It’s hard to narrow down the most important topics and concepts from 2015 but that is what we’ve attempted to do. We’ve compiled a list of 12 things that are worth reviewing so you can be the best instructor and coach possible.

 

HOW TO USE THIS POST > Listen through the show with a notebook and only jot down the topics that are most relevant to you. Then go back and listen to the 2-3 most important shows that are relevant to you.

#1 – Focusing on learning and skill acquisition

Michael Hebron’s story is really interested because he achieved a massive level of success as teacher of the year in 1991 and then decided to go through a complete paradigm shift and change how he approached thing.

“I’m trying to shine a light and let students see it different so they can change without me having to tell them what to do.”

Listen to Michael’s Interview

#2 – Get Uncomfortable

Tim Suzor and Jeff Ritter are instructors who have thought outside the box. They’be built companies and businesses that are larger than themselves and constantly push the paradigm of what’s possible.

They’re call to action is to get uncomfortable. If you stay comfortable you’re probably not seeing much growth. So get out TODAY and do something that makes you feel a little uncomfortable.

Listen to Tim and Jeff’s Interview

#3 – Give A Little To Get A Lot

Dr Rick Jensen shares an EXCELLENT framework for building an audience and getting new students. Ask yourself these questions to kick things off.

• Who are the people who make up your ideal target market?
• What could you do with 20% of your time that would put you in front of them so that they can experience (even free of charge) the value that you have to offer?
• Once you are in front of prospective students, how will you clearly communicate your value proposition – the benefit that you will provide for them?

Read the Article from Dr Rick Jensen

#4 – Write and Self Publish Your Own Book

Matt Rudy shares why now is an amazing time for any instructor to create an awesome book and self-publish it. Whether your goal is to have a marketing piece for your teaching or to have an additional product to sell.

If in 2016 you want to write your own book listen to this episode with Matt and the case study with Brandon Stooksbury.

Listen to Matt Rudy

#5 – Biggest Loser Coaching Program

A lot of people are interested in running a Biggest Loser program, but not really sure how to do it. That’s why this conversation with Matt Wilson is worth reviewing.

This structure has a lot of benefits from a student learning perspective and business. 

#1 – You can actually coach people and tell them what they should be practicing and working on.
#2 – You’re tracking progress and getting some amazing testimonials.
#3 – You’re increasing your hourly rate by getting students into a group setting.
#4 – You’re creating recurring revenue if you set it up on a monthly or annual basis.

Listen to Matt Wilson

 

#6 – How to effectively use technology

Eric Jones uses launch monitors in a group coaching experience (something most people wouldn’t assume being very effective). I think this is a great strategy to boost the value of your coaching programs and also allow you to have more studnents in a session because of the technologies ability to act as a virtual assistant.

Listen to Eric Jones

If you’re trying to remove yourself from the equation and create additional revenue from tech I love Liam’s approach to creating technology memberships. If you have the gear and the space this is a strategy with exploring.

Listen Liam Mucklow

#7 – Create a junior tournament league that continually fills and grows your coaching programs.

If you have a group coaching program adding on a jr tournament league has some massive benefits. Will Robins runs through a few in the linked article below and gives some great advice on how to get started.

The key is to make sure that these players see a path to improvement so they can see how to get better, how to have fun with their friends and want to progress through your coaching system.

Read the Article from Will Robins

#8 – 5-5-5 Program

James Hong shares his brilliant program to get students interested in what you have to offer and get’s you working with groups.

Listen to James Hong

#9 – An Understandable Mental Framework, OSVEA

Iain Highfield shared his mental process, OSVEA in a way that anyone can implement. If you don’t have a mental strategy with students I think this is an amazing resource that can help your students.

Until you define your system in a concrete way like OSVEA, you’ll have a hard time getting students to understand and buy in.

Listen to Iain Highfield

#10 – Fitness and Golf

Jason Glass and Lance Gil both came on in 2015 to talk about myths in fitness and what instructors should learn from the fitness industry.

Listen to Jason Glass
Listen to Lance Gil

#11 – Coaching from a “coaches” Perspective

Michael Michaelides is both an instructor and a college golf coach so he shares his persepctive as a coach of students for years in the college setting.

