I Want to Teach Golf......Opinions Wanted

[thefuture37]

Most practice facilities have their own teachers that PAY to teach there. They wouldn't like people to come there, give them no "rent" perse and make money WHILE taking away from the teachers who "pay the rent."

I will admit that i was guilty of this, however i was up front about it with my students and since i did not give many lessons (maybe 6-8 a month) i didn't find that i was taking money away from the facility because I was bringing the students their and not "stealing them away" from the teachers or Golftec.

Keep that in mind.

how is this any different from two friends going to the range and one giving the other advice? the "staff" instructors at the ranges ive been two have been paying(my assumption anyways) to have their advertisements on the wall. otherwise you are just another customer. if the range has a problem with that then they are free to refuse your business, but I doubt they would do that considering you are bringing them business and how it would be bad for publicity.

 

[Brian Manzella]

how is this any different from two friends going to the range and one giving the other advice? the "staff" instructors at the ranges ive been two have been paying(my assumption anyways) to have their advertisements on the wall. otherwise you are just another customer. if the range has a problem with that then they are free to refuse your business, but I doubt they would do that considering you are bringing them business and how it would be bad for publicity.

Believe it or not, 98% of the time, you are deep doo-doo.

You are teaching. They teachers are PAYING. You MIGHT BE getting paid.

Not cool with most.

And....not OK with me at City Park or Different Strokes.

 

[pecky987]

been waiting for a thread of this nature.

i feel i should point out that for those of you who dont know, and those of you who think otherwise, i am NOT a certified golf instructor. in fact im not even pro, or anywhere close enough. yet

all my responses on this forum have been from my own knowledge, i shold also add that i have given 'lessons' to friends of mine. and they have ALL been succesful. i call them 'lessons' as i refuse payment for them, for the reasons previously stated by jim and brian. its wrong to take money away from hard working pros.

however, being a golf teacher is what i believe i was born to do. i analyse constantly, and am always watching every video ever made, reading every article i can lay my hands on and listening to everybody who thinks they know something. i absorb, analyse, then decide whether how much of it is good and what would be useful to someone. i also love teaching. i've been teaching people things for as long as i can remember (not necesarily golf). when i was a toddler i would teach my parents how to use my toys. when my family wen skiing for the first time, i was as rank a beginer as any of my family, and yet that didnt stop me showing my parents how it was spose to be done (as it turned out, im quite a good skier after all ).

anyway, i was told as youngster that if you create an image of something in yourself, people will believe it. i mean that in a way that if i can create the image of someone who really knows what they are on about, people will believe that. some people on this forum believed i was a teacher, and all through preaching what i believe to be pretty accurate info.

sorry for a long post (again) but wanted that of my chest

 

[Jim Kobylinski]

Believe it or not, 98% of the time, you are in deep doo-doo.

You are teaching. Their teachers are PAYING. You MIGHT BE getting paid.

Not cool with most.

And....not OK with me at City Park or Different Strokes.

Actually, i think Brian is being modest. I would definately say 100% of the time. Also, don't be surprised if they would ask you to never come back to the facility.

As i said, i was guilty of this but on a such a small scale i felt it was fine. If i were to ever become a "full time teaching pro" i would definately find a facility where i could teach and "pay rent."

 

[twitch127]

So I want to become an instructor. I have long wanted to work for myself and be around the game of golf as much as possible. I have noticed quite the demand for good instruction at my club among a group of 20+ handicap guys. I have learned a great deal about the swing in the last 2 years and I know that I am years away from actually doing this, but the time to get started has come. I need to spend some more time with Brian to refine my own pattern and get my handicap down.

Can anyone tell me how this process works, what steps are involved, and how good I need to be?

Reality Check - Forget the romance - do you really have passion!!

Depends what route you go down. PGA route you would have to be a pretty decent player, spend 3 years cleaning clubs and selling mars bars and lose any disposable income you once had before becoming 'qualified'. You'll spend 50 hours in the shop and might give 10 lessons a month MAX - forget trying to play. YOu might get to work for a decent pro, who knows a thing or too but the likely hood is that he will be so burnt out with the industry and trying to pay for those new carts that he won't have time to sit down a discuss with you the finer points of swing mechanics, if he knows any, especially when Mrs Havercamp in waiting for her shoes to be respiked, but just the ones in the heel, cos the other ones will be alright for another couple of years!!

Other options are attend a teaching accreditation programme. Don't know what you guys have in the states but in Europe we have the European Golf Teachers Federation. It's a very fine organsiation. You pay them a lot of money and you attend a teaching course like going to an open university at night and learning to crochet tablecloths or speak spanish. You will learn the fundamentals of teaching and feel you are ready for the world. But then you will find out that the information you had been given was so geometrically incorrect and breaks nearly every law of force and motion that you would be embarassed to use it, not that any club or range up and down the country would hire you on those qualifications.

