New High School Coach

Salliesboy13 · April 22

Hello All,

So I've been offered the chance to go back and be an assistant coach on my high school team. This is sort of "pinch me" stuff for a young man like myself. My team was very successful during my 4 years but has since fallen on some tougher years. Now, we have a good mix of juniors and freshmen that will have us very competitive in the state tournament coming up at the end of May. I'm hoping for fellow coaches to share some insights from their years of coaching. This is a pretty serious golf program at a College Prep School so all of the guys are serious golfers. Anything is appreciated and hit em straight!

golferdad8 · April 22

Congrats!

Sounds like it'll be fun, but you won't have much time to get them ready.

My 2 cents as a student of the game:

1) Help w/ course mgmt & help them understand where they're gaining/losing strokes so they can play smarter

2) Similar stress by having them compete on 130 yards & in, particularly on up and down conversions %

3) Bring in some successful alums who will give them a vision of what looks like to win state & what it takes to get there (sacrifices & self-belief).

P.S. Did you read about Yale's 5 strokes come from behind win on the final round to beat Princeton & win the Ivy League Championship? Their new (just this year) coach brought in a prior Ivy Champ to talk with the team. Although many things had to go right & ultimately the players had to execute under challenging conditions, I think having someone who's done it before share their journey & tips can be quite effective. After all, top football & basketball coaches do this at the pro & college level all the time so why not do it for high school?

MD_ · April 22

I think the biggest things you can do within the confines of high school coaching during the season and what limited practice time would be...

1. Teach them HOW to practice instead of just drilling ball after ball at the range....and how to practice on their own as typically what is allowed by high school conference/team rules isn't adequate for real game improvement.

2. Course management as mentioned above...getting a teenage kid with their ego to realize that the best strategy isn't always ripping driver off the tee or attacking a tucked pin is no small feat.

3. Lag putting

I'm not sure if you're in DE, or if their team competitions are match play or stroke play, but in MD where I coach we run everything in the college tournament style, so as such its usually your #4 and 5 where you have the most opportunity to make improvement/shave strokes and help the team overall the most.

Hawkeye77 · April 22

Easy - talk to the head coach and ask him or her what the expectations and responsibilities are for you as the assistant.

Medson · April 22

Couple of well replied threads on the topics:

dugue4 · April 22

21 minutes ago, Hawkeye77 said:

Easy - talk to the head coach and ask him or her what the expectations and responsibilities are for you as the assistant.

This and only this