On golf : Are you the type that like to teach ?

I like to seek some information on how one will behave regarding teaching someone to swing;

- Are you the type that like to teach someone to swing, does not matter whether he or she is a strange or friend ?

- Will you teach a total stranger if he or she approach you for help ? What would you said, how and what will you teach ?

Since I started this thread. I will give my answer 1st. Here what happened.

I was back in Singapore couple of weeks back and went to the diving MB diving range alone on a Tue night. As I was doing my swing stuff. I saw a younger guy in front of me (his back was facing me : right handed player). He top, duffed and sliced almost all his shot from short, middle, rescue and driver clubs.

I finally finish all my 100 balls and resting on the bench. It is painful to see this guy going through every shots. I was looking at him and he turn back and smile. I smile back and feeling like telling him what wrong with his swing and how to correct it.

I am sure I will do it if it is 1 or 2 years back but I did not do it now. Am I just selfish or what ?

Just curious , why would you do it 1-2 years back but not now?

I'm sure he wouldn't mind getting a few tips from a stranger!

I would ask if he'd mind if i gave him a pointer or 2. If he accepts.. ok.. if not.. too bad.

I luv teaching......but no one wants to listen. Only recently I managed to get pushslice to sign up for my class........

Duval_S wrote:

I luv teaching......but no one wants to listen. Only recently I managed to get pushslice to sign up for my class........

can teach me how to play aeroplane....

heard u damn good pilot.....

The only teaching I do that is related to golf is to tell others how many strokes they should give me.....

abadan wrote:

I would ask if he'd mind if i gave him a pointer or 2. If he accepts.. ok.. if not.. too bad.

Please gimme more pointers if you see me...

for me i will accept anyone pointers but in terms of giving to others i think i better save it cos i can't swing well how to teach..

sometimes we may be totally unaware of something that we're doing wrong in our swing, and it definitely would be helpful if someone were to point it out to us, stranger or not. however i guess not everyone will appreciate such guidance

bryanachong wrote:

Just curious , why would you do it 1-2 years back but not now?

I'm sure he wouldn't mind getting a few tips from a stranger!

Bro, due to some personal reasons I am unable to answer your question directly.

I could only said. The most I learn to swing better, the most I understand how difficult and different in every individual swing. Doesn't matter how one swing look like, as long as the ball went to planned direction and distance is a good swing.

The other reason was, I notice the young gentlemen is a beginner (looking at his swing). Max less than a year, have not playing much in the course (looking at all his clubs). He might be still under coaching. If so, surprise that his coach did not caught all the mistakes.

I rather share with experience players. As I know, if my swing though was incorrect, they will sure said " Screw you slicer, it does not work that way ! " Again, I do not think experience player need my help

A beginner will try to learn as much as possible, through youtube, golf books .. etc. He will get even more confused.

Maybe I am just thinking too much and do not know what I am saying too

as far as strangers are concerned, i think the general rule is to give advice only if it is asked for. if you are really really concerned, and it pains you to watch that guy struggling with his swing, what you can do is strike up a casual conversation first ie break down that stranger barrier and get an idea of whether he is the friendly sort. once you've done this, then he will no longer be a total stranger and you can proceed to talk a bit about swing tips.

if you approach a total stranger and immediately start to give swing tips, you will likely come across as being arrogant and kaypoh, and the other person will likely be offended.

scottycollector wrote:

as far as strangers are concerned, i think the general rule is to give advice only if it is asked for. if you are really really concerned, and it pains you to watch that guy struggling with his swing, what you can do is strike up a casual conversation first ie break down that stranger barrier and get an idea of whether he is the friendly sort. once you've done this, then he will no longer be a total stranger and you can proceed to talk a bit about swing tips.

if you approach a total stranger and immediately start to give swing tips, you will likely come across as being arrogant and kaypoh, and the other person will likely be offended.

I liked

scottycollector wrote:

as far as strangers are concerned, i think the general rule is to give advice only if it is asked for. if you are really really concerned, and it pains you to watch that guy struggling with his swing, what you can do is strike up a casual conversation first ie break down that stranger barrier and get an idea of whether he is the friendly sort. once you've done this, then he will no longer be a total stranger and you can proceed to talk a bit about swing tips.

if you approach a total stranger and immediately start to give swing tips, you will likely come across as being arrogant and kaypoh, and the other person will likely be offended.

+1

Slicer51 wrote:

bryanachong wrote:

Just curious , why would you do it 1-2 years back but not now?

I'm sure he wouldn't mind getting a few tips from a stranger!

Bro, due to some personal reasons I am unable to answer your question directly.

I could only said. The most I learn to swing better, the most I understand how difficult and different in every individual swing. Doesn't matter how one swing look like, as long as the ball went to planned direction and distance is a good swing.

The other reason was, I notice the young gentlemen is a beginner (looking at his swing). Max less than a year, have not playing much in the course (looking at all his clubs). He might be still under coaching. If so, surprise that his coach did not caught all the mistakes.

