Do you ever wonder why one professional golf instructor may enjoy a great reputation with some students yet not with others? Did you ever watch a youtube video about how to use your wedges and you did not connect with the instructions? Similarly, why is it that a professional golfer will spend a considerable amount of time searching for a teacher they can be comfortable with?

Recent research in the field of instruction has examined this issue and has found that not all teaching methods work equally well with all golfers. For example, it is a known fact that if ten students receive the same golf instruction, approximately four students will indicate that they learned a great deal and that the instruction was perfectly tailored to their needs. The other six will say either that it somewhat met their needs or that instruction was not as satisfying as they thought it might be, and would probably not return for more instruction with that particular instructor.

The failure to provide equally effective instruction to all students is neither the instructor’s nor the student’s fault. Rather, it is the differences in the degree of instructional fit between the instructor and learner that account for most of the variance in learning performance and satisfaction.

Instructional fit is a term used to describe how well the teaching process (method, strategy, communication mode, etc.) matches the knowledge acquisition preferences of the student. These preferences, often collectively referred to as learning styles, describe the way in which a particular individual receives and processes information and skills. Research in education indicates that the matching of instruction to learning style is a prerequisite to effective teaching.

The Golf Style Inventory (G.S.I.)

The Golf Style Inventory is a system developed for all golfers, instructors and golf enthusiasts. It identifies the golfer’s learning preferences and prescribes instructions to match.

Although a few elements of a student’s learning style can be identified through teacher observation, a comprehensive assessment of learning style is facilitated by the Golf Style Inventory.

The Golf Style Inventory (G.S.I.) identifies individual learning styles and then provides the learner and the golf professional with an instructional prescription and learning strategies for the student. It will help appreciate the different ways individuals learn when they acquire knowledge and skills and will prescribe teaching approaches that produce successful instruction for each style of learning. In other words, the G.S.I. provide the learning behaviors students will demonstrate in response to teaching when they go about the process of acquiring the knowledge and the specific skills involved in the game of golf.