Most of our conversations about coaching are from teh perspective of instructors and teachers. Michael shines a light on some different topics that most aren’t paying attention to.

Listen to Michael Michaelides

#12 – Elite Junior Coaching Program

Henry Brunton shares all the details about how he runs his elite junior coaching program. Henry knows how to run a WORLD CLASS program and has something worth checking out.

If you’re thinking about coaching or working with juniors Henry is a great model to look at and get some ideas from.

Listen to Henry Brunton

 

Hope you enjoyed all of these!

Make a list of those worth reviewing and make sure to get the content you need before diving into 2016.

2015 has been an amazing year around here at Golf in the Life of. 40+ episodes live on the site 35,000 plays from instructors and coaches around the world. Thank you for listening in and caring about your craft of teaching and coaching golf!

If you’re interested in joining a thriving community of entrepreneurial golf instructors learn more about our new membership program. Learn more here.

For most coaches and instructors creating a income stream that is not directly related to your time is difficult.  That’s why this conversation with Liam Mucklow about technology memberships is VITAL for anyone with the right opportunity.

If you’re investing in an expensive piece of technology how to you maximize the ROI of that investment this conversation is FOR YOU!  This story is extremely realistic and something that anyone can do if it’s something that 

Liam shares some important tips on how to make the feedback effective during a practice session for students and some aspects to focus on for a better learning environment.

When going down this route of technology memberships you have two options.  The first is focused toward more recreation and the recreational golfer and the second is part of a long-term coaching program.

The move to open his first location in a Squash club was vital because of the foot traffic and access to golfers.  Launching this model of business in association with another business (that has a lot of customers that would be a good crossover) can have some MASSIVE benefits.  A really REALLY important factor when deciding where you’d want to physically host this model.

We talked last week with Matt Rudy about his thoughts on writing a book, but I wanted to get a case study of what it looks like from the instructors point of view.

Matt Rudy is a Golf Digest Senior Writer and co-author of over 22 books, so he is the perfect guy to talk about writing your first book.  We dive into everything from the idea to the most common mistakes people make when thinking about writing a book.

 

 

Michael shares his philosophy on teaching and the massive paradigm shift in teaching he went through after winning the teacher of the year award in 1991.

We dive right into Michael’s story and hearing about his current process toward teaching and why he believes what he believes.  Michael shares the backstory behind his shift and shares the education and example

There is so much to pick up from this conversion.
Watch for some of the insights and jot some of these golden concepts down.

“The unwanted outcome should become the workable outcome.”

“SAFE = Students Always First Environment”

“Golf is inconsistent, Accept it.”

“Struggle is the most important tool in golf”

“Before you share something make sure it’s compatible with how students learn”

 

Maximize your efficiency and return on investment on the time in the day. There are only so many hours in the day and we want to make sure we’re spending that time as efficiently with the most impact as possible.

From day 1 Claude knew the importance of groups teaching in golf instruction. Coming from the business world and then working with Dana Rader and Dr Rick Jensen

 

Dr Tim Lee is one of the experts in motor learning and he’s giving us an introductory look at how we’ve been falling short in our golf practice and learning environments.

In this episode you’ll learn the nature of golf, what you need to know about random and block practice, and the actions you should start taking to create a better learning environment.

As a coach you have an impact on all of your students whether you realize it or not.  It’s time to be intentional and decide what kind influence you have on your students.  Michael shares how he does that as a college coach and what you can do when working with groups of students on an ongoing basis.

 

Michael talks about the importance of the 1-1 interaction when working with groups.  Goal setting and accountability are one of the most important parts working with groups so you can make sure they’re taking the right actions toward their goals.

Although Michael talks about this in the context of a college team there are principles and concepts you can implement into your group coaching programs.

Group coaching not working for you? YOU have to believe that group coaching is effective.  If you as the coach don’t believe you’re not going to see good results with your students.

 

One of the biggest problems is figuring out what to work on with students.  Will talks through the process they walk students through in a group coaching program.

If I have the opportunity to make a complete golfer I would want to see them in a team setting. And group coaching is the most effective way to do that.

