Jake McCullough, the 2016 PGA Northern Texas Section Player Development Award and the 2010 recipient of the Section’s Randy Smith Youth Player Development Award, is the PGA Head Golf Professional at Odessa Country Club, in Odessa, Texas.
Jake McCullough on the importance of incorporating technology to improve coaching communication:
With a busy coaching book and a passion for teaching, I have to utilize my time extremely well to balance my responsibilities as the head professional at a private club. I have found that using today’s technology is a huge asset to saving time, as well as adding value to my coaching. Edufii is an application through which instructors and coaches can provide feedback and details on golfer’s progress. This tool adds value by providing students detailed feedback and clearly outlines what we discussed, as well as next steps and drills to work on between practice. This information can be shared with any other individuals the athlete wishes as well, such as family members or other team members. It allows for video uploads to compliment the practice notes and progress. Each practice’s notes are recorded in the golfer’s history, so we can collaboratively reflect upon our previous discussions. It also reduces the amount of paperwork on my agenda by not having to write out notes and recaps, allowing me to make better use of that time in the other aspects of my job duties. One process I have incorporated is providing games and skills challenges for my golfers to work on between practice. As our session winds down, I have the golfer create the video of setting up and describing the skills challenge. We send to their Edufii page so they can revisit the instructions on their own. This work put forth between practice is vital to timely progress as golfers of all ages strive for improvement.
Jake McCullough on the business impact of incorporating technology to improve coaching communication:
Technology is improving society in virtually every field of business today. Golf is no different. As golf professionals, we are able to coach in ways like never before and provide tools for faster improvement, better understanding of the golf swing, and a long-lasting love of the game. Edufii is just one of those tools, but its benefits are great and immediate. Using the app, I am saving 20 minutes of writing summary notes, as well as preparation for the next time. With so many athletes, I am better able to organize my thoughts and direction for each of them. I can reach out to each individually, provide videos, and follow up drills and assignments for use at home. Those 20 minutes saved also enable me to better facilitate the rest of my duties. Any golf professional can reap incredible time-saving and value-added benefits from this application, especially those whose primary responsibility is coaching. Also, with Edufii, I am able to keep in contact with and actually continue to coach golfers who have moved out of town and want to continue our golf relationship, retaining important revenues.
If you would like to email the author of this Best Practice directly, please email jmccullough@pga.com
