GolfCoaching.ch - Coaching

How does golf coaching work?

Katrin works with golf professionals who, like her, are passionate about finding ways to help the client reach his or her fullest potential as easily and effortlessly as possible. While the golf pro provides clear technical advice and instructs on a variety of strategic topics, a professional coach’s job is to accompany a client to define, measure and subsequently reach a specific goal or ambition in a specified time frame. She uses a variety of tools and techniques to get there, the only common denominator of these applications is the intention to enhance and build on the clients existing self confidence, trust and inner resources and thus to make him or her self-dependent and increasingly able to rely on existing powerful inner resources that – much like muscles – can be trained and developed. The combination of a golf pro and a professional coach in a domain where the ball, the score, the level of enjoyment etc. provide instant feedback seems to be particularly powerful and promising.

And what is coaching exactly?

Coaching is most effective in situations where there is either something at stake (a challenge, an ambitious goal, an opportunity), there is a desire to accelerate results… a sense of impatience, urgency or excitement. Equally valid are impatience or frustration about lack of progress or lack of speed in advancement, a gap in knowledge, clarity, confidence or resources or, last but not least a need for motivational and inspirational support to ensure success.

Coaching – unlike therapy – concentrates on where individuals are now and what they are willing to do to get where they want to be in the future. It puts you on the fast track to getting what you want out of your life. It's one of the greatest gifts you can give to yourself.

So what does a coach do?

As a coach, she provides clients an ongoing professional partnership designed to achieve fulfilling results in the area of life of their choice and by improving performance, thus enhancing the quality of their lives. The coach's job is to provide support to develop and enhance the resources the client already has. Katrin considers it as her job to elicit solutions and strategies from the client, as he or she is naturally resourceful and just needs “uncovering” of what has been in the way so far.

One of her strength is her capacity to listen, to provide attention to what is not said, to hit the nail on the head and to come to the core of the issue. She uses a full range of intuitive and analytical tools and techniques to inspire, encourage and support a client to discover, develop and embrace his or her true potential and to translate this into a powerful performance often beyond imagination. Each person is different, is stuck at a different issue, has different perceptions and sensitivities and requires a customized approach.

Working with groups is a delightful way to utilize not only the coaches, the clients but also the groups resources to discover and apply what it takes each individual to reach and realize his or her own specific goal and objective.

What does a golf pro do?

The word « pro » is the abbreviation of golf teacher and golf professional. The professional is a player who participates in various tournaments of different kind and who lives from his winnings. A golf teacher follows a pedagogical and technical education to become a certified golf pro who can exercise his profession as a golf teacher.

With the added value of observation, analysis, simplicity, clarity, patience and psychology, goals of a golf teacher are:

1. First and foremost stands the teaching of the game of golf. The goal being to transmit his technical knowledge and passion to players of all levels who desire to learn and advance.

2. A further goal is the development of golf based on products such as initiation courses, group courses, stages and pro-am tournaments.

3. The golf teacher should also develop a sports spirit leading those players who wish so to participate in competitions by respecting and applying the rules of golf and its etiquette.

4. The golf teacher should frame the best practice elements of a golf club so that performance can be enhanced during tournaments.

5. The golf school is must important for the junior with the related goal to have them come to love and practice the game of golf. For the club these are its future players.

Why is golf perfect for professional and personal developing coaching?

I have to admit, I am biased - I love the game. And I hate it at times, never enough to give it up, just enough to keep going back to the driving range and tournaments to check where I am at and enjoy the progress.

Somebody once said that any human experience potentially has three components: we do things because of

1. the resulting benefits, i.e. financial rewards, recognition, status, rewards etc. (often this represents a major drive behind work)

2. the experience, i.e. simply for the joy and pleasure of it (often this is our reason behind hobbies, passions etc.)

3. the learning and growth benefits, i.e. progressing and improving (often this is why we read a book, listen to advice, etc.).

While it is interesting to reflect how this applies to our various life choices and activities - an interesting and well worthwhile exercise - in the domaine of golf, it sums to the critical question of: why do you play golf? More often than not, the answer is, "because I enjoy it". For anybody who ever watched golfers play, fun isn't always the most obvious element of a four-some spending 4 or 5 hours together. Frustration, nervous tension, peer pressure, disappointment, destruction of self-confidence with deviation into over and under-confidence in between, boredom, desperation, irritation unfortunately seem - to an observer's innocent eye - frequently outnumber moments of absolute joy, celebration, total satisfaction and feeling on the top of the world. Those few moments are addictive, though, as any golfer will gladly tell you and get you into his favorite personal golf story, his latest greatest moment.

Gaining clarity about our purpose, of why we play the game, deep down, when we listen to the voices in our heads, or wherever they may be, is a critical element to start being able to not only perform, but also enjoy and progress. A circle of interdependent factors that can become vicious as well as gloriously empowering.