Want to guarantee students 10-15 shots off their score?  Learn what you should be working on the highest impact areas to focus on with students.  If you focus on the wrong things it’s going to be harder for you to help your students get the results they’re looking for.

Get Motivated to Take Action

Shawn Humphries runs an amazing junior academy in Dallas TX running groups of elite juniors through his process of teaching, training, and coaching.

 

There is a lot of responsibility and accountability.  You have to create a culture of responsibility and stability not only for the students but also the parents.  Golf is one of the hardest sports on earth so you have to get commitment from students.

Golf is 90% mental yet it’s rarely taught or coached at manyacademies, when in reality it should be a priority.

How defined are your programs?

Jeff has created an amazing group coaching model for juniors age 5-12. It’s more about developing athletes than getting students in front of a bucket of balls working on technique. In fact it’s the other way around as Jeff says they’re “blending in golf at appropriate levels.”

 

One important aspect of the junior training program we talk about is having a solid curriculum, planning out each session so the coach is never wondering what comes next. In fact they’ve built out an entire plan… Not only for each session but also the development from a long term perspective.

The more we make it golf like.. The less fun it is for students.

The goal is to get students to do the right thing without overwhelming them with technical jargon. Jeff shares a couple drills that they use the accomplish this goal.

Want to improve your understanding of how to work with groups? Then the next 6 weeks are going to be just for you! This new series (and adjoiningmasterclass) is just for you.

Dr Rick Jensen and Henry Brunton bring some of their best info to this conversation.  Talking all about how your students actually learn and some of the most important factors (most instructors forget) when working with groups.

One reason to many instructors fall short when working with groups is because they feel like they have to be the show… It’s just not true.  Let your students learn and discover on their own.

Jeff Ritter and Tim Suzor bring some amazing business mindset hacks and shift that every instructors, academy owner, and coach needs to think about in their business.

We also have a great conversation about how increase your hourly revenue through partnerships and focusing on how to maximize your revenue

How do the numbers actually play out when you look at building an audience of 500 people that you can communicate with over the long term?

Instead of just guessing we dive into all the numbers and talk about some very specific ideas and concepts for you to do this in your business.

 

Below you can see the primary ways we talk about getting traffic and then turning them into email subscribers.

This conversation is being had primarily in the context of content marketing. All organic and not really going down the route of paid traffic.

 

If you look at golf instructors and coaches who can move the fastest in their business when they want to launch new products or programs… It’s those that have an audience.

An audience is simply a group of people that you can communicate with.

And the first step to building an audience (that a lot of people forget about) is figuring out who your audience is. Becuase the more targeted you can get… The easier it will be to grow and the more profitable.

 

How do you go about doing 1100 online lessons and generate enough interest to keep yourself busy 2400 hours out of the year with mostly clientele traveling to come see you? Dan shares exactly how he’s done just this…

 

Dan Carraher has a really interesting story of growth at a very young age and how he’s been able to build a successful and busy business although he’s almost anonymous in the local Jacksonville area. (not many people are able to do this)

Dan talks about the three income streams in his golf instruction business and how all three aspects have been able to help him build a more sustainable and reliable business.

• Online Lessons
• Tour Players
• In Person Teaching

Jason Glass is a fitness professional first who now happens to run a golf academy.  And I wanted to talk with him (not only because he runs a great podcast and delivers great fitness content) but because a unique perspective and background that most golf instructors don’t.

 

Jason Glass shares how he runs his business (Tour Performance Lab).  How they structure their programs and really the glue that holds it all together – COMMUNITY.    It’s amazing to hear the power that it has to build a strong group of students that’s really a “team”.

 

We talk all about how to build that community of students and how it’s had an impact on building the business.  He shares one of their secrets to growth and building up referrals in the local area. (and you can check out a photo to the right).

Chuck shares the best golf coaching program at his academy and exactly how that looks (hopefully so you can learn what you need to implement into your golf instruction business)

We not only dive into HOW Chuck runs his business but also some of the methods behind what they’re doing. Two tools that Chuck is using in his academy for tracking and communication are GAME GOLF 
and Edufii.

