The golf instruction business has traditionally followed a very straight-forward business model: paying for individual golf lessons. This approach makes sense—spending 45-60 minutes with an expert who dedicates the entire lesson to you is worth paying for. It’s a fair value exchange: money for expertise and guidance.
In the typical pay-per-lesson model, a golf lesson is booked, paid for, and delivered without much thought to the process of how value is exchanged between instructor and student. The golf instructor has knowledge, and the golfer needs improvement. The golfer schedules a lesson, spends 45 minutes with 1:1 instruction, and hopes to apply this new knowledge on the course. While this system has worked for ages, it has limitations.
For one, it requires the instructor and student to be together in person. Knowledge is only transferred while they are physically in the same place on the lesson tee. After the lesson, there is often little follow-up or specific homework for the student to progress on their own. Follow-ups only happen when booking another lesson, and the instructor must remember what happened during the previous session. Income is only earned when a lesson is provided, which can fluctuate based on seasonality and other factors. In a service business, growth comes from charging more or working more, both of which have limits. Scaling a golf instruction business means booking more lessons, taking up more time until reaching saturation. But there is another way.
Imagine a world where your expertise is accessed routinely, not in long, dedicated sessions, but in smaller, more frequent interactions. Imagine building strong relationships with your students by providing your knowledge in a simple, low-friction manner, and being able to do it remotely. You no longer have to be tied down to the lesson tee. You’ll also get paid even when you’re not in a lesson! Managing more clients becomes a reality, and scaling revenue is easier because you’re not being paid by the hour or minute.
The solution is moving from a transactional approach to a subscription model. Instead of ‘paying for your time,’ it’s ‘paying for your expertise.’ This shift from pay-for-time to pay-for-access—access to your expertise—builds trust, confidence, and accountability with your students. To do this, you’ll need to be available through technology to provide quick commentary and feedback when your client needs it most. This might happen while they are on the course, traveling, or practicing on their own.
Imagine a client visiting the range, recording a few swings, and asking for your feedback. You can accomplish this in a few minutes using technology. You’ll still want to meet for in-person lessons, but you might provide a quick review by analyzing a video or sending a brief text message reminder.
This is the world powered by Onform, a video analysis and communication app designed to power the subscription economy for golf lessons. We believe it’s a better way forward for both coaches and students. The transition is already happening in other sports like cycling, triathlon, and running. Those coaches have built businesses using software-based coaching platforms to provide training programs and workout analysis virtually. The same transformation is ahead for skill-based sports like golf. Companies like GolfTec are already combining in-person training with virtual coaching. Regular instructors are starting to adopt this model too!
Asking your clients to pay a reasonable monthly fee for routine expertise in addition to remote or in-person lessons is the future. It smooths out revenue spikes, frees you from the lesson tee, and is far more scalable than the existing pay-per-lesson models. The sooner you try it, the sooner you and your students will see the benefits.
Let us help you make the move. We have extensive experience in helping coaches grow their businesses.
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