Learn Golf with James
Background checked
💰$63 weekly lessons
For nearly three decades, I've cultivated a passion for golf. Although soccer was my first sport as a child and in college, I realized as a young adult that golf was my true passion. I honed my golf skills with every chance I could and eventually began sharing my expertise with other aspiring players. My personal golf training background includes 2 years of George Gankas Golf Academy and putting lessons from Marcus Potter. In my twenties, I began competing in amateur tournaments, with a notable first place finish in a flighted stroke-play event. In my late 20's I transitioned to work as a turfgrass maintenance intern at Cherry Hills Country Club and assistant superintendent at Colorado Golf Club. This golf course maintenance experience has given me an in-depth knowledge of turfgrass, which helps me provide a specialization in greens reading and understanding of course conditions. I aim to blend technical proficiency with an engaging, enjoyable learning experience. My dedication ensures students not only improve their game but also develop a lifelong love for the sport.
👋
Teaches: Kids, Teenagers, Adults, Seniors
🌱
Levels: Beginners, Intermediates, Experts
📍
Lives in: Lone Tree, Colorado
😊
Happy Student Score: Not available
🎓
Years Playing: Not specified
🔥
Given: 0 lessons
Accomplishments
⛳️6.0 Handicap
New to TeachMe.To
We strictly vet every TeachMeTo instructor, so you can book with confidence.
This coach is exceptional. We accept fewer than 10% of coaches who apply, because our students deserve only the best. Make their first week great and book now!
Locations
These are the locations I've set as being able to provide lessons:5 courses available
Avid Caddie Golf Lounge
9556 Park Meadows Dr #400, Lone Tree, CO 80124, United States
1159.3 miles awayIndoors
Plum Creek Golf Club
331 Players Club Dr
1160.3 miles awayOutdoors
Miller Activity Complex
1375 W Plum Creek Pkwy
1161.2 miles awayOutdoors
Red Hawk Ridge Golf Course
2156 Red Hawk Ridge Dr
1161.4 miles awayOutdoors
Matney Park
953X+X3V, 5790 Lantern Cir
1157.3 miles awayOutdoors
Availability
These are the times I've set as being available for lessons.sundays
8 AM - 8 PM
mondays
8 AM - 8 PM
tuesdays
8 AM - 8 PM
wednesdays
8 AM - 8 PM
thursdays
8 AM - 8 PM
fridays
8 AM - 8 PM
saturdays
8 AM - 8 PM
Beginner training plan
Your first lesson- First lesson generally runs 90-120 minutes for me in order to get a proper and thorough understanding of the students current game, start implementing some fundamentals, and also assess short game. If the student does not have that much time I am flexible and can shorten the timeframe and/or push the short game fundamentals to the following lesson.
- Baseline assessment of current golf game 5-10 mins
- Overview of golf swing fundamentals starting including:
- Grip lesson (I start teaching with a neutral, interlocking grip unless the player is opposed to interlock then we can do a classic baseball or an overlap grip. I will work to strengthen or weaken the grip as appropriate in future lessons based on a variety of factors)
- Lesson on stance/posture + balance and understanding weight shifts
- Tilts + Rotation feels drill
- Load-shift-fire tempo drill with no ball
- Half-swing drill going from 9 to 3 on the clock face with a full 90 degree wrist set in the backswing
- Lesson on swing planes
- Understanding of correct position at the top of full backswing based on individuals physical capabilities
- 3/4 swing practice
- Full swing practice
- Chipping and putting basics -20 mins
Lesson 11+There’s really not much that will differ going forward as I already mentioned my lessons are completely tailored to each individuals games and their desires to improve various aspects of their game. I will continue to ingrain our basic fundamentals while also working with the player to promote constant improvement in their game, as well as increasing their consistency. I will also focus more on short game in lessons 11+ as that is how the average beginner player will lose most of their strokes. Once we can get the ball in play, we need to focus more on short game as that is where we can improve our scoring the most.
Lesson 4-10The student will now have a baseline ability to hit the ball and an understanding of the fundamentals of the game. No two lessons will look the same going forward as all individuals will have their own issues that they struggle with. I will have a completely tailored approach going forward with either 60 or 90 minute lesson plans where we will continue to ingrain golf swing fundamentals, further our consistency in the grip and stance/setup, how to get the club and body in the proper positioning in the backswing, how to use the body and legs in the downswing. I will challenge every individual to improve their game rapidly by having focused training sessions where we build on our confidence with every session. Focusing on swing mechanics and implementing mechanical tweaks only as needed, while letting the individual get more comfortable at switching no their brain into a performance- based mindset, where we don’t care how the swing looks, only that the ball goes towards our intended target. I like to start each session with up to about 30 minutes of technical swing thoughts and drills max, transitioning to the performance focus for the following 30-60
Mins, competing against yourself with fun and stimulating challenges on the driving range and practice greens. We will work to fill out a table of the players stock carry yardages using my highly accurate launch monitor, and also go over some basic course management skills to lower our score on the course and understand how to play the game once we have that understanding of our stock yardages. In one of these lessons from lessons 4-10 we will have a full lesson exclusively on putting and another on pitching, chipping, and how to hit off tempo wedge shots into greens.
Lesson 2-360-90 minute sessions going forward depending on what the player wants. In lessons 2-3 I’ll be further engraining golf swing fundamentals as well as teaching an understanding of basic golf principles such as:
- How club path and face angle influence the shot shape by imparting side spin
- Controlling the low point of the swing and understanding that we want to hit down with our irons and wedges while we want to be hitting up on the ball with Driver with a positive angle of attack.
