HEATHROW, Fla. – Fresh survey data from Proponent Group sheds light on a new wrinkle in golf instruction: the “house call” lesson given on a golfer-owned simulator.
Conducted in September, the survey revealed that full-time coaches have a significant number of sim-owning students—“more than 10,” said 47 percent of survey-takers. It further revealed that 55 percent of the coaches with opportunity for house-call teaching take advantage of it.
“According to what our member coaches tell us, the sims that so many clubs and courses have installed in recent years are difficult to book, given the demand,” said Proponent Group president Lorin Anderson. “For the affluent lesson-taker, having his or her coach come to them adds tremendous convenience.”
In light of travel time and incidental costs, 28 percent of house-calling Proponent coaches tack on an upcharge, while the other 72 percent stick to their standard per-hour fee. As for fitting these forays into a weekly schedule, 51 percent did their home-sim teaching “on days I am not scheduled at my regular facility.” Second most common response was, “Before or after my regular teaching hours,” checked by 38 percent. Those data points likely speak to the bias most coaches feel toward being where students and club managers expect to find them. As for the clubs, they could potentially feel some dismay at losing the member visit, given the ancillary-spend such visits can generate.
One other logistical question concerned travel time, and the sweet spot was the 15-minute (or less) road trip, with 40 percent calling it their limit. Another 36 percent said a half-hour’s travel was acceptable, while a handful of respondents said they would travel 45 minutes or sometimes longer.
“The house-call lesson is such a natural consequence of the simulator boom, we probably should have seen it coming long ago,” said Anderson. “The first member to mention it to us, Brian Jacobs of upstate New York, thought about buying a white lab coat to appear in—that’s what a novelty the whole thing was, only a year ago.” There’s no apparent reason to think the trend won’t continue to grow, perhaps even grow rapidly.
About Proponent Group
Proponent Group is the only organization solely focused on helping golf’s dedicated, full-time instructors grow their businesses and build their careers. Founded in 2007, Proponent Group recognizes that even accomplished teaching professionals need a unique array of professional services to build their teaching brand, create job security and grow compensation. If you are a full-time coach and would like access to this or other company-provided support tools, you can join Proponent Group at proponent-group.com.
