I think a lot about golf in general. It's my life. As the owner of a golf business trying to do right by my customers, I am constantly thinking about what matters to people that trust me with their golf swing.
Being a small business fighting against the Giants, means proving yourself by providing a higher level of service. Customers exchange their money with you in hopes for more distance, straighter shots, and a better understanding and feedback system of their own swing when they're all alone on the course. The customer in turn contributes to your reputation, not only to the coaching industry, but also as a testament to your credibility. It's a tall tall order, and one that quite frankly, as an industry is broken.
The golf instructor is the new enemy, the YouTube freebie channel is the new hero. The go-to guy to get the latest tips on this illusive game we call golf. However, we all know deep down that nothing replaces face to face instruction, the relationship developed between coach and student, the transfer of knowledge and the real teaching that takes place when coaching is done successfully. It's not a golf lesson for 45 minutes that is going to do that. The quick fix golf lesson has been replaced by you tube or some sort of new gadget.
Golf lessons are dead. There, I said it. But what I mean to say is that the traditional golf lesson is dead. The quick fix 45 minute top up a few nights before a tournament can easily be replaced by a Google search or an online fix up swing session with any one of the hundreds of coaches around the world willing to charge money to tell you what is wrong, so that the golfer can then go find a drill on YouTube to fix the problem.
Well the golf swing is an inter relation of the moving parts at very high speeds. It relies on the culmination of steps as the club is moving in 3d and in relation to the parameters that the golfer sets during the shot set up. Good luck with getting long lasting results from a 45 minute session or a video online. I wish it were that simple.
Unfortunately, the industry pays the price as a result: people don't improve, their hopes are crushed, and the relation is not further developed to a point where both coach and student can succeed. So what happens then? Well people stop golfing or they look for another Avenue to try to succeed. Usually they buy new clubs. The cycle repeats until they stop.
When more and more golfers stop, then they don't introduce the game to their friends and the industry stagnates. That's what's happening in golf (present covid boom aside), and it is the role of the golf coaches to reverse that trend.
It is quite simple actually, golf lessons need not be financially limited or restrictive. Someone wanting to learn or improve should not have to pay a huge premium to be able to improve to a point where it has a lasting effect. Going for a lesson once a month is going to have almost 0 effect.
The model doesn't work and quite frankly it will not stand the test of time. We have created a new paradigm in coaching that allows the above problems to be alleviated. We believe that the market is willing to pay for coaching, and not willing to pay for golf lessons. Quite honestly, it has been the single biggest driver for Performance Golf because we have the opportunity to build a relationship with each one of our customers. We build the relationship without financially hampering our clients. We are afforded the opportunity of mutual commitment from our side and our customer's side and we can do it all whilst having fun.
Without this fundamental change, we would really be struggling to build our brand and our reputation in the market. It would have ended our business long ago, but instead we are seeing it flourish.
We are seeing our students improve, we are seeing them bring new students, we are creating new golfers to go and play, and building an avenue to enjoyment of the game. It is indeed our pleasure to contribute to people's enjoyment and we are constantly looking for ways to improve that customer experience.
It is golf's old ways and old methods that have really not caught up with modern times, and it is really ruining the industry. But fear not golfers, we are trying our best to help you enjoy golf again.