- Tilts + Rotation feels drill
- Load-shift-fire tempo drill with full swing wedges, hitting balls this time
- Backswing position drills
- Lesson on mechanical positions of of the full swing from P1-P10
- Pause drills at P2, P3 &P4
- Full swing practice eliminating swing thoughts and focusing on hitting the ball at our target
- The 4 skills of putting
- Picking smart landing spot on chips
Advanced training plan
Your first lessonStart off with a baseline assessment of the players current game, and also ask the player what they are most looking to improve in their game. Some advanced players might be looking for a quick 1-2 lesson tune-up which I would be happy to provide. Others might be looking for full time coaching which I would also be happy to provide. Based on what the player is looking for I will tailor the lesson package accordingly. Expect that the first lesson will go a bit longer and range from 90-120 minutes for me to get a proper and thorough understanding of the players full game including short game, and put a training plan together. I also offer exclusively short game and or putting coaching if the advanced player just wants to focus on that. I can teach the aim point putting system although I don’t use the system myself. I also have a thorough understanding of greens reading from my time as an assistant superintendent at Colorado Golf Club where I cut cups for the US Amateur Championship.
Lesson 11+Practicing short game will become more and more important the further along we go. I will work to solidify the advanced players swing and help them gain further confidence and consistency with their entire game.
Lesson 4-10Lessons 4-10 if the player is undergoing a more serious swing change, then this will be the period of lessons where we are working to really lock those changes into muscle memory so we can stop focusing on them consciously, allowing us to focus on other things such as our visualization process or proper balancing and alignment of setup during the pre-shot routine. We will continue with the practice structure of starting with some technical fundamentals, then changing gears to performance focus.
Lesson 2-3Lessons 2-3 the first part of the lesson we will work on any technical/mechanical changes we want to make in the swing. If the player is making a couple of big changes or overhauls to their swing I would recommend doing a 4-6 week lesson package with me at minimum so we can go through the entire swing change during lessons 2-3 and then further ingrain the new muscle memory in lessons 4-6. The second half of the lesson we will transition to performance based mindset and incorporate some fun challenges/competitions and drills to simulate pressure and focus on making proper contact with the ball and hitting our targets.
Youth players
Working with kidsMy strategy for teaching golf to kids is all about incorporating fun learning games, making success more attainable, not overloading them with technical swing thoughts. I have always loved working with kids from my time as a camp counselor when I was 15 years old to lifeguarding in my younger 20’s to now giving golf lessons.
Working with teenagersTeenagers can have a wide array of golf abilities and also a wide array for how much they actually care about the game. When I was a teenager, my main sport was soccer and golf for me was simply a fun time hitting a ball around the course and I couldn’t quite keep score yet. I understand that some teenagers may not want to take the game super seriously and I would approach them differently than a teen who is on the high school golf team and is looking to grind. That being said I’m happy to work with all youth players and am confident I can help all types of youth to improve and to have fun doing so.
What you need to bringBring a positive attitude, and expect to have a fun time improving your golf game. If you have your own set of golf clubs you should bring those, if not I have some clubs we can use. Depending on where I give lessons I will have students cover the cost of their range balls.
What I can bringI have a wide variety of equipment including both right handed and left handed clubs for both adults and juniors if the student does not have any clubs of their own. My biggest asset as far as training aids would be my Foresight GC3 launch monitor giving us immediate feedback on important contact and launch metrics with both club and ball data provided. I like to keep it simple with other training aids but I do use alignment rods and have a few other tools to help with backswing, wrist hinge position, elbows staying locked tighter with trail elbow dropping in that we can implement if needed. For putting, as far as training aids, I like to employ the use of a simple gate drill to improve contact using golf tees, and I also have a mirror/alignment aid to improve setup and stance and improve the skill of aiming the putter down the start line, and visualizing starting the ball on that line. I also have a couple of cup reducers that effectively shrink the hole size making practice just a bit more difficult than the real thing. This promotes hitting the center of the cup with the correct speed, leading to more made putts on the course.
Frequently asked questions
Cancellation Policy
We totally understand that life can be unpredictable and plans might change. That's
why we've got your back with our flexible cancellation policy, designed to give you
peace of mind when booking private sports lessons with our awesome local instructors!
If you need to cancel your lesson, no worries! You can get a full refund if you cancel within 24 hours of making your booking. We want to make the process as hassle-free as possible for you.
And if you simply want to reschedule your lesson, change the date and time, or adjust the number of students joining, we've got you covered there too. You can easily make these changes within 24 hours of booking, and up to 72 hours before your lesson starts.
Our goal is to make your experience smooth, enjoyable, and worry-free. So go ahead and book with confidence, knowing that we're here to accommodate your needs every step of the way!
If you need to cancel your lesson, no worries! You can get a full refund if you cancel within 24 hours of making your booking. We want to make the process as hassle-free as possible for you.
And if you simply want to reschedule your lesson, change the date and time, or adjust the number of students joining, we've got you covered there too. You can easily make these changes within 24 hours of booking, and up to 72 hours before your lesson starts.
Our goal is to make your experience smooth, enjoyable, and worry-free. So go ahead and book with confidence, knowing that we're here to accommodate your needs every step of the way!
JC
Golf with James C.New to TeachMe.To