Christopher Howard — Worldwide Teaching Golf Professional
“When you can take a player from a 27 to an 11 handicap, it’s something to be really proud of.”
Chris claims there are advantages to teaching golf in Las Vegas, not including the weather.
Christopher Howard
Worldwide Teaching Golf Professional
Las Vegas Golf Club
Contrary to the popular advertising slogan, what happens in Vegas does NOT stay in Vegas; at least in terms of world class golf instruction.
Christopher Howard is a golf professional based out of Las Vegas Golf Club. He works with every level of player, from beginner to consulting with tour players. In 20 years of teaching, he claims that there isn’t a swing he hasn’t seen.
When Chris isn’t posting instructions or analyzing his students’ swings online for his 25,000 Instagram followers (chowardgolf), you can find him touring all over the world, or teaching private lessons in his golf schools.
Over the last 7 years, he’s hosted more than 650 golf schools in 5 different countries and 200 cities. That’s a ton of frequent flier miles, and a lot of golfers who are willing to pay for the Teaching Pro from Las Vegas.
Show Highlights
Our conversation with Chris uncovered an interesting career path for a golf professional whose lifetime goal was simply to “be in sports.” Mission accomplished. Chris talks about:
Chris gives lesson every way and everywhere…in person on the course, or virtually on your patio.
- His short-lived career as a goalie in the American Junior Hockey League
- How he shaped his own approach to teaching the golf swing by watching hundreds of instructional videos
- Why he’s found that golfers make greater progress in golf schools, compared with individual lessons
- The reason why coaches for PGA Tour players are fearful to suggest significant swing changes
- The teaching advantages of virtual FaceTime lessons
- Why he will always include student lessons in his online videos
- The #1 fault that he sees in the swings of average golfers around the world
Notable Quotes
On starting his own golf coaching business: “It’s been great to not have to answer to anyone regarding my teaching philosophy…particularly involving people who have been teaching golf since the 1980s, who have very different concepts.”
Chris’s touring golf schools typically sell out very quickly.
On his early years trying to establish a golf career: “Young golf professionals need to accept the fact that there can be a lot of struggles in this industry.”
On what he learned early on from online golf instruction: “I didn’t like most of the forms of online teaching, so I started doing FaceTime teaching, and I was one of the first instructors to do that for the regular player.”
On why he starting posting videos of lessons with students: “I watched a lot of videos by instructors like George Gankas, and thought that was an effective way to demonstrate lessons.”
On why he posts lessons on Instagram: “My major goal in posting student lessons on Instagram is so they had a place to go back and look at their swings from week to week, to see how much they’ve improved.”
On the most common swing errors of the average golfers: “They are not turning their body in the backswing….have bad wrist angles…and lack of depth at the top of the backswing. What I see most often is a lack of understanding of how to start the backswing with the arms connected to the body.”
On the “feel versus real” factor in teaching the golf swing: “The ‘feel’ for golfers can sometimes seem way out there and crazy, In fact, I’ve been torn apart by some of my social media followers who think my ‘feels’ can’t work. But for some players they do work.”
On the volume of videos he produces: “I do 4 long-form YouTube videos a week, as well as 3 short pieces of content every day. I’m currently filming 6 hours a day, and then teaching after that.”
On teaching people who don’t speak English: “Most people who attend my golf schools speak English. There are parts of my lesson plans that are scripted, and some have jokes in them. Students from other countries often fail to see the humor my jokes.”