Trying to help a good friend improve!!!

A friend suddenly took up golf for reasons that I'd not like to ask him (reasons which may be personal and privy to only himself) about 6 months ago. His wonderful loving wife headed out and bought him a complete set of Wilson clubs for him shortly after he started his lessons.....

Unfortunately, I'd felt that things had come to a point where I'm dying to help him improve his fundamentals by trying to introduce a Pro to him as well as asking him to head out for practice with me to the range which he doesn't seem very keen on.

To make things worse, I'm guilty of asking him out to the Green (as I'd hoped he'd gain more exposure) way before he's ready and what happened on the Green was an absolute disaster as he could not even play anything beyond a 7 Iron properly...

Dying to help him improve his basic fundamentals and egging him to head to the Driving Range at least once a week to practice. His wife appears pretty encouraging so far though, but its somewhat sad (as a good friend) to see him deproving instead of improving. I'd really hope he would not suddenly sell his clubs just as sudden as he'd bought 'em.

What would you guys do in my circumstances? Drag him to the range? Drag him to my Pro again to review his fundamentals? Bring him out for more games? Try to interest him in all things golf? Dying to help him out~ Argh~~~~~~

If I were you , I would definitely take him to see a trustable pro couch to help him on the fundamental. Golf is no fun when you blow every holes.
Range for practice, just concentrate on manageable things, irons and putter (at home).
Then take him out on an par 3 course to practice and get the feel of the green. once this is stable then go wih wood and driver.

Taking a guy who can barely hit 7 iron to an 18 hole green is too much. He wont' enjoy it, specialy if your level is way above him, if he is like me,IMHO you'll frustrate him even more.

Good luck.

You can lead a horse to water but you cannot force the horse to drink.

He is not buying new equipment nor he opening his road for training..... Sounds like a dead end to me.. u might wanna consider bringing him to HSBC women championship this weekend... Maybe his interest in golf might spark....

Off topic : I love u suzann petterson @!!!!!!

Coaching... point him in that direction.

While you're at it, point me in that direction as well.

You need a catalyst to keep him interested... for me.. if u put a lorry of XMMs at the range.. I'll be there 24/7!

So find something to keep him interested... u throw him all the fundamental shit or recommend pro... not gonna work if he did not have the interest to start with... that's how I think..

alvin7379 wrote:

You need a catalyst to keep him interested... for me.. if u put a lorry of XMMs at the range.. I'll be there 24/7!

So find something to keep him interested... u throw him all the fundamental shit or recommend pro... not gonna work if he did not have the interest to start with... that's how I think..

Actually, if you put a truck-load of XMMs there, he might be even more distracted, and his game deteriorate even more

I think just having a talk with him would help. Why he wanna take up golf? For us, there're a whole host of reasons, but social golfers tend a see golf outings as a means to get together, talk c**k, and generally have a whole load of fun. Maybe one way for you is to jio more kakis and go lesson together, that might perk his interest up a bit.

On the other hand, if interest really die liao, then also nothing much u can do...

Just my $0.02...

XMM ? cant be local golf course ....

sned him up to HCMC to visit me...will definatly get him intrested in taking lessons.....

Winston wrote:

sned him up to HCMC to visit me...will definatly get him intrested in taking lessons.....

Can you help me improve first?

nrafee wrote:

You can lead a horse to water but you cannot force the horse to drink.

Well said! Don't waste time if he is not putting effort.

Newtogolf wrote:

Winston wrote:

sned him up to HCMC to visit me...will definatly get him intrested in taking lessons.....

Can you help me improve first?

Was thinking of asking you to bring me around BKK.......

Winston wrote:

sned him up to HCMC to visit me...will definatly get him intrested in taking lessons.....

Why you no show me last time i was in HCMC??
I lost interest after i came back...

*pssst* There are alot of holidays crammed together in the first 2 weeks of April this year...

Winston, how is the holiday situation in Saigon this year?

Honestly, best thing for your fren to do is stop golf and reflect about why he started in the first place.

Seems like he is forced into it.

nientsu wrote:

Honestly, best thing for your fren to do is stop golf and reflect about why he started in the first place.

Seems like he is forced into it.

I really hope that's not the case though!

wilkang wrote:

Winston wrote:

sned him up to HCMC to visit me...will definatly get him intrested in taking lessons.....

Why you no show me last time i was in HCMC??
I lost interest after i came back...

Come come....I bring you go to the biggest driving range in HCMC....sure will re-kindle your love for the game again.....

Newtogolf wrote:

*pssst* There are alot of holidays crammed together in the first 2 weeks of April this year...

Winston, how is the holiday situation in Saigon this year?

Vietnam has only 9 public holidays a year. THe least of any country I have ever worked in. And if you travell during the holiday to play, it will cost you an arm and a leg. That is why i always call in sick on a friday and get away for the weekend for golf.......

you already said you do not know y he started golf... if he has no interest in it then really no way you can force him to like it.

Not all golfers want to improve their abilities, some are just happy with what they have.

i guess the best way is to jio him to the green with friends he is comfortable with.. if he sees all of you play well, he may want to improve to at least the same standard as you. Or he will just give up the sport...

Either way, it will be good for him in the long run...

nientsu wrote:

Honestly, best thing for your fren to do is stop golf and reflect about why he started in the first place.

Seems like he is forced into it.

Newtogolf wrote:

I really hope that's not the case though!

Maybe wife forced him to play????

a beginners point of view...why he pick up golf in the first place...

maybe he likes the long ball....so teach him the driver..dont care about the short game....Even if he hit one shot 180m out of 20 slices, he will be happy.....i know.

BTW i have never met anyone excited about his short game...only ppl exicted about hitting their driver 10m more

BTW 18 holes can hit driver 'only' 14 times and the other 100++ times hit 'boring' putts, chips, pitches, irons etc.

Some people took up golf for various reasons. A few that I know took up golf for business purposes, while others just want to jump in the trend. This second group of golfer will require a lot of motivation and encouragement as they will lose interest rather easily.

Bottom line is, you can never force someone into something they have no interest in as they will never be motivated to excel. Probably it would be worthwhile to get his wife involve in golfing as that would create some competition between the two.

Unless his wife is forcing him into golf so he could spend more time away from her....?

Happy Golfing Guys!