Chuck also recently built his own indoor facility. We talk about what he did, how much it cost, and the results he’s seen from it.

by Tom Stickney

I am often asked by younger teachers how to set up their instructional program(s) in order to create more demand and this is something that is learned. However if you pay attention the market you are in will give you all the answers if you just stop for a second and think.

As the answers you receive become more focused you will be able to better adjust your programming in order to reach the “next level.” So here are my thought on how to set yourself up for success…

The main thing a young instructor can do to get in front of people is... to get in front of people.

Most instructors are too shy or worried about their information that they never discuss it openly with others for fear of reprisal.

In days gone by, the model to get known was to teach tour players and hope they mention your name so you get asked by magazines to submit articles. That model is long dead. Instructors no longer need to rely on tour players to promote themselves.

With YouTube, Facebook and Twitter the channels of promotion are free and easily accessible.

Did I mention free?

Certainly it takes some time but so many people are searching for good golf information that it's easily noticeable (if you have some.)

That being said, informing yourself is probably the most critical to make the time you create online fruitful.

I believe a coach needs to be open minded and a strong critical thinker to generate information that they can call their own.

How to create a junior tournament league that continually fills and grows your coaching programs.

Early in my professional career, I left my associate professor position at the University of Florida and moved to South Florida to start my Sport Psychology consulting business. Thankfully, the Director of Instruction at the Academy of Golf at PGA National, Mike Adams, was gracious enough to invite me to join his team of instructors and incorporate mental skills training as part of the Academy’s golf schools. The opportunity provided me with a base level of income upon which I could begin growing my private consulting business.

Each week, along with the other Academy instructors, I would commit several days to work with the students enrolled in our weekly golf schools. The remainder of the week was ours to fill with private lessons or other activities. The more private lessons we had, the more income we would generate.

The unfortunate reality was that most of our private days looked like this:

• 8:00 am lesson,
• 9:00 am lesson,
• 10:00 am opening,
• 11:00 am no show,
• 12:00 lunch,
• 1:00 pm – lesson,
• 2:00 – 3:00 pm rain shower thus rescheduled lessons,
• 4:00 pm – no more lessons so headed to the course and played golf until dark.

In other words, we often spent the entire day at the golf course, yet only worked 3-4 billable hours – certainly not a formula for business efficiency, growth, or success!

Eric Jones: Little Known Ways to Combine Group Training and Technology

 

We’re mixing things up within our series EFFECTIVE PROGRAMMING FOR PROFIT AND STUDENT DEVELOPMENT and inviting in Iain Highfield to talk about how to teach inside of a program. He’s developed a framework for helping students perform at the highest level.

Iain Highfield is the Director of Mental Training at Bishop Gates Golf Academy and over the past years has been working on developing a framework to help students consistently perform at a higher level. As he explains… it’s something he modeled after watching players of the highest level and seeing the process they went through unconsciously..

Past Golf in the Life of guest Matt Wilson has an amazing Biggest Loser golf coaching program he runs at the private golf course he’s based at that is generating substantial handicap decreases and proving to be profitable.

 

What Matt does really well is the admin work and creating the experience outside of the sessions. We talk about the “games” and tools he uses to do this

“You cannot be a great coach without being a great administrator”

At the end of the interview we run through the entire program and have a great look at what you need to know before starting your own biggest loser program.

I love his parting words of advice…
Identify 6 people and just TRY IT!

In today’s interview all about EFFECTIVE PROGRAMMING FOR PROFIT AND STUDENT DEVELOPMENT guest James Hong is going to talk about a popular program that’s helping students drop 5 shots in 5 weeks. It’s a great look at a simple program you can start to implement into your business today.

 

Click Here to Get Access to the Effective Program Guide

In this conversation we’re going to cover everything from how James figured out what time to hold the program to exactly what he covers during the session and how he does it.

This is great practical advice that you should be able to hear and then TAKE ACTION on in your business. If you do launch a program after listening to one of the episodes in this series I’d love to hear about it. Tag us on Twitter or email hey [at] golfinthelifeof.com

Don has a great mindset when it comes to building a BUSINESS. Not just treating it as a hobby but becoming the business owner and taking full responsibility for your financial well being.

 

This is a fantastic conversation that we need to have more of in the golf instruction business. It’s a conversation about finances, being a business owner, and how to grow.

 

We’re going to get into some great topics in this interview.

• The importance of goals
• Setting a budget (and some ideas on what should be on that)
• Profit margin for golf instructors
• The good and bad of branding

Don is making the transition from the 30 minute lesson model to coaching. He explains why he’s doing that and how it’s going. If you’re interested make sure to check out the course we put together with Will Robins on this.

We’re also going to talk about facility costs and how an instructor should think about that relationship. Why? Because Don is also a partner at a facility so he can speak to the costs and benefits for both parties.

We also craft the perfect proposal if you’re trying to teach at a new facility. Make sure to listen for this part.

Lynn Blake is known as one of the experts on The Golfing Machine and an instructor who has a unique story of teaching and the success he has doing it. (some of these results include three PGA tour winners and five Web.com tour winners)

I first learned about Lynn by talking with some instructors who have gone through his certification program, so I thought it would be good to bring his story and philosophy to you all.

Lynn is going to cover a lot of different topics in this conversation. He shares about his introduction to The Golfing Machine. Why he left instruction for 20 years. Some of the beliefs and philosophies he has. Why this information is still relevant in today’s environment.

You’ll also here the business model Lynn used to get people into the seminars he ran (in a hotel ballroom) that turned out great golfers and results. This is a fascinating insight that is totally applicable in today’s market.

We’ve placed the wrong expectations on fitness. There is no ONE result from fitness. This is just one of the concepts Lance, Lead Instructor for TPI Level 1 and Level 2 Fitness Seminars shares during this conversation.

Myth #1 - Fitness pros are out to steal your client.
A client doesn’t have to choose golf instruction or fitness. In fact Lance uses the term “pit crew” quite a few times to suggest the idea of a team effort .

Myth #2 - It takes 6 weeks to make a change.

"I’ve never built the same program twice"

Myth #3 - We’re going to ruin your golfer.
It’s all about making a plan getting closer to goals. Not just bulking up. Golf fitness and beach fitness are TOTALLY different.

This discussion with Michael Michaelides is all about coaching. Michael has been the Long Island University coach for 11 years and has also taught golf during that time. That being said he has a FANTASTIC perspective on this issue of teaching vs coaching. (as well as being heavily involved in golf science research)

Gary covers his philosophy and where it came from while growing up in South Africa. How this lead him on a course to become the academy owner and coach he is today.

I don’t want young people to make the same mistakes that I made.

Gary shares about the experience of going from a golf coach to running a business in 2007. He shares the stories that should really inspire you as an instructor to take your business to the next level. As we talk about growth and the biggest factors that have propelled Gary on the path he’s on

Gary’s website is one of the best I’ve seen in the golf instruction business. Make sure to watch the overview video. It’s INCREDIBLE.

Gary has led the charge in junior golf player development, developing three of the world’s most successful junior golf programs. Starting at IMG Academy in Bradenton, FL, where he developed the first junior golf program of scale and was the Director of Golf from 1995 to 2004. Gilchrist then founded his namesake academy, Gary Gilchrist Golf Academy in 2007 near Orlando in Howey in the Hills, after spending three years as the Director of Golf at the International Junior Golf Academy in Hilton Head, SC.

 

When I was down in Orlando at the PGA show I was able to go out to Howey in the Hills and meet Gary and see a typical day with the 45 full time students they have right now. (theGolfMDs guys were out shooting some videos which I hear are going to be coming out soon)

We talk about how Gary has been able to get such amazing results with students and what it’s done for his ability to grow his academy. If you want to hear what he runs the students through every week… We go through it! And Gary shares what he thinks are the keys that some people are missing.

See where the junior wants to be and then reverse engineer it back

Gary’s approach to junior golf development is FASCINATING. For anyone trying to work with juniors on a high level this is a must listen.

One of the most interesting (and practical) parts of this interview is when Corey and Matt walk through their coaching programs. They not only work really well from a student development standpoint but are also profitable.

“You cannot be a great coach without being a great administrator”

Matt shares the specific results he’s been getting with a group of guys at his club, exactly what the program looks like, and the price point.

Corey and Matt have really figured out how to make gamification really work in coaching environment with both juniors and adults. I was blown away by the results they’re getting and how well it’s been received at their clubs.

If you’re at a private club. Listen up!
We’re talking guaranteed revenue and player development.

Here’s the post on curious coaches that outlines this. Check it out here.

“You have to put in the admin time”

Both Corey and Matt attribute a lot of their programing and success to some past guests Henry Bruton and Dr Rick Jensen. Make sure to check out there episodes so you can get a better idea of what they’re talking about.

The Curious Coaches blog is one of the best spots to find information on how to be a better golf instructor and coach. Honestly there isn’t anyone else coming from this perspective in the space right now. And today we’re hanging out with the two brilliant minds behind it.

 

If you can’t tell this is the first interview we’ve done “in person” for Golf in the Life of and I think it came together really well. Part 1 we’re going to talk about really the art of coaching and what Corey and Matt have learned through running Curious Coaches.

Make sure to check out part 2 where we’ll talk about the programs that work for them at their clubs.

Their site is fantastic! Subscribe to the email list and browse through some articlescuriouscoaches.com/

I mention a post they did about setting goals for 2015. Check that out here.

Corey Lundberg is the founder of Curious Coaches and Director of Instruction at Carlton Woods in Houston, TX.

Coaching Influences: Cameron McCormick, James Sieckmann, Henry Brunton, Dr. Rick Jensen, Fred Shoemaker, Chuck Cook, Lynn Marriott, Pia Nilsson and many, many others.

Coaching Achievements: Golf Digest Best Young Teachers 2014-15, Golf Digest Best in State 2013-14, US Kids Top 50 Kids Teachers 2014, 2013

&

Matt Wilson is the Director of Instruction at La Rinconada Country Club in Los Gatos, California.

Coaching Influences: Henry Brunton, Derek Ingram, Cameron McCormick, Pia Nilsson, Lynn Marriott, Peter Mattsson, and many others.

Coaching Achievements: US Kids Top 50 Kids Teachers 2014, US Kids Top 50 Kids Teachers Honorable Mention 2011-12, Ontario Collegiate Athletic Association Coach of the Year 2011, Trackman University Master, Certified Coach of New Competitors by Sport Canada/PGA Canada

I was able to catch up with the three hosts of the 3rd Annual Open Forum just the other day to ask them what we're going to hear at this year's Open Forum. (as well as how it all got started)

 

If you're a golf instructor, trainer, coach, etc...  Make sure to check out what's going on at this event that's leading the industry with golf science information and application.

We kick this episode off with some more practical advice for those of you wanting to start a golf school. Gary gives some great core principles

Gary has two things that he wants to share with all golf instructors. He’s going to talk extensively about this in the episode.
We’re also going to talk a little about something Gary is thinking and talking about a lot. Relaxation.

Tension Kills Motion

Gary’s two keys for teaching success: 
#1 – The person in front of you is always more important than the golf swing.
#2 – It’s not what you want to do it’s what they want to do.

“How you treat students is extremely related to if students will stay with the game or not”

Gary tells a really honest story about a time when his actions didn’t align with the first key we talked about. (the person is more important that the swing) It’s a candid reminder that anyone can make a mistake. The issue is recognizing it and understanding that golf and the golf swing is just that.

We start off with a really interesting story about one of the first locations Gary started teaching at. He shares how he worked with groups of 20 students at a time and had the whole thing sponsored by the local paper. If you pay attention I wouldn’t be surprised if you come up with some really cool practical ideas on how to implement this in your business.

Gary also talks about how he works with groups of people. For those of you who don’t have much experience with this. Listen up! It’s valuable advice.

“Don’t talk so much… Demonstrate”

 

Toward the end of this interview Gary talks through the process he used to get complete beginners started. I love his process and the structure he lays out.

One thing that kind of surprised me in this episode is just how many golf schools Gary has started over his career. We talk through what has worked best and what hasn’t throughout that process. You might not know this but Gary had 104 golf schools in Japan at one time. He talks about that experience and the story behind it all.