How to pick the right golf coach for you

Erik Anders Lang has been working for with his GOLF Top 100 Teacher, Dana Dahlquist, for a few years now. He came to Dana hitting a low slice with the dream of one day hitting a high draw, which has since become his stock shot.

Dana and Erik re-connected late last year for a few lessons, so we wanted to tag along to get an up-close look at the pair’s relationship as part of a four-part series.

In the first episode, EAL and Dana talk about the importance of choosing the right coach to entrust with your game.

First things first, students need to make sure there’s a personality match with your teacher.

“I’m sort of the contrary tour teacher,” Dahlquist says. “I don’t even like using that term, because I work at a municple course in Long Beach,”

“I love that,” Anders-Lang says. “It’s one of the things I vibe with the most.”

Along those lines, it’s important for the student to establish their goals early and understand how a coach will help them achieve that. Often, that involves a teacher explaining their philosophy.

“I think the biggest thing is making things simple,” Dahlquist tells Eric. “Making it palpable; simple, quick, reactionary.”

Watch the full video below to watch the full episode, and check back next week for more:

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Luke Kerr-Dineen

Golf.com Contributor

Luke Kerr-Dineen is the Game Improvement Editor at GOLF Magazine and GOLF.com. In his role he oversees the brand’s game improvement content spanning instruction, equipment, health and fitness, across all of GOLF’s multimedia platforms.

An alumni of the International Junior Golf Academy and the University of South Carolina–Beaufort golf team, where he helped them to No. 1 in the national NAIA rankings, Luke moved to New York in 2012 to pursue his Masters degree in Journalism from Columbia University. His work has also appeared in USA Today, Golf Digest, Newsweek and The Daily Beast.