tight draw that never crossed his target line. BOOM!

“The issue was that….” 

 

😂 
 

This is humorous. 

[bluedot]

7 minutes ago, virtuoso said:

Here is an excerpt from one of his previous articles. What does this tell you about the guy?

 

A couple of days ago, I played with a talented young player. For the first seven holes, he was flawless. Then he started to hit a number of bad drives. He explained the frustration of “missing both ways” and described endless hours on the range, working through it. He also described the frustration (and fear) of having to play when not knowing where the ball was going but felt he had no choice but to grit through it cause of his scholarship. Finally, on the 11th tee, he turned and asked if I had any feedback. The issue was that
he was setting up with the face too square. When his path was right, the ball would start straight and hook. Under pressure, he would increase side bend (a lot) to try and square the face. The result would be a block. I told him to fan the face open, try to hit a draw, and swing hard. Now that the face and path matched, tight draw that never crossed his target line. BOOM!

This sounds completely bogus to me.  I can't recall ever hearing or reading or seeing any golfer with the face "too square", whatever that means.  And the "tip" to a talented player to "fan the face open, try to hit a draw, and swing hard", sounds like a recipe for disaster on the first tee of tournament play.  That's your driver swing thought?  No thanks...

[virtuoso]

Just now, bluedot said:

This sounds completely bogus to me.  I can't recall ever hearing or reading or seeing any golfer with the face "too square", whatever that means.  And the "tip" to a talented player to "fan the face open, try to hit a draw, and swing hard", sounds like a recipe for disaster on the first tee of tournament play.  That's your driver swing thought?  No thanks...

Well, it’s not even the tip itself…..it’s how he described the “obvious-ness” of the issue that tells me something about the guy.

[bluedot]

2 minutes ago, virtuoso said:

Well, it’s not even the tip itself…..it’s how he described the “obvious-ness” of the issue that tells me something about the guy.

It sounds like he was the star of the lesson he was giving a "talented young player".  He's certainly the star in his retelling;

 

"BOOM!"  Really?

 

 

[the bishop]

17 minutes ago, virtuoso said:

Well, it’s not even the tip itself…..it’s how he described the “obvious-ness” of the issue that tells me something about the guy.

"...fan the face open..."  I got light headed for a moment.