SO what now . You could attend the TGM course and become an AI. Your info would be miles ahead of anything else if you are advanced enough to understand it but then you have to find somewhere to teach outside a PGA affilated club/range/golf centre/mini-golf establishment. You only chance . Build your own!! or lease a shop a teach into a net. A friend of mine has done this and is successful but he's an extremely bright individual and is a natural teacher and it will take him years to get that lesson diary jammed! If you don't have the right mix of info, personality, wit, sense of homour, empathy and enthuisum, talent you will be open 6 months tops.

To finish there are literally hundreds of PGA pros out there who can't break into a full-time teaching positions and are biding their time waiting for their chance, attending seminars, becoming better teachers, gaining more experience until they get their slice of luck and impress the right person.
And then you have guys like Manzella who are bloody good and are getting better everyday!! A steep, greasy pole to climb my friend.

My advice. keep your nice job, get involved with a junior golf programme in your local area, ask the pro if he needs some volunteers and go out and enjoy your golf. If you still can't sleep at night....

Ring the PGA, Start at the bottom and see you in 15-20 years!!

PS I'm with Mike Jacobs, I teach full-time at a Hilton resort am self employed teacher and have played 4 personal rounds this year. Maybe it's beacuse my diary's full and playing golf doesn't get the bills paid. Playing lessons are still business!! If you want to play lots of golf don't look at being a teaching pro unless you manage to get a great retainer or your dad own's the joint

 

[Kevin Shields]

I still say forget about 8 hours a week in lesson revenue, play twice sharpening your game and compete in section PGA events. That way you are always relevent, name's out there and you can win more in a two day event than you can make in two weeks teaching. Depends on your priorities. Playing and being around the actual GAME helps my teaching. I'm never out of touch with whats being taught at the highest levels due to study and i play plenty of pro ams so i get to see the standard club guys ON THE COURSE...where they really make their mistakes.

 

[benhogan55]

Not too much golf this year Damon, all holes played up until yesterday were playing lessons only... maybe a total of 40 holes (i give a lot of one hour lessons on the course)

Yesterday I played my first 18 holer with a student at his private club and when we got to first tee I realized I had no golf balls, tees, and my sw was left in the practice bunker at my home golf school bunker

Priceless!! how about a mastercard commercial?

 

[Brian Manzella]

Don't Get Me Wrong.

I would encourage anyone who wants to, and who has aptitude to, and has a source for information , to teach golf. Either for a living, or as a side line.

It just ain't gonna be easy.

NEVER stop playing the game, and trying to get better.

Kevin Shields' (doubled) golf game is TOUR Caliber, so not playing every chance he has against club pros is a financial goof up. But, you will LEARN to teach faster, if you still try to play some.

Back in 1994-1996, I spent a LOT of time on my game, and gave as many lessons as I do now. It was easy in pre-K NuWallins, nobody wants a lesson between 11am and 3pm, and the public courses were all ours.

But, I learned a lot doing both. A couple of local pros would say, "You say you want to be the best teacher ever? You should teach all day." But looking back, without those two years of playing, I'd be nowhere near where I am today.

Anyone who frequents this site, and has a shred of teaching talent, will do great, given a opportunity.

 

[golfspike]

been waiting for a thread of this nature.

i feel i should point out that for those of you who dont know, and those of you who think otherwise, i am NOT a certified golf instructor. in fact im not even pro, or anywhere close enough. yet

all my responses on this forum have been from my own knowledge, i shold also add that i have given 'lessons' to friends of mine. and they have ALL been succesful. i call them 'lessons' as i refuse payment for them, for the reasons previously stated by jim and brian. its wrong to take money away from hard working pros.

however, being a golf teacher is what i believe i was born to do. i analyse constantly, and am always watching every video ever made, reading every article i can lay my hands on and listening to everybody who thinks they know something. i absorb, analyse, then decide whether how much of it is good and what would be useful to someone. i also love teaching. i've been teaching people things for as long as i can remember (not necesarily golf). when i was a toddler i would teach my parents how to use my toys. when my family wen skiing for the first time, i was as rank a beginer as any of my family, and yet that didnt stop me showing my parents how it was spose to be done (as it turned out, im quite a good skier after all ).

anyway, i was told as youngster that if you create an image of something in yourself, people will believe it. i mean that in a way that if i can create the image of someone who really knows what they are on about, people will believe that. some people on this forum believed i was a teacher, and all through preaching what i believe to be pretty accurate info.

sorry for a long post (again) but wanted that of my chest

That's quite funny and made me laugh but i already had you pegged as a kid but keep searching and applying its the only way to get better

 

[Brian Manzella]

That's quite funny and made me laugh but i already had you pegged as a kid but keep searching and applying its the only way to get better

I disagree.

I thought his responses were quite good.

 

[pecky987]

I disagree.

I thought his responses were quite good.

i am honoured that BMan himself says i said good things!!!

 

[golfspike]

I disagree.

