Expectations vs. Goals

In Golf Instruction, there are expectations and their are goals...the two are not necessarily the same. Sad to say that for far too many of my early years teaching golf I simply headed out to the practice range and imparted all of the golf knowledge that I could muster upon my unsuspecting students - - - it's a miracle that they learned anything at all! Neither the student nor I really had a plan of attack for their golf game. We would spend hours upon hours trying to correct a flaw in their swing and corresponding ball flight and very little time actually addressing the object of the game which is to score well and enjoy their time at the course. It was hit or miss...sometimes the corrections that I suggested helped lower scores, but most times the swing flaw, like a cancer just moved on to another area of their game. The good news is that I wised up many years ago and made a change for the better. I never start a lesson session now without a clear and mutual understanding between myself and the student of what their goals are and what our expectations of one another will be. Let's start with expectations first, as they are easily defined and measured by both the student and the instructor. I would suggest that students' and instructors' expectations are somewhat linked to the student's goals, but they are clearly seperate entities. I start lesson sessions by "sizing up" the student in their own words...very simple and stock questions such as how athletic do you feel you are? How long have you been playing? What is the present state of your golf game? How many hours a week to you feel that you'll be devoting to practice and play, and where will those hours be distributed? Do you best learn by visual or audio feedback? What do you expect from me as an instructor and how long do you invision yourself sticking to our "plan". - - - These types of questions not only let me know what type of student that I'm going to be working with, but also forms a partnership between the student and instructor ... I'm letting them know that this is going to be a team effort...I don't want to be held accountable for a lack of improvement and/or performance on the student's part if they fail to do the required work to get there. Likewise, I want them to know up front what my commitment level is going to be and the associated costs that come with it. I consider this my "housekeeping" portion of a lesson series. Goals are a bit more abstract at first and must be refined through suggestive direction by the instructor. I find that in most cases, my student's goals are a bit too lofty when they come to me. I very much prefer to get them to establish clearly defined "interim" goals that I feel are very much obtainable and achievable. For instance, many students come to me wishing to gain more yardage, especially off of the tee...common theme...instructors' around the world are sought out for this purpose everyday of the week. I'll ask them, "how many yards are you looking for"? The answer usually is somewhere between 5 and 15 yards per club. Sometimes there is a glowing swing flaw that is so pronounced that I can prescribe a quick swing change that has instant results, but most commonly I come across a situation that is going to take some work over time by the student to achieve their distance goal. Instead of promising 10 yards in a lesson or two, I prefer to suggest to the student that together, we'll pick up a few yards a month until we reach their distance pinnacle. As most of my students are not in tip-top shape, I often suggest that an improvement in their fitness regimen is going to magnify their progress. It is very important to me to get agreement from the student for the plan of action. I want to know that they are clearly committed to the course of action that we have together worked out and that they can go forward with confidence that the plan is going to produce the results that the student is desiring. It's a simple technique, but one that seems to be mutually rewarding. Whether you're a student or instructor, make sure that you have clearly established expectations and goals when going after game improvement!