Top 5 things to consider when looking for a swing coach

Welcome to Shaving Strokes, a GOLF.com series where the game’s brightest minds share their tips to help you, well, shave strokes! Today, Top 100 Golf Instructors Trent Wearner shares five things to consider when looking for a golf instructor.

If you are serious about improving your golf game, it is important that you seek the help of a swing coach. Sure, you might be better off grinding on your own, but if you want to take your game to the next level, working with an instructor is the way to go.

Going to a swing coach (especially if you’re just starting out) can be intimidating at first, but don’t worry – the instructors are there to help you get better. They dedicate their lives to helping people improve their golf games. The relationship between student and teacher cannot be judged.

If you really want to get the most out of your lessons, it’s important to find the right coach. And when you’re looking for someone to work with, there are some important points to keep in mind.

In the list below, Top 100 Coaches Trent Wearner shares the five biggest things to consider when searching for a coach.

5 questions to ask when looking for a coach

The offseason is here, but that doesn’t mean you have to put your clubs away for the winter. Instead, use this time as an opportunity to improve. One of the easiest ways to improve is to take lessons from a skating coach. But before doing so, there are several questions you should ask.

1. How knowledgeable are they?

Ask how long the coach you are considering has been coaching full-time. I would recommend that the answer be at least seven years. You can also request a resume to see where the person has worked and under whom. This may give you an insight into what you will hear from the coach.

2. Do they teach outside?

If a high percentage of your training takes place indoors, then you are taking yourself far away from where the game is played. In my opinion, you are putting yourself in a hole that is difficult to dig out of. It should go without saying, the game is played out, and you have to eventually learn it out. I have been fortunate for over twenty years to be at a golf club with an in-house studio. I have seen people heading indoors and effectively swinging indoors. But when we go outside, things are completely different. There is some value in getting lessons at home, but ultimately you need to learn to play outside. If you only train at home, you are changing yourself.

3. How do they communicate?

Almost every respected coach in the country has thousands (if not hundreds thousands) of dollars invested in technology, but you need to find someone who not only speaks your language but someone who can train you to know how to diagnose your swing and what to do if the technology IS there. If you are out of class or practicing on your own, you need to understand what is going wrong. During a technical lesson, the instructor should finally ask you for ideas if technology didn’t exist, what would you do more or less in the next turn? This is important to your ability to help yourself and do what all coaches should be doing, empowering you!

4. Are their students successful?

You want to find a coach who is consistently and consistently successful with players of your skill level and someone who likes to coach people of your skill level. Any coach can get lucky and hang their hat on one student who has done well, but it’s good that you want to go see someone with a long track record of success. Reading reviews online can be one helpful way, but also be sure to ask around to see who most people recommend. Above all, look for someone who is honest and has your best interest in mind. If they are very interested in making the sale of a great course package, I will find someone who is very interested in developing it.

5. What is their teaching philosophy?

While a student’s accomplishments may give you some insight into this, you should look for a more flexible philosophy. After all, the beauty of training. It’s an individual game, and no two swings are the same. He needs someone with a lot of experience, which is only accumulated after years of training, so that his style can be flexible. There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach.