When i took up golf at 15 i was always blessed with the ability to listen and to be coached. Not every person is like this. I took lessons from the great Bobby Browne in Bettystown golf club right from the word go. I remember every few weeks getting the golf clubs on my back and walking a mile to the train station in Balbriggan. Got the train to Laytown and then walking the three miles to Bettystown golf club with the clubs on my back. If i was lucky it wasn’t into a gale force northerly wind but mostly in winter it was. I didn’t really mind that too much as i knew it was a lovely wind to get a lesson with bobby as we would be hitting shots right into the wind. After the lesson and a few hours of working on changes id walk back again with the clubs on my back back to catch the train home. On occasion Bobby would feel sorry for me and drive me back. But i loved going for lessons. Back then as a teenager i realised the importance of getting coaching and Bobby has the best coaching eye in the country. They talk about the 10,000 hour rule to be world class and Bobby has 50,000 hours. I was very lucky to have a coach like that so close to me growing up.
Over the years i’ve been blessed to be coached by some amazing coaches. John Kelly, Seamus Duffy, Johnny Foster, Bobby Browne. All with their own ideas and beliefs and own personalities. I would recommend all coaches to any golfers out there. Not only are they great coaches but they are blessed with fantastic personalities and a genuine niceness and eagerness to help you improve your game. Some of the coaching skills i learned off them i use today as a strength and conditioning coach.
Which brings me to my point. You should never stop learning. The day you stop learning is the day you give up. They might as well put you in the ground right there and then. I am of the belief that if you take up something you might as well do it to the best of your ability. I took up sprinting five months ago and i hired a coach. The improvement i made in my sprinting was astounding. Even though i can coach somebody in this field it is pretty hard to coach myself. Its the same with olympic lifting. I would like to think i am a pretty good coach at teaching people to lift properly but i still hire an olympic weightlifting coach every few weeks to help me improve my cleans and snatches. I improve my technique and learn even more with every session.
Ive hired psychologists, life coaches, medical professionals all in the search to improve my golf and strengthen my mind and body but also to improve myself as a coach and as a person. All about continuos learning.
So if some of you are out there and you haven’t hired a golf coach, a strength and conditioning coach or a psychologist i would recommend that you do so. Its essential if you are to learn. You should never stop learning as the day you do is the day you die.
