I will leave others to share their experiences of the Boot camp series I have run throughout the autumn at Moyvalley Golf Club in north Kildare. I have had a wide range of players, young and old, male and female and have come from all over the country and even one from Spain! All have worked happily alongside each other with the same purpose, to try and improve their golf.
From a coaching point of view; it has been one of the most rewarding experiences for me as a coach. Learning takes time and repetition that is assuming the pupil fully understands what they are being asked to try and are fully engaged in the task.
Traditionally golf professionals have delivered half hour individual lessons, usually one after another! While useful as a trouble shooting exercise, it’s not always conducive to lasting learning. The boot camp gives me the opportunity to prepare an organised day/half day with a series of tasks and skills tests to challenge the learner. These tasks are more representative of real on course experience and are a million miles away from a driving range experience.
The full day camps covered both long and short game activities and gave me time to work with the players on the golf course. The constraints on the golf course ie bunkers, hazards etc shape our approach to how we play the course and as the stakes are much higher, the “real golfer” emerges, warts and all! This shouldn’t be viewed as a negative thing, just as an opportunity to improve and learn how to deal with the challenges of the golf course under the watchful eye of the coach. Most golfers never get the opportunity to experience this kind of help as their normal interaction with the coaches happens on the practice ground or range.
As the days got colder, I shortened the Boot Camps to half days where we concentrated on short game activities. We started the morning with chipping, moved onto putting and finished with pitching/bunker shots. Having delivered several of these camps to date, it strikes me that I will have to define more clearly the activities as there is so much to cover. I have not had enough time to spend on distance control and reading greens in the putting sessions so a little more planning work for me before we kick off again in the spring.
I have had requests from many people to hold the Boot camps around the country. Over the winter I will be adding additional venues around the country for 2014 so keep an eye on the website for further details.