I rather share with experience players. As I know, if my swing though was incorrect, they will sure said " Screw you slicer, it does not work that way ! " Again, I do not think experience player need my help

A beginner will try to learn as much as possible, through youtube, golf books .. etc. He will get even more confused.

Maybe I am just thinking too much and do not know what I am saying too

Pak Slicer, you got 21 trophies... I need to learn from you...

blee wrote:

Slicer51 wrote:

bryanachong wrote:

Just curious , why would you do it 1-2 years back but not now?

I'm sure he wouldn't mind getting a few tips from a stranger!

Bro, due to some personal reasons I am unable to answer your question directly.

I could only said. The most I learn to swing better, the most I understand how difficult and different in every individual swing. Doesn't matter how one swing look like, as long as the ball went to planned direction and distance is a good swing.

The other reason was, I notice the young gentlemen is a beginner (looking at his swing). Max less than a year, have not playing much in the course (looking at all his clubs). He might be still under coaching. If so, surprise that his coach did not caught all the mistakes.

I rather share with experience players. As I know, if my swing though was incorrect, they will sure said " Screw you slicer, it does not work that way ! " Again, I do not think experience player need my help

A beginner will try to learn as much as possible, through youtube, golf books .. etc. He will get even more confused.

Maybe I am just thinking too much and do not know what I am saying too

Pak Slicer, you got 21 trophies... I need to learn from you...

frankly....... i prefer mowen's trophies!!!!!

slinger wrote:

blee wrote:

Slicer51 wrote:

bryanachong wrote:

Just curious , why would you do it 1-2 years back but not now?

I'm sure he wouldn't mind getting a few tips from a stranger!

Bro, due to some personal reasons I am unable to answer your question directly.

I could only said. The most I learn to swing better, the most I understand how difficult and different in every individual swing. Doesn't matter how one swing look like, as long as the ball went to planned direction and distance is a good swing.

The other reason was, I notice the young gentlemen is a beginner (looking at his swing). Max less than a year, have not playing much in the course (looking at all his clubs). He might be still under coaching. If so, surprise that his coach did not caught all the mistakes.

I rather share with experience players. As I know, if my swing though was incorrect, they will sure said " Screw you slicer, it does not work that way ! " Again, I do not think experience player need my help

A beginner will try to learn as much as possible, through youtube, golf books .. etc. He will get even more confused.

Maybe I am just thinking too much and do not know what I am saying too

Pak Slicer, you got 21 trophies... I need to learn from you...

frankly....... i prefer mowen's trophies!!!!!

that one comes later la... for me...

I would only teach SYT regardless of whether they ask for it or not. I will stand behind their back, wrapping my arms around them and make sure they know how to hold the club probably. I will then get them to do a slow backswing while I hold on to their hips to make sure they don't sway. *buzz buzz*, damn, time to wake up.

I don't think I want to offer any advice unless I was asked. Even that, at most I will suggest is their alignment and ball position based on their swing. Other than that, they are better off seeing a coach to correct their swing flaws.

nutty88 wrote:

.
I don't think I want to offer any advice unless I was asked. Even that, at most I will suggest is their alignment and ball position based on their swing. Other than that, they are better off seeing a coach to correct their swing flaws.

Agree with you here. Unsolicited advice (however good is the motive) can be rather painful if the receiver does not want it in the first place or upon hearing such advice receives it negatively....

was at the range last sunday and three beginners are behind me, 2 females and 1 male. one of the female do not even know how to hold the club... imagine having your fore fingers on both hands pointing down the shalf... believe they are not taking lessons yet... almost wanted to go over and correct her... but y kaypo... they may not like it

Slicer51 wrote:

...
I am sure I will do it if it is 1 or 2 years back but I did not do it now. Am I just selfish or what ?

The journey to mastery:
1. don't know what I don't know
2. know what I don't know
3. know what I know
4. don't know what I know
5. paradigm popped, got back to 1.

Ah, bro Slicer51, we are all on this journey and I see you have progressed to another level. Congrats.

The higher one progresses, the more precious the hard-won insight, and therefore, the reluctance to share for various reasons.

Selfishness is one reason, but not the only one. As in, I worked to hard to get this knowledge, why should I offer it for free? (Answer below)

Mutual respect: Does he have a coach that I may contradict and potentially offend?

Paradigm busting: Every time I get to a new level, I find old concepts to be wrong, so will I be teaching him something I will discover to be wrong later?

Time journey: How many people have come, given him tips, and gone away? Learning takes time and the teaching needs to be a constant.

To answer the first point, provided the student is willing and asked for it, nothing crystalizes understanding like teaching it. So both teacher and student benefit.

So bro Slicer51, no you are not selfish. But ask him and you may find he is willing to learn. And if so, when you share, both teacher and student grow from the sharing. If he is not willing, at least you offered.

p/s: every time I start out writing a short post, it has a tendency to grow - my apologies.

jeffman88 wrote:

nutty88 wrote:

.
I don't think I want to offer any advice unless I was asked. Even that, at most I will suggest is their alignment and ball position based on their swing. Other than that, they are better off seeing a coach to correct their swing flaws.

