Many years ago, I had a golf training facility as a client. The owner wanted me to test all the instructors in emotional intelligence in order to determine who scored the highest in the areas that pertained to teaching, not performing.
I administered the Bar On Eqi 2.0 Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQi), which measures cognitive and psychological aspects of emotional intelligence. It is a valid and reliable instrument which, via training, I was certified to administer. It wasn’t some gimmicky, invalid, inventory pulled off the internet.
The EQi is comprised of five composite scales and 15 sub-scales. Not all of the subscales are relevant to teaching but, I will highlight the most important ones for being an instructor.
1) Self-perception: primarily “emotional self-awareness,” which is the ability to understand one’s own emotions and the impact they have on one’s own thoughts and actions and those of others.
2) Self-expression: to include emotional expression (openly expressing one’s feelings verbally and non-verbally)
3) Interpersonal: to include empathy, or the ability to recognize, understand and appreciate how others feel. Empathy involves being able to articulate your understanding of another’s perspective, and behaving in a way that respects others’ feelings.
4) Decision Making: to include impulse control, or the ability to resist or delay an impulse, drive, or temptation to act.
5) Stress Management: stress tolerance or coping with frustrating situations.
The 15 subscales are way more detailed than can fit into this article, but suffice it to say that the results showed that those who rated highest as instructors, were not the best golfers. Although the sample was too small for valid statistical analysis, it appeared that the better golfers did not score as high in empathy, emotional self-awareness, or emotional expression.
While I’m not exactly sure what all of the above means, I do think that when you look for a golf instructor, pick one that is empathic, self-aware, and good at listening to you, while being tolerant of your frustrations associated with learning new skills.