I thought his responses were quite good.

Well ok i just thought Pecky's post was funny and was simply encouraging him to keep enhancing his golf and study of the swing and i did in no way mean to offend

 

[Steve Khatib]

Teaching is a tough, tough business! If you are passionate it's in your blood you cant not do it.

Politics wins most times as to who owns the driving range etc and teachers that cant teach at lick that are at busy ranges let it go to their heads as to being good teachers.

We MUST NOT CONFUSE good teachers to busy teachers. A good teacher will still do reasonably well in a cow pasture however a poor one will starve. It is worse in Australia than most places and most teachers have egos based on fresh air, and young pro's have no concept of evaluating what good teacher is versus a good showman/storyteller.
My advice is to build up a core base of clients and grow via refferals, also find a facility that has traffic but not too much corrupt politics(it is everywhere). Then you will be able to eventually steal all of the clients from the pop teachers after a few years as your reputation will grow. But be careful because that is when the knives will come out against you as you are now a threat. In the teaching business the better you are the least opportunities availible to you, its not like real jobs where results get rewarded by promotion(only your students know what is your true value) as you will make some puppet pro look bad by being a good instructor.
Follow your dream but its a tough dream.
Good Luck you will need it.

 

[tongzilla]

if possible, set up your own driving range.

 

[Jim Kobylinski]

if possible, set up your own driving range.

Usually i agree with what tong says but this is probably the worst mistake you can make. Most driving ranges are not very profitable. If you got the backing of some mgt company and they wanted to build you your own with you as the "star" that's one thing. But otherwise, go pay rent somewhere.

 

[dashfan87]

Most practice facilities have their own teachers that PAY to teach there. They wouldn't like people to come there, give them no "rent" perse and make money WHILE taking away from the teachers who "pay the rent."

I will admit that i was guilty of this, however i was up front about it with my students and since i did not give many lessons (maybe 6-8 a month) i didn't find that i was taking money away from the facility because I was bringing the students their and not "stealing them away" from the teachers or Golftec.

Keep that in mind.

What about going to coarses.... and playing rounds with your student. I mean, you both pay, and go out to play, and while your out there, you give some lessons.... Is anyone going to head hunt you for that?

 

[twitch127]

What about going to coarses.... and playing rounds with your student. I mean, you both pay, and go out to play, and while your out there, you give some lessons.... Is anyone going to head hunt you for that?
Yesterday 10:02 PM
Jim Kobylinski Quote:

Next time your at a restaurant ask if you can bring your own food and cook it yourself. I'm sure the chef won't mind.

I don't blame you guys who are not golf pro's because you are not in the industry but I think you need to try and understand how the golf industry works. It might also save you from aggrevation and uncomfortable situations

 

[birdie_man]

Teaching is a tough, tough business! If you are passionate it's in your blood you cant not do it.

Politics wins most times as to who owns the driving range etc and teachers that cant teach at lick that are at busy ranges let it go to their heads as to being good teachers.

We MUST NOT CONFUSE good teachers to busy teachers. A good teacher will still do reasonably well in a cow pasture however a poor one will starve. It is worse in Australia than most places and most teachers have egos based on fresh air, and young pro's have no concept of evaluating what good teacher is versus a good showman/storyteller.
My advice is to build up a core base of clients and grow via refferals, also find a facility that has traffic but not too much corrupt politics(it is everywhere). Then you will be able to eventually steal all of the clients from the pop teachers after a few years as your reputation will grow. But be careful because that is when the knives will come out against you as you are now a threat. In the teaching business the better you are the least opportunities availible to you, its not like real jobs where results get rewarded by promotion(only your students know what is your true value) as you will make some puppet pro look bad by being a good instructor.
Follow your dream but its a tough dream.
Good Luck you will need it.

Wow you can always count on 4B Steve to be upfront. Good post.....thanks for the info.

I'd like to do some teaching too.....I don't really know where to start..........I think I will do this though.............just do some on the side when I can for now...........I know a perfect range too actually. Just might be 100% clean. (competition-free) And the owners like me.

With all I've learned over the past few years (ESPECIALLY in here) I don't know how I can not give it a shot.

I need experience for sure.........and no doubt there's much to learn (esp. in the REAL-world lesson-giving sense) but........I'm sure I could do fine this very day.

(+ keep getting better)

 

[dashfan87]

Next time your at a restaurant ask if you can bring your own food and cook it yourself. I'm sure the chef won't mind.

I don't blame you guys who are not golf pro's because you are not in the industry but I think you need to try and understand how the golf industry works. It might also save you from aggrevation and uncomfortable situations

Thats why we ask questions like that... to keep ourselfs out of trouble...
Its not like Im going to start doing this, Im not even close to being a teaching pro.
Just a question. thanks for the reply

 

[well01]

Hi Brian,
Have you ever thought about starting some type of teaching academy. I'm sure there would be a lot of interest.