Ya know, not to offend but i kinda agree. I wouldnt be back for the second lesson. I let people come to me with putting issues. In my experience new golfers want to learn to hit it, not putt. However, they find out quickly how tough it is
I believe that in any walk of life, when we are teaching somebody something we teach them the easy and simple things first, then when they have a pretty decent grasp of that, we move onto more complex and difficult subjects. Then when they grasp that concept, we move onto more and more difficult subjects.
Except for golf.
For some reason in golf we tend to do it backwards. We tend to want to learn the complex and difficult things first (full swing, especially with the driver) and then neglect or leave the simple and easy things for last.
To me, it's absolutely moronic to do it this way. It's like trying to learn chaotic mathematical equations without knowing how to add and subtract first.
And remember, the OP said *3 things* you can teach them. So I'm pretty limited IMO. I've actually spent an hour with my neighbor, a 15 handicapper who is 55 years old, and he grasped the putting concepts quite quickly and we spent the last half hour working on his chipping.
This is the way that the old school teachers like Harvey Penick *used* to teach. And as Brian mentioned in CoFF, his first lesson with Mr. Doyle consisted of Brian having to "give a chipping lesson" to Mr. Doyle because Mr. Doyle had to basically re-instruct Brian's method of chipping. And it's no coincidence that Bobby Clampett's 'Impact Zone' book talks about learning the game in this method.
Remember now, I only have 3 things to really instruct this person on. They don't really know much about the grip, the path of the club, etc. And I truly believe two things:
1) If you cannot get the chipping motion and stroke down pretty well, there's no way you will get the full swing down pretty well.
2) If you learn the chipping motion and stroke pretty well, it makes the transition into the pitching motion then the full swing motion more seamless and easier for the golfer.
With more experienced golfers like my neighbor, I just wanted to see their putting strokes first. My neighbor had a badly bent left wrist at impact, so there's no way that he's going to properly learn the full swing, IMO, unless he comprehends the very basic motion of putting first.
3JACK
