Teaching Golf

Question
I would like to teach lessons as a PGA professional.  I'm not interested in running the course or anything like that.  Just lessons so I can give back to the game that I love so much and still be able to play on a regular basis.  I would want to do this on the side in addition to my regular job (career).  

What are the steps I need to take to do this?


Answer
James,

The best advice I can give you is to learn all you can from every possible source.  It sounds like you do not wish to go through the process of earning membership into the PGA of America.  Of course, you don't need to be a PGA professional in order to give golf lessons.  But if you want to give good lessons and truly help people that come to see you, you need to learn a lot about giving lessons.

Read all you can get your hands on.  Study all kinds of golf swings from video tape and in person.  Study great golf swings (tour players) and average swings at any golf range.

If you can get someone to cooperate with you, find a top teaching pro willing to teach you how to give lessons.  Most of the best PGA pros learned their teaching craft from other top PGA teaching pros.  When I was learning I would take my day off each week and watch another great teacher give lessons.  As long as I kept my mouth shut and didn't interfere in the lesson he was okay with it.

One of the problems you will have is not having a great network of teachers to hang out with and discuss swing issue with.  PGA pros do that kind of networking all the time.  You can learn a lot just by listening to the experiences of others.

And lastly, it's difficult to do anything well that you do part time.

But I wish you the best.  Hopefully, you'll learn enough to help some others enjoy this great game.

Best wishes,

Paul Dolman
PGA Golf Professional