Growing up in the family of the only doctor in the county, it was very clear to me that if someone had a medical question in our county they were going to see Doc Graves. When it came to medical care, he was the last word. Today I live in a county where hundreds of physicians and surgeons practice every day in multiple hospitals, clinics, and offices. What criteria does a mother use today to determine the medical care of the family members?
Some promote themselves based on complex information systems that help their patients manage their own health information linked to the health providers. Some suggest they are the best because of the certification of their staff. Others, tout the number of procedures they have done hoping that if you need one of them that you’ll choose them. There are even health organizations that try to get us to believe that we should trust them because of their beautiful new facility that has all the comforts of home. Who do you trust?
When it comes to golf instruction, how do you decide who to trust? Is it important that the person be a PGA member? Do you look for a pro that has a great set of technology to show your golf shots and document the progress you’ve made? How about the number of lessons the pro has given? Is that important? Or, are you looking for someone who practices at a beautiful facility? Or, maybe it’s something else.
Sales training tells us that people buy when they (1) know, (2) like, and (3) trust you. So, getting to know the above information about a golf professional is the first step. Do they teach the one-plane, two-plane, or the stack-and-tilt methods? Second step is to get to like them. Do they talk to you on your level and patiently answer your many questions? Are they interested in knowing your learning styles and adapting their lessons to you? Let’s be honest here, there are some people who just rub others the wrong way and if you’ve got a pro that you don’t know or like – fire them – because you’ll never trust them no matter how long you take lessons from them.
Over 25 years ago I contracted cancer. Dad prodded me to go see a physician ASAP. Who to choose? First, I went to my family practitioner, someone who specializes in family health who referred me to a local interest, someone who specializes in treating internal problems. After examining me, the second physician referred me on to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) because in his words, “I only see one of these a year and you want to go to someone who sees these everyday.” He was right and I trusted his opinion. My physician at HUP turned out to be a world-leading oncologist, someone who specializes in treating cancer. For the next 18 months I trusted him explicitly to direct my treatment because I knew other physicians put their trust in him and because I liked how he carefully explained everything to my wife and me and took an interest in our very young family.
So, back to golf. Who’s your pro? How many golfers have they seen like you? How’s their “bedside manner?” Do they really care about helping you play better and have more fun doing it or are you just filling a lesson spot on their calendar? In going through my ordeal with cancer I had to completely trust my physician. The same is true in golf, to get better you’ve got to completely trust your golf pro. If you don’t trust them, ask for a referral to someone else. You’ll get better quicker with someone you trust.
