How do you start a group coaching program in a resort town / golf course? It’s a question I’ve heard from tons of coaches trying to figure out how to get group coaching program going. Maybe you’ve had some of these excuses

• My season is to short.
• I don’t have any guests that would want this.

Today’s guest shares a case study of how he got his program going and the simple steps he took to get there.

Stuart Morgan is the director of instruction at the International Junior Golf Academy (IJGA) in Hilton Head, South Carolina. IJGA is a full time golf academy where students live and go to school at, drawing players from all over the world.

Today we're telling the story of building a monthly coaching membership program from start to 40 members.  It's about getting away from private lessons and building programs that help students get better faster and are better for you businesses.

Every golf coach needs an introductory offer. Something that helps you get to know a student and a student get to know you while finding out what other programs might be a great fit for them.

How do you guarantee results for golfers when working with you? Coach Will Robins shares his top strategies to get students to lower scores even if they're not practicing on their own.

Coach Will Robins is back to help you make some realistic plans for coaching programs in 2017 and shares his 3 keys to launching your successful coaching program.

Over on the Golf Science Lab we've just released our first "powered by" podcast.   It's called GAME LIKE TRAINING RADIO and coach Matthew Cooke and I are dedicating an entire show to discussing effective learning and practice environments

How much progress and growth can you actually make during the busy season? Well we’re going to share 3 stories over the next two weeks with coaches who set a goal and accomplished it on top of all their other responsibilities.

Tony Ruggiero (also known as the dewsweeper) has an amazing track record of developing incredible junior golfers. We learn how he does it and creates an amazing academy culture that encourages students to always be growing and getting better.

Candid advice from Martin Chuck on everything from how to teach at a golf school to why it's important to build an audience even if you're focused on just teaching the students at your club.

We’re back answering more questions about group coaching with expert Will Robins sharing his experience so you can be a more successful coach.

If you missed part 1 you can view questions #1 and #2 here.

QUESTION #3 – What’s the best way to retain students into programs from a marketing perspective, other than solid relationships, coaching and results.

QUESTION #4 – When you work at a public facility, there is no ‘membership’ contact info. How do you get the word out on your programs?

Coach Will Robins answers your questions about group coaching.  We tackle two fantastic questions in this episode and share some invaluable advice for instructors trying to get some group coaching going.

The History of K-VEST

K-VEST has been around for the past 15 years pioneering the space of motion capture in golf and helping coaches from all over the world get better results with their students. We're going to dive into several different aspects of the company and try to answer as many questions a golf instructor might have about K-VEST.

Tony Morgan, managing partner at K-VEST, talks about the origins of K-VEST and just how much technology and coaching has grown, sharing how they now help coaches measure, assess, coach, and train. Tony shares examples of how the learning loop can be used with all level of players and just how important it is for students to improve their practice and the impact on learning. There is no "style" to K-VEST, it's simply a platform and you can choose how to use it with students. It's method agnostic. Check out where the company is headed and some of their newest advancements for coaches.

An Instructors Perspective on Using K-VEST With John Dunigan

Everyone that John Dunigan coaches get’s on K-VEST for an assessment four times per year and additionaly when necessary. John uses the 6 dof K-VEST as he's looking for as much data as possible when working with students (you can get more details on the different models here). However, John has put in the work and education to make sure he understands the data and knows how to use it effectively. Don’t start using K-VEST with students before you know what you’re doing. You have to spend a good amount of time testing it out on yourself and others to make sure you have a good 40 hours of time under your belt before working with students (John also recommends the three levels of certification K-VEST has) Injury prevention is one of biggest reasons John uses the K-VEST. He shares a story of a young high school student who had tour quality swing speed but was already having back problems and if he continued with his swing would have lead to further injury. By getting the student onto biofeedback they were able to make positive changes to prevent injuries and improve ball flight. Why use K-VEST? Because you’ll find the solution and train the student there faster. Students are pushed and that difficulty the biofeedback can introduce helps students find the right challenge point and progress quickly. John goes through this system with his students:

• What’s the ball doing
• What’s the club doing to the ball
• What is the body doing to the club

He also wants to make sure that students have the right understanding so they don’t have preconceived ideas that hurt their progress. He talks through the education he takes student through in his “teach a man to fish” method with students.

One of the worse thing a coach can say is “now lets”. You have to make sure students actually learn what you’re working on and are able to take it to the golf course.John also talks through some best practices on how to use bio-feedback so it transfers to the golf course and the learning sticks.

"Whoever does the work, does the learning."

If the equipment is doing the work then the student really isn’t learning. That’s why John loves the biofeedback and just how much the student has to work when using it properly Well used technology at the right time, helps you build your business.

LEARN MORE ABOUT K-VEST

The Possibilities of the K-PLAYER

Most golf instructors are constantly trying to solve the problem of making more revenue without spending more time, and the new K-PLAYER ecosystem makes this a possibility. The K-PLAYER is a 2 sensor system that gives instructors the ability to build training programs in the K-VEST software and allows students to train on the K-PLAYER. And this WORKS, students improve quicker and with longer lasting effects. Jim shares a story of a student who simply trained on the K-PLAYER for 7 weeks, never talking about swing, yet saw incredible progress that the student's swing instructor could barely believe. Biofeedback training is powerful! There are a number of revenue opportunities that take an instructor outside of the 1-1 lesson model:

• Rental
• “Clone” yourself
• Sell Unsupervised Practice
• Sell at home training programs

The great part about this is just how simple the sales process is. Give students an experience on a K-VEST and simply ask if they’d like to train more on it outside of a lesson. We’ll talk through specific programs that have worked for instructor Jim Beadle so you can see practical ideas of how this can look in your business.

LEARN MORE ABOUT K-PLAYER

Learn from Shawn Clement about getting over 26 million Youtube views and his thoughts on the way golf is being taught.

David Orr is definitely now known as a world-class putting expert, but that wasn’t always the case. He found his specialty and his niche along the path of his career.

David talks about his story and how he became the “expert”. So many fundamental concepts to learn from this that should give you some amazing ideas on how to find your area to specialize in. As a bonus you’ll learn a few things about putting while listening to this 

“Everyone is looking for the answers on the outside, they’re looking in the wrong direction.” Garrett Kramer

These are invaluable questions to help you in your career and find your niche.

What do I love?
There are so many different options and directions you have to be doing what you love.

Why do I do it?How are you going to go about doing it?
How are you going to make money? How much do you need to make? Where are you going to do it?

David Orr also gives some massive shout outs to David Leadbetter, Butch Harmon, and Mike Adams for pushing golf instruction forward and creating the industry that it is today.

David Orr is one of the leading putting coaches in the world (students include Justin Rose, Hunter Mahan, etc) and has a lot of wisdom to share as a life long teacher and someone who has thought a lot about what it takes

David shares his experiences as a junior golfer and how he became a scratch golfer with very little instruction.  It’s amazing to see the importance of the environment he came up in and how much that pushed him to become better and better.

Golf Science Lab, sister site to Golf in the Life of, is kicking off another season of podcasts focused on the brain and mental performance.  Here's episode of season 2 on the zone. 

Matt Reagan and Ryan Dailey set out in 2009 to create an effective junior program at their course. They went out and got some certifications and dived into delivering an exceptional junior program…

They had a theoretical plan roughly based off of the TPI model, but soon realized they needed to create something focused on developing skilled golfers with definite structure.

They’ve developed OPERATION 36, which is really a structure focused on gamifying improvement and keeping the challenge appropriate to the skill level. It keeps students motivated to continue improving and progressing through the system.

The guys walk through the different types of sessions in the program getting juniors coaching and out onto the golf course. The way they’ve gamified the process and created different badges to keep kids progressing is really unique and something to learn about.

I was talking with one of our Golf in the Life of members and she was really excited after going through training program with Matt and Ryan and will be implementing it this year at her course. If you’re interested they have training for coaches available at – igrowgolf.com/igrow-university/

“To grow the game we need to develop golfers through long term learning environments.”

They share a case study of how they’ve grown from 3 – 50 students in an extraordinary short amount of time and reveal… Is this SUSTAINABLE?? and PROFITABLE??

