Last week, during a G50 session, a golfer wandered past, leaned towards one of my clients and whispered:
“You don’t need a lesson.”
Not loudly, obviously.
Golf advice is always best delivered quietly, unsolicited and by someone who has absolutely no idea what you’re working on.
But it did make me think.
Why do golfers still have such a strange relationship with coaching?
Apparently, coaching is only for people who are broken
There seems to be an unwritten rule in club golf.
If you’re hitting it badly, get a lesson.
If you’re hitting it well, definitely don’t get a lesson in case the coach ruins you.
If you’re playing terribly, perhaps consider a lesson.
If you’re playing really terribly, buy a new driver first.
And if none of that works, watch 47 YouTube videos about shallowing the club.
It’s an unusual approach to development.
We don’t really think like this anywhere else.
People go to the gym when they’re fit.
Businesses use accountants when they’re profitable.
Professional athletes work with coaches when they’re playing well.
Yet in golf, coaching is often treated like calling a plumber.
Something has gone badly wrong. Get someone in.
A lesson and coaching are not the same thing
This is probably where some of the stigma begins.
A lesson can absolutely be reactive.
You’re slicing it.
Your putting has disappeared.
Your bunker technique resembles someone trying to escape quicksand.
You book an hour, identify the problem and work on it.
There is nothing wrong with that.
But coaching is different.
Coaching is ongoing.
It’s understanding your game, identifying priorities, building skills, measuring progress and making sure the things you practise actually help you shoot lower scores.
Sometimes that involves technique.
Sometimes it’s putting.
Sometimes it’s wedges.
Sometimes it’s strategy, practice habits, physical development or simply stopping you from changing your golf swing every Thursday.
That is why I increasingly think golfers should stop asking:
“Do I need a lesson?”
And start asking:
“Am I actually developing my game?”
They are very different questions.
The best players in the world somehow still need coaches
This is the bit I’ve never quite understood.
Scottie Scheffler has a coach.
Rory McIlroy has worked with coaches throughout his career.
Tiger Woods worked with coaches while becoming arguably the greatest golfer ever.
Tour players have swing coaches, putting coaches, performance coaches, strength coaches, physios and statisticians.
Yet Peter off 17 has decided he’s probably got it covered.
And Peter hasn’t broken 85 since the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Sorry Peter.
The better players become, the more structured their support tends to become.
Not because they’re incapable of figuring things out themselves.
Because improvement is difficult.
And an experienced set of eyes, a plan and some accountability makes it considerably easier.
Coaching doesn’t have to mean rebuilding your swing
This might be the biggest misconception of all.
Working with a coach does not automatically mean spending six months changing your backswing.
It might mean a one-to-one lesson.
It might mean joining a small-group session.
It might mean an on-course session looking at decision-making.
It might mean testing your game and finding out that the thing you think is costing you shots isn’t actually the thing costing you shots.
It might mean working on your mobility or strength.
Or it might simply mean having someone help you decide what deserves your attention.
That is a large part of what we’re trying to build at G50.Golf
Different golfers need different things.
The beginner needs guidance.
The 24-handicapper might need better contact and a repeatable set-up.
The 10-handicapper might need better wedges.
The scratch golfer might need to tighten dispersion and decision-making.
None of them necessarily need the same lesson.
But all of them can benefit from development.
So I’ll ask the uncomfortable question
Why don’t you work with a coach?
Is it because you genuinely don’t think it would help?
Because you think you’re not good enough?
Because you think you’re already good enough?
Because you’re worried someone will change everything?
Or because somewhere along the way golf convinced us that instruction is something you seek when things go wrong rather than something you use to keep getting better?
If you want to improve your golf, there should be nothing remotely embarrassing about getting help to do it.
In fact, I’d argue the stranger position is wanting to get better while stubbornly refusing any assistance.
So to the gentleman who whispered:
“You don’t need a lesson.”
Maybe they didn’t.
Maybe they needed a coach.
And there’s a very big difference.
Develop your game
Jon Kennedy
The Wry Golfer
