What Golf Lessons Teach Daters

Is your date ‘grace under fire’, or an abusive liar when taking golf lessons?

Getting golf lessons with your date can be a fun night out, and also a bit of an acid test for a new relationship. Receiving instruction in a group setting with people you’ve just met is often more stressful than actually playing the game with friends. Your pals are probably equally awful at the sport, while a golf pro is an authority figure, a judge of sorts and its his or her job is to rate your play and point out deficiencies. If their critiques are issued publically, as they often are during ‘golf camps’ and especially during Singles Golf Lessons networking events (which are always co-ed), then it can be kind of embarrassing. Even suave and sophisticated business leaders are frequently humbled while out on the links taking lessons from a golf pro.

If you’re dating a powerful person, it might behoove you take them out for golf lessons especially if they’ve never golfed before; what you’ll see may be a rare glimpse of the man or woman without armour, trying something new, and risking tomatoes. How they behave themselves in this scenario will be a very good indicator of how they’ll react to the many other ‘slings and arrows of outrageous fortune’ that married life may hold for you both.

Bradlee Ryall Golf Academy Offers Group Golf Lessons

Bradlee Ryall is the director of the Bradlee Ryall Golf Academy at Lionhead Golf Club on Mississauga Rd.

During all co-ed golf lessons, and especially during the increasingly popular Singles Golf Lessons Events that happen in the summer months, Bradlee works hard to ensure the ninety-minute workshop runs smoothly and is fun for everyone. When socially awkward situations do occur during these lessons, he limits his observations to benign, constructive advice. In sensitive scenarios he shows everyone how they can improve their technique without singling out individuals with problems. All the same, he recognizes that some people are just really competitive, and while that fighting spirit can be very healthy in business and life it can also stunt a blossoming relationship, and be perceived as caustic at the Golf Academy.

“Many relationships have ended on the golf course. More than a few lovers’ spats have occurred during my lessons.” Bradlee said, “People see a darker side of someone they thought they knew, and it shocks them.” The veteran golf instructor relates how he’s had both young couples and senior citizens bicker with each other while taking golf lessons. “I don’t take sides,” Bradlee said, ‘I just teach golf.”

It’s The Little Things You Can Learn About Each Other While Taking Golf Lessons…

Are they punctual? Unlike dinner and movie where daters meet at a restaurant an hour or two before the show, golf lessons have a fixed start time that instructors take very seriously. That’s because in their world, golf competitions are also real strict about registration and tee off times and so golf teachers pass that urgency and sense of responsibility along in their lessons. They lose respect for students that are always late and you should also question where your date’s true priorities are that they can’t plan ahead to be at the golf course on time?

Are they problem solvers? Does your date look for solutions or excuses? Bad games make better golfers, and so does the powerful feeling of accomplishment people get when they overcome obstacles in their path to victory on the course. When your date slices or hooks a ball into a sand trap, does he or she ask for another shot? Or relish the challenge of recovering the ball and winning the hole despite the setback? Which person would you rather date?

Are they quiet and courteous individuals? Is your date quiet and respectful during golf lessons? Golf requires a high level of concentration especially when you’re just learning foundation skills. A pervasive silence is required on the course as the serenity of the natural setting is very much part of the game. Professionals often remark how they were ‘Zen with the park’, or felt ‘alone in nature’ as they played the best game of their lives. People who can’t stop talking or fidgeting can be very annoying, and if your date is having trouble concentrating here then what will he or she be like during all the other designated quiet times in life? Bradlee Ryall Golf Instructors have special tactics to deal with disruptive students because they want to teach that silence is part of the game. The best golfers keep quiet when other people swing, and they’re polite when they remark on competitor’s strokes, and they exercise patience as they wait for their turn to play. That calm demeanour is very comforting on the course and very attractive in a life partner.

Are they honest? Golf is a game of honour, and recognizing that a transgression has occurred and taking responsibility for the error, whatever the size, is part of the game. If your date is doing poorly in their lesson, it can be charming if they’re humble. But if they’re proud and wounded it can be awkward and uncomfortable for everyone in the group. Some people may resort to cheating. If your date is too proud to fail, they may be tempted to forget strokes or illegally change ball positions. Keep count during the short games, and practise holes, unless you can’t stand to be around them anymore.

Are they sore losers? Or worse, bad winners? Sour grapes and bruised egos should be forgotten after the first round of drinks in the clubhouse. If your date is upset with themselves, or with you, or with someone else from their golf lesson or the practice game afterwards, then you should wonder about that person’s sense of pride. Do they have a strong appetite for drama? Do they have a penchant for holding grudges? Life is too short for coddling sore losers.

Don’t let any of this acid test talk scare you away from taking golf lessons at your local golf course. Its not a pressure cooker unless you make it so by ratcheting up the stakes. The best way to shine during Singles Golf Lessons is to focus on your own short game and leave the small talk for later when you’re sipping cocktails at the bar. Be proud of your score in these practice matches, no matter how awful, and work to improve your abilities at every opportunity – these are the people the rest of us like being around, both on the golf course, and in life.