What makes a good pupil?

As a coach you are judged on the performance of your pupils. You can give the best advice and give great lessons but if your students don't use the tools you give them correctly then they are destined to fail.

What makes a good student?


Good Practice. 
This is the first and most obvious answer. If students don't practice then how are they going to improve. It takes 10000 good repetitions to take a new movement and make it instinctive. 

• Firstly students need to make time to practice. This means stopping the excuses that accompany doing any activity. People find time to watch their favourite TV programmes, go shopping or other time wasting activities they should be able to find an hour in the day to hit balls or even just practice the motion at home. The more you practice the faster you can implement these changes.
• Practising doesn't make perfect it makes permanent. They key to practice is to work hard at the positions you are taught not just bash balls. 40 balls can be better than 140 if you are deliberate and precise over what you are doing.
• Finally you need to be strong minded enough to take these changes onto the course and get used to feeling these new movements on the course.

Trust

This sometimes takes time to achieve as a coach but a pupil has to trust that what he is working on is correct.   This is where video coaching sometimes can help. But a number of people will have a lesson and then come back to me telling me how they've also been working on some tip they saw in a book or magazine or that they have filmed their own swing and seen something else they think might need work. 

A good pupil will stick with what they have been given to work on and make sure this is improved. They then may ask about other things they have read or seen in the next lesson. What they won't do is get a lesson and then go and practice something completely different.

Patience

Sometimes swing changes give instant benefit, sometimes it takes time. Only with patience can a student be able to stick to changes and takes his swing forward. This also means sometimes results getting worse before getting better. If changing your swing was easy then there would be a lot more low single figure golfers in the world. Truth is its a tough game sometimes and those who push through the tough times can reap the rewards afterwards.

Adaptability 

The willingness to change a movement even if it feels and comfortable and initially gives worse results is possibly the most important factor in creating a great golf swing. When I see someone come back looking exactly the same as the week before I know they have trouble letting go of their old techniques. This is linked to all the above attributes and can take a while to improve.

Conclusion

The best pupils have all the above attributes plus the single minded dogged determinedness of a champion. You can be a good player with just ability but to become a great player you need to drive to leave nothing to chance to be the best player you can be. 

Whatever level of golfer you are if you want to get to the next level in you game you need to be able to look at yourself and honestly believe that you are doing everything possible to achieve you goals. 

Greatness can be achieved not just by what you do but also by what you sacrifice to do it.