47. When you book your next lesson, remember you are purchasing a feeling to take away with you

I mentioned in the last posting about finding the right coach who can keep things simple. There are other requirements also that are equally important if your game is to move in the right direction. A golf lesson or coaching programme has to be a 50/50 relationship. Further to this, you have to have faith in what your Pro tells you even though some of the stuff may sound very odd and strange. A good coach is always trying to find better ways of communicating what he is looking for. It is not easy to communicate through words what is going to be after all a physical experience, programmed into your muscle memory so it performs without you thinking about it. A quick example of how difficult this is – can you imagine the challenge of describing to a person who is blind from birth what the colour red is or what clouds are like. It might be overstating it a touch but you get the idea. The philosopher, John Locke was quoted as saying, “No mans knowledge can go beyond his experience.”

So there you are, when you book your next lesson, remember you are purchasing a feeling to take away with you. That is why you need a coach with great communication skills and knowledge for the simplicity. That’s the Pro’s 50 percent of the deal, your 50 percent is to watch, listen and most important of all, put aside your pre-conceived ideas and notions. Was it not these very things that drove you to his door for help in the first place?  Work as a team – a good coach wants you to be successful as much as you do but he needs your help.