[bray]

After basic education like how to hold the club, and how to stand, I would explain the very basics of impact, golf's most important "opposite" that you hit down to make the ball go up. So many non golf literate folks think that the club slides under the ball and "lifts" it up. Start with that and move on to basic motion chips, and only after the basic motion is executed repeatedly with proper mechanics and they have a feeling of what impact is supposed to feel like, move on to longer versions of the basic stroke. Carry this education forward to longer and longer strokes until the full swing is reached with the emphasis on arriving at impact with the same feelings and mechanics that they had on the shorter strokes. Detailed mechanical discussions should be witheld until they start asking questions like why did the ball do that? How do I make the ball do ___?

This site is steeped in mechnical discussion, 99.9% of which are unimportant to someone that has never made contact with a ball properly. In short,,, KISS them.

G2M

G2M,

Great Post!! I teach a lot of beginners and I use a lot of what you described above daily. I also make sure the flying wedges are in tact and the first spots I check for a begginner are follow through and impact. I tell them to hold there flat left wrist at finish in a basic motion shot, and then I also use Dartfish video software to show them if there wedges were in tact at impact.

From there the student will ask questions then you should explain the why's and how's or technicalities. Michael Hebron is one of the greatest at letting student's ask the questions. You may want to look into some of his books to see how someone who understands TGM really well uses the KISS method for begginners.

Sorting Through the Golf Nut's Catalog.

B-Ray