Well? Why? Hmmm?
Perhaps you haven’t ever thought about why you play. Perhaps you’re just drawn in by its infinite complexities and nuances. From a coach’s point of view I think it’s an important question.
To give you an example, I play to hit cool shots. I care about score and when I’m competing I care about that, but the main reason is to hit cool shots. Shots like a smoking low fade or a checking 50 yard wedge shot or a flushed 2 iron. Much like when I was younger and was out surfing – I didn’t really care about competing or being better than anyone else I just wanted to do cool stuff.
Coaching a player who wants to hit cool shots will require a very different approach to someone who plays to compete. Coaching a player to have a lower handicap v coaching someone to be more ‘consistent’ requires a different approach (and a definition of what consistent is). If you play to hang out with mates then you may not want coaching at all.
All reasons to play (unless you’re being forced) are good reasons and your coach should be aware of why you do. You should also think why you play – I promise you when you can answer the question the learning process becomes a lot easier.
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