From a business standpoint, Clippd is fantastic. It's the value you're able to add that gets the students to buy in. Getting buy-in, as we all know, is really challenging and being able to show the Clippd data is really, really helpful. It has also added a lot of value to my teaching.

The result is I’ve greatly increased my hourly rate and my students are really engaged in the process. Next year, I'm going to increase the number of groups and I'm going to charge more per student. These are my 10 steps to creating better value for you and for your clients.

‍

1. Good for my students, good for me

‘Practice with the Pro’ is a six-month program for eight players per group. It’s designed to show players how to practice, how to get the most out of their time and, ultimately, how to change their scores. I put the program out to my email base and the first group for single-figure handicap players sold out in six hours. I opened another group for mid-handicappers, which also sold out on the same day. So I added a third group for high handicappers and that sold out, too. All 24 players across the three groups have pre-paid a flat fee for the program.

2. Practice toolkit

Included in that flat fee is a practice toolkit: tripod, alignment sticks, face powder spray and, importantly, a Clippd account. I source and supply all of these to the players.

3. Buying Clippd subscriptions

Once I knew how many players had signed up, I contacted David Ford at Clippd - david@clippd.io. He organised everything, from setting up the accounts to billing. All the players were asked to activate their Clippd accounts before we started

4. How to practice

In the groups, we approach practice in three separate buckets: technique, skill and performance. I set up different training programs for different skills and monitor the players’ practice in Clippd. I can track their results and see if they are getting better or worse. As a coach, Clippd shows me what's working and what's not.

5. Focussing on the right stuff

In the first month of the program, I went over driving, irons, wedges and short game and putting in successive weeks. Once they've learned how to practice in all of these areas, there are stations at every session for each part of their game. What they spend their time on in each session is based on what they see in Clippd. 

6. Tracking progress

One of the best parts of Clippd is watching the trends. If a player is working on their driver, for example, and their OTT Player Quality is going in the right direction, what we're doing is clearly working. Clippd gives each player baseline starting points in terms of their Player Quality, which means we can very easily track progress. 

7. What To Work On

For my lower handicap group, the goal is to change their scoring, so we were trying to gain tenths of a shot, quarter shot, half a shot in different areas across the board. Using What To Work On in Clippd, we can identify the areas where we can do that. We can see where they can get better, where they can start gaining value and to see where the opportunities to improve exist. That clarification is very, very helpful, both to me and the players.

8. Accountability

My Friday group is for high handicappers. I use Clippd as a message board with this group. It allows me to hold them accountable. They can input their TrackMan data, they can put notes in and they can upload videos. They can send stuff to me and I can go back in and give them feedback. For on-course capture, Arccos, which integrates with Clippd, is great for high handicap players. Clippd also now provides a printable scorecard for players to record their shots, which works well for those players who take more shots!

9. Being intentional

A lot of golfers have an unrealistic expectation that if you just play, you get better. But that's not how it works. You have to be intentional about what you're doing. You have to be able to monitor progress and know the skills you're working on. Clippd shows them that if they want to get better, there are things that they have to do. It’s having a really nice impact. 

10. Getting buy-in

Getting players to understand the effort and the level of detail required to improve has been a lot of fun. The more they're doing it, the more they're buying into uploading rounds and practice into Clippd. It's my responsibility to show them why this is valuable. The cool thing with the group setting is as a few of them start to do it, the others get dragged along.

Results

The combination of emphasising the right practice work and monitoring the impact in Clippd has resulted in four players shooting career low rounds in the first six weeks of the program. It’s getting players really, really engaged. They start to see results and they want to do it more. 

Clippd has helped us to refine what to work on and how to get the most out of our time. It’s also helped the players to build confidence. Lots of them have seen their Player Quality is higher in certain areas than they thought, and this has helped them to understand where they're good, understand where they can get better and understand how to play to their strengths.

Stephen Arnold is a PGA professional who coaches and competes in North Florida. He teaches at the Longboat Key Club & Florida Performance Center and is a three-time SWC Chapter Coach of the Year

Email david@clippd.io to book a demo and purchase player accounts