Teaching a new golfer, gold instruction vacations

[BanjoSaysWoof]

One of my best friends yesterday told me he wants to commit to learning golf. After some back and forth, we both thought immersion learning would be his best bet.

He is a strong guy, tall, and fairly athletic. I don’t want to have anything to do with teaching him since I am a 16 handicap and that’s doing him a disservice.

So, the plan we’ve come up with is a 3 day golf instruction vacation.

Ideally it would be in Palm Springs (or California in general.) the thought is someone teaches him basics of golf while tweaking my game. He should leave there being confident he can play 18 and not look like a dunce.

Anyone have experience or recommendations, etc?

 

[DG_1234]

One of my best friends yesterday told me he wants to commit to learning golf. After some back and forth, we both thought immersion learning would be his best bet.

He is a strong guy, tall, and fairly athletic. I don’t want to have anything to do with teaching him since I am a 16 handicap and that’s doing him a disservice.

So, the plan we’ve come up with is a 3 day golf instruction vacation.

Ideally it would be in Palm Springs (or California in general.) the thought is someone teaches him basics of golf while tweaking my game. He should leave there being confident he can play 18 and not look like a dunce.

Anyone have experience or recommendations, etc?

If your expectation is that your friend could pick up a club for the first time and three days later confidently play 18 holes, forget it.
If he wants to learn golf buy him a copy of Jack Nicklaus 'Golf My Way" . From that book he can learn fundamentally sound grip , posture, and alignment technique and start making swings in the backyard (or anywhere there is room to make swings). After 50 practice swings per day, for a couple of weeks, he will have begun to feel comfortable holding and swinging a club, and his "golf muscles" will have begun to develop. Once that's done you could take him to a local range and he can begin striking some golf balls.
Taking instruction/lessons from a PGA instructor is a great idea, but it's kind of pointless without first learning a fundamentally sound grip and making thousands of practice swings. Nicklaus "Golf My Way" or Tiger Woods "How I play Golf" both have excellent full page photos and, or, drawings to teach a student the grip.Par 3 courses and, or, short length courses are the best place for a player during his first year or two learning golf, not full length regulation 18 hole course.

 

[BanjoSaysWoof]

If your expectation is that your friend could pick up a club for the first time and three days later confidently play 18 holes, forget it.
If he wants to learn golf buy him a copy of Jack Nicklaus 'Golf My Way" . From that book he can learn fundamentally sound grip , posture, and alignment technique and start making swings in the backyard (or anywhere there is room to make swings). After 50 practice swings per day, for a couple of weeks, he will have begun to feel comfortable holding and swinging a club, and his "golf muscles" will have begun to develop. Once that's done you could take him to a local range and he can begin striking some golf balls.
Taking instruction/lessons from a PGA instructor is a great idea, but it's kind of pointless without first learning a fundamentally sound grip and making thousands of practice swings. Nicklaus "Golf My Way" or Tiger Woods "How I play Golf" both have excellent full page photos and, or, drawings to teach a student the grip.Par 3 courses and, or, short length courses are the best place for a player during his first year or two learning golf, not full length regulation 18 hole course.

So these camps are three days, a three hour morning session, a three hour afternoon session and 9 holes of on course play with the instructor. (Or similar depending on package, but it’s lots of instruction)

I feel pretty good that he’ll be fine after that for on course practice. He doesn’t need to shoot 90, he just needs to have the confidence he can play.

He has golfed before. We did a myrtle trip years ago and he can make solid contact. Lots of misses though. The problem is since he doesn’t know how to play, he doesn’t wanna play nice courses, so unless I find a $10 hot deal, he isn’t interested.

This isn’t the route you’d go for a new person??

 

[DG_1234]

So these camps are three days, a three hour morning session, a three hour afternoon session and 9 holes of on course play with the instructor. (Or similar depending on package, but it’s lots of instruction)

I feel pretty good that he’ll be fine after that for on course practice. He doesn’t need to shoot 90, he just needs to have the confidence he can play.

He has golfed before. We did a myrtle trip years ago and he can make solid contact. Lots of misses though. The problem is since he doesn’t know how to play, he doesn’t wanna play nice courses, so unless I find a $10 hot deal, he isn’t interested.

This isn’t the route you’d go for a new person??

Your commentary here is a bit different from your original post. From that I read he had never picked up a golf club and you were suggesting that "immersion" for 3 days might get him started playing an 18 hole course.
Whether he/she is a brand new player or one who has tried golf but struggled, I don't see how condensed immersion can be especially effective. In other words, 30 minutes of quality learning/practicing everyday for 10 days is a whole heck of a lot better than two 5 hour "immersion" days. I think this is true whether one is learning golf,, learning a musical instrument, learning how to speak a language, studying for a calculus exam etc...
All that said, if you two think a 3-day golf camp would be fun then I say go for it. Why not ? It may not be the most sensible way for your friend to improve his golf skills but it could be fun.

 

[Bernoulli]

What you are suggesting is a golf school. If that the route you want to take, I think you can find one that you both can do at the same time. They’re set up to handle people of different skill levels and they go over every aspect of the game.

 

[Scorp]

@BanjoSaysWoof if you're wanting to have a dude's weekend and get some instruction, go for it.

 

[BanjoSaysWoof]

What you are suggesting is a golf school. If that the route you want to take, I think you can find one that you both can do at the same time. They’re set up to handle people of different skill levels and they go over every aspect of the game.

Any you’d recommend?

I wanted to do IMG academy, but he wants to do Cali.

 

[Grins]

If you went to Scottsdale AZ I'd recommend Vision 54 golf run by Pia Nilsson & Lynn Merriott (Talking Stick resort)

VISION54 In-Person Coaching — VISION54

www.vision54.com

I think a three day school sounds fun. Gets your buddy started on the right way -hopefully avoiding a lot of the bad habits struggling amateurs pick up from reading books/watching vids/trying to teach themselves.

Let us know what you choose & how it waorks out - for both you and your friend.

 

[Grins]

If you're not familiar with Vision 54, they worked with Annika Sorenstam & lots of LPGA golfers. I like their philosophy. Never took any instruction from them.

Another guy I'd love to go to is Martin Chuck. His Tour Striker Academy is in Phoenix. He does lots of 3 day immersive academies.

 

[Drumdog]

I've been to a couple of multiple day golf schools and found them to be very valuable.
The last one the wife and I went to was last April in the San Diego(Encinitas) area. John Mason was the instructor and we really enjoyed it.
Here is his contact info if you want it....
John Mason | PGA Director of Instruction
JC Resorts | 1275 Quail Gardens Drive| Encinitas, CA 92024
o: (760)473-8483 | f: (760)944-1948| jmason@jcresorts.com

Golf Lessons California | JC Golf

Our golf lessons in California offer 25 PGA & LPGA-certified golf teachers specializing in all types of physical aptitude, body type, and student objectives.

www.jcgolf.com