Three weeks ago, an e-mail popped into my box titled: “Intensive Golf Lessons.” I opened it up and was greeted by a young man named Jason, who wished to learn how to play golf. The catch was he only had two weeks because he had to catch a plane back to his native city of Taipei.
As you know, golf isn’t as accessible in Taiwan as it is here, and, as a student, his academics prevented him from seeking instruction earlier. But the small window between his graduation and flight home seemed to be his best option.
“Oh boy,” I thought. This isn’t going to be easy—there’s a lot of ground to cover from tee to green. So, I mapped out a strategy to help Jason get on the fast track of learning the game, so he could head home with confidence.
Day 1 was all about preparing to hit a shot. We worked on the fundamentals of grip, stance, ball position, aim, and alignment. I put a wedge in his hands and demonstrated the fine art of chipping. It was the perfect shot for the first day as it required just a small swinging motion.
After the lesson, I leant him a wedge and pointed him to the practice range.
Day 2 we fine tuned the pre-swing fundamentals and cranked out our next shot, which was a pitch shot. Since this requires a bigger swing, I worked on helping Jason swing the club with a little more speed to get the ball higher into the air.
He needed no reminder about where the practice range was.
Day 3, and our last lesson for the first week, we continued with our pre-swing work and pitching the ball up into the air consistently. He was anxious to move on to the long shots. After all, he noticed very few golfers practicing all these short shots at the range.
“Patience,” I said, because this game takes time and these short shots play an important role in your ability to score on the golf course.
Starting our second week of lessons, I gave Jason a six iron and told him that we were going to let her rip. We adjusted the set up and swing arc, took a few practice swings, and then gave it a go. I still remember the look on his face as he hit a high soft draw that carried 140 yards! The next few weren’t as good . . . but he was hooked!
Then, on to the woods—the five wood took a bit of getting used to, but the practice range gave him plenty of experience.
Putting! I Still had to get that in before the deadline! His confidence was growing, however, as he told me he was to play on Thursday with some friends at a nearby par-three course.
So we worked on putting it together at one of our practice holes, covered the basics of etiquette and rules and anything else that I could think of. I leant him a little starter set and wished him luck on his first outing.
By the last lesson, he was beaming! His friends were impressed with his prowess, and he even made a par!
As a golf professional, a large part of my day is dedicated to helping experienced golfers improve in order to better enjoy themselves on the course. However, I leave plenty of time open for new golfers! Not only do I make new friends, but watching them improve gives me plenty of “job satisfaction!”
As to my new friend Jason, he is off to Taipei with a new degree, new job, new sport, and a new friend!
Comments