In my previous article, I discussed the benefits and importance of social media. As a professional golfer, one of my social media platforms, Instagram, is solely dedicated to my golfing journey. In my eyes, it is almost like a fun picture diary for me to upload my memories. However, in contrast to an actual ‘for my eyes only’ diary, this one’s uploaded onto the World Wide Web, free to be to viewed and scrutinised by the wandering eyes of the public.
If you’ve ever wandered into the golf side of Instagram where people post swing videos of themselves (or of others), you’d have stumbled upon numerous “Instagram Golf Coaches”. Some of these aren’t actual coaches; rather, they are people who probably spend a lot of time on social media, viewing golf videos and thinking that they have garnered the ability to dissect and diagnose a person’s golf swing … with no actual golf training whatsoever.
Why am I discussing the Instagram Golf Coach? First of all, just to clarify again, these are NOT actual golf coaches, they’re not trained, qualified coaches … they might even be golfers who struggle to break 90! However, they talk (or comment) with such an astounding amount of confidence and conviction that one could start wondering, “Hmm, are they right?”
So my purpose of sharing this with you today is so that you’re not fooled … don’t fall for the Instagram Golf Coach! Why?
Firstly, as I have mentioned, they have absolutely no golf training whatsoever. The golf swing is such an intricate thing. Sure, they might diagnose your problems correctly. Now what? The reason you visit an actual golf coach is because they have a wealth of experience from years of working with students with different golf swings, so they know how to not only diagnose you but also give you the appropriate “medicine” to fix the “illness” in your golf swing! Most importantly, a good golf coach knows how to personalise this from one player to another.
Even two golfers with the same problems might not benefit from one drill alone. As mentioned, the golf swing is an accumulation of so many little parts and each person’s swing is different and unique. With golf, there isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ cure. Everything needs to be personalised.
There’s no denying that there is a lot of wonderful, beneficial information out there on platforms such as Instagram and YouTube. However, the problem is none of that is personalised for you. This is why when I post videos on YouTube, I tend to focus on things that are universal such as how to improve your course management skills, etc.
When you try to find fixes on YouTube, you are essentially trying to be your own coach. The biggest problem with being your own coach is that you might not see the actual problem. You might be trying to diagnose a symptom and not a cause. What’s even worse is that with the golf swing being so intricate, once you ingrain something else into your swing, it could lead to other swing problems down the road.
Sometimes, a problem you’re having could be solved with a quick fix. But I think we can all agree that a quick fix is not what we’re looking for in golf. If you’re going to spend the time to work on your golf swing, you might as well do it right!
A golf coach is an investment. I think that if you find one that knows how to cater their coaching to you, you will be more than happy to keep on investing once you see the returns on the golf course. At the end of the day, there is a reason why coaching requires years of training. It is similar to any other job out there. Would you go to some random person to fix your shoes or would you go to a cobbler?
So if you’ve been looking for a sign to push you over the edge to sign up for a golf lesson, here it is! At the end of the day we all know that better golf equals happier golf.
