Getting the Most Out of Your Golf Lesson
by Patrick J. Cohn, Ph.D.

Golf teachers use distinct communication methods, teaching styles, and training methods to help you learn a golf swing. Some instructors can help you improve faster because their teaching style is better suited to the way you learn. That’s why you need to do your homework before taking lessons. If you already work with a teacher, then you’ll want to do all you can to get the most out of your lessons and practice time.

You and Your Instructor’s Teaching Style
Instructors have teaching styles and methods, some of which are better suited to your style of learning. The best instructors mold their teaching style to the needs of the student. What is a learning style? It’s the way that you predominately process information in your world—visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and experiential. People learn via different perceptual styles and at various speeds. It’s important to find an instructor who uses a style of teaching that matches your learning style, although most instructors know how to get the message across in several different styles of teaching.

One learning style is auditory or verbal. If you are a verbal learner, the instructor telling you how to swing the club may work best for you. If you are a visual learner, you learn faster with pictures or by having the instructor demonstrate the golf swing. If you are a kinesthetic or feel learner, you would be better matched with an instructor who uses metaphors and images of how the swing should feel. Or he or she might put you in the proper position or use drills and training aids to create the proper feel.

You can’t remember everything you were taught in a lesson. If your teacher doesn’t provide a visual, auditory, or written record of each lesson, ask if you can record the lesson with an audio or video recorder. To prepare for each lesson, you’ll want get a videotape, audiotape, or a notebook to record what you learn in the lesson. Come to the lesson with an open mind ready to listen instead of talk too much.

Feedback is very important for a student to know for sure that he or she is practicing correctly and working on the correct move. Your instructor is one source of external feedback, but he or she can’t be by your side during every swing. It’s up to you (with guidance from instructor) to determine if you are making the correct swing when you practice. For learning to occur you need both intrinsic and extrinsic forms of feedback.

Extrinsic feedback (or what is called external knowledge about performance) is seeing yourself on video or swing in front of a mirror. That’s why training aids are so important to effective learning. Training aids are most effect when they reveal that you are doing the movement right or wrong (correctness of a movement). Mike Bender told me that a training aid is less effective when it helps you get into the proper position during the golf swing and does all the work for you.

Set A Practice Schedule or Plan
Your instructor can also help you set up a practice plan and schedule. Your golf teacher can help you decide how often and how long you should practice each of the areas of your game. A schedule of practice based on the amount of practice time is helpful for your practice plan. You should assess what areas need to improve the most and plan your practice accordingly.

Want more help with your mental game in golf? Check out Dr. Cohn's Golf Psychology programs.