Agree with you here. Unsolicited advice (however good is the motive) can be rather painful if the receiver does not want it in the first place or upon hearing such advice receives it negatively....

Yes agreed.

On the flip side of the coin, some of the most beneficial advise I received were unsolicited ones, esp from beginners, because they speak unfiltered. They see what my jaded eyes miss. And they speak without fear. I just need to work on getting my ego out of the way.

weesern wrote:

was at the range last sunday and three beginners are behind me, 2 females and 1 male. one of the female do not even know how to hold the club... imagine having your fore fingers on both hands pointing down the shalf... believe they are not taking lessons yet... almost wanted to go over and correct her... but y kaypo... they may not like it

Bro, you did say 2 females and 1 MALE, right ? Is a good move that you did not offer any help. I do not think we want to make that male " losing face" in front of his female friends right ?

I would suggest to move to another bay if you knew some beginners are swing behind your back.

I agreed to the idea of, only offer help unless being asked.

I have another situation just 4 days ago in Pakuwon driving range (Surabaya). I arrived 1st and so happened to be in between 3 persons ( 1 in front and 2 of his friends were behind me), since it full on that day. The problem was this guy in front of me, keep going back to his friends and teach them how to swing and was talking so loud. Everyone in the driving range knew he was teaching.

He was teaching his friends how to hit long iron and driver but never see him doing any demo at all. The worse thing is, I saw him keep hitting his short iron (nice and straight). I wish he will pick up a long iron or driver and show me how he hit them but he finished his whole bucket of ball with the short iron.

With all the noise he is producing, I finally give up and packed without finish all my ball.

One of the staff there that knew me asked, why am I leaving so early today? I answered very loud " Tak boleh tahan, terlalu banyak pro hari ini " (Cannot take it, too many pro today)

Lee36328 wrote:

Slicer51 wrote:

...
I am sure I will do it if it is 1 or 2 years back but I did not do it now. Am I just selfish or what ?

The journey to mastery:
1. don't know what I don't know
2. know what I don't know
3. know what I know
4. don't know what I know
5. paradigm popped, got back to 1.

Ah, bro Slicer51, we are all on this journey and I see you have progressed to another level. Congrats.

The higher one progresses, the more precious the hard-won insight, and therefore, the reluctance to share for various reasons.

Selfishness is one reason, but not the only one. As in, I worked to hard to get this knowledge, why should I offer it for free? (Answer below)

Mutual respect: Does he have a coach that I may contradict and potentially offend?

Paradigm busting: Every time I get to a new level, I find old concepts to be wrong, so will I be teaching him something I will discover to be wrong later?

Time journey: How many people have come, given him tips, and gone away? Learning takes time and the teaching needs to be a constant.

To answer the first point, provided the student is willing and asked for it, nothing crystalizes understanding like teaching it. So both teacher and student benefit.

So bro Slicer51, no you are not selfish. But ask him and you may find he is willing to learn. And if so, when you share, both teacher and student grow from the sharing. If he is not willing, at least you offered.

p/s: every time I start out writing a short post, it has a tendency to grow - my apologies.

Bro Lee,

I guess you know me too well. You have just mention, the missing parts of why I had behaved that way.

I guess one must be pretty confident in his swing or game to feel that he/she is good enough to give advise to another. I wouldn't offer advise if I didn't feel confident enough that whatever I tell him/her will help them improve.

I won't be too concerned about those who go to the range and whack for fun. Most of those girls that go range and whack around are just there to accompany their boyfriends or have nothing better to do. It's more like seeing a poor guy whacking 200 balls but just can't get it right. And I feel that I can help him with a few minor tweaks.

I agree w most that some might not appreciate ur help and might even backfire. So access the person u wanna approach first. Make eye contact. Smile. Break the ice. Say..would u mind if I gave u some pointers? If he says yes then go ahead. If he says no. Then it's his loss.

Guess what I'm trying to say is that if u have enough confidence to teach a person. It should mean that u are fairly confident that u will produce positive results.

As I join flights as a 1-ball quite often, what I HATE the most is....
people giving me unsolicited advice on my swing whilst I am trying to enjoy a relaxing game!!! It usually will ruin my mood for the whole game.


I know I suck at golf but I am not planning to improve and am just looking to destress a bit by whacking a small white ball whilst enjoying the scenery... Strangest thing is, most often, the ppl who dishes out the advice usually scores much worse than me.... and I am a lousy golfer

Better golfers usually don't advise much (unless they are Mind Fxxking me)...

As for me, even if my flight-mates ask for my advice on their swing, I would usually tell them politely to seek the help of a good pro. I am not being selfish but I do believe that consistent feedback is much better than hearsay. Bad advice from self-assumed "golf pros" is the worst medicine.