Tim Boegh, the 2026 Wisconsin PGA Section Player Development Award winner and the 2025 Section Teacher and Coach of the Year, is the PGA of America Director of Instruction and franchise owner at GOLFTEC Madison in Madison, Wisconsin.

Tim Boegh on the importance of understanding why your students have come in for a lesson:

When I start working with a golfer, I try to figure out their background. I want to know how long they’ve been playing, if they’ve taken lessons before and what their expectations are. I encounter many people who don’t know what their goals are at first. Everyone always says they want to be more consistent, but they all have their own definition of “consistency,” which makes it difficult to build a plan. That’s why I strive to get to the root cause of why a student is in front of me. Ultimately, I’d love for everyone to shoot their lowest scores possible; but for some people, scores aren’t even part of it. Through our conversations, I find some golfers only play three times a year in golf outings for work and don’t want to embarrass themselves, or they’re planning a golf trip with their friends who are all super competitive. Finding out a student’s true reason for coming to me in the first place is important to truly figure out what to work on. Whether it’s full swing, short game or putting, I try to find what makes them happy at the end of the day and what will keep them playing the game for years to come.

Tim Boegh on the business impact of understanding why your students have come in for a lesson:

As PGA of America Golf Professionals, we are trying to grow the game and keep people around golf as much as possible. Whether or not someone comes to me from an entry-level standpoint or as someone who’s been playing for some time but has never taken a lesson before, it can be intimidating for them. If I can make golf a little more fun for someone and have them see a bit more success in their own game, they might start playing more. This is something we have all seen happen. People will come to us brand new and fall in love with the game, which leads to playing all the time, joining a golf club and coming back in more consistently. Not only is this a win for us, but also for them, the golf courses and other golf professionals in our area, which is an awesome snowball effect for all involved.

If you would like to email the author of this Best Practice directly, please email tboegh@golftec.com.