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The Solution To Golf's Stalled Participation Might Be Found In A Lesson

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If you want to be a doctor, you wouldn’t practice by operating on your friends, would you? Hopefully not. You’d go to medical school and learn the proper skills.

So why do golfers insist on trying to improve their game by teaching themselves instead of taking lessons? 

This is a question the golf industry, in an effort to stem stalled participation numbers, produce happier golfers and generate additional revenue, is trying to answer. If the typical golfer can improve his play -- even if only by an average of one or two strokes per round -- they’ll likely enjoy playing more. The more they play, the more money they’ll spend and the healthier the industry will be. At least that's what those working in the golf industry are preaching. This week, the annual PGA Merchandise Show is being held in Orlando, Florida. 

''Everybody wants to hit it farther and hit it better, but new equipment can only do so much,’’ said PGA Master Professional Dawes Marlatt, the PGA of America’s Senior Director of Education and Employment. ''They’re going to get the biggest bang for their dollar by getting a lesson.’’

The numbers seem to back it up, on and off the course.

Among golfers who take lessons, the average handicap is about two index points lower (14.9) than for those who have never taken a lesson (17), according to a 2009 study by Florida-based Proponent Group.

At the same time, golfers who take lessons spend about 81 percent more annually ($4,876 versus $2,692) than non lesson-takers, according to a separate 2012 Proponent study examining the spending habits of golfers at seven private and public golf facilities.

Clearly, better golf equals better business.

In an ideal situation, a player looking to improve would first get their swing evaluated, then find the equipment that works best for their swing and then top it all off with some lessons. One thing is certain, in the age of custom-fitted golf clubs, there’s no excuse not to find the clubs that work for you.

''Anybody that buys a club off the rack without getting fitted is absolutely crazy,’’ said John Marshall,  a Member of The Golf Channel Swing Fix team and golf instructor at Steel Canyon Golf Club in Sandy Springs, Georgia. ''The difference between good and bad is so extraordinary.’’

Marshall and other instructors have learned that it's sometimes easier and quicker to tweak technology than it is to completely remove the flaws from a player's swing.

''The stuff that you can do with new adjustable drivers is just extraordinary,’’ said Marshall, a five-time Re/Max World Long Drive National Championship finalist. ''You can take somebody with a mediocre golf swing and get pretty decent ball flight just due to the adjustability that exists now.’’

The challenge is convincing golfers -- many who spend thousands on new clubs -- to take those new clubs to the range with a teacher in tow. You wouldn’t buy your child a new pair of skis and send him up the mountain expecting him to figure out how to get down on his own. Instead, you sign him up for lessons.

''Nobody tries to learn how to do karate on their own,’’ said Todd Wilson, President of Golf Channel Academy.

In other words, your new clubs don’t matter if you don’t know how to swing them. Yet, 77 percent of the 1,577 “serious” golfers (those who said score was important) surveyed by Proponent Group had never taken a lesson.

Spending on equipment instead of lessons is generational, says Casey Alexander, a golf industry analyst at New York-based Ladenburg Thalmann & Co.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, golf experienced giant leaps in equipment technology as companies like Callaway launched its Big Bertha driver and Ping unveiled its Eye2 irons. Those golfers are now 45-60 years old and make up the bulk of U.S. players. They’ve become “conditioned” to being able to improve their game through equipment.

"All of those guys were learning how to play golf in the golden age of golf equipment advancement,’’ Alexander said. "You could get better without doing anything other than buying new clubs."

That changed in 2005, when the USGA put limits in driver technology. As a result, today’s generation of golfers grew up in what Alexander calls the “golden age of the golf swing."

''I don’t know a good junior golfer who doesn’t have a swing coach,’’ he said. ''They all have their swing coaches and iPads with video set up on the range. They figure if they have a perfect the swing and can hit it 500 miles, they’ll going to have a wedge into every hole.''

On the positive side, those players are more likely to continue to take lessons as long as they continue to play the game. ''They’re dependent upon it,’’ Alexander said.

They’re also the kids who will soon be beating you in the club championship. So, if you can’t beat them, you might as well join them and get some lessons.