What are the biggest mistakes people make when working on a junior program? They share the two very simple yet complex aspects that most people run into when trying to build out exceptional junior programs.

You can tell these guys are passionate about what they do and truly have a passion to grow the game… And with igrowgolf and operation 36 they’re going after it.

Martin has an incredible amount of passion and integrity around his teaching and love of golf. It's obviously not faked or an "act". He means it. And because of that I think it's fascinating to look inside

Martin talks about the importance of doing something that you DON'T want to do every day.

I will do today what others will not do so I can do tomorrow what others cannot do.

-Jerry Rice

Martin walks through his daily rituals and some of the most important aspects of his day that give him the motivation to keep moving with new material and passion.

How much learning and reflection are you doing on a daily basis? Martin shares that he's doing about 2 HOURS of learning each day. (if you haven't he recommends checking out some info on John Wooden)

When things aren't going well you're initial response should be... I need to get better.  Maybe you're business isn't taking off because you aren't getting the best results for students.  It's time to take a look inside.

Making changes in life isn’t easy. We often set massive goals that have far to many parts to actually follow through with. So what do we do then? Listen in to what Dr Bhrett has to say.

Too often we “run out of energy” to get done what we truly want to. Why is that? Dr Bhrett talks about will power and what you need to understand so you can set yourself up to get more done.

STOP THE RELAPSE GUILT – This message hit’s home. We far to often add on a change or load that we can’t sustain or follow through with.

Start building behavioural momentum

Don’t wait to do what you WANT to till the end of the day. As a teacher and coach you spend time all day giving to others and by the end of the day… You’re simply worn out. You need to start doing what you want to toward the beginning of the day.

Dr Bhrett shares 5 amazing habits to implement into your professional life (starts around the 19 minute mark).  If you can start to work on adding each of these into you life it will help take the stress out of your day and stay more energized and productive.

Learn more about Dr Bhrett and Listen to his podcast >themindside.com

Dr Bhrett McCabe

Dr. Bhrett McCabe is the founder of The MindSide and has been a practicing Sports & Performance Psychologist and a Licensed Clinical Psychologist since 2007. His academic credentials, professional approach, and understanding of competing in high-pressure environments have served as a foundation for his rapidly growing practice and influence in the field. Dr. McCabe presently works with numerous players from the PGA and LPGA Tours, the developmental tours, serves as the sports and performance psychologist for the University of Alabama Athletic Department, and an NBA basketball team.

Dr. McCabe presently works with numerous players from the PGA and LPGA Tours, the developmental tours, serves as the sports and performance psychologist for the University of Alabama Athletic Department, and an NBA basketball team.

We're diving into a month of episodes helping you plan for a FAR better 2016.   Let's talk all about goal setting, productivity, and prioritization.  Jason Glass is not only a fitness expert but an entrepreneur who is passionate about growth.

It's always fun chatting with Jason.  Humor and sarcasm is definitely involved in this conversation is no different.   Make sure to check out his site and podcast over here.

If something is important to you why wait for New Years?

We talk all about setting great goals and having a vision that actually works for you.  Not just something that get's forgotten a month into the year.  It's really about aligning with something you are motivated to complete and focusing on the positive.  Focus on the positive to create a sustainable goal.

Commit to actions and habits that you can actually follow through with

Start with bite size actions so you don't get overwhelmed.  Jason talks about small incremental changes and the power it has when compounded over the long term.  If you want to make an extra $10,000 in a month maybe it means waking up 15 minutes earlier and doing 1 thing every day.  Then you slowly increase the difficulty all the while making sure you're actually following through with what you commit to.

Break down goals into small digestible goals

Jason mentions the story of Milo and I think it's definitely worth paying attention to...

One day, a newborn calf was born near Milo’s home. The wrestler decided to lift the small animal up and carry it on his shoulders. The next day, he returned and did the same. Milo continued this strategy for the next four years, hoisting the calf onto his shoulders each day as it grew, until he was no longer lifting a calf, but a four-year-old bull.

Jason ends the episode  (around 25 minute mark) with a framework of setting a goal and breaking it down to go through in this new year.  Take the time to follow through with this and pay attention to it.