My very first group clinic for a Secondary School in 2024.
If you didn't know, i've left The Golf Lab (MST Golf) in December 2023. In January, I've moved over to SingaGolf Academy. With that move, comes a little change in the students that I coach. In The Golf Lab, we were focussing alot on private sessions with maximum of 2 students. However in SingaGolf, we focus alot more on group lessons. This group lessons vary from private group sessions to school students golf training and one off golf clinics. A complete opposite of how it looks like as compared to The Golf Lab. Since I've moved to SingaGolf without bringing any clients over, I had to start afresh. That would mean taking up any kind of jobs available.
And so, I was given the opportunity to coach secondary school students as part of an enrichment or what we usually call it, golf exposure program. Something to help get these students eventually get hooked into the game. Here's the quick overview:
Morning Session - 2Hours
students : Secondary 3 students
Number of students : 26
Number of Bays available : 4
And there you have it, the spec sheet. From that alone, you'll realise that it really is an exposure program for these student. With 6 people to a bay, a coach to 26 students and a mere 2 hour session, you can't expect to see the next Singaporean Tiger Woods from this program.
Here's what I learnt:
Safety Golf being an individual sport, safety? Really? Yes, with teaching quite a big group of students with limited number of bays. Safety is really a concern. What if more than one golfer step inside the yellow line? What if they cut through the bays? What if they decide to chase the ball that they mishit and trickle out of the bay? Yes, Those were safety that I had to take note of. Moving from a private or small group lessons coach to big group lessons, this is one the main things that I had to acknowledge and learn quickly. At the end of the day, the students may learn a lot but if there's an accident, then all your hard work just gets eroded.
Engagement Many a times, with such big group classes, we would like the students to learn as much as they possibly can. However, if you want to get called back for the job, you need engagement, keeping the students engaged. Out of all the students in a Golf Exposure Program, not everyone is interested in it. So to me, this were the group of students that I had to be more engaged with. At least, they can have some fun out of this exposure session and find the slightest joy in Golf.
Class Management Wah this one damn hard. It's a group of 20-30 secondary school students. Teenagers yo! If you forgot how it was being a teenager, let me give you a brief description. Rowdy, loud and very active group of students. Imagine a bunch of teenagers being grouped together with the intention of learning and playing a sport? If you can't imagine that, imagine the wet market. There you go! HAHA Given that we are in a Private Country Club open to public together with the fact that Golf still lives by their ancient traditions, having people to cheer and making loud noises are frowned upon. So there's a need to balance being able to teach effectively and maintaining the crowd. To me, that's one very difficult job to do with a group of 20-30 teenagers. ps, that's why I like the #livgolf because it has